An old quote says that you can tell the true nature of a person’s character by the way she/he treats subordinates. according to my experience, this is quite true - in good and bad cases.

Knowing that is hard to be a good leader and that there is a ton of things you can screw up, here are some thoughts about what counts in the long run - because as a leader or a boss you don’t run a business/department/team/… but influence people and their lives… 

The bosses and managers you will remember for the rest of your life are the ones who…

1. provided safe space to grow.
   
2. showed us how.
3. opened career doors.
   
4. defended us when we needed it.
5. developed us as professionals and persons.
6. saw something in us we couldn’t see.
   
7. inspired us to stretch even higher.
   
8. lead by example.
   
9. explained when asked and listened when needed.
10. emphasized our future over the company’s present.
11. ensured us that our work mattered.
12. forgave us when we made mistakes.
    

Try your best to work for someone like this now and to become someone like this later…

Your m

80% of the people you talk to actually don’t care about YOUR problems.
20% are glad you have them.
Fact.

Don’t complain publically.
Never post, blog or brag about your problems. 
Instead: directly approach those few who can and may help. 

Don’t get me wrong:
Think of who might be supportive and ask for help if needed! Asking is a sign of strength, not of weakness!
But: Remain silent or vague towards everyone else! 

What you want is a solution and/or help - not pity, condolences, consent or blame! 

Keep in mind that the vast majority of your high school friends, neighbors, colleagues, followers, etc. will not solve or support!
Therefore, you better keep things to yourself.

Your m

Being an input junkie I consume a lot of information. Actually, almost my entire day is filled with collecting and digesting news, ideas, reports, and thoughts.

• I read (mainly articles, tweets, and blogs)
• I listen (to talks and podcasts)
• I study (businesses and the people building them)
• and most of all I watch (TED Talks, tutorials, documentaries, etc.)

I think to collect and analyze relevant information, always looking for useful data and learning - this is a great way to learn (= to get better) and probably among the smartest things to spend your time on.

But I have noticed one thing:

We, the generation that cannot leave the apartment without a device and headphones have forgotten how silence feels and how useful it is.

Here is my theory on this one:

Your mind appears to work in one of two modes: it is either all about receiving and analyzing or about creating and sending. You are either learning about the thoughts of others or making up your own ones - never both at the same time.

As you can only speak OR listen - you can only consume OR create. Focus outside OR inside.

As long as you are reading this post you will not be able to come up with an answer to your current main problem. That is not a problem in general - just something to be aware of.

Here is my recommendation:

1. Get as much interesting stuff in your head as you can manage.
2. But keep moments of silence - to create, think, and to develop/invent ideas and solutions.
3. Give yourself some time in silence (that means to distraction, not even background music), and wait for thoughts to come. Every thought is fine.
   

You will learn what really bothers you and what you are capable of - if only the stream of information stops for a bit…

Get a notebook or a sheet of paper and some silence… everything else follows.

Pro hack: headphone with no music on it work great to put the world on mute no matter where you are.

Your m

successentials:

A couple of weeks ago I tumbled over an article named “35 things you should do for your career by the time you turn 35″ by dailymuseblog​ / @dailymuse.

Annotation: You don’t need to check every box off this list by the time you’re 35. It is more a list of suggestions that, can have a big impact on your career.

Find the entire article with all point explained in detail (same numbering) here: http://mashable.com/2014/11/29/35-career-goals/

---

I felt free to highlight the items I personally believe to be the most important ones:

1. Really refine your elevator pitch

2. Know your superpower

3. Know your weakness

4. Learn how to delegate

5. Know your career non-negotiables

6. Do something you’re really, really proud of

7. Learn from something you’re not so proud of

8. Stretch your limits

9. Do something that really scares you

10. Get comfortable with getting feedback

11. Get comfortable with giving feedback

12. Get comfortable with saying no

13. Have a broad network of people you can trust

14. Have a couple of specific career advisors

15. Scrub your online presence

16. Perfect your LinkedIn profile

17. Have a portfolio of your best work

18. Know how to sell (yourself or something else)

19. Know how to negotiate

20. Know how to manage up

21. Know how to send a killer email

22. Master your handshake

23. Find a to-do list system that works for you

24. Know your energy levels — and use them

25. Know how much sleep you need and commit to getting it

26. Know how to manage stress

27. Stop over-apologizing

28. Get over impostor syndrome

29. Have a career emergency plan

30. Pick up a side project

31. Invest in your retirement

32. Invest in yourself

33. Invest in the world

34. Know what you don’t want

35. Give yourself permission to go after what you do

PS: In case you are over 35 already - please apply the same list and simply extend it to your needs and experiences ;-) Numbers don’t matter this time…

Still true.
Still worth sharing.
Still recommended.

