Charleston Currents – Ben Fanning

Articles by: Ben Fanning

FANNING: Video on how to stop wasting time

By Ben Fanning, contributing columnist | Did you know that you waste time when you switch between activities?

You’re wasting time because every time you switch to a new task, it leaves “attention residue” that negatively impacts your efficiency.

Here it is from attention rescue expert Sophie Leroy: “[P]eople need to stop thinking about one task in order to fully transition their attention and perform well on another. Yet, results indicate it is difficult for people to transition their attention away from an unfinished task and their subsequent task performance suffers.”

by Ben Fanning · 04/09/2018 · Comments are Disabled · Careers, Views

FOCUS: How Martin Luther King can inspire your career

By Ben Fanning, contributing editor | Did you know that Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech was originally titled, “Normalcy, Never Again.”? In fact, the first drafts of his speech never included the phrase “I have a dream”?

Turns out the entire “I have a dream” part of the speech was improvised. That’s right…improvised in front of 200,000 people when a supporter yelled out: “Tell them about the dream, Martin!”

He was inspired in that moment and just shared with them what he’d be dreaming about for his generation and generations yet to come. It was a beautiful demonstration of how powerful a dream can be.

by Ben Fanning · 01/16/2018 · Comments are Disabled · Careers, Focus, Views

FOCUS: 3 life lessons from trip to Berlin

By Ben Fanning, contributing columnist | I recently returned from a trip to Berlin, Germany, and learned several life lessons you can apply to your next trip.

ONE: You can do a lot in the freezing rain

We visited Berlin during the off-season to take advantage of the low rates for airfare and hotels. Also, many of the sites were less crowded than usual. Of course, this meant we faced freezing rain and wind every day, but we came prepared with heavy jackets and multiple layers.

I had an old band director who repeatedly said, “never wait on rain;” While freezing rain in Berlin might be a deterrent to some, it didn’t slow us down one bit.

by Ben Fanning · 11/27/2017 · Comments are Disabled · Careers, Focus, Good news

CAREERS: How to use anxiety to your advantage

By Ben Fanning, contributing editor | There is a lot of information out there sharing the steps to deal with anxiety. It’s all mostly geared to help you reduce it.

However, I’m going to offer you something today that will show you how to use anxiety to your advantage. A few years ago, I picked up this tip from a friend at a barbecue restaurant…a place where I often gather pearls of wisdom.

Me: “I found myself waking up at 2 a.m. every morning.”

Friend: “Me too. That’s when I get around to my to-do list.”

Me: “Huh?”

by Ben Fanning · 10/16/2017 · Comments are Disabled · Careers, Views

CAREERS: What Michelangelo can teach you about your dream job

By Ben Fanning, contributing editor | When my family and I went to Italy in the fall, my 5-year-old daughter was completely captivated with the statue of David. She sat at the feet the huge sculpture and sketched it.

Fanning
I was inspired by its beauty and its interesting story.

Sometimes career inspiration comes from unexpected places. When I learned the story, I had the idea of a “job artist.” A job artist is someone who chooses to see the potential masterpiece in their current job situation.

by Ben Fanning · 08/21/2017 · Comments are Disabled · Careers, Views

FANNING: The power of setting a meaningful personal goal

By Ben Fanning, contributing editor | My mom recently reminded me of a moment from years ago. I was venting my job frustration over dinner and said:

“There’s got to be more to work than just finding ways to make a T-shirt cheaper.”

It was my first job and the department goal was to save money, build efficiency, and ultimately deliver shareholder value. This wasn’t the problem.

by Ben Fanning · 07/24/2017 · Comments are Disabled · Careers, Views

FANNING: What poison ivy can teach you about burnout

By Ben Fanning, contributing editor | You can learn a lot about work burnout from poison ivy.

My neighbor once pointed out the itch causing, three-leaf plant at my daughter’s birthday party. I acted surprised that it was there, but really I just was embarrassed I hadn’t done anything about it yet. I’d seen it there before (I’m an Eagle Scout, for goodness sake), but it just seemed like it was too much trouble to deal with at the time.

by Ben Fanning · 06/19/2017 · Comments are Disabled · Careers, My Turn, Views

FANNING: How to leave a legacy

By Ben Fanning, contributing editor | Most leaders don’t leave a legacy. They are never mentioned again when they leave an organization, especially if they die or get fired.

Then there are the ones who leave a negative legacy. You know, the leader who had the going away party but wasn’t invited.

by Ben Fanning · 05/22/2017 · 3 comments · Careers, Views

FANNING: Three easy steps to have your most productive day ever

By Ben Fanning, contributing editor | I used to start every day with checking email… then I’d respond based upon whatever was there.

I often felt out of control like I spent my day running from one fire to the next. Then one Monday something happened that led to my most productive day ever…

…the email server was down… no sending or receiving emails. (This was before the advent of Blackberries and iPhones, so no checking your emails remotely.)

by Ben Fanning · 04/24/2017 · Comments are Disabled · Careers, Views

FANNING: How you can worker smarter right now

By Ben Fanning, contributing editor | Ever noticed there are certain times of the day when you find it hard to get quality work done…even to the point of frustration? You see, not all hours are created equal. You are naturally more productive at certain times of the day. This acknowledgement is essential for your success, and not recognizing it can be like fighting human nature.

by Ben Fanning · 03/27/2017 · Comments are Disabled · Careers, Views