Debunking the myth that you can effectively do more than one thing at a time.

Almost everyday, my clients talk about how effective they are at multitasking and how they are getting so much accomplished. Well, I hate to break it to you, but guess what? Multitasking is a lie!

The only thing that multitasking does is give you the opportunity to screw up more than one thing at a time. You might think I’m being a pessimist, but science backs me up - multitasking is a hoax.

When you try to do two things at once, you can’t do either of them well. The reality is, our brains don’t work that way.  Our brains have channels and where there is channel interference, we aren’t able to process fully and focus effectively on doing either of the tasks we try to “multitask.” These channels are what allow us to walk and chew gum at the same time - because that activity is using different channels, not the same channel. 

Think about this for a minute...

How Block Timing Can Help You Get More Done

It's no surprise that time management is a hot topic right now. Most of us feel like we don't have enough hours in the day to get everything done, and it seems like there will never be enough hours to complete our daily to-do’s again. 

But all this worry surrounding how little time there is available each day leads some people to spend more time on their tasks than they need — and for most people, this perpetual anxiety and overthinking means they do an average job, at best.

How can you manage your time better? One strategy to tackle time management systematically is with block timing! Block timing lets you give yourself chunks of focused work-time, so you can get through each task efficiently, without sacrificing the quality of your work or getting overwhelmed by the sheer amount of work left undone.

What is block timing, and how can it help me get more done in a day?

A question I am frequently asked by my clients is,...

Relationship Selling: Developing New Business and Engaging Prospects

Most industries, including ours, are relationship based — but if you're a relationship-driven salesperson, you understand the challenges that exist in building new relationships, especially over the past 15+ months. You also know how important relationships are for your success.  

However, the new hybrid work model that is being widely adapted around the world creates a new set of challenges. The question for today's column is this: 

"How do we build new relationships when our prospects are embracing hybrid work?"

Before we dive into the answer to our question, let's make sure we understand relationship selling. According to an article published by LinkedIn, relationship selling refers to the sales technique that focuses on the interaction between the buyer and the salesperson, rather than the price or details of the product.

But what really is relationship based selling? In essence, the...

Why having a Mentor is Essential to your Career

Mentoring is a relationship between someone who has knowledge, skill, and experience in a particular area (the mentor) — and someone who wants to learn and grow in that particular area (the mentee). 

The word "mentor" comes from the Greek word for "advisor." A mentor can be anyone: a family member, personal friend, or colleague… you might not even know that person yet! 

The benefits of having a mentor are tremendous and ongoing, because they provide advice, connections, and support when you need it the most. Mentors help with career planning, teach you how to network effectively or negotiate work conditions, and provide timely emotional support when business (and life, in general) gets difficult. 

What is a mentor and why should you have one

A mentor provides guidance, support, and inspiration to help you reach your personal and professional goals. Without the consistent help of experienced, influential...

The Biggest Hiring Mistake
Why changing the way you hire is an important growth strategy for your organization 

We’re in the middle of an economic downturn! We all know this, and we’ve all been impacted in one way or another by the current state of our economy. Companies are laying off employees and downsizing, and I’m over here writing a column about The Biggest Hiring Mistake you’re making right now. A bit off base? 

Perhaps at first glance, but we are not going to be in this cycle forever and as a business owner, leader, or hiring manager — it’s more important now than ever before that you hire the right talent at the right time for your company’s growing and ever-changing needs. 

I’ve spent countless hours over the past several months working with and coaching a lot of people that have been displaced due to the current economic environment. Some of them were employed with the same company for years, decades even, to...

Habits To Propel You To The Success You Want 

As a high performance coach, I talk about habits with my clients during each and every coaching session. We discuss the importance of habits, how to build them, and which ones are important for them personally. Embracing positive change and developing the right habits to move your life and career forward is a founding principal of high performance.

According to best-selling author and founder of the High Performance Institute, Brendon Burchard:

“The right habits have the ability to help you achieve long-term success and vibrant well-being no matter your age, career, strengths or personality.”

Developing good habits takes time and effort. The Oxford Research Encyclopedia indicates that within psychology, the term “habit” itself refers to a process whereby context or circumstances prompt action automatically, through activation of mental context-action association learned through prior performance. In fact,...

The Most Powerful Sales Tool You Need to Start Using Today!

Sales have changed — forever! Read that again. 

Sales have changed permanently and forever. Don’t believe me? Let’s look at a few facts.

Cold calling is ineffective, if not dead completely. In fact, the success rate of true cold calls is less than 2%, and the success rate of cold emails is less than 3% — so simply put, only 2-3 people out of 100 will actually respond to these methods. And that does not guarantee they’ll actually engage beyond that, much less convert to a sale.

You’re also no longer allowed to simply walk into a building with a stack of catalogs and business cards, going door-to-door passing them out to get the contact info of a buyer. From now on, you’ll have to have an appointment to even get in the building. Always. And to add to all of that — there’s a very high probability that the decision-maker will not be in the office, but working...

In-Person Events Are Back, Now What? 

It’s been a long time coming, but in-person events are finally back! For some people, it’s been over 15 months since they’ve been able to go to an event, meet up with friends, connect with new people, and network.  Although it’s been great to meet people virtually and stretch some new social muscles I didn’t know I had from a distance, there is just something special seeing people face-to-face. As an extrovert and somewhat serial networker, I have sincerely missed these activities, and I’m super excited they are back!

The return of these events means the return of networking, and while not everyone is a fan of networking, it’s a critical activity to grow your business, find a new job, and develop meaningful relationships in business. In fact, according to a recent article published by Apollo Technical, “80% of professionals find networking essential to their career success, and almost...

A New Business Development Strategy

Almost every day, business leaders and salespeople ask me about new, creative ways to find leads, develop opportunities, and build relationships with potential clients. Now more than ever, it can be challenging to reach prospects, especially since most of them are still working from home.

However, business is happening and companies are making decisions about office space, furniture, and making plans for their employees to return to the office. As we’ve all experienced, traditional methods of outreach and networking are not as easy in a virtual world. I’ve written a lot about social selling and things you can do using LinkedIn and other on-line tools, and I hope you are implementing some of these strategies and seeing good results.

But today, I want to share with you how I respond to the question about new leads and why you need to embrace new strategies for today’s market. My answer is one word — Clubhouse! Yes, you need...

Lessons in Leadership from Ted Lasso

Back in March, my family and I had the opportunity to take a mini vacation to the Grand Canyon.  What an amazing place to visit — the perfect Spring Break getaway after a year of being at home. On this trip, I met Ted Lasso, an English Premier League soccer coach for AFC Richmond. 

But here’s the thing, Ted is not a real, live human being — he’s a fictional character on AppleTV’s, Ted Lasso, that debuted last October, and I got the pleasure of meeting him while on vacation.

Now, if you know and follow me, you know I don’t watch a lot of TV... in fact, I hardly watch it at all. If I have down time like that, I’m usually reading, listening to a podcast, or just hanging out with my family. But a couple of weeks before our trip, I was chatting with a friend and he shared this series with me, and I decided that while we were traveling, I’d watch it and give myself a break from professional...