Posts tagged as:

happiness

Being Positive

by Alec Satin

This morning I found myself once again taking a negative tone in a conversation. A coworker was speaking to me about the benefits of life in Australia over the United States. When I came to myself I realized that I was again spouting facts and figures about the declining US Middle Class (see here, here, or here). All these things may be true. But who likes a pontificator? I sure don’t want to be one.
Negativity as an indicator
When I catch myself holding negativity in a conversation, I’m usually feeling indignation at an injustice being done to some group of people.
This [...]

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What to learn next…it’s your big chance

by Alec Satin

A senior project manager started work in an IT Project Management Office. He had more than 15 years of experience, interviewed well and came with good references. At first everything seemed fine. Yet he appeared stressed whenever he had to join a conference line, connect to the internet messaging client (which was a requirement for work at home), or publish a project plan. It turns out that he did not know how to operate Windows XP, and was at the most basic level with MS Word.

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How to Say Goodbye When a Workmate Leaves

by Alec Satin

Saying Goodbye to Colleagues: The Great Cube Cleanout continues to touch a chord with people as evidenced by comments and email messages. That post was written from the perspective of the one leaving.
As a follow up, here are some thoughts on what to do when you stay and someone else leaves.
Don’t Lie
Some people are not all that pleasant to work with. If the person leaving is someone you don’t care for, the saying, If you can’t think of anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all is good to remember. It’s sometimes far easier to say all kinds of [...]

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Do you dare make the 7-fold commitment to your life?

by Alec Satin

Will you come to the end of your life wishing you had done something else? The Daily Minder’s recent
post on Precious Human Life started me thinking about the choices that guarantee a life of full aliveness.
The PM and Personal Oomph
A project manager is by definition a leader. That personal essence that she brings into everything she does will speak louder than anything else she may wish to communicate.
Your personal oomph can be clarified and turbo-charged by making what I call a 7-fold commitment to your life.
What is a 7-fold commitment to life?
A 7-fold commitment is your scope statement for an excellent life. By making these seven [...]

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Phyrric Victory or When the Medicine is Worse Than the Disease – The Project Manager from Hell Series

by Alec Satin

This is an article in the Project Manager from Hell Series. Each entry is based on a real life situation. I’ll include what the project manager did, what happened next, and what they could have done to get things back on track. My goal in telling these stories is to help you and I both avoid making similar mistakes on our own projects. Ready to be horrified? Let’s begin.
First A Few Rules About Trust
Rule 1. If you can’t trust the people on your team, you have a problem.
Rule 2. If you can’t trust anyone, you have a bigger problem. You [...]

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