Setting goals is the way most of us get things done – in life and in business. We set the goal to get a new job or move to a new place. We set the goal to learn how to speak a new language or make money by investing in real estate. And when it comes to delivering the very best products and services to our customers, we set goals to give our people direction and a target to shoot for. The thing is, many leaders spend far too much time creating long lists of goals and too little time…

Speaking up in meetings can be intimidating, especially if you’re an introvert — but failing to make your voice heard at important moments could hurt your career. That’s at least according to Juliette Han, a Harvard-trained neuroscientist and adjunct professor at Columbia Business School. As Han, a self-identified introvert, explains, your deference during meetings or conversations at work “could accidentally cause you to become invisible” and get you overlooked for a promotion, pay raise and other opportunities. But you don’t need to be the loudest in the room to be valued and recognized for the work you do. There’s a…

A medical student once confessed to me that if he’s not on the verge of a breakdown, he feels like he’s not working hard enough. A CEO told me that waiting to pick up her kids from school makes her feel panicky, like she’s wasting valuable time. A software engineer shared that they skip meals sometimes for fear of falling behind. As an instructor of psychology at Harvard Medical School and a therapist who treats anxiety and depression, I’ve encountered plenty of people who exhibit these and other signs of toxic productivity. What is toxic productivity? Productivity becomes toxic when…

At age 10, Jenny Woo got really good at reading nonverbal social cues. It was out of necessity: She emigrated from China to Houston, and didn’t speak English. She connected with her peers largely through what she now defines as emotional intelligence, or EQ — watching their body language and listening to the tones of their voices to learn what excited, inspired and angered them. In the decades that followed, Woo turned her EQ skills into a career at corporations like Deloitte and Cisco, training managers how to better communicate. She spent some time helping run her kids’ Montessori school…