The Big Idea: Show your employees love and they will show your customers love. Foreward Most people are looking not only for monetary security but also for satisfaction in their work. Southwest’s People have produced an unprecedented and unparalleled record of job security, Customer satisfaction, and Shareholder return. What Is Leadership? LUV is our symbol…
Freakonomics did a podcast on Trader Joe’s strategy and company culture. The Big Idea: ignore competitors and focus on your customers; hire for cultural fit. How is Trader Joe’s different from competitors? How is Trader Joe’s doing vs competitors? What are the key lessons for companies?
The Big Idea: focus on profit not revenue; meetings interrupt deep work; remote work leads to deep work and attracts top talent. Think of your company as the primary product that you are building. What are the features and benefits of your company? What areas of the company need improvement? Think about how the company…
THREE MAJOR HUMAN REVOLUTIONS The Cognitive Revolution (c. 70,000 BCE, when Sapiens evolved imagination). The Agricultural Revolution (c. 10,000 BCE, the development of agriculture). The unification of humankind (the gradual consolidation of human political organisations towards one global empire). The Scientific Revolution (c. 1500 CE, the emergence of objective science). # YEARS AGO 13.5 billion:…
The Big Idea: History may not repeat itself, but it often rhymes. Chapter I: Hesitations Chapter II: History and the Earth Chapter III: Biology and History Chapter IV: Race and History Chapter V: Character and History Chapter VI: Morals and History Chapter VII: Religion and History Chapter VIII: Economics and History Chapter IX: Socialism and…
THE BIG IDEA: Great companies have a clear purpose for their existence, and it’s not the pursuit of money. INTRODUCTION The Wright brothers were able to inspire those around them and truly lead their team to develop a technology that would change the world. Apple inspires. Apple starts with Why. Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak,…
Eight Principles of Successful Rainwater Harvesting Begin with long and thoughtful observation. Start at the top of your watershed and work your way down. Start and simple. Slow, spread, and infiltrate the flow of water. Always plan an overflow route, and manage that overflow as a resource. Create a living space. Do more than just…
Eight Principles of Rainwater Harvesting Begin with long and thoughtful observation: Notice what’s working and what’s not. Start at the top of your watershed and work your way down: Collect water at the top, and then let gravity drive your water distribution downhill to meet your needs. Start small and simple: Strategies are easier to…
1162 Genghis Khan was born into the Borjigin tribe under the name Temujin. His childhood was poor and his family struggled to survive. Temujin, however, thrived and made many political alliances among other Mongol tribes. 1177 Temujin was captured by a rival tribe and imprisoned. With the help of a guard, he escaped by hiding…
The Big Idea: Pay attention to the timing of events, decisions, and actions. PART ONE: THE DAY CH 1. THE HIDDEN PATTERN OF EVERYDAY LIFE According to studies of Twitter, mood increases in the morning until about 11am, plummets after lunch, and then increases again in the evening. Quarterly earnings calls in the morning tend…
The Big Idea: The most consistently successful people invest their energy into building a set of good habits. People who consistently seem to excel share one key thing: they are better at building and sustaining new habits. Those who build habits are like people who live below their means, slowly building up an impressive balance…
The Big Idea: great companies are built by consistent execution of a strategy with built-in positive feedback loops — like turning a giant flywheel over and over, building momentum with each turn. When building a great company, there’s no single defining action, no grand program, no single killer innovation, no solitary lucky break, and no…
I. Cascades II. Elements of Chaos Heat Death Hunger Drowning Wildfire Disasters No Longer Natural Freshwater Drain Dying Oceans Unbreathable Air Plagues of Warming Economic Collapse Climate Conflict “Systems” III. The Climate Kaleidoscope Storytelling Crisis Capitalism The Church of Technology Politics of Consumption History After Progress Ethics at the End of the World IV. The…
Bottom Line: A leader has ultimate responsibility for the success or failure of an operation and should have extreme ownership of it. The laws of combat are: Cover and Move, Keep It Simple, Prioritize and Execute, and Decentralized Command. INTRO Leaders cast no blame. They make no excuses. Instead of complaining about challenges or setbacks,…
