Many people -- myself included -- let life get them down sometimes. We fret over the fact that life never quite seems perfect -- there's always a problem to be resolved, an issue to be addressed. Here's the reality: Life was never perfect before, it won't be perfect today, and it won't be so in the future either. We can do things to put our ducks in a row as best as we can, but we can't just sweep everything under a rug and go about our business. It doesn't work that way. As counterintuitive as this may sound, it's a good thing that life presents a steady stream of challenges. It keeps us on our toes and striving to better ourselves. Can you imagine a life completely devoid of worries or goals? We'd have nothing to look forward to if things remained the same day in and day out. Of course, you want to minimize the stress in your life and not allow problems to tailspin into crises. But you shouldn't feel despondent over the fact that your l...

Whether you're striving to fulfill a long-held dream or resolve a vexing problem, I'm here to tell you one thing: you can do it. There's really no way around it. You have no choice but to believe you're capable of doing it; otherwise, you won't get very far. Yankees great Yogi Berra once quipped, "It ain't over till it's over." What that means is that until you've thrown in the proverbial towel -- until you've given up -- you have a fighting chance at success. Instead of sitting around and serving up excuses for why you can't do something, try a different approach. With every unsuccessful attempt we gain more wisdom and experience, making us a bit more likely to triumph next time. Positive thinking attracts positive outcomes. However, success doesn't come without hard work, persistence, and sacrifice. It usually requires a serious investment of some resource -- whether time or money -- that we may not always be inclined to...

Studies have shown that people are capable of generating more creative ideas when they work alone as opposed to collaborating with group members. The reasons for this are simple and varied. When working in a group, there's a tendency for things to get political. People have vastly different ideas and suggestions, and not everyone is schooled in the art of compromise. Thus, it's not uncommon for group members to clash over what they think is the optimal solution to a problem -- theirs. Yet another stumbling block to creativity is what we call groupthink. It's when people feel pressure to agree with the "majority opinion" of the group -- even though they may disagree -- so as not to look like the lone dissenter. Thirdly, I have found that it takes longer to get stuff done when there are others involved. It may sound counterintuitive since there are more people involved to shoulder the work, but oftentimes group members get distracted and sidetracked, ultimatel...