Experts Blogs

Research by psychologist K. Anders Erikson has shown that it requires approximately 10,000 hours of intentional practice, with coaching, to become an expert. Ten thousand hours is roughly equivalent to ten years of putting in 20 hours of practice a week. The importance of perseverance and practice is obvious. Every bit as essential to becoming great, yet less obvious, is the importance of the character strengths of humility and love. Humility encourages you to seek and truly accept coaching, and love is what allows you to give and receive the relational support of others needed to persevere through the inevitable...

Recently, the Ask Amy column in The Denver Post had an interesting piece from a small business owner about hiring young folks. Dear Amy: I am trying to get through to people and teenagers how to apply for jobs and how to keep the job once they get it. I own a small deli and grocery store, and I have tried to hire and keep good help.  People show up wearing short tops baring their midriffs, and rings in their noses, eyebrows, lips and belly buttons. They often have very poor hygiene.  Employees take calls from and make calls to...

The next time you are tempted to say something hurtful to someone just because you?re angry, you might want to stop and remember this story: it?s a keeper. (Author Unknown, found online at Inspiration Peak.com.) There once was a little boy who had a bad temper. His father gave him a bag of nails and told him that every time he lost his temper, he must hammer a nail into the back of the fence. The first day the boy had driven 37 nails into the fence. Over the next few weeks, as he learned to control his anger, the...

Years ago, when I was in graduate school, I wrote a paper called "It Started with a Yawn." I noticed that when people got together and one person yawned, others yawned within seconds afterwards. Some researchers have claimed that yawning could control brain temperature so that it does not reach extremes. A team of researchers led by Andrew Gallup of Princeton University analyzed the pattern of yawning in people during winters and summers and found that a significantly higher number of participants yawned in the winter then they did during summers. This led the researchers to think that yawning must be serving...

This morning I was sitting in a Board meeting. Here’s the scenario: I’m a brand new member, it’s my first meeting, and I don’t have as much experience in the field as other people on the Board. You can imagine what I was tempted to think: “Should I speak up?” or “Will they think what I say is stupid?” This topic was on my mind because several of the participants in my ‘just-ended’ Confidence at the Core* program were afraid of speaking up and taking a stand when they started the program six weeks ago. But now they say “I am confident....