The Big Idea: For small volumes of water storage, use ferrocement if you can and plastic if you cannot. For large volumes of water storage, use ponds if you can and ferrocement if you cannot. Design Principles 1. Lease as much of the water work as possible to nature. 2. Divert water just after evaporation…
The Big Idea: start businesses in emerging markets where there is much less competition. I decided to visit the small Eastern European country of Estonia. People who build successful businesses — are driven by circumstances and then led by opportunity. As an entrepreneur , you must be first and foremost an optimist. Being a successful…
The Big Idea: Bill Belichick built a dynasty around on a culture of accountability, continuous improvement, strategic flexibility, and detailed preparation. Part 1: Culture “Do your job” is the New England Patriots mission statement. The goal is to improve on a daily basis, work hard, pay attention to the little details, and put the team…
The Big Idea: Apply lean production principles (Theory of Constraints) to software development. Reduce the work-in-progress to let developers concentrate on only one task at a time. Agile development with Kanban means creating a kanban board with tasks posted and a well-defined workflow. There are no milestones or sprints and there is minimal overhead. Inspired…
THE BIG IDEA: To build a dream team, find independent thinkers from diverse backgrounds. Then ensure there is just enough tension to generate creative solutions but not so much tension that the team is dysfunctional. INTRO Between 1960 and 1990 , the Soviet national hockey team won nearly every international match it played. It was…
The Big Idea: 1) IQ matters but the best predictor of success is relevant experience plus high emotional intelligence (EQ). 2) Interview 20 individuals before selecting finalists. 3) The preferred strategy for sourcing is to contact people who may know the best candidates. INTRODUCTION Organizations are all about people. People are the problem, but they…
The Big Idea: choose to have a calm, profitable, healthy workplace. Why is work so crazy? Physical and virtual distractions at work. And an unhealthy obsession with growth. Sustained exhaustion is not a badge of honor, it’s a mark of stupidity. How many hours at the office are really spent on work itself? The answer…
You don’t have to work miserable 60 / 80 / 100 – hour weeks to make it work. You don’t even need an office. Ignore the real world. It’s a place where new ideas , unfamiliar approaches , and foreign concepts always lose . Learn from your successes. Failure is not a prerequisite for success….
The Big Idea: Invest in data and data science teams. Better data + better data scientists = better models = better business decisions = sustainable competitive advantage. Chapter 1: Introduction, Data Analytic Thinking Data mining is the extraction of knowledge from data. Data science is a set of principles to guide data mining. Big data…
The Big Idea: Learn how nature works. Then work with nature, instead of against it, to practice sustainable agriculture. Ch 1: Landscape Design Permaculture landscape design is about restoring a partially destroyed natural landscape. Keep water on your land as long as possible. Terraces are an important part of my permaculture system. With the exception…
The Big Idea: Clarify your core values and make sure everyone knows them. Core Values 1. Excellent customer service 2. Taking care of our people 3. Developing entrepreneurial spirit 4. Respect for all people 5. Building strong relationships 6. Doing the right thing 7. Giving back to our communities 8. Shareholder return Ch 1: Two…
The Big Idea: focus on fundamentals and execution (The Standard of Performance), instead of focusing on the score and on the competition. Part I: My Standard of Performance Failure is a part of success. Everyone gets knocked down. The Standard of Performance is the set of core values, principles, and ideals that define the organization….
The Big Idea: In today’s world, where geography doesn’t matter, tribes are thriving. Tribes are about connection and caring. Leaders of tribes build connection and caring into the tribe. Human beings need to belong. You can’t have a tribe without a leader, so learn about leadership. Everyone is expected to lead. Geography used to restrict the…
The Big Idea: The presence of cognitive biases means we don’t always act rationally. Cialdini outlines six weapons of influence which can be used to influence behavior. Even if you aren’t a salesperson, you are a consumer so it’s good to be aware. 1. Reciprocation We tend to reciprocate a favor, even if it is…
The Big Idea: Follow the four seasons in your life. In the spring, you plant new seeds. In the summer, you work the land. In the fall, you harvest the crops. In the winter, you let the soil rest. Don’t be so ego-centric to think you can beat laws of nature and laws of physics….
