success | A Mild Voice of Reason

Anything vs. Everything

August 30, 2015 No Comments

I spent the last three days in Chicago, attending one of the full meetings of the board of directors for the National Association for Healthcare Quality. As NAHQ’s newly appointed chairman of its Commission for the Recognition of the Profession, I was able to sit in, as an invited guest, on the board’s late-summer meeting.

Interesting thing. One of the consultants who spoke kept repeating a slogan that resonated with me. He said: “You can do anything you want, but you can’t do everything you want.” He was talking about board strategy, but the point holds for everyday life, too.

In the grand scheme of things, many fail because they aim low and achieve even lower. But there’s a flip side to that coin — that you can try to do too many (or too disparate) things, and also fail to achieve.

I’m reminded of the need for balance by my boss and several of my co-workers, who often lament that when they’re on vacation, they still have to work, and they still have to burn the midnight oil to keep up on emails and whatnot. I can sympathize.

Sometimes it’s hard to let go of things we used to do, because they’re a “known known.” But to get to the point where you’ve done anything, you must first stop trying to do everything.

Personal

The ABCs of Fame

December 8, 2013 No Comments

Earlier this week I had laid out a very loose theory (and by “theory” I mean “rhetorical device”) about dancing sprites as an inducement to disquiet. My weekend having been consumed with a trip to East Lansing and back, I had plenty of road time to refine my thinking on the subject.
My original consternation hails from a single source: The recognition that I could be Excellent — capital E, and lauded on the national stage — were I simply to try. When I see people who are Excellent finding happiness and success, I’m not envious of their position, but I am reproachful against the inner demons who conspire against my own success.
Modern-day excellence comes in one of three flavors: Achievement, Beauty or Connection. The connected people are perhaps the easiest to identify; were it not for her sister-in-law being a future queen of Great Britain, for example, no one would know of Pippa Middleton or her shapely derriere. Wealth or family ties foist some people into the spotlight whether they deserve it or not (looking at you, Paris Hilton). So, also, does beauty. Models, musicians, artists, actors — there’s a reason why so few ugly people travel in those circles, and those who do are usually elderly veterans or “character” types who fill a niche. Being of pleasing appearance opens many doors that remain bolted for the merely average.
The achievement category, though — there’s the rub. The ugly and the unconnected can still find success through hard work. A lot of writers fall into this category (cf, “Martin, George R.R.”). So do a lot of folks who wield political or economic power. Bill Gates wasn’t pretty or connected, for example, but he managed to grow a software empire that left him the richest man in the world.
Think of the baseline level of fame it’d take to get automatic VIP treatment at a Vegas nightclub. It’s not terribly high — a B-list actor, a DJ, a model without the “super” status — but there’s nevertheless a bar below which a clubgoer is just another schmuck waiting behind the velvet curtain, and above which you’re acknowledged as being “someone.” This base level of fame is an ABC mix. If any one of the three — achievement, beauty, connection — are high enough, you’re in; if not … the bouncer will check your I.D. in 45 minutes. Maybe.
When I examine my own fame level, I note that although my achievements over the years may put me in, say, the top 10 percent, it’s not enough. You need to be in the top tenth of a percent. I also know that although I’m not ugly, on the “beauty” front I’m fairly average. So no dice there. And connections? Not so much, really.
But the interesting thing is that the formula can change. I can ratchet up my achievements. I can maximize my appearance to be as beautiful as genetics will allow. I can network like crazy, building connections that make future accomplishments that much easier to rack up.
I know all of this. So when I examine what is, and reflect on what could be, I am simultaneously confronted by the excitement to achieve and the lingering fear that it won’t matter no matter how hard I try. Thus the Scylla and Charybdis of Fame: No matter how carefully you set the stage, it’s still a roll of the dice whether you’ll sail through to the other side.
It comes down to one directive: Be excellent. Regardless of the outcome.

