Leadership Hack: How Sticky Notes Can Help Your Career

Sticky notes have been my savior. And I don’t mean in a “don’t forget the milk” kind of way. True, sticky notes are great for grocery lists, but what I’m talking about here is how a few small squares helped me become a better leader, and dare I say, a better person.

Here’s how it happened:

Early in my career, I would head into meetings and could rattle off all my thoughts.  I could come up with ideas faster than you could say, “Hatzikostas.” I didn’t have the patience to wait.  The patience to slow down and let others catch up. There was too much to get done!

I remember the first time this came up in a performance review.  You should work on slowing down when you talk. Let others catch up. Don’t talk over other people.

I figured she had to come up with some area for improvement. If that was my worst flaw, I’d take it.

But then it came up again with a different boss. And then another one.

This was starting to sound like more than an annoying habit. It was beginning to seem like a major character flaw.