The Big Idea: High potential people stumble in their careers most often because of a lack self-awareness of their own strengths and weaknesses. Fantastic advice in this book. The five archetypes of high potential people who stumble: Captain Fantastic: high performer but terrible interpersonal skills Solo Flier: high performer when working by himself but doesn’t know…
The Big Idea: Even if you’re not a “salesman”, you probably have to sell or persuade people all the time. Therefore, learn how to sell. Everyone sells. Physicians sell patients on treatments. Lawyers sell juries on verdicts. Teachers sell students on coursework. Entrepreneurs sell investors on visions. Writers sell producers on scripts. Coaches sell players…
The Big Idea: An efficient, eco-friendly homestead takes good planning and years of work to become stable and self-sufficient. Modern, industrial agriculture is incompatible with a rapidly growing population and resource depletion. Well-designed permaculture systems promote biodiversity and restore land back to health. Nut trees are the core of good permaculture. A nut tree is simply…
The Big Idea: Be resourceful, think long-term, and have a sense of adventure. I learned self-reliance and resourcefulness on my grandfather’s Texas ranch. Building Amazon is a constant flow of problems solved by self-reliance and resourcefulness. About letting his kids use power tools, “I’d much rather have a kid with nine fingers than a kid…
The Big Idea: Grow Biointensive (a variant of organic farming) produces more food per square foot while also building soil, using less water, using less fertilizer, and requiring less fossil fuel. Industrial agriculture depletes 6 pounds of soil for every 1 pound of food produced. Organic agriculture also depletes soil as it produces food. Grow…
The Big Idea: We’re here for the long-term. That means we need to treat everyone well and make quality, long-lasting clothing. I started Patagonia to make better quality climbing gear for myself. Our profit margins were about 1% Patagonia branched out into clothing when I wore some local clothing and people started asking me where…
The Big Idea: You have everything you need to achieve happiness. Happiness is achieved through mental practice. Service to others is the best way to live. If you can’t live your life in service to others, at least refrain from doing harm to others. Happiness is not a luxury but the purpose of our existence. Eliminate…
The Big Idea: creating extraordinary customer experiences is an essential part of building a great brand. Intro. Brands matter more than ever. The internet has increased transparency, so now brands need to be more authentic than ever. Image manipulation through marketing muscle is not enough. Great restaurant and retail brands rely heavily on great customer experiences…
The Big Idea: a strong brand is one of the most important economic moats a company can build. Building a brand is not easy but, if done well, can pay dividends for many years. Intro A brand is much like a reputation. A strong brand will reshape perception. Cash: Executives are pressured to focus on…
The Big Idea: you can’t trust the media. Clicks equal revenue. Therefore, online news sites care more about clicks than truth. Since all news is online now, established media has to compete for clicks with millions of blogs, twitter accounts, and satirical news sites. The result of this competition is that the media we consume is flooded with…
The Big Idea: With creativity and persistence, you can live well on a small homestead, even if the climate is difficult and the soil is subpar. Every homestead will be unique. Contours, zones and sectors should be mapped out on paper before getting started. Zones are concentric circles around your home. Zone 0 is your…
The Big Idea: the key to success in life is relationships + creating with others. Real networking is about helping others succeed. Make goal setting a lifetime habit. Young Bill Clinton would record the names and backgrounds of everyone he met on index cards. Older Bill Clinton is famous for creating instant rapport with everyone…
The Big Idea: how to succeed in business and life using science. Chapter 1: Should We Play It Safe and Do What We’re Told If We Want to Succeed? Grades are a great predictor of self-discipline, conscientiousness, and compliance. Grades are a poor predictor of career success. There are two types of leaders: filtered (rise…
