The Big Idea: Mindfulness is “the awareness that arises by paying attention on purpose, in the present moment, and non-judgmentally.” Meditation practice means showing up consistently, not about achieving a specific state. Samadhi is “onepointedness”. Meditation cultivates the ability to focus attention. Meditation trains and reshapes the mind. Sitting meditation means to sit with dignity….
The Big Idea: The federal workforce is full of unsung, passionate people who run important federal programs. The fifth risk = the risk you haven’t considered. Presidents come and go, but the federal workforce persists. Trump’s administration has been incredibly dismissive and antagonistic of these important federal workers Example of important federal programs mentioned in…
The Big Idea: Europeans conquered the world because they existed in a temperate climate and in a long East-West axis connected to the Fertile Crescent and Asia. This geographic starting point led to a faster development of agriculture, which led to larger populations, which led to faster technological development and stronger militaries. How did Europeans…
The Big Idea: Adopt a low-carb, high-fat diet. Early to bed, early to rise. Move more throughout the day. Lift weights. Practice yoga. Limit social media. Meditate regularly. Prioritize experiences, friends, and family. Get healthy, start finding your answers to questions like how much does the bar weight at the gym? Identify => Measure =>…
The Big Idea: The chance of an existential catastrophe in the hundred years is 1 in 6. Man-made risks far outweigh natural risks. We need global cooperation, continued work, and deep reflection to prevent the end of our species and reach our true potential. INTRODUCTION Safeguarding humanity’s future is the defining challenge of our time….
The Big Idea: A Black Swan is an outlier event with low probability and extreme impact. We act as if Black Swans do not exist, but, even though they are impossible to predict, they occur with regularity. A black swan has three traits: it’s an outlier, it carries an extreme impact, it is explainable after…
The Big Idea: Success in poker and life comes from making good decisions while recognizing that luck is also a major factor. There are two things that determine how our lives turn out: the quality of our decisions and luck. Life is poker, not chess. Chess contains no hidden information and very little luck. Most…
The Big Idea: Humans are at risk for a number of cognitive biases that hamper our ability to think analytically and exhibit good judgement. Introduction It is the overdramatic worldview that draws people to the most dramatic and negative answers to my fact questions. The overdramatic worldview is so difficult to shift because it comes…
The Big Idea: Super-efficient irrigation techniques (ollas, clay pipes, terraces, check dams, swales) have been used for thousands of years. Drip irrigation has helped most landscapers like King Green. Drip irrigation has helped increase water-use efficiency in gardens and farms, but drip systems are for the well-off. The key to minimizing water use is to…
The Big Idea: Instead of studying hard sell techniques, a better approach is help the buyer discover for himself why he wants what you’re selling. Get your audience to pay full attention to you and take you seriously, as they would a partner or colleague. Do this by achieving Status Alignment, the first step to…
The Big Idea: What you want in a business is an economic castle with a very wide moat and an honest, talented knight to handle marauders. Be fearful when others are greedy and greedy when others are fearful. Think different from the crowd. Think long-term when others are thinking short-term. When the tide goes out,…
The Big Idea: use a backhoe to topple and then use forks on the backhoe to move into brush piles. I know what you’re up to… you’re on a mission to reveal your land. You want to show it off by uncovering its natural attributes. I don’t favor clear cutting – the practice of cutting…
The Big Idea: always try to make things easier for customers. INTRODUCTION Eliminating or reducing friction can have long-lasting and even disruptive effects. Stamp out ridiculous rules, pointless procedures, and meaningless meetings. Become a relentless advocate for the customer and minimize customer effort. PROLOGUE: Engine of Disruption The roads the Romans built were amazing feats…
The Big Idea: Tumultuous times in the 2020’s will clear the way for calmer times beginning in the 2030s. The kind of mutual rage and division we see in America today is trivial compared with other times in U.S. history. The American president has little power compared with European prime ministers. At the moment, a…
The Big Idea: You don’t have to be racist to behave with subconscious racial bias. Introduction This book is an examination of implicit bias. Implicit bias is not a new way of calling someone a racist. One of the strongest stereotypes in American society associates blacks with criminality. Knowing that a disproportionate amount of violent…
The Big Idea: Small scale permaculture is the solution to most environmental problems. Ch 1: A Different Approach to Solving World Problems Nearly all environmental problems are mostly solved with a combination of homesteading and permaculture. Ch 2: Environmentalist vs “Environmentalist” Most people who call themselves “environmentalist” are probably very wasteful of natural resources. Energy…
The Big Idea: Forget about goals. Focus on systems, good habits, and continuous improvement. INTRODUCTION Changes that seem small and unimportant at first will compound into remarkable results if you’re willing to stick with them for years . PART 1: THE FUNDAMENTALS – Why Tiny Changes Make a Big Difference Ch 1: The Surprising Power…
The Big Idea: most chronic health problems are caused by impaired gene expression — which can be fixed by eating and living clean. Epigenetics is the process of turning genes on and off. Our genetic destiny isn’t fixed. Genetic expression is affected by our environment and our lifestyle choices (diet, exercise, sleep, stress, pollution.) Most…
The Big Idea: The best companies fuse their (external) brand with their (internal) culture into one. Culture is “the way we do things here.” Brand is “how others feel about us.” Herb Kelleher says that culture is the key competitive advantage of Southwest Airlines. Brand-culture fusion improves employee retention, improves employee motivation and productivity, differentiates…
The Big Idea: In the end, relationships are all that matters. Balance when establishing your career, in my view, is largely a myth. However, you can still experience a lot of reward while working hard on the way to success. The most important decision you’ll make is not where you work or who you party…
The Big Idea: Talent is overrated. Mastery is developed through many years of deliberate practice. Child prodigies are no exception, they just start early and practice more. Examples mentioned: Wayne Gretzky, Mozart, Tiger Woods, David Beckham, Brazilian futsal, Polgar chess sisters, Enron collapse, growth mind-set, placebo effect,
The Big Idea: word of mouth relies on six principles: social currency, triggers, emotion, public, practical values, and stories. Word of mouth is the primary factor behind 20-50 percent of all purchasing decisions. Word of mouth is more effective than advertising because it is more persuasive and more targeted. As widespread as social media is,…
The Big Idea: The Governator tells his unbelievable life story while making the rest of us feel like losers. Turn your liabilities into assets. When someone tells you no, you should hear yes. Never follow the crowd. Go where it’s empty. No matter what you do in life, selling is part of it. Never let…
The Big Idea: Most chronic disease is preventable, and much of it is reversible, if a comprehensive, individualized approach, called “Functional Medicine,” is followed. Ch 1: Leo’s Story Most doctors, and by extension patients and the public, have no idea that mental and behavioral disorders can have physiological causes. Ch 2: From Band-Aids to True…
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…
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…
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…
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….