Article By Kevin L. DeWitt

We have so much to be grateful for … and most of us are.  But what do we do when we work hard to achieve something, and yet we still feel less than satisfied? 

Part of the challenge is asking ourselves “do you have enough.”  Part of it has to do with learning to filter everything that the media bombards us with every day … trying to convince us we will never be happy unless…

But today’s basic question is “When we have enough, our needs are met, and perhaps even our goals and dreams are being achieved – and yet we still feel empty and unsatisfied – how can we find the excitement”?  In other words, how to we rekindle the magic of our dreams and find satisfaction? Read More »

Editor’s Note: Make the Days Count is republishing its top 10 articles for the benefit of new readers. This article was first run on December 18, 2008. By Make The Days Count Contributor Philip Wood

Midway through my final year at DePaul University, a recruiting banquet was held at the Chicago Athletic Club for the survivors in the honors accounting program.  For those of us not headed immediately to graduate school, the fete was the culmination of our academic careers. 

Four years prior, dozens of students entered the program.  A brutal attrition rate, however, reduced our number ninety percent by the time the recruiting banquet was held.  The survivors were the guests of honor at the banquet, there to be wined and dined by recruiters from the then Big 8 public accounting firms and other major local corporations. 

Attending the University on an academic scholarship and achieving near perfect grades to date, I believed myself to be at the top of the program.  Blindly arrogant, I expected that I would be the center of attention. Read More »

Article by Make The Days Count Contributor Ann Wilkinson

The news is grim these days.  It’s not pleasant to watch under normal circumstances, but during most of last year it became harder and harder to watch the news without taking it all to heart.

Many of us are just plain scared that our jobs won’t last much longer.  Corporate America is wrecking havoc with our psyche in general as they make the permanent mistake to lay off their employees – a one-time only cost savings at the very best.  It’s increasingly difficult to maintain a positive attitude when you witness friends and family and co-workers lose their jobs.  And those who are left at their jobs now have to work harder rather than smarter.  Morale is low and advice to work harder rather than smarter seems like a slap in the face.

So what can we do? Read More »

This is the First in a Series of Articles on Motivation

By Make The Days Count Contributor Philip Wood

Midway through my final year at DePaul University, a recruiting banquet was held at the Chicago Athletic Club for the survivors in the honors accounting program.  For those of us not headed immediately to graduate school, the fete was the culmination of our academic careers. 

Four years prior, dozens of students entered the program.  A brutal attrition rate, however, reduced our number ninety percent by the time the recruiting banquet was held.  The survivors were the guests of honor at the banquet, there to be wined and dined by recruiters from the then Big 8 public accounting firms and other major local corporations. 

Attending the University on an academic scholarship and achieving near perfect grades to date, I believed myself to be at the top of the program.  Blindly arrogant, I expected that I would be the center of attention. Read More »

Article by Leo Babauta of Zen Habits

For years, books and articles and blogs on productivity have been showing us how to be more productive: crank out the tasks, multi-task, work faster, be organized.  In short, they’ve taught us to be a good part of a corporation that wants more out of us.  But that’s old-school productivity, or Productivity 1.0.

Today let’s take a look at Productivity 2.0: a new set of rules have changed everything for the workers of the world.  Don’t crank out tasks — learn to work with a deeper focus.  Don’t plan and hold meetings and form committees — just launch the software or product or service and keep improving it.  Don’t spend time organizing — you’ve got more important things to worry about. Read More »