Hi John,

Welcome to the freshly redesigned Crucial Skills. Don't worry, all your favorite content is still here, but in a streamlined format.

You'll still find our feature Q&A where we respond to your questions about the challenges you face. And you'll still find our video series. And, most important, you'll still find insights on how to apply the skills and principles taught in our award-winning courses.

We've also redesigned the accompanying blog and added several resources there, from e-books to assessments. Our team has worked hard to make these updates and we hope they improve your experience and give you more tools. You can let us know whether we've succeeded or not by sending us an email.

So, here's your brand new January 6th edition of Crucial Skills. This week we share tips to help you get more productive in 2021 and highlight one secret of the most effective communicators. Also, be sure to save your seat for the upcoming webinar with Charles Duhigg and Scott Robley.

Q&A: Getting Things Done

More Productive in 2021: 4 Things to Stop Doing and 4 Things to Start Doing

The Golden Rule of habit change says this: You can't break a bad habit; you can only replace it. In this week’s feature, Justin Hale draws on that principle to outline four habits you ought to break in 2021 and four habits with which to replace them—for greater productivity. Enjoy this article today, next week we'll resume our Q&A.

One Productive Minute

How to Get in a Clear Headspace

Artists have long known that constraints foster creative freedom. A similar notion holds true for productivity. Justin explains how you can experience greater freedom by "restricting" yourself with this one practice.

How Do I Say That?

How to Add Meaning to a Crucial Conversation

Emily Gregory has been observing how people hold crucial conversations for more than 15 years. And the best at holding crucial conversations all do one thing: they add meaning. In this week's episode of How Do I Say That?, Emily explains how.

Webinar

New Year, New Habits

On January 12th we'll host a live Q&A with author Charles Duhigg and trainer Scott Robley. Click the link below to save your seat and access a 30-minute webcast with Scott. The recipe for success is as follows: watch the video with Scott, apply what he shares over the next week, come with questions to the Q&A.

Ask a Question

Central to our work is this idea: some moments in life matter more than others. A risky disagreement, an organizational challenge, a persistent personal habit you're struggling to overcome—we call these “crucial moments” because they have the power to make or break results.

Do you face a crucial moment? Not sure how to handle it? Send us your questions, we’ll answer them on the blog.

Food for Thought

Psychologist Robert Kegan on the space between stimulus and response:

"[The] most human of 'regions' is that between an event and a reaction to it—the place where the event is privately composed, made sense of, the place where it actually becomes an event for that person... [This] zone of mediation where meaning is made is variously called by personality psychologists the 'ego,' the 'self,' the 'person.' From some perspectives it is one among many functions, all of which together make up the person. From other perspectives it is the very ground of personality itself—it is the person—and various functions are considered in its context."

Source: The Evolving Self: Problem and Process in Human Development

That’s all for this edition. Thanks for spending part of your day with VitalSmarts. We hope your holidays were joyous, and, in the words of Scott Robley, we wish you a HABIT new year.

Ryan Trimble
Editor

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