The Big Idea: Know Your Endgame In Life. Win Wars, Not Battles. Depression’s function is to tell you to change. Ask yourself: when I die how many people will show up at my funeral? When Adolf Hitler died, the world celebrated. When Gandhi died, the world mourned. Most people are rewarded for flurries of activity. Do…
The Big Idea: Today’s level of overconsumption and resource-depletion is unsustainable. Ch. 1: Children, Chores, Humility, and Health Historically, children had chores and responsibilities that taught them how to be an adult. Our children were homeschooled, never had television, and were encouraged to pursue entrepreneurial adventures. I don’t believe in allowances. 50 years ago, 50%…
The Big Idea: to win in business, learn how to recruit A players. CHAPTER 1: YOUR #1 PROBLEM When do most hiring mistakes happen? Most mistakes happen when managers are: 1. Unclear about what is needed in a job 2. Have a weak flow of candidates 3. Do not trust in their ability to pick out…
The Big Idea: winning consistently requires the mental programming of a champion. Principles of Mental Management Your mind can only concentrate on one thing at a time. If you are picturing something positive in your mind, it is impossible, at the same time, to picture something negative. Choose to think about what you want to…
The Big Idea: focus on fundamental principles and foundational movements until they are unconscious. Tao Te Ching is a life changer. I’ve been keeping journals of my chess study since I was twelve. Eventually, the foundation is so deeply internalized that it’s no longer conscious. The boating life has also been a wonderful training ground…
The Big Idea: Problems are going to confront you. Be prepared by expecting them, putting them into perspective, developing the fortitude to overcome, and learning how to innovate past them. To succeed, you must learn how to bypass the obstacles of life. Life will deal tremendous blows to you. This is the reality. Statistically, something bad will…
The Big Idea: if you head out to the wilderness, tell someone exactly where you are going. Take a wilderness survival course to learn how to survive for a few days until you are found. The average person requires 0.5 liters of water a day. Three fires are an internationally recognized distress signal. SOS is also widely…
The Big Idea: Productivity can be learned. Chapter 1: Motivation To feel motivated, people must feel like they are in control. Leadership is learned. Don’t praise people for intelligence; praise them for effort. A bias towards action keeps people motivated. Start with why; why are you doing what you’re doing? Examples: Marine boot camp, renegade…
The Big Idea: Aquaponic gardening is a symbiotic, permaculture-friendly version of gardening in which fish supply nutrients to plants, which then remove all fish waste from the water. Aquaculture dates back to 5th century B.C. China Benefits of aquaponics: completely organic, cheaper than hydroponics, minimal maintenance, minimal fertilizer, lots of vegetable production, fewer diseases, no…
The Big Idea: Experiment. Experiment. Experiment. Set the right goals and cut out anything that is not moving you towards your goals. Don’t delude yourself. Embrace the truth when you’re asking yourself if you’re moving towards your goals. Jeff Bezos is one of the best in the world at seeking and embracing the truth, especially through…
The Big Idea: identify the bottleneck. Relieve the bottleneck. Repeat. The Goal is one of Jeff Bezos’ three required books for his senior team. (Also, Effective Executive and Innovator’s Dilemma) Cost accounting conventions lead businesses to focus on the wrong things. The goal of a business is to make money. Therefore, every operational metric should…
The Big Idea: Understand your strengths. Work on your weaknesses. Learn to identify the strengths of other people. Speak in the language of other people’s strengths. When you’re a worker, technical skills determine your success. When you’re a leader, social skills determine your success. Understand your core strength (P, A, S, E). Understand your weakness (P,…
The Big Idea: If you were independently wealthy, what kind of life would you create? Work backward from there to engineer your ideal life. An entrepreneur creates the world in his own image. Richard Branson created Virgin Airlines because a hurricane stranded him on an island. There are three types of people: people who watch things…