Personal

Answering Step Two: Or, How to Beat the Underpants Gnomes at Their Own Game

December 29, 2011 1 Comment

In the second season of South Park, the boys uncover a colony of underpants-stealing gnomes. The gnomes have a purpose for their nefarious deeds — profit. They even have a three-step business plan. Step One: Steal underpants. Step Two: ? Step Three: Profit!

So far, so good. A nice little satire about the business world, yes? How many enterprises start with some sort of asinine idea (say, build a mobile app that does something 37 other mobile apps already do, but differentiate by using “creatif misspellingz” in the app name), and then … profit! Somehow. Err … Umm. Yeah.

But funny thing about those underpants gnomes: Like all good satire, there’s a hidden truth behind the laugh track. In this case, I think the secret is that people are either really good at generating ideas, or at profiting off the ideas of others, but there aren’t that many people who are good at moving something from concept to execution.

Lately I’ve been on a “life as project management” kick (have to put that CPHQ certification to use at some point!). Having taken the week between the holidays as vacation, I’ve enjoyed the spare time to get caught up on a bunch of mundane things like laundry and cleaning — but I’ve also invested considerable effort into figuring out, relative to my goals list, how to get from idea to outcome with maximum efficiency. Long-time blog readers know that I undertook the “idea” phase seriously in late 2007. Prior to that, I drifted in the wind. After that, I had a game plan, a series of goals and attitudes and bucket-list wishes that I intended to guide subsequent decision-making. And I even identified my personal version of the “profit” phase: Being content at what I saw, when I looked at myself and my life’s history on the morning of my 70th birthday.

But darned if I didn’t have a big red question mark in the middle.

Oh, sure. I had an idea that certain goals required certain things to occur in a defined sequence. One of my goals, for example, is to earn my divemaster certification. I am currently open-water certified. To get to divemaster, I’d need to get certified for advanced open water and rescue diving. Then log a minimum of 40 dives to meet eligibility requirements for the divemaster program. But did I ever put those things on a calendar or in my budget? The total cost of getting eligible to earn that divemaster c-card will probably run between $2,500 and $3,000, factoring in the cost of the two major large courses, the cost of air for dives, and all the equipment I’d need. (And don’t get me started on the professional training costs … I think it’s running more than $1,000 these days.)

Again: For a long time, there was just a big red question mark between “I want to be a divemaster” and “Yay, I’m a divemaster.”

And the story repeats for so many other parts of my bucket list. And the thing is, the items on my lifelong goal list aren’t even that unreasonable. The things I want to do in the short term are eminently doable. I’ve just spent so much time defining the concept and clarifying “what done looks like” that I never really said, “Hey, idiot. Are you actually going to make progress on any of these things, or just tweak your goal list year after year?”

So the last few days, I’ve been plotting the execution. I’ve looked at all of the things I want to accomplish in 2012, what the material costs are, what the reasonable timing may be, and then slotting everything on a monthly calendar. Much of it has been guided by a consistent project-management methodology: Identifying scopes and exclusions, setting key dates, budgeting, linking dependencies, noting potential constraints.

The great thing about this exercise is that it provides a sense of purpose, a feeling that one’s actions are leading to a significant conclusion even if any given tasks seem boring in the moment. It also helps to level-set expectations. If I want to get everything in the “Jason 2012” project accomplished as planned, I’m looking at a total cash requirement of between $25,000 and $27,500 and a wrap-up date of September 30. I’ve separated everything into blocks, so that routine living expenses (food, utilities, rent, etc.) are wholly covered by my hospital income, so the costs of my goals require a totally separate source of funding. Like, you know, my business.

Having thus identified the financial resources, I can then back into what I’d need in terms of client development, projects, etc. Suddenly, that $25k doesn’t look so daunting. It’s just roughly $3k per month between now and September. Just $100 per day. I can do that.

And scheduling. Instead of saying, “I’d like to do X in 2012, or Y by 2020” I’ve moved into breaking down complex goals into logical milestones and then scheduling those milestones for a specific month. So, with the divemaster goal — pick up essential diver gear (BCD, regulator, octo, gauge) in February; pick up wetsuit and remaining accessories in March; sign up for advanced training in April; schedule rescue diving training in June; log 40 total dives by Labor Day. At which point, I can enroll in the divemaster program and work through it in September.