Your m

A quick personal story:

I changed my job a while ago. I changed it for the better - in pretty much every way possible. I am truly happy with that decision and how things turned out.

But to be honest with you in daily business I often forget about all the positive changes and the advantages, I forget about the bad days I had in the old position and all the negative stuff I had to deal with day in and day out.

But every Thursday morning I receive a push notification on my phone saying:

“Input weekly report - 2pm”

… reminding me to hand in my content for the weekly report to my former manager. I had once set this alarm to make sure that I meet the deadline on this weekly doing… (btw: I felt no pleasure whatsoever going through project plans, spreadsheets and various calendars to put this stuff together) but today those lines create a moment of joy and gratefulness every single week.

The reminder that was intended to remind me now has a different meaning but still reminds me of something - something way more important.

For a weird reason, we are not grateful for what we have in life…
But chances are good that things might change immediately as soon as you put on the shoes you wore yesterday and think of what things were like back then.

That is what that alert does for me and why still keep it - as stupid as it probably is.

Your m

On 3 June 2016 one of the greatest and most inspirational sportsmen in history died.

For years I have read and watched everything I could find about him.

These are the four most powerful lessons and thoughts I learned from “The Greatest”…   

First of all, YOU have to see it… 

“Champions aren’t made in gyms. Champions are made from something they have deep inside them - a desire, a dream, a vision.“

Ali knew that he is made for greatness. He deeply believed that he is (going to be) the best there is in his sport - and he was never shy to let the world know… But apart from all the rhymes and jabs - he was a master of the inner dialog, the maestro of his own mind. 

He saw greatness when nobody else saw him at all. 

We are all salesmen

Ali was a sales genius marketing his own brand - long before the word personal brand was even invented. You wanna know what that looked like: 

But don’t get that wrong: all the bragging would not have had the effect that it had, hadn’t his actions followed his words! But it started with the show and the marketing. He managed to become a famous person, a hero, a media phenomenon and a sports brand respected and admired for decades - to the very last day of his life and beyond.

(His worlds would not have been enough to do so - that is for sure. But his boxing wouldn’t have either.)

Preparation is everything

"The fight is won or lost far away from witnesses - behind the lines, in the gym, and out there on the road, long before I dance under those lights.”

He trained like a machine (hating every minute of it). He was disciplined and mentally strong. Not just a showman. He delivered. And he only could because of his relentless preparation regime.

An example:

Once asked for the number of situps he does in a normal workoput he replied: “I have no idea. I start when it starts hurting.”

Being great inspires greatness in others 

Ali became more than a boxer. He became a legend, a world known brand, and an icon. 

Because of his success, his personality, and his courage…

I have no idea if Ali knew what we do today - but in retrospective, he managed to inspire athletes all around the planet across all kinds of sports and over decades. He inspired sports brands, managers as well as school kids to believe in their goals and to work hard.

To take away:
You may not box like Ali, you may not float like a butterfly or dance like the heavy-weight champ…

… but you can believe in yourself, market your band, prepare and perform like him!

And you can inspire those around you - by being The Greatest version of you!

Your m - dancing, floating, stinging…

(This is an ad made by a beer brand - stating the message completely wrong. Alc is NO problem solver!! I just use the picture for illustration…!)

Why I share: this what we all do. This is what we actually get the money for. We are all problem solvers!

Responsibility in a job is nothing but the allowance to take on larger problems. 

My personal recommendation: 

Do join the problem solvers team! Always keep your eyes on the solution (not the challenge) and accept the fact that the problems you face are the reason you do have a job. 

See them as the wind you need to sail. 
And sail/solve.  

your m

We do not only work for a brand or a company but also for a person: your boss. But for any reason most people (especially young professionals) choose a job, care for the salary, the desk, the company car, the new laptop, the business card - but not (too much) for the person they will interact most. 

