“Discerning” is one of those words that has several nuances. A discerning eye or ear implies a certain level of sophistication. Discerning one’s calling implies listening and detecting a path based on a spiritual or inner compass.

Many years ago, I remember being in a particularly rough patch with my first job. We were working crazy hours and my supervisor was operating from a protective mindset. I was offered another job with a spin off company, but something didn’t quite “feel” right.

Being mindful is one of those concepts that seems so simple on the surface, but is quite deep and profound. The simplest definition of being mindful is being present; being aware of your surroundings, your thoughts, your feelings at any given moment.

“Cat: Where are you going? Alice: Which way should I go? Cat: That depends on where you are going. Alice: I don’t know. Cat: Then it doesn’t matter which way you go.” ― Lewis Carroll This quote from Alice and Wonderland is a great example of what it looks like to be aimless...

Being productive is all about action — it’s moving forward and making progress, marking off “to do” items and feeling a sense of accomplishment and achievement. In one sense, being productive is just how much you can churn out.

There is a beautiful tension between generating ideas and being realistic. If we are realistic without pushing our creativity, we will get some things done, but certainly not great things. However, if we generate ideas without evaluating what is realistic, we may never achieve anything at all!

A rational person is sensible and commonsensical; reasoned and reasonable. In the workplace, rational people exude calmness and steadiness that is comforting to those on their team.

When I was a management consultant, we had a very complex project that was rife with political pitfalls. Some of the best management advice I’ve ever had came from my director Robert, who would ask repeatedly, “What are the facts?”

In today’s society, logic is often deemed to be the opposite of emotional, but I don’t see the two as mutually exclusive. The key is awareness. You can have emotions and be logical… but you can’t be overwhelmed with emotions and still be logical.