And so on, and so on, for a dozen different goals. Heck, I’ve got one item on my task list with a due date in late 2016.

This planning carries within the seeds of implication, though. It means that every day, I need to be focused on the future. It means I need a defined set of tasks that I perform each day, and a mechanism for tracking detailed tasks on an ongoing basis. It means that coming home and thinking, “Hmm. I guess I’ll just veg out on the couch or play Star Wars: The Old Republic for hours” must become a thing of the past. Thanks to a subscription to Office365, I can use the power of Exchange and SharePoint and OneNote to keep all my devices in sync using the right tools for the job.

This story has a moral beyond public peacocking, though. To wit:

The first stage of self-actualization is thinking seriously about who you are and who you aspire to be, removing the pernicious influence of others and understanding the you that most of us keep hidden even from ourselves; done right, it takes months or years — not just an afternoon spent with a pot of coffee and a notebook. The second stage consists in identifying clear life goals — with a solid expectation of what it takes to say you’ve achieved them. Come back to them every few months for a year or so until you know in your heart as well as your head that you really want to make it happen. The third stage is moving from planning to execution, to put away excuses and endless tinkering and simply begin. The fourth stage is, having been successful, you mentor others in the art of success.

In short … we need to beat the underpants gnomes at their own game. A little project management for your life can help.

Personal, Philosophy

Five Strategies

December 12, 2010 No Comments

“Life is a journey.” This trite, overused metaphor — a staple of self-help literature and pseudo-intellectual motivation bloviation — suggests that the essential ingredient to living a happy and fulfilled life is to set goals and then work to achieve them. Tidy and linear.

Great idea, in the abstract, but too simplistic to be useful.

The journey metaphor assumes a few important premises. Most of the folks using it recognize that you need to identify your point of origin as well as your planned destination. You can’t make it to Miami if you don’t know whether you’re presently in Duluth or Las Cruces, for example. The motivational encouragement is therefore predictable: Set goals, and then reflect on where you’re at, so you can create a roadmap for success.

My problem with this approach is that it lacks a mechanism for stopping to smell the roses. Even if you figure out you’re in Duluth and really do want to make it to Miami, the “journey” metaphor and its associated tips and tricks makes precious little room for scenic detours. In fact, according to some self-appointed self-help gurus, the detours are considered failures.

Make no mistake: Reflection and goal-setting remain significant parts of any successful person’s toolkit. But something else is needed — a set of strategies about how to live a fulfilled life that empower people to know when, where, how, why, and if a detour is worth the effort.

For myself, I’ve set five strategies. These were borne from months of reflection and represent concepts that strongly resonate with me — who I am, and who I aspire to be. Each person ought to set his own strategies, to serve as the traffic rules to govern life’s journey.

My strategies include:

