Life Balance: How to Convert Professional Success into Personal Happiness (Ultimate Consultant Series)

LIFE BALANCE How to Convert Professional Success into Personal Happiness......Page 3
About the Author......Page 9
Contents......Page 11
Introduction......Page 15
Acknowledgments......Page 17
PART ONE Balance at Work......Page 21
CHAPTER 1 Identify with Contribution Not Task It’s Not Where You Start, but Where You Finish......Page 23
The Input/Output Rule......Page 25
We Build Our Houses; They Shouldn’t Build Us......Page 29
Prisoners of ”Deliverables”......Page 33
The Strategic vs. the Tactical......Page 40
Alan’s Ultimate Lessons......Page 44
CHAPTER 2 Leverage—Archimedes Was Right There’s a Reason Why the ”Big Eight” Have Slimmed Down......Page 45
Reducing Work to Occam’s Razor......Page 46
Working Smart and Not Hard......Page 50
Beyond Perfection......Page 52
How to Have More Time than You Need......Page 56
Four Choices for Action......Page 62
Alan’s Ultimate Lessons......Page 65
CHAPTER 3 Innovation and Risk We’re Here to Make Waves, Not to Stick Our Toes in the Water......Page 67
The Willingness, Not Merely the Freedom, to Fail......Page 68
Testing the Envelope......Page 73
Mid-Flight Test......Page 75
Reinventing Yourself (Repeatedly)......Page 78
Building on Success, Not Correcting Weakness......Page 82
Alan’s Ultimate Lessons......Page 86
PART TWO Balance at Rest......Page 89
CHAPTER 4 There Is Nothing Wrong with Playing to Win If Winning Doesn’t Matter, Why Does Anyone Bother to Keep Score?......Page 91
How You Play the Game May Not Be Enough......Page 92
Creating Personal Challenges......Page 97
The Rational Child Within Us All (Even the Big Shots)......Page 102
Freeing the Rational Child......Page 105
How to Ignore the Score and Reward the Effort......Page 106
Alan’s Ultimate Lessons......Page 110
CHAPTER 5 If You Don’t Reward Yourself, You Reward No One It’s Hard to Lead from the Rear......Page 111
Tithe to Yourself......Page 112
Short-Term and Long-Term Personal Rewards......Page 118
Instantiating Your Dreams......Page 121
When You Wish upon a Star (Making Dreams Come True)......Page 124
Daily, Small Victories......Page 126
Alan’s Ultimate Lessons......Page 132
CHAPTER 6 How Stress Can Help You No One Moves at All Without a Sense of Urgency......Page 133
Constructively Piling It On......Page 134
Working It Off......Page 139
Alan’s Formula for Working Off Stress......Page 141
“Anchor” Positions (Your Stake in the Ground)......Page 142
Changing Tomorrow......Page 148
Alan’s Ultimate Lessons......Page 153
PART THREE Balance in Relationships......Page 155
CHAPTER 7 The Other Person’s Self-Interest May I Please See Your Vacation Slides?......Page 157
Influencing Others Is an Art Form......Page 158
Intelligent Tradeoffs......Page 162
Avoiding Generalizing Specifics......Page 168
Surrendering the Need to Control......Page 172
Alan’s Ultimate Lessons......Page 177
CHAPTER 8 Communicating in the Light of Day I Don’t Believe You Might Have Heard What I Perceived I Thought I Meant......Page 179
Honesty and Authenticity......Page 180
Meta-Talk......Page 183
Cause vs. Blame......Page 188
Selective Openness and Receptivity......Page 193
Alan’s Ultimate Lessons......Page 199
PART FOUR Synthesis......Page 201
CHAPTER 9 Self-Possession and Control of One’s Fate Was Maslow Wrong All Along?......Page 203
The Invidious Nature of Guilt......Page 205
The Courage to Stand Alone......Page 209
The Fallacy of Perception (It’s Not Reality)......Page 212
The Platinum Asset: Intellectual Breadth......Page 218
Alan’s Ultimate Lessons......Page 222
Guilt......Page 223
Zest......Page 224
Fear of Ambiguity......Page 226
Zealotry......Page 227
Irrationality......Page 228
Egocentricity......Page 230
Self-Effacement......Page 231
Context......Page 232
Solitude......Page 233
Culpability......Page 235
Freedom from Failure......Page 236
Conspiracies......Page 238
Trust......Page 239
Not Giving Up......Page 241
Bad Days and Good......Page 243
APPENDIX 150 Techniques for Balance......Page 245
Index......Page 267