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How discipline in the small things leads to success In an earlier post, I wrote about my hatred for taking out the trash. What I didn’t make note of, is that I love having a clean kitchen. There’s nothing more satisfying than walking into the kitchen and seeing no dirty dishes, a shiny clean stove, a crumb free floor, counters with nothing on them but what belongs in a nice orderly fashion. It just feels better not walking into a mess. If I want to cook something, I have a nice clean space to work in. The best part is that if the kitchen is clean, I don’t have the looming anxiety of needing to put in the work to clean it, it’s done. The problem of course is getting to that point. The process of cleaning the kitchen is not so fun. Not because it’s particularly difficult, there are just things that are more fun that I’d rather be doing. I believe that personal discipline is one of the most important qualities for anyone who wants to make an improvement in their life. The pr...

One of the things I've been accused of a few times in my life has been talking too much. Whenever I think about it, many of the people in my life that have left the greatest impression on me, only spoke when they had something good to say. Many others speak, and eventually say something worth listening to. In my career, I have to do a lot of speaking. There are many different words for it. Teaching, training, directing, but it all boils down to expressing . Sometimes I express information, methods, or strategy. Other times I express a sense of urgency, or passion.  Most of our lives both at work and at home involve a lot of expressing. So what are the skills that make someone a great communicator? Why should we care about improving those skills? I don’t want my child to just hold my hand when we cross the road. I want him to understand why he should be safe. I don’t want a team member to only understand the task they are assigned, I want them to care about its executio...