From the outside, teams and committees* look very similar. And, when things are easy, the results might even be similar. Internally, they couldn't be more different.

Teams are motivated around a singular goal, larger than any of them. Committees are groups of people that are protecting their own interests.

When marketing is looking out for marketing, or a town thinking only about their citizens (and not the whole county or state), you know you're in a committee.

The differences become readily apparent when the going gets hard.

On a team, decisions may be hard and discussion heated, but it culminates in action. Often, challenging, bold action, that may even be negative for members of the team.

On a committee, nothing real gets done. There is much discussion and fanfare... but, action is usually blocked, delayed or exceedingly safe. When it comes to hard times, committees rarely win.

As a leader, you need to unite and motivate your team around a common goal. Identifying and communicating that goal is your biggest challenge.

*What it's called is clearly irrelevant.

When you want to go fast, go alone.When you want to go far, go together. -African proverb

Wise words, those are. Let's take them a step further.

When you want to go fast, lightning fast, picking a small team with similar strengths is key. You can understand and think like each other, enabling you to move as a singular unit. It also tends to be really fun.

But, and this is a huge but, people with similar strengths tend to have similar weaknesses, which can open you up to a host of problems. Sometimes, fatal ones.

On the other hand, people with dissimilar strengths tend to take more time to get aligned and on board. Often times, it's a tense process. But, they tend to see each other's blind spots and can help shield each other from the negative ramifications.

So here's my version of the proverb:

For a sprint, seek similarity For a marathon, diversity wins

Do you get grumpy when you're hungry?Or perhaps its hard to find something interesting when you're exhausted? Or maybe you get annoyed when there is repetitive noise around you?

If you're like most of us, all of them are true.

They are background experiences that interfere with your reality, which is why it is so key to take care of your animal needs. After all, the last thing you want is a negative background experience to taint everything. 

But, background experiences don't have to be negative.

It's are worth testing & investigating to find what makes all of your experiences better. These are 20% opportunities.

I get a huge return from making my space reflective of the way I want to spend my time  and from exercising. Detailed examples are adding a library shelf in my living room and quieting my mind in yoga.

You might love music in the background.... or a scented candle... or a certain temperature... or a view -- the opportunities are endless and highly personal. It's all about what works for you.

Changing your background experience changes everything: its the foundation of your reality.

January 1st is a good reminder: when it comes to resolutions and goals, measure progress, not perfection. After all, we are all perfectly imperfect...

Setting your standard at perfection is the fastest route to failure, and often, worse outcomes than before.

But progress -- my nearly phenomenon -- is admirable and attainable.

I love this tool for tracking progress, even if you don't do it everyday.

Julia Mancuso, a world class ski racer and olympic gold medalist, shared this picture on Instagram with the caption:

Pressure enhances motivation, concentration and enjoyment.

It's hardly shocking to me, a ski racer in a past life, that she would feel this way. Ski racing is the overlapping Venn Diagram of pressure, adrenaline and danger. Outcomes are 100% on your shoulders... and we learned to enjoy it.

The purpose of pressure is to focus your attention and energy onto a singular ambition. 

Not only will this make you better, it will also enhance your experience. After all, without attention, there is no pleasure.

On the other hand, pressure can get to you. This causes you to lose attention and focus on outside forces (most frequently, what will happen if you fail or who you will disappoint).

This is why pressure gets a bad rap: the external focus completely undermines its purpose and sets you up to fail.

Pressure is just a tool: a tool that provokes focus.

It can be very powerful, but if the tool doesn't work for you, don't use it.

Success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as by the obstacles which he has overcome.-Booker T. Washington

We are defined not only by who we are, but by what we confront, what we overcome and what we allow to pass us by.

I was raised with this as fact, blunt and true. And I still believe it.

The key to success is identifying the leverage point between your skills and your aspirations. Each generation -- each person -- has different opportunities and challenges before them.

While hardly equal or similar, everyone has the opportunity to step up, to overcome.

Everyone has opportunities. Everyone has challenges.

What will you do with yours?

This is where the big wins are. This is where there is untapped potential.

Warren Buffet's secret? Read. Go to bed smarter than you woke up. Simple, but not easy.

The path to health? It's 7 keys, not one of them would surprise you. Simple, but not easy.

Want a loving relationship? The science is laid out: be aware, be considerate. Simple, but not easy.

Don't be one of the millions searching for the silver bullet, the complex but easy solution.

The big wins come from the simple, but not easy solutions. They're readily available and often obvious... they just aren't easy.

Morning routines are misunderstood. They don't exist to feel good. They don't exist to help you wake up. They don't exist to make sure you get out the door on time.

The goal of a morning routine is to setup your conditions for success.

It answers the question where do I go to create great things? And then, walks you to it's doorstep. It harnesses your energy, inspiration, focus and attention on the things that are important to you.