Cultivate serenity. Inner turmoil and social drama: the Scylla and Charybdis of emotional maturity. Oh, how seductive the lure of interpersonal drama. A codependent friend, a co-worker with a bad attitude, family dysfunction — these sirens sing to us, lulling us into a cesspool of negative emotion that is damned difficult to escape. It takes a lot of work to remain serene when the world seems to be going to hell around you, but it can be done. Medieval monks nurtured a discipline of “spiritual indifference,” which allowed them to observe and be engaged with those around them while remaining indifferent to the tumult within. It’s an attitude that requires a person to keep his empathy and remain connected to others, yet understanding the importance of maintaining an emotional firewall.
Reduce consumption. Whether it’s too many calories or too much alcohol or too-frequent shopping trips, consumption can rob a person of his resources and vitality. In all things, ask the question: Is this necessary? Do I need it? Why do I want it? The goal isn’t necessarily to live like an ascetic, but rather to ensure that consumption of any kind is necessary and appropriate.
Nurture relationships. Without others, we lack context. Everyone needs a network of people, provided that they are the right people. Surround yourself with people who can do things for you, and who will allow you to do things for them. Avoid the incessantly negative, the narcissistic and the emotionally immature. Connect with people of substance, and keep the relationship alive. Find at least five people you could call at 3 a.m. and know they’d respond without hesitation or reservation, and more importantly — be that person for others.
Exhibit insatiable curiosity. Never stop asking why. Never stop learning. Never stop welcoming new experiences, new friends, new adventures. The person who turns his back on a child-like curiosity about the world and the people within it, loses an essential piece of his humanity.
Do few things, but do them well. People who know me best know that I’m a jack of all trades but master of none. An ocean’s worth of breadth, and a puddle’s worth of depth. My grandfather had a saying: “Anything worth doing, is worth doing right.” That phrase was both inspiration and rebuke. It’s easy to get caught up in master planning, developing a sequence of events, activities and goals that would yield a modern-day Renaissance Man, if only a person had time to do it between all the planning and reflecting. Breadth has its value; a wide perspective allows a person to see the world from different angles, informed by different ideas. Yet depth is important, too; someone who has never really struggled for mastery is, in some sense, locked into perpetual adolescence. Perhaps the solution is to do a few things, but do them well. Be broad, but find a few very important subjects or hard goals and master them.

These strategies govern my decision-making process. The allow me to evaluate whether a deviation or change of plan is good, bad or indifferent. They help foster virtues, attitudes and behaviors that make me a better person irrespective of my pursuit of individual goals.

What are your strategies?

Business Development

How to Succeed in Business Without Selling What’s Left of Your Soul

May 8, 2010 No Comments

I assume, of course, that as you enter the workforce, you took sufficient advantage of your years of schooling to obtain a certain depth and breadth of experience in a number of economic pursuits that are a wee bit more substantial than “burger flipper,” right? You did internships, you volunteered (yes, you can include that on a resume!), you worked jobs that provided experience in your industry while demonstrating that you are capable of discharging responsibilities effectively. Right? Please tell me you aren’t going to an interview for a $50,000-per-year job with “cashier” or “short-order cook” or “A&F model” as your main selling point.

And in terms of job search: Do you have a well-done resume, prepared by someone who understands how to sell you to a prospective employer? Do you have customized cover letters? A suit for interviewing, and a stylist to cut off those dreads and pull out all those facial piercings? Have you sat down with someone in your chosen industry to think through your answers to common interviewing questions?

Anyway, enough of the prep. Here are some tips for surviving in the workplace after you complete your first day of orientation.

