HUGH CULVER
Author, Speaker, Coach
I create content to help you navigate work and life just a little better.
You will find articles to help you think better, plan smarter, and act on what is most important.
I also share my writings on how to prepare, and present the perfect presentation for any audience.
Productivity
How to stop procrastinating in 3 simple steps
I have a superpower I want to share with you. No, it’s not Thor-like strength or the web-crawling agility of Spider-Man. But, this superpower will make you feel better, help avoid disastrous outcomes and undoubtedly make you money. I’m talking about the ability to get...
How to Stay Productive and Sane While Working From Home
These are strange times. I’m writing this from home. Nothing too unusual there. But, I’m also working from home while on Day 6 of a 14-day isolation during the Covid-19 crisis. My youngest daughter just returned from Myanmar and we are taking all the prescribed...
Why I Lost My Motivation For Work and What I Did Instead
When I was 15 years old my whole world changed. My older brother Dan, fresh back from his second year of whitewater raft guiding in Northern British Columbia had started his own company. He wanted my help. My first job job was painting our newly fabricated rafts in...
Why you need to Plan like a Pilot to get super organized, laser focussed and insanely productive
If you want to overcome procrastination, don’t read another time management book. Please. Trust me, I know how complicated time management advice can be. In fact, I wrote a time management book. The challenge often is that all the great advice in a well-meaning book...
Hyperbolic discounting and why your goals suck
If you struggle to reach goals you might have a bad case of hyperbolic discounting. What?!? Before I get to what hyperbolic discounting is, let me back up and first talk about goal setting. A typical assumption is that BIG GOALS (think: Jim Collin’s BHAG (Big Hairy...
Life
Why I ran the Boston Marathon
There are at least two reasons we do anything. The most obvious is what we think we should do, like “Some expert on a podcast said I should eat more blueberries.” Then there is the second, less obvious reason, like “I want to feel better about my health.” Last week I...
Want to listen better? Stop thinking
“We have a lot of new leaders and I’m hoping you can inspire them to speak their minds.” my client said on the zoom call. I feel my chest tighten, pupils dilate - I’m suddenly alert (my body loves the promise of a paycheck). “This sounds great!” I reply, having...
Life is hard and that’s a good thing
I have a hard time with people who sugar-coat the truth. I was on a webinar this week that promised to reveal the secret to becoming an author. Given that I published my book a decade ago I thought I needed a refresh. Instead of advice, or sharing actual steps a...
5 Books that Taught me How to Age Better
“What is a normal goal for a young person becomes a neurotic hindrance in old age.” Carl Jung It was July, we were hiking up to the third floor of my favorite bookstore, Powell’s City of Books in the old Pearl district of Portland. Picture a labyrinth of wall-to-wall...
Get on with it
Over the past month, I’ve been frustrated. More than usual. During dinner with a close friend, I patiently listened as he complained about his partner. We’d had this conversation before and it always ended the same way. Lots of talk - not much action. Over beers,...
Habits
21 Small Wins that can Lead to Big Wins in Your Life
"If you cannot do great things, do small things in a great way." -Napoleon Hill “Our meetings are out of control!” a manager complained to me at a workshop I was leading. “I have so many in a day,” she added, “sometimes I don’t even have time to go to the...
Small Wins – why little steps are the path to big rewards
It was a cool July morning in the forest of Snoqualmie Valley, Washington. Just me and about 300 other nervous people in shorts - all about to run a marathon. It had been 15 years since my last marathon distance race. Back then, I was in my 40s, and long-distance...
How To Finally Stop Procrastinating On Exercise
This post was originally published in 2014 and has been updated in 2022. Enjoy! You don’t need more books about exercise and fitness. And I doubt you need more advice, tips, gurus, or videos on how to “gain muscle in just 10 minutes a day.” Don’t worry—that’s not what...
How to stop procrastinating in 3 simple steps
I have a superpower I want to share with you. No, it’s not Thor-like strength or the web-crawling agility of Spider-Man. But, this superpower will make you feel better, help avoid disastrous outcomes and undoubtedly make you money. I’m talking about the ability to get...
How to stop procrastinating, get what you want and be happy
It’s always seemed strange that some people are unhappy. Sure, if you’re dirt poor and begging on a street corner, that makes sense. But, if you’re reading this, that’s not you. I’m writing this in Cape Town at the tail end of month long family trip through Southern...
Business
The Salesperson in You
“Never mistake a quantity of calls for a quality of salesmanship." - David Ogilvy The speaker before me is brilliant. They are an encyclopedia of knowledge, spilling out facts, statistics, and convincing arguments. Slide after slide delivered brilliant graphs...
A Better Way to Win More Sales
Soon after arriving for my meeting, my client opened with “Tell me about your program.” I’d been anticipating this meeting for over a month and couldn’t wait to talk about my time management training. Within minutes I was deep into the details - all the lessons and...
The secret to scaling any business
I can’t overstate this. If you want to scale your business you need to get out of the way. Maybe not the advice you were looking for, but it could be just what you need. In the last seven years, I have consulted with over 200 small business owners. At the same time, I...
Why I sold my company and lessons learned
I was ready to walk away from my business. Sales were flat and so was my motivation and my creativity. I was putting out fires - not growing a business. On top of that, I was going through a divorce that needed my attention. And now for the happy ending… Instead of...
The fastest way to get more consulting, speaking, or coaching work
Sometimes the best solutions are also the simplest. Instead, we love, love, love to make life complicated. Take getting hired for example. I help content experts get hired. Consultants, coaches, trainers, and speakers all want one thing. More clients. And that’s where...
Speaking
Want to listen better? Stop thinking
“We have a lot of new leaders and I’m hoping you can inspire them to speak their minds.” my client said on the zoom call. I feel my chest tighten, pupils dilate - I’m suddenly alert (my body loves the promise of a paycheck). “This sounds great!” I reply, having...
How to Stop the BS and Get Started
My audience was financial planners. Not any financial planners - these were the gold star, top performers in their region. They walked on water. I had been invited to speak about goal setting at their upcoming conference. And I had a problem. How do you get a...
Why You Need to Tell More Stories
“People do not buy goods and services. They buy relations, stories and magic.” - Seth Godin Cruising garage sales one weekend, researchers Rob Walker and Joshua Glenn spent the morning collecting dozens of random items including a common office stapler, a box of...
Death of a Public Speaker
The business of public speaking is a strange one. There’s no real “product” - not much to measure – and nothing you can put in a box or weigh in your hands. Just you talking. Your client wants to make the “perfect” decision and will often run you through a gauntlet of...
The fastest way to get more consulting, speaking, or coaching work
Sometimes the best solutions are also the simplest. Instead, we love, love, love to make life complicated. Take getting hired for example. I help content experts get hired. Consultants, coaches, trainers, and speakers all want one thing. More clients. And that’s where...
End procrastination. Start taking action.
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