#HR #RRHH Making love and making personal #branding #leadership

Psychologist John Gottman can predict whether or not a married couple will be together five years later with startling 90 percent accuracy. How does he do it?

He watches them argue.

The ability to engage in healthy, productive debate is not only essential for ensuring a long marriage--it's also the key determinant of high performing teams.

A recently released six-year study cites the ability to manage conflicting tensions as the most critical predictor of top-team performance. Berkeley research shows teams that debate their ideas have 25 percent more ideas altogether and that companies like Pixar embrace healthy debate as a vital part of their performance (in its case to make better films).

Does it ever seem like some people you know are advancing rapidly in their careers or businesses, while you seem to be just plodding along? Chances are you're not doing one simple thing that can make all the difference to achieving your goals. You're not putting yourself first.

In the personal finance world, experts often advise people to "pay yourself first." The idea is that when a paycheck or other payment comes in the first thing you should so is put a portion of it into your savings and only then pay your bills and other financial obligations.

Most of us, of course, instinctively do the opposite. We first pay our bills and then put money into savings if there's any left over. The problem, of course, is that there very rarely is any money left over. So our bills get paid, but we never manage to save much, making it impossible to reach our financial goals. This is why 401(k) programs are so powerful: They literally force you to pay yourself first by putting money into savings before you can pay anyone else.

They said computers would make us all a lot more productive, and free up our personal lives.

Is it just me, or was that all a big, fat porkie?

The technology that was supposed to bring us this gift of freedom has entrapped us, eroding valuable time, energy and attention. Don't get me wrong, I love new technology. But let's take a reality check and go back to using it to help us do our jobs, not to dictate and distract every waking moment.

Here are seven key productivity traps to be mindful of:

LinkedIn, once your online resume, has morphed into your opportunity to introduce yourself to others and attract the attention of those who need to know you. However, mindsets are slow to shift, and those who still consider LinkedIn nothing more than a digital resume are missing out on some of the biggest opportunities LinkedIn has ever offered. In a world that is becoming more virtual, with remote work becoming the norm, LinkedIn often delivers your first impression. To make sure you come across as the wildly interesting, compelling, and accomplished person you are, focus on the following six elements of your profile.

You're blurry-eyed and slack-jawed at your desk, staring at a to-do list so long you feel like you could wrap it around the entire earth -- twice. Yes, we've all found ourselves in this stressful situation every now and then.

Facing a to-do list that feels completely unmanageable isn't fun. In fact, it's usually enough to make me want to curl up under my desk in the fetal position and hide until all of those pesky tasks dissolve away.

But, unfortunately, that tactic has yet to work out for me. So, I've had to find another method to deal with my mile-long list of assignments.

I've tried my fair share of productivity tips, tricks, and hacks that promise to help me grab the bull by the horns and conquer my to-do list with confidence and a healthy dose of strategy. However, I've found that most of those (although, not all!) really only manage to serve as a distraction and slow me down.

Instead, I prefer to keep things basic, simple, and intuitive. So, when looking at my overwhelming to-do list, I always ask myself this one quick and easy question to pare down my tasks and channel my focus:

Does this absolutely need to be done today?

I know, it's so straightforward and obvious, you're likely groaning and rolling your eyes at me right now. But, it's actually an important inquiry that most people skip when creating their own lists. Humor me and allow me to dive in and explain why this question is so effective.