Never miss a deadline. Ever. Even if you have to stay in the office until 11 p.m. If you commit to delivering something, then deliver it when you say you will. On those occasions when an external factor affects your ability to achieve a deadline (e.g., a re-prioritization of tasks from your supervisor), make sure that you quickly communicate the delay, with reasons, to your affected customers, with a revised due date; don’t make them track you down after the fact. Missed deadlines — especially when there’s no good reason for it — erode credibility more quickly than any other workplace bad behavior.
Be self-sufficient. The only person responsible for your success is you, so don’t harass the departmental secretary with mundane tasks or seek validation from a superior at every turn. Take ownership of your contribution to the company, and carry your own weight on projects and in group efforts.
Don’t make excuses. Failures are always your fault, even when they aren’t. If you messed up, admit it quickly and apologize. Don’t struggle to find reasons why the failure wasn’t really your fault. Even if you could fairly parcel chunks of responsibility to others, don’t. You will get more respect in the long run if you take your lumps and move on with your head held high, than if you scurry about like the last rat off the sinking ship.
Avoid office gossip and keep confidences. Gossip is the lubrication that keeps the social wheel turning. You can’t avoid it — but try not to get caught up in it. Walking the high road, keeping confidences and squelching rumors goes a long way to improving a person’s social standing in the office.
Learn how to confront others in a respectful way. Cubicle neighbor plays his music too loud? Have a team member who consistently fails to perform? Take the time to learn how to have serious conversations with others that touch on tough subjects. Many people don’t like conflict, but avoidance is not a success strategy. There are several different approaches to having a “crucial conversation” with someone — time invested in learning this skill will pay handsome dividends.
Be humble. No one likes a know-it-all. Even if you know the right answer to a problem, you will do better to engage and persuade than in laying out your own solution. People like to feel consulted with, so swallow your pride and structure a conversation so that your ideas feel like everyone’s ideas. And when it comes time for credit — take your fair share of the blame, but don’t hog more than your fair share of the credit. Recognize those who contributed to your success.
Don’t commit to what you can’t deliver. It’s tempting to promise the world on the basis of a dream, but people-pleasers end up pleasing no one. Be honest about what you can and cannot do, and if you can’t do something, volunteer to help find a solution by another means.
Exceed expectations. Always go one step farther than someone expects. For example, if you own the schedule for a conference room and someone asks if it’s free, instead of saying, “No, it’s booked,” take the time to research an alternative and then say, “I’m sorry, the room is booked, but I took the liberty of reserving this other room for you instead — is that OK?” Delighting your customers by demonstrating superior service is always a career-enhancing strategy.
Keep your work and home lives separate. Don’t argue with your significant other on the phone all day. Don’t bring confidential documents home. Avoid littering your work space with large amounts of personal memorabilia. It’s best to keep a wall of separation between office and living room.
Watch your Web browsing. Office computers are great — but use them only for the office. More and more companies are monitoring everything that employees do on company hardware, so it makes sense to completely avoid using company resources for personal or non-work activities. Want to read news sites during lunch? Great — bring your own laptop.
Dress the part. Each industry and office setting has its own unique culture, but in general, dress a half-step more formally than your peer group. In a general office setting, this might mean wearing ties when everyone else is “business casual.” In an art studio, it means making sure your jeans aren’t ripped and stained like everyone else’s. Better to be at the upper end of proper than the lower end.
Follow policies and procedures. Even when others cut corners, always follow a documented process flow. If something goes wrong, your adherence to policy will be a saving grace. A policy doesn’t exist to irritate you, it exists to fill a need — if a policy seems problematic, then seek changes to it. Don’t merely ignore it.
Ask questions properly. When in doubt, ask. Seek assistance. If something doesn’t make sense, obtain clarification. That said, avoid using questions as a way of being Mr. Smartypants. Don’t pass judgments when asking questions.
Be entrepreneurial. Look for ways to improve processes. Pitch new project ideas. Pursue professional certifications in your off hours. This sends the message that you care enough about your job to do more than just react to incoming work requests.
Stay organized. If you master nothing else, learn how to maintain an effective filing system and a seamless task-management environment. Your files should be clearly labeled and comprehensible. You should be able to convert notes and assignments into a workflow that reduces the odds you will forget something important. If your boss wants to know what you are doing, you should be able to turn around a complete inventory of assignments within three minutes. Don’t be that guy who agrees to do something in a meeting, writes it on the top of the agenda, puts the agenda on a stack, and never looks at it again.
Don’t be the Lone Ranger. Even if you work independently, consistently obtain the advice of people affected by your work product. Don’t give naysayers a reason to torpedo a major project simply because you failed to communicate with them. Involve as many stakeholders as is needed in your work so that (as much as is practicable) you are known for delivering consensus-driven work product, and not “mad genius” work product that people resent because they had no hand in shaping its development. Many a brilliant project was shelved because some of the affected customers felt like they weren’t engaged in the planning process.
Be accessible — within reason. During working hours, people should be able to reach you. Return email and voice mail promptly, and avoid the temptation to wander to strange places to work “in peace.” People will notice your absence, and generally not in a good way. However, think carefully about just how accessible you are during non-work hours. 24×7 availability can set you apart, but it can also create unrealistic expectations and lead to early burn-out.
Keep a tidy desk. Silly? Maybe. But how many CEOs have cluttered desks, compared to the mailroom clerks? A clean desk is a public statement that you are on top of things and well prepared. Perhaps this is more illusion than truth, but in the end, people can only interpret what they can see.
Generate polished work product. Fact: People are more likely to believe the printed word than the spoken word, and people are more likely to trust a document that is aesthetically pleasing compared to one that isn’t. Always take the time to make sure your work product is visually pleasing with solid content.
Don’t game the system. If the office has flexibility about when you come and go, don’t abuse it by consistently coming in significantly later than everyone else, or leaving earlier. Match the standard set by the most-respected member of the department. And you really don’t want to be the person who ruins a good thing for everyone else by taking it to its absurd conclusion.

There. Twenty solid tips. Enjoy!

Business Development

How to Succeed in Business Without Selling What's Left of Your Soul

May 8, 2010 No Comments

Graduation season is upon us once again, and as myriad starry-eyed new grads eagerly leap into the bog that is today’s job market, this tired old man shall shower upon them a few choice words of advice on achieving lasting workplace success.
I assume, of course, that as you enter the workforce, you took sufficient advantage of your years of schooling to obtain a certain depth and breadth of experience in a number of economic pursuits that are a wee bit more substantial than “burger flipper,” right? You did internships, you volunteered (yes, you can include that on a resume!), you worked jobs that provided experience in your industry while demonstrating that you are capable of discharging responsibilities effectively. Right? Please tell me you aren’t going to an interview for a $50,000-per-year job with “cashier” or “short-order cook” or “A&F model” as your main selling point.
And in terms of job search: Do you have a well-done resume, prepared by someone who understands how to sell you to a prospective employer? Do you have customized cover letters? A suit for interviewing, and a stylist to cut off those dreads and pull out all those facial piercings? Have you sat down with someone in your chosen industry to think through your answers to common interviewing questions?
Anyway, enough of the prep. Here are some tips for surviving in the workplace after you complete your first day of orientation.

Never miss a deadline. Ever. Even if you have to stay in the office until 11 p.m. If you commit to delivering something, then deliver it when you say you will. On those occasions when an external factor affects your ability to achieve a deadline (e.g., a re-prioritization of tasks from your supervisor), make sure that you quickly communicate the delay, with reasons, to your affected customers, with a revised due date; don’t make them track you down after the fact. Missed deadlines — especially when there’s no good reason for it — erode credibility more quickly than any other workplace bad behavior.
Be self-sufficient. The only person responsible for your success is you, so don’t harass the departmental secretary with mundane tasks or seek validation from a superior at every turn. Take ownership of your contribution to the company, and carry your own weight on projects and in group efforts.
Don’t make excuses. Failures are always your fault, even when they aren’t. If you messed up, admit it quickly and apologize. Don’t struggle to find reasons why the failure wasn’t really your fault. Even if you could fairly parcel chunks of responsibility to others, don’t. You will get more respect in the long run if you take your lumps and move on with your head held high, than if you scurry about like the last rat off the sinking ship.
Avoid office gossip and keep confidences. Gossip is the lubrication that keeps the social wheel turning. You can’t avoid it — but try not to get caught up in it. Walking the high road, keeping confidences and squelching rumors goes a long way to improving a person’s social standing in the office.
Learn how to confront others in a respectful way. Cubicle neighbor plays his music too loud? Have a team member who consistently fails to perform? Take the time to learn how to have serious conversations with others that touch on tough subjects. Many people don’t like conflict, but avoidance is not a success strategy. There are several different approaches to having a “crucial conversation” with someone — time invested in learning this skill will pay handsome dividends.
Be humble. No one likes a know-it-all. Even if you know the right answer to a problem, you will do better to engage and persuade than in laying out your own solution. People like to feel consulted with, so swallow your pride and structure a conversation so that your ideas feel like everyone’s ideas. And when it comes time for credit — take your fair share of the blame, but don’t hog more than your fair share of the credit. Recognize those who contributed to your success.
Don’t commit to what you can’t deliver. It’s tempting to promise the world on the basis of a dream, but people-pleasers end up pleasing no one. Be honest about what you can and cannot do, and if you can’t do something, volunteer to help find a solution by another means.
Exceed expectations. Always go one step farther than someone expects. For example, if you own the schedule for a conference room and someone asks if it’s free, instead of saying, “No, it’s booked,” take the time to research an alternative and then say, “I’m sorry, the room is booked, but I took the liberty of reserving this other room for you instead — is that OK?” Delighting your customers by demonstrating superior service is always a career-enhancing strategy.