In other words, it is conscious manipulation of yourself for your own good.

The best way to make one is backwards.

Ask, where do I need to go (and who do I need to be) to create great things? Then, construct activities and rituals that bring you to that place. Consistently.

It works.

Almost everything can be distilled into a system. Fashion is an intersection of social & visual & physical systems. Preparing food is the same. Your natural inclinations towards specific types of systems will draw you towards:

• Optimizing from a social standpoint, making fashion that changes other people's perception of you (your power, beauty, wealth, etc.).
• Optimizing from the visual system, making fashion that is artistic and beautiful.
• AND/OR Optimizing based on human physical needs, making fashion that keeps people warm, dry and healthy.

The outcomes of these systems look very different.

Identifying the systems you want to optimize for  -- and the systems you find motivating & interesting -- goes a long way towards achieving your goals.

Tough decisions tend to feel complicated and overwhelming. This question simplifies, clarifies and provides a path of action: What would it take for me to feel great about making this decision?

Sometimes, there isn't a great answer... But often, I get a flash of inspiration and a to-do list to match it.

Most often this happens when I want something, but feel apprehensive about it. In that case, the action is a litmus test for whether or not I'm devoted to the decision I'd like to make.

One example is a business investment. I told myself that in order to feel great about it, I had to make 5 sales calls and close at least one project. In that case, I was motivated and hit it out of the park.... I made the calls immediately and the investment less than a week later.

Another time, I was attempting to determine the fate of a relationship. I realized that I would only feel great about making the decision if we did a short term trial separation. He wasn't open to this, so we ended it then.

Getting clear about what you need to feel great is the first step to making great decisions, even if those decisions inherently suck.

Someone I respect a lot asked me that question the other day. It kind of blindsided me, as I have strong relationships with the people he was referring to. But his point was nuanced and interesting: When relating to others, its more important to think about how your actions will make them feel, than what it will make them think of you.

I learned this early in my career, when I had exposure well beyond my age & experience. I found that, being eager, smart, 24 and working with 50-somethings, my ideas in meetings often weren't well received, despite being superior.

Thankfully, a mentor pulled me aside and put it in clear english: Rebecca, you do realize that when you say that all they're thinking is: Who does she think she is? Why didn't I think of that? or Is my worth / job / seniority at stake here? 

In other words, because they were feeling threatened, what they thought of me or my idea was irrelevant.

To be most effective, think about how you want people to feel, not what you want them to think of you.

Its miraculous how we manipulate our circumstances to fit our emotional state. I was reminded of this today while listening to a (great) podcast with Jerry Colonna and Rand Fiskin. Rand was sharing his struggles with depression and how, everything, no matter the content, became proof of just how screwed he was: "I was in Italy in an absolutely beautiful garden thinking to myself, FUCK, why can't I build something beautiful like this?" (paraphrased)

And it's true. So true.

When you're feeling up, it's easy to see setbacks as fun challenges or meaningful growth opportunities.

When you're feeling down, even the sun and the stars are out to get you.

Remember -- your circumstances are simply fuel for your current mindset. Meaning, things probably aren't as bad (or good) as they currently feel.

Behind every effortless act is... well, a ton of effort. The musical notes improvised with ease comes from years of trial -- and more importantly, error. The graceful tennis swing, years of practice. The divine meal comes after meals of burnt pasta and with much study (from books, people or flavors).

Even the effortless beginner has put in effort. The athlete? They surely worked on their balance and their fitness. The crazy intellect has years of reading and study behind them. The effortless beauty has doubtless perfected her makeup, fashion and hair over years (and has embarassing picture from her past to prove it!)

Where there is an effortless beginning, there is years of intense effort in an adjacent field.

Yes, their are geniuses. But often, the delta between genius and the rest of us comes from the gulf in effort, rather than a gulf in ability.

• Einstein chose his entire career (at the patent office) based on what would be easy and allow him to ponder while seeing all kinds of inventions.
• Mozart was forced to practice for hours upon hours everyday under the guidance of his father, a famous violin teacher.
• Tiger Woods was playing golf before the age of two.

Before you stand in awe of effortlessness, deconstruct it. What would it take to be effortless at this skill? Hint, it's an internalized understanding of the system.

Effortlessness is an outcome of intensive effort.

I tend to get caught up in the loftiest of goals.

I will make a million dollars (when the starting point is $0). I will be written about in history books! I will wake up at 5 am EVERY DAY!

I always want to do the most, be the most, reach the highest.

And, in some ways, these goals are invigorating! I'm all about big wins. I'm all about great stories (and ambitious achievements make great stories!).

But, the flip side of invigorating, lofty goals can be de-motivating.

Sometimes, I can feel them slipping away. The moment it feels like I'm not going to make it, hangs on me as a failure. And rather than revel in the joy of making it part way, often successful on its right, I find myself disappointed and down about the fact that I didn't hit the goal.

That's crazy.

So I've started stratifying my goals into good/better/best.

Good is what I think I can accomplish, grounded in reality. It feels safe and good. Like a cozy blanket.

Great is that near edge, where I'll need some elbow grease and some luck. It feels exciting and a little bit uncertain. Like a good first date.

Best is the goal from above. It's the pinch-me-is-this-really-happening?!?! outcome. It feels enthralling and euphoric. Tantalizing.

And the coolest thing about this is this is that I can use the motivation from each of these levels when it works best:

1. I get the energy and euphoria from dreaming about the best.
2. I get the safety and comfort from thinking about good.
3. I get the strategy and focus from thinking about great.

And that leads to good cheer and good outcomes.

I have been thinking a lot about pride and it's relationship to satisfaction and happiness. Pride gets a really bad rap. I think that people have it all wrong.

Pride connotes a sense of greatness, as well as worthiness of that greatness.

No wonder it is a key driver of long term satisfaction and happiness. What's better than deeply believing that you are great AND worthy of that greatness?

What Pride is lacks, is the need for external validation.

Arrogance which also imply greatness apply it ONLY within the context of others and the external scale of their greatness.

Humility implies a degree of inferiority or insignificance, again, ONLY within the context of others and the external scale of greatness.

We can all feel arrogant playing a game of kickball with 5 year olds. We can all feel humble compared to the universe (or Einstein, Picasso, etc.)

It's almost impossible to feel pride in comparison with either of these metrics because that's not where pride comes from. Pride comes from an internal measure of your own greatness. You don't feel great about winning kickball with 5 year olds... and you don't have to be smarter than Einstein to feel pride in your accomplishments.

Arrogance is 'I am better than you' Humility is 'You might be (are) better than me' Pride is 'I am worthy of myself'

One of the best indicators of long term satisfaction is pride. Want to know if your relationship is a good one? Think to yourself about introducing your significant other to the people you value most in the world (your friends, relatives, mentors, heroes -- even if the introduction isn't practical). What are you saying? Are you making excuses... or are you beaming with pride?

Another way to ask the question -- can you walk into any room and introduce your mate to anyone and burst with pride?

While an excellent litmus test for relationships, it also works with yourself.

Finding out if you are proud of yourself, and can introduce yourself with pride in any situation is an excellent gauge of your satisfaction (and happiness). Struggling with being proud of oneself is a clear indicator that something needs to shift in your life.

The most interesting thing for me is that pride doesn't stem from the usual sources of "happiness advice" -- its doesn't stem from treats or sensory experiences or having the 'right' job. Pride stems from work, from pushing yourself beyond what you thought was possible and from the joy that comes with growth.

Talk about juxtaposed pathways to happiness!

One of the most effective tools for keeping yourself happy, productive and level headed is super simple. Deceivingly simple. Check to make sure you are taking care of your animal needs.

Are you hungry? Thirsty? Are you too cold? Too hot? Are you tired? Or in need of movement? Are you mentally stimulated enough? Does something on your body hurt?

What you'll note is these are the same questions we would ask ourselves about our dog or a toddler.

And these issues right here are responsible for a HUGE portion of meltdowns -- of the canine, child and adult variety. The difference is that we adults tend to rationalize our issues away with deeper, more complicated roots.

When you're feeling off -- and heck, before you're feeling off -- check in with yourself on your animal needs.

Hitting a goal can be marvelous. It's often coupled with a sense of euphoria and delight. I know I revel in it.

But, just a little while after, something shifts and it gets kind of uncomfortable. At the time, it feels so wrong, after all, you're mostly euphoric.

And it all comes down to this:

When you set a goal, you imagine a perfect version of yourself achieving it... Yet the person who achieves it -- you -- is all too human (and, indeed, flawed).

It's not a problem with you or your goal -- its a problem with your imagination.

Its funny. As much as I love the inflexibility of doing something everyday... it makes it much easier for me to do... it also makes it much harder for me to get up after a slip. After all, I failed.

But I add the word nearly and - magic! - I haven't failed, but I sure had better do it this time... because if I don't, then I will fail.

Nearly offers the breathing room that allows tiny, infrequent missteps to be, just that, missteps, rather than failures that doom the whole endeavor.

Yesterday I was thinking about how to launch a new project that I have been working on. My brain immediately went to... well, I should wait until 2015. It can be a new project with a new year!

WHY?!?!

I am so attracted to arbitrary beginnings -- the new year, my birthday, heck, even Mondays. The trouble is that these dates discount the present -- and the fact that I can make progress NOW.

Worse, it can encourage cheating today, since I'll be starting a fresh new beginning soon. (For me, I see that behavior the worst around food).

Not this time. This time, I'm using my own, equally arbitrary beginning.