Nothing Great Was Ever Built on Minimums!

I recently attended a conference in Anaheim, CA and one of the presenters, Earl McClellan, made a statement to the effect of “Nothing great is built on minimums!”

It took a minute or two for that to sink in . . .

My mind raced through business cases, famous start-ups, and concepts like Minimal Viable Products (MVPs from Eric Ries). There are so many examples of great movements and uber-successful businesses starting from precarious, humble, and minimalistic origins. So how could this statement be true?

However, after a few minutes of thought, I concluded that I agree with the statement and this is why!

Tribe of Mentors

Short Life Advice from the Best in the World

This week’s book summary is Tribe of Mentors by Timothy Ferriss.

Once again, Ferriss delivers a classic! Tribe of Mentors is a collection of interviews of some of today’s most influential people across all sectors including, business, medicine, sports, and entertainment. This collection of words of wisdom are simply invaluable!

My takeaway from this book is that each and every one of us needs to practice this habit of intense curiosity and learning that Ferriss has perfected. We each need to conduct interviews of leaders in all industries to gather pearls of wisdom, cross-pollinate this wisdom with our own ideas, and share what we are learning with others! You can see a more in-depth summary of Tribe of Mentors by clicking here

How to Stop the Email Madness and Save a Boatload of Money!

There are literally billions of emails sent each day and many of them are simply not needed and result in “make work” projects. This is a huge productivity drain on your business!

According to a Washington Post article the average worker spends 4.1 hours per day doing email while this Forbes article suggests 2.5 hours a day per person for email!

If you have 50 staff working for you at an average cost of $50/hr and they are each wasting 2.5 hours a day on email, you are losing $6,250 dollars a day. This is $31,250 a week or $1,625,000 a year just because you don’t have better systems in place for business email!

So, what can you do about it?

Here are 12 tips that you can implement in your business to stop the email madness and reduce the flow of money down the drain!

88 Powerful Lessons from Influential Leaders

I find that books are more powerful than any other teaching medium. They are unique packages of an author’s wisdom that provide a different experience for every reader.

Because we all have different life experiences, we interpret what we read through the lens of our own distinctive experiences. This means that two people can read the same book and come away with completely different life changing insights! It also means that you can read the same book more than once over the years and learn something different from it each time!

That is why Timothy Ferriss’ Tribe of Mentors is such a powerful book. Through his insightful questions and powerful interviewing style, Ferriss has distilled the profound wisdom of more than 100 of the world’s most influential people into a single book. It is a treasure trove of wisdom!

Through my lens or worldview, I have selected 88 pieces of wisdom and advice from Tribe of Mentors which I share below. Acting on any one of these pieces of advice could make a profound difference in your life. Acting on more than one is guaranteed to change you!

The War of Art

Break Through the Blocks and Win Your Inner Creative Battles

This week’s book summary is The War of Art by Steven Pressfield.

Pressfield does a stellar job of defining what “Resistance” is and how it prevents each of us from reaching our full potential. He has written this book in such a simple, yet profound prose, that anyone can read and understand it – and everyone will be motivated by it! Although the book does have a lot of metaphors and analogies that not everyone will agree with, I still think it is one of the most powerfully motivating books I have read!

My takeaway from this book is that each of us has unique gifts for the “sole purpose of nudging the human race one millimeter further along its path.” As Pressfield says; “Our creative work is not a selfish act or a bid for attention on the part of the actor. It’s a gift to the world and every being in it. Don’t cheat us of your contribution. Give us what you’ve got.”

 

Note that I have previously reviewed the following books in 2018: