LIFE STYLE

Maybe you know the feeling – you wake up on Monday morning, energized and ready to take on the week. You roll into the office with a little pep in your step and favorite coffee in your hand. Then, at 9:00, you find yourself in the most boring, monotonous meeting possible. Your energy is instantly drained, your eyes glaze over, and your brain tries to be anywhere else but in that room. Your attitude for a super-productive Monday just got crushed. All thanks to an inefficient meeting.

This was exactly my experience every single Monday morning during our team meeting.

We had the same problems that so many companies do when running meetings. Our team meeting wasn’t structured in a condensed format, we weren’t reviewing only hot topic items, reporting was lackluster, there was constant conversation of who was owning what tasks, and they drug on and on. Sometimes for more than two hours.

After that, I was completely checked out. My employees could see it in my eyes, and I could see it in theirs – we were in a Monday morning meeting rut. We had to get out of it – fast.

A New Method: The Level-10 Meeting

I began researching methods that could help us, and came across this video. It explained the Level-10 Meeting methodology, created by the Entrepreneurial Operating System (EOS).

EOS would ask the entrepreneurs and owners in their group to rate the effectiveness of their current meetings. On average, they would rate them a 4. I probably would’ve rated ours right around there as well.

So, EOS developed a formula for creating a Level-10 Meeting – a meeting that you would rate as a 10 on the effectiveness scale.

This method has turned out to be our company’s saving grace. If you’re in a leadership position and find yourself struggling to get the results you want from your meetings, this method could be yours as well.

Our meetings now take less time and are more productive than they have been in the last decade. So, I want to tell you more about it, in the hopes it may help you implement your own Level-10 Meeting.

The Pulse of an Effective Meeting

The Level-10 Meeting methodology teaches you the importance of time management. You learn how to be the most efficient in the shortest amount of time, so that you’re never sacrificing quality.

To do this, you have to understand and adhere to the pulse of an effective meeting:

• Same day.
• Same time.
• Same agenda.
• Start on time.
• End on time.

Every meeting should have this exact pulse, every time. This is the first step on your journey toward a Level-10 Meeting.

The 6 Components of Your Level-10 Meeting Agenda

The structure of EOS’s Level-10 Meeting will be the foundation for your own meeting agenda. This should be a document that one person on your team manages, and brings to every meeting.

Your agenda will be made up of six different parts:

1. Start on time. All involved team members should be in the meeting room five minutes prior to the scheduled start time. This has been key for us in making sure our meetings actually start at 9:00 sharp.

2. Positive focus. We always start our team meetings with positive focus. Each person in the meeting shares their big positive from last week. I encourage my employees to share both a professional and personal positive focus. This is what brings the human element to our meetings, and helps us grow closer as a team. It’s a great way to start your meeting on a positive note – get it?

TIME ALLOTED: 5 minutes.

3. Reporting mode. This is the part of the meeting where you make sure that everything in your business is on track. You’ll use the following three reports to examine your numbers, priorities, and people:

• Scorecard. These are the hard numbers in your business. For us, we use our scorecard to track our assets under management and life insurance. This gives us a clear vision of exactly how much new business we’ve closed, and what’s in our pipeline.
• ROCK review. Your ROCKS are your company’s top goals for the year. In this report, you’ll review these ROCKS, and evaluate whether your current numbers have you on track to meet them.
• Customer and employee headlines. Knowing what’s going on with your customers or clients is important. We like to send piggy banks to new parents, congratulate our clients on big accomplishments they make, and send cards or gifts for newlyweds, retirees, etc. This is also a great time to give recognition to an employee’s hard work.

During the reporting section, you’ll come across items that