Something that comes up a lot in discussion with my Clarity Session clients and even among participants after my keynote presentations is how to manage public speaking anxiety. People frequently comment on how calm I appear to be on stage and are always surprised to learn that presentation jitters are very much something I contend with every single time I get on stage, too.   However, I will also admit that my experience with presentation anxiety has morphed over time. The nerves don’t “get...

Self-awareness is the most important workplace skill. Here’s why. One skill clearly stands out to me as being the most important: self-awareness. Let me explain why.   What is self-awareness.   Self-awareness is the quality of moving within, of examining our thoughts, emotions, biases, reactions, experiences, strengths, and weaknesses and seeing how those interact and intersect with the world around us. You might consider introspection, mindfulness, and meta-cognition as synonyms.   When a...

Multi-tasking costs you more than you think.   Multi-tasking can make us feel like we're being productive but it comes at a cost most of us underestimate.   I know this flies in the face of what you see and hear in the workplace. The ability to multi-task has been glorified for years, even being listed as a desirable skill on performance appraisals and job postings.   What is multi-tasking?   Before I explain why multi-tasking isn’t the edge you might think it is, let’s agree on what...