Keep your work and home lives separate. Don’t argue with your significant other on the phone all day. Don’t bring confidential documents home. Avoid littering your work space with large amounts of personal memorabilia. It’s best to keep a wall of separation between office and living room.
Watch your Web browsing. Office computers are great — but use them only for the office. More and more companies are monitoring everything that employees do on company hardware, so it makes sense to completely avoid using company resources for personal or non-work activities. Want to read news sites during lunch? Great — bring your own laptop.
Dress the part. Each industry and office setting has its own unique culture, but in general, dress a half-step more formally than your peer group. In a general office setting, this might mean wearing ties when everyone else is “business casual.” In an art studio, it means making sure your jeans aren’t ripped and stained like everyone else’s. Better to be at the upper end of proper than the lower end.
Follow policies and procedures. Even when others cut corners, always follow a documented process flow. If something goes wrong, your adherence to policy will be a saving grace. A policy doesn’t exist to irritate you, it exists to fill a need — if a policy seems problematic, then seek changes to it. Don’t merely ignore it.
Ask questions properly. When in doubt, ask. Seek assistance. If something doesn’t make sense, obtain clarification. That said, avoid using questions as a way of being Mr. Smartypants. Don’t pass judgments when asking questions.
Be entrepreneurial. Look for ways to improve processes. Pitch new project ideas. Pursue professional certifications in your off hours. This sends the message that you care enough about your job to do more than just react to incoming work requests.
Stay organized. If you master nothing else, learn how to maintain an effective filing system and a seamless task-management environment. Your files should be clearly labeled and comprehensible. You should be able to convert notes and assignments into a workflow that reduces the odds you will forget something important. If your boss wants to know what you are doing, you should be able to turn around a complete inventory of assignments within three minutes. Don’t be that guy who agrees to do something in a meeting, writes it on the top of the agenda, puts the agenda on a stack, and never looks at it again.
Don’t be the Lone Ranger. Even if you work independently, consistently obtain the advice of people affected by your work product. Don’t give naysayers a reason to torpedo a major project simply because you failed to communicate with them. Involve as many stakeholders as is needed in your work so that (as much as is practicable) you are known for delivering consensus-driven work product, and not “mad genius” work product that people resent because they had no hand in shaping its development. Many a brilliant project was shelved because some of the affected customers felt like they weren’t engaged in the planning process.
Be accessible — within reason. During working hours, people should be able to reach you. Return email and voice mail promptly, and avoid the temptation to wander to strange places to work “in peace.” People will notice your absence, and generally not in a good way. However, think carefully about just how accessible you are during non-work hours. 24×7 availability can set you apart, but it can also create unrealistic expectations and lead to early burn-out.
Keep a tidy desk. Silly? Maybe. But how many CEOs have cluttered desks, compared to the mailroom clerks? A clean desk is a public statement that you are on top of things and well prepared. Perhaps this is more illusion than truth, but in the end, people can only interpret what they can see.
Generate polished work product. Fact: People are more likely to believe the printed word than the spoken word, and people are more likely to trust a document that is aesthetically pleasing compared to one that isn’t. Always take the time to make sure your work product is visually pleasing with solid content.
Don’t game the system. If the office has flexibility about when you come and go, don’t abuse it by consistently coming in significantly later than everyone else, or leaving earlier. Match the standard set by the most-respected member of the department. And you really don’t want to be the person who ruins a good thing for everyone else by taking it to its absurd conclusion.

There. Twenty solid tips. Enjoy!