Personal mastery

True self-confidence is “the courage to be open—to welcome change and new ideas regardless of their source.” Real self-confidence is not reflected in a title, an expensive suit, a fancy car, or a series of acquisitions. It is reflected in your mindset: your readiness to grow.

For burst taskers like Thomas, I often recommend two tactics. One is to see the benefits that greater predictability can bring. When you’re working toward more steady-as-she-goes goals, you, your team, and your loved ones at home can count on knowing when you’ll deliver and when you’ll be available. As one colleague described, it’s like a squirrel

“The future,” wrote C. K. Brightbill, “will belong not only to the educated man, but to the man who is educated to use his leisure wisely.”

We are all prisoners of our past to some extent. We bring our frame of reference, shaped by our unique combination of experiences, into any new role. But the most valuable leaders are those who can combine the scrappiness of a start‐up leader with the organizational and diplomatic discipline needed in a big company. Those who can scale up or scale

Be a Good Citizen As you assemble your network of support, be careful not to adopt a “take” mentality. Wharton professor Adam Grant has explored the roles of “givers” and “takers” in his research.

Another good way to start practicing paying attention to your own needs is noticing when you are starting to feel “quietly” frustrated, resentful, angry, or upset about something. When you feel this tension, immediately get curious: Do I have an unspoken expectation or need I’m not expressing? Is there a request of someone else I’m not making that

A great insight by Lisa Feldman Barrett: When someone expresses anxiety, the first thing you should do is ask: do you want empathy or do you want a solution?

some other famous failures: Michael Jordan: cut from his high-school basketball team. Steven Spielberg: rejected from film school thrice. Walt Disney: fired by the editor of a newspaper for lacking ideas and imagination. Albert Einstein: He learned to speak at a late age and performed poorly in school. John Grisham: first novel was rejected by 16