Raf Sanga dot com

This post originally appeared in Inc . The pursuit of an entrepreneurial venture feels a lot like jumping off a high cliff into deep water. It's scary at first and there's no going back once you leap, but after you muster up the courage, it is one of life's most exhilarating experiences. Before you hastily rush into a triple backflip dive, it is best to do some homework and prepare. Is the water deep enough to attempt a safe dive? Has anyone jumped from this point before (and survived)? After I jump, is there a way for me to get back to land safely? Is getting hurt worth the risk? Entrepreneurship is no different. Success is about more than just quitting your job and leaping head over heels into your venture. You first have to do your homework. It's hard to define the right time to begin a new endeavor, and the reality is no time is ever going to be perfect. But before you take the plunge, here are three questions to consider. 1) Are you personally a...

View image | gettyimages.com This post originally appeared in HBR. We all have limited time, and despite our best efforts at triage, email and meetings will probably always remain low-grade annoyances. But if you want to dramatically enhance your productivity, it pays to zero in on the biggest source of stress and wasted time: problematic clients. Some entrepreneurs and executives fight to hold onto business at all costs, recognizing that it’s easier to retain a customer than to win a new one. That’s true, but many business leaders are loath to fire clients, even when it’s the right move. I’ve been a consultant for the past nine years, and my client list today looks dramatically different than it did when I launched, in large part because of strategic decisions I made to let some clients go and take on others. Here’s how to recognize when it’s time for your business relationship to end. When you’re doing work you no longer want to do . In the early days of ...

View image | gettyimages.com This article originally appeared in Inc.com If you spend even 10 minutes watching the talking heads on cable, or reading the op-eds on Sunday in your favorite paper, you realize those well-dressed people on television and commentators in the newspaper go to incredible length to try to "prove" every argument made before theirs was wrong. That's just dumb. You know why people attack everything that has come before. We live in a hyper-competitive environment when it comes to getting someone's attention, and so if you have something new, you may feel compelled to come up with a gimmick such as "everything you know is wrong" in order to get people to notice what you have to say. Well, let me try to get your attention a different way. I want to present you with a proven approach to dealing with uncertainty in all forms, i.e. what you should do when you don't know what to do. I know it works b...

This post originally appeared in HBR "It’s just not fair. There’s always too much to do. Everyone just keeps piling more work on me. I feel so helpless." Sound familiar? If so, you’re not alone. Many people feel like they have a crushing number of requests coming at them from every side that make them a victim to their circumstances. They see forces outside themselves as the reason that they don’t have time to exercise, can’t leave work at a reasonable time, or just generally struggle to get everything done. Although there are occasionally situations that are outside of your control — that recent bout with the flu, for example — most aren’t. And even though it can feel gratifying in the short term to blame others for your situation, this attitude toward your  time investment will leave you truly powerless in the long run. When you play the victim with your time, everything around you suffers. You’re constantly on edge in your interactions with others because you f...

Good read from a Lifehacker article . When you're preparing for an interview, there are a few questions that you absolutely must know how to answer (like "tell me about yourself") because they're common and will guide most of the interview. But "why  this  company?" might be the trickiest, because it's not about you. This post originally appeared on  The Muse . So, how do you approach this super-common interview question without leaning on your resume and without sounding like every other candidate who goes on about how excited he or she is to work for a company that "values transparency" and has a "great company culture?" To help you get started, here are four angles to consider. 1. Acknowledge the Company's Uniqueness The key to answering this question well is being specific. If you can give the same answer to another company, then you're clearly not being detailed enough. In other words, your answer should be ...

If you’re working in the kitchen of Anthony Bourdain, legendary chef of Brasserie Les Halles, best-selling author, and famed television personality, you don’t dare so much as boil hot water without attending to a ritual that’s essential for any self-respecting chef:  mise-en-place. The “Meez,” as professionals call it, translates into “everything in its place.” In practice, it involves studying a recipe, thinking through the tools and equipment you will need, and assembling the ingredients in the right proportion before you begin. It is the planning phase of every meal—the moment when chefs evaluate the totality of what they are trying to achieve and create an action plan for the meal ahead. For the experienced chef, mise-en-place represents more than a quaint practice or a time-saving technique. It’s a state of mind. “Mise-en-place is the religion of all good line cooks,” Bourdain wrote in his runaway bestseller  Kitchen Confidential . “As a cook, your station, an...

George is the most talented, productive executive Roy ever had to fire. George had pulled off a string of celebrated victories and won a reputation as a strong performer. Having been hired to lead his hospital’s compliance program as regulations grew increasingly complex, he had put the policies and procedures into order, achieving a goal that had eluded the organization for years. Roy was grateful that this burden had been lifted off his shoulders. In fact, he was so smitten that he didn’t notice what else was going on — that George (and for the record, this is a composite case) had alienated colleagues and failed to create the sense of urgency needed to persuade employees to complete the required training. George’s excellent work was of little value if it wasn’t fully implemented throughout the organization. As other team members started to complain, Roy made repeated attempts to coach George to improve his interpersonal and communication skills, but George rebuffed him. ...