As a beginner, gardening can be quite overwhelming, but learning from experience is key. Last year, I jumped right into creating a square root, raised bed vegetable garden without much prior knowledge or preparation. However, this year I plan to approach it differently and do some research beforehand. In addition to learning about plant care…
The Big Idea: Walmart succeeded through a combination of unique culture, very effective strategies, and lots of hard work. Nadine West’s two favorite role models are 1) Southwest Airlines and 2) Walmart, for their shared focus on affordable prices, lean operations, and Texas/Arkansas authenticity. Wal-mart Culture Building a great team is a given. Hiring only people…
The Big Idea: Happy employees are a competitive advantage. Chapter 1: Success is Overrated, Why Great Work Places Reward Failure make it okay to try new things and fail learn something from every failure, always reward attempts, not just results Chapter 2: The Power of Place, How Office Design Shapes Our Thinking office design matters eg. red invokes…
The Big Idea: the purpose of life (and business) is happiness, not money. Business is not about money. It’s about making dreams come true for others and yourself. Making a company is a great way to improve the world while improving yourself. When you make a company, you make a utopia. It’s where you design…
The Big Idea: Chapter 1: Good is the Enemy of Great Good to Great companies always had Level 5 Leaders. Recruit the right people before choosing a direction/mission/vision/strategy. Confront the brutal truth and move forward anyways. Stick to your core. Create a culture of discipline. Use technology as an accelerator of existing greatness. Focus on…
The Big Idea: Understand the principles of factory production and apply them to business management. Chapter 1: The Basics of Production Focus efforts on identifying and fixing the bottleneck (limiting step) in the workflow Chapter 2: Managing The Breakfast Factory Define good KPI’s. Understand JIT inventory management. Automate things to improve work leverage. Chapter 3: Managerial…
The Big Idea: Invest more in creating an exceptional customer experience. What is the cardinal rule of exceptional service? Anticipate the needs of your customers. What are the four basics of good (but not yet exceptional) service? 1. Perfect product 2. Delivered by a caring, friendly person 3. In a timely fashion 4. Supported by good problem…
The Big Idea: Spend 30% of your monthly income on reading and learning. Do an audit of your finances. Find out how much you spend on 1) consuming vs 2) investing (specifically, learning). Spend 30% of your automatic income on learning new skills. Spend 30% of your income on bills. Spend 30% of your income…
The Big Idea: Losers have goals. Winners have systems. Losers have goals. Winners have systems. Your mind isn’t magic. It’s a moist computer you can program. The most important metric to track is your personal energy. Every skill you acquire doubles your odds of success. Happiness is health plus freedom. Luck can be managed, sort of….
The Big Idea: Break down complex things into simple things, but keep simple things simple. Ask yourself: is what you’re trying to do harder than putting man on the moon? We put a man on the moon by breaking up the problem into smaller steps. There are two types of men in the world: those…
The Big Idea: The most successful men work 14 hour days, not 4 hour work weeks. Learn to love the grind. — John Calipari In fifty years, you will wish you had the energy to work hard. Life is grind. Hate the grind and you will hate life. If you love the grind, it’s not really…
The Big Idea: The most successful people are generally renaissance people, who know a lot about a lot. Our brains are simulation machines. Jet pilots do not start learning by doing, they start in a simulator. Learn by reading, not by trial and error. Today, it is not very rewarding to be a renaissance person. People…
The Big Idea: To run a successful business, you must be comfortable with math and statistics. Math is the only 100% certain truth. — Descartes I was dyslexic, but I realized that if I was going to be rich I had to understand numbers. — Richard Branson To make good decisions, you must understand math…
-startups are best for people who crave flexibility, excitement -partners (cofounders) are great, it’s so difficult to do it all by yourself -it’s okay to not have all the answers; trust in the process and in yourself to find the answers when you need them -focus on the process and the results will take care…