I recommend - especially if your are early in your career: 

Follow someone you can learn from.
SHOP A BOSS.

This person will (most likely) influence your future career a lot more than the company or the brand or even your polished CV. 

He/She will determine what challenges you face in your daily work, and how much you will be able to take away for tasks and positions to come.

Your m

… the approximate duration of your professional career.
(If you wanna do the math: 40 years x 50 weeks per year x 40 hours a week.)

… pretty long time for looking at the clock & counting hours - right?!

Here’s a little idea of mine: 

If 80,000 hours is the overall duration of your career and you tend to have an 8-hour-workday… that means that you’ll sit at that desk over those papers you hate, next to the boss you dislike about 10,000 days of your life!

Not the money, not the prestige, not even the pride of your parents… THIS is the reason why choosing a career is among the three single most important decisions in your life!

And here comes the best part of it: 

Different from marriage or becoming a father or mother you make that decision EVERY morning when leaving the house on the way to work.

Or as Mr. Steve Jobs once expressed it (a bit more dramatically): 

“I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: “If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?” And whenever the answer has been “No” for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something.”

Your m

This post is based on an article by Kevin Kruse at forbes.com - he interviewed over 200 ultra-productive people including seven billionaires, 13 Olympians, 20 straight-A students and over 200 successful entrepreneurs. 

Key question: 
“What is your number one secret to productivity?”

Here are some frequently mentioned answers: 

#1: They focus on minutes, not hours.

Highly successful people know there are 1,440 minutes in every day and there is nothing more valuable than time. Money can be lost and made again, but time spent can never be reclaimed. 

#2: They focus only on one thing.

Ultra productive people know their Most Important Task (MIT) and work on it for one to two hours each morning, without interruptions.

#3: They don’t use to-do lists.

Throw away your to-do list; instead schedule everything on your calendar. It turns out only 41% of items on to-do lists are ever actually done. Highly productive people put everything on their calendar and then work and live from that calendar. “Use a calendar and schedule your entire day into 15-minute blocks. It sounds like a pain, but this will set you up in the 95th percentile…”, advises the co-founder of The Art of Charm, Jordan Harbinger.

#4: They beat procrastination with time travel.

Your future self can’t be trusted. That’s because we are “time inconsistent.” We buy veggies today because we think we’ll eat healthy salads all week; then we throw out green rotting mush in the future. Anticipate how you will self-sabotage in the future, and come up with a solution to defeat your future self.

#5: They make it home for dinner.

Highly successful people know what they value in life. Yes, work, but also what else they value. There is no right answer, but for many, values include: family time, exercise, giving back. They consciously allocate their 1,440 minutes a day to each area they value (i.e., they put it on their calendar) and then they stick to the schedule.

#6: They say “no” to almost everything.

Billionaire Warren Buffet once said, “The difference between successful people and very successful people is that very successful people say ‘no’ to almost everything.” And James Altucher colorfully gave me this tip, “If something is not a “hell, YEAH! Then it’s a “no!”

#7: They delegate almost everything.

Ultra-productive people don’t ask, “How can I do this task?” Instead they ask, “How can this task get done?” Ultra-productive people don’t have control issues and they are not micro-managers.

#8: They theme days of the week.

Highly successful people often theme days of the week to focus on major areas. Example: “Mondays for Meetings” and one-on-one check-ins; Fridays for financials and general administrative items…

#9: They practice a consistent morning routine.

My single greatest surprise while interviewing over 200 highly successful people was how many of them wanted to share their morning ritual with me. Hal Elrod, author of The Miracle Morning, told me, “While most people focus on ‘doing’ more to achieve more, The Miracle Morning is about focusing on ‘becoming’ more so that you can start doing less, to achieve more.”

#10: Energy is everything.

You can’t make more minutes in the day, but you can increase your energy which will increase your attention, focus, decision making, and overall productivity. Highly successful people don’t skip meals, sleep or breaks in the pursuit of more, more, more. 

Instead, they view food as fuel, sleep as recovery, and pulse and pause with “work sprints.”

Hope you find something useful in those tricks and advises… I did. 

Your m