About Michael Hyatt

Are you waiting for someone to give you permission to lead, grow, or move in your organization? What if you already have all the permission you need? I was recently invited to sit on a board and observed something there I’ve seen countless times in other settings. Some people around the table had no trouble […]

The two most powerful words in the English language are yes and no. Unfortunately, they’re also the hardest to master. Like you, I have more opportunities and requests than time and energy. I’m better than ever at discerning the good from the bad, but I still sometimes agree to a project or meeting, instantly realize […]

You might be familiar with The Shawshank Redemption. Remember the storyline? Andy Dufresne, innocent of any crime, is saddled with a life sentence in Shawshank Prison. The experience nearly kills him and his hope for freedom. I filtered the movie through my own experience. Stuck in my day job, I felt imprisoned from my potential. […]

It’s easy for me to overdo things. I know, shocker. What can I say? I like getting things done. But the problem is that when I overdo, I underperform. For people driven to achieve, it’s a common trap. Even if we pare things down to the essentials, we can plow so deep into those that […]

I’m not sure if you noticed, but something amazing just happened in the world of publishing. And I think it’s a sign we all could benefit from noticing. When book designer Adam Lewis Greene decided to create a better Bible, he didn’t do it the way most publishers do. He didn’t commission a new translation. […]

There’s nothing more useless than unfinished projects. But it’s easy to watch them stack up, isn’t it? So what can we do to wrap them up and ship them out? I’ve been thinking a lot about unfinished projects since watching this video by my friend, Jeff Walker. Don Miller has also talked recently about completing […]

Whenever an organization rolls out a major change, clarity and alignment are essential. Without those two things all the best intentions amount to little more than heartburn and headaches. As a leader responsible for a large company, I have experienced the difficulty of getting clarity and creating alignment with my team. In one instance, we […]

When we see what others have, is our basic reaction to notice what we’re missing or express gratitude for what we have? I’ve thought a lot about about this question over the years but came back to it recently when I found myself feeling a little jealous over all the vacation posts popping up on […]

Have you ever found yourself in a hyper-productive period? You’re making progress on your goals, checking boxes on your list. It’s like music to your ears. But to everyone else in your life, it’s more like noise. When I first started in publishing I was determined to succeed. I would get to the office at […]

You may have heard me talk about marketing guru Jeff Walker. Forbes magazine called him the 400 million dollar man. Just last year, I bought his online course called The Product Launch Formula. I paid $2,000. (I know, it’s a lot.) But it was worth every penny. I recouped my investment in the first ten […]

I’ve worked with several executive assistants over the years, and I have found it is a make-or-break relationship when it comes to my success. Think about it: None of us can do it all on our own. We need to bring others into our work to help us succeed in it. And the bigger the […]

Starting things is simple. It’s progress that’s hard. Nothing makes that truth come alive like looking back on your week and seeing what didn’t get finished. When we begin a project there’s all kinds of enthusiasm. We’re energized by that surge of excitement that comes from novelty and our own creativity. But that surge is […]

If you want your message to reach the maximum number of people, a blog is hands down the best means I know. But who’s got time? It doesn’t matter if I’m speaking with someone just starting to blog or someone who’s been building their platform for a few years, the No. 1 struggle people face […]

I’ve been thinking a lot about sleep recently. Most research shows that we don’t get enough, and our deficit is seriously hurting our productivity, our physical health, even our mental well being. Leaders and business writers like Arianna Huffington and Tom Rath are devoting more time to the topic. Greg McKeown’s Essentialism, a book I’m […]

A few weeks ago, I invited you to be a part of the Platform Conference with a special price for my readers ($150 lower than the published price when you register with the code HYATT now through the end of TODAY, June 19th). [vimeo id=”96603623″] Since then, I’ve gotten a few question from my readers. […]

Lousy communications is one of the biggest challenges any team faces. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve lost files, even whole conversation threads, in email. And no one likes triaging an inbox, even with a good system. So what if we had a better solution? We do, thanks to a team of online […]

You may have heard me talk about marketing guru Jeff Walker. Forbes magazine called him the 400 million dollar man. Just last year, I bought his online course called The Product Launch Formula. I paid $2,000. (I know, it’s a lot.) But it was worth every penny. I recouped my investment in the first ten […]

Success has many determining factors, including dumb luck. But I’ve been thinking of one lately that’s largely indispensable and totally learnable—persistence. Have you ever felt like bailing on that one thing you know you’re supposed to do?

Our society puts a high value on achievement but not much on rest. I hear people brag about how much they work and play but never how much they sleep—usually the opposite. But what if sleep could help you achieve more? My team and I just finished launching the Get Noticed! Theme for WordPress, and […]

The desire to create lasting transformation in the world is what really drives us as leaders, right? Since the news of her death, I’ve been thinking a lot about Maya Angelou. Her legacy offers several valuable insights for living a life of true significance. The odds were against Angelou in her early years. Her parents […]

Ever since I began blogging, productivity has been one of my most popular topics. But I’m convinced we’re not always productive for the right reasons. Maybe this is why many people are productive but miserable. Over my career I’ve been entrusted with a lot of responsibility. At one time, I was responsible for the well-being […]

Because it will take longer than two minutes to write the action down on your to-do list, organize it, get back up to speed later, and complete the task. … And it will keep your to-do lists much shorter. [smartads] Here are four ways to cut your to-do list in half: Understand the five basic decisions.

For years, I have used the concept of “templating” to improve my productivity. The idea is that you create a template for any task that you find yourself doing repeatedly. So instead of “reinventing the wheel” every time, you do it once, save it as a template, and then reuse it.

You know it’s time to declare email bankruptcy when you are experiencing the following four symptoms. If this is true of you, I provide a seven-step strategy for wiping the digital slate clean and starting over.