THE BIG IDEA Scaling is a ground war, not just an air war. Scaling requires grinding it out; building the organization brick by brick, day after day. One more metaphor…it’s a marathon, not a sprint. META LESSONS 1. All scaling issues are basically the same across all organizations and industries. 2. Scaling entails more than…
The Big Idea Southwest succeeded by focusing on profitability over market share and by taking the time building a fun and positive culture. Doing this likely slowed down their growth but also resulted in top customer service ratings, top safety record, very low employee turnover, and 40+ consecutive years of profitability Key Takeaways Chapter 1:…
The Big Idea Work smarter, not harder. Key Takeaways Hacking the Ladder: sometimes the fastest way up is side-to-side; eg. US presidents with little political experience, movie stars with little acting experience Training with the Masters: find a successful mentor to accelerate your learning; eg. Jimmy Fallon, Steve Jobs Rapid Feedback: embrace failures but always learn from…
Wonderful Udemy course for founders on how to get acquired — taught by the former head of M&A for eBay, Ian Bednowitz. THE BIG IDEA Fortune 500 M&A teams have different priorities than investors. They care much more about strategic fit than about traction and revenue. KEY TAKEAWAYS Take the course. It’s all meat, no filler. https://www.udemy.com/entrepreneurship-buy-and-sell-your-startup-or-business
95% of this book was about why sleep is so important. 5% of the book is about how to get better sleep. Save time by reading this article instead. THE BIG IDEA More and better quality sleep will make your life better. Exercise. Meditate. Avoid caffeine after 2pm. No digital devices near bedtime. Keep your bedroom cool. KEY…
THE BIG IDEA: We, as individuals and organizations, operate by habit; learn how to engineer good habits; learn how to identify keystone habits that shape many other habits KEY TAKEAWAYS FROM THE POWER OF HABIT Habits emerge because the brain is looking for ways to save effort. The habit loop is: cue => routine =>…
The Big Idea: concentrate your efforts on the core traction channel that really matters; learn how to quickly identify your core traction channel because it will change as your startup grows KEY TAKEAWAYS FROM TRACTION One traction channel will always dominate. Predicting which traction channel will work for you is nearly impossible, so always test and let the…
This is a study on how to build a company that is resilient and exceptional. It’s one of my favorite books. The Big Idea: visionary companies have a strong inner core (core purpose, core values) and a willingness to change and adapt everything except that core. KEY TAKEAWAYS FROM BUILT TO LAST 1. Build clocks instead of relying…
This was from a wilderness medicine course I took at BCM. The Big Idea: boil all water, clean wounds with soap and water, wash off poison ivy within 1-4 hours, do not suck out snake venom, splint possible fractures, seek medical attention Essentials for Wilderness Travel map, compass, knife, matches, flashlight, first aid kit, sunglasses/sunscreen,…
After reading Emergency, I watched the bleak, post-apocalyptic The Road, with Viggo Mortensen. Bad combination for a good night’s sleep. The Big Idea: when the shit hits the fan (WTSHTF), will you be prepared? LA >> NYC, since it’s too spread out and has no single building or monument that symbolizes the nation Most gas…
Just finished watching Cosmos on Netflix. Amazing work! Had to post this final monologue by Carl Sagan. From this distant vantage point, the Earth might not seem of any particular interest. But for us, it’s different. Consider again that dot. That’s here. That’s home. That’s us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone…
The Big Idea: you need a well-designed pitch deck and a well-planned road show to raise serious money for your startup. Pitch Deck Overview Opportunity Problem Solution Traction Customer or Market Competition Business Model Team Use of Funds Road Show Investors love a great story Potential stories: origin story, customer story, industry story, venture growth…
The Big Idea: Prepare for what is difficult when it is easy. If you take the approach that everything is your fault, you can begin to anticipate and plan for many scenarios (disease, recession, breakup, accidents). If you get mugged and beat up at 30, it’s your fault because you could have been training since you were 10….
The Big Idea: If you have to go on vacation from what you do, don’t ever come back. The Amish work almost every day but don’t feel the need for a vacation. The Amish have 1/5 the depression of non-Amish. The Amish integrate work and life. Never permit a dichotomy to ruin your life. A dichotomy…
The Big Idea: Stay focused on the one thing you do best. Be able to share your life mission in one sentence. (Understandable by a 96 old grandma.) Jordan the baseball player was mediocre. Jordan the basketball player was legendary. Stay focused on the one thing you do best. Everything else is just a hobby. Jack…
The Big Idea: Don’t Fight Your Evolutionary Hardwiring; Understand It. The biological impulses you have come from 10,000 generations of evolution. However, the world has completely changed over the last 10 generations. Our biology leads us to overeat since we now live in an abundance of food. Our biology wants to to sleep from dusk to…
The Big Idea: Do Things That Develop Toughness a nation is born stoic and dies epicurean — Will Durant stoics say sacrifice today for tomorrow (invest wisely) epicureans say live for today (eat drink and be merry, yolo) there is truth to both, but stoicism is what I recommend Arnold wanted big calves, moved to South Africa…
The Big Idea: Reading Voraciously for Success billionaires read voraciously Warren Buffett reads 8 hours a day a rich man’s house always has a library — Jim Rohn Alexander the Great used to travel with a library survival machines that can simulate the future are one jump ahead of survival machines who can only learn…
The Big Idea: U.S.A will dominate the next hundred years, first by controlling the oceans, then by controlling space. Geographic isolation gives the U.S. military advantages few nations can claim, which translates to economic and political dominance. Russia will challenge American dominance but will suffer from internal problems, declining population, and poor infrastructure. China will not…
The Big Idea: The good life integrates four pillars of health, wealth, love, and happiness. The Amish are so happy because they do not compartmentalize work from life. Do whatever it takes to avoid hating Mondays. The 2 Mile Rule: work and shop within 2 miles of your home; traffic (work/life compartmentalizing) is an enormous…
The Big Idea: 1) find your purpose and then 2) for four UNINTERRUPTED hours every morning, focus on THE ONE THING that will get you there fastest. If you chase two rabbits, you will not catch either one. –Russian proverb Ask yourself “What’s the one thing you can do right now that will make everything else easier or…
The Big Idea: Take risks in life The modern education system trains students to rely on others for their education Read a book a day and become self-educated for happiness Learned helplessness exists in education, health, income, love Great nations are born stoic and die epicurean In the American economy today, the consequences of failure are not…
The Big Idea: The media lies to you about success. Success takes years of focused work towards a wisely-chosen goal. The media lies to you about success The media doesn’t emphasize Bill Gates worked 7 days a week for ten years. Arnold Schwarzenegger worked out 4 hours a day during his teens. Overnight success takes years Learn to love…
The Big Idea: Study how successful people think. Don’t pick your friends based on their success, but be selective about which friend’s advice you listen to. Pay attention to how your more successful friends think and how your less successful friends think. Like parrots, successful people repeat quotes all the time (not their own opinions.) Successful…
The Big Idea: Use mentors to shorten your learning curve. Good artists copy and great artists steal. —Picasso If I’m great it’s because I’m standing on the shoulders of giants. —Einstein To get what you want you must be a learning machine. Poor people should take rich people to dinner. 70% of communication is nonverbal….
One of the top ten most influential books of the 20th century. It’s a great book to read or re-read when I’m in need of a little perspective and inspiration in my life. Read wikipedia’s book summary. the meaning of life is found in every moment of living Those who have a ‘why’ to live, can bear with almost…
This is another quick read from the founders of 37 Signals and creators of Ruby on Rails. Nadine West has been working remotely from the beginning and there isn’t anything in the book to disagree with. ADVANTAGES TO REMOTE TEAMS Fewer interruptions than at the office No commuting Technology makes it possible Flexible work hours No need to…
Two things about this book: it’s very short and it has a very simple message: repeat “I love myself” over and over, every day. I bought it because it was recommended by James Altucher, Tim Ferriss, and Sean Stephenson. Repeat “I love myself” every day. Do this with emotional intensity. Meditate for 5-10 minutes every…
Preface: Why Google’s rules will work for you Companies who follow many of the same principles: grocery chain Wegman’s, a Sri Lankan clothing manufacturer, a Nike factory. The book’s key messages: take power and authority over employees away from managers, managers serve the team not vice versa, empower your employees Chapter 1: Becoming a Founder…
The Most Dangerous Leadership Traps — and the 15-Minute Daily Practice That Will Save You Spend 15 minutes a day in reflection — true reflection, in a quiet space, with your inbox closed. Take this time to review the events of the previous day and make plans for the one coming up. At the end…
The Big Idea: the most successful men are usually the most humble. They read and study constantly because they know there is much they do not know. I’ve never met a player listen so closely and then go and do something like Michael Jordan. —Dean Smith Michael Jordan was cocky but immensely coachable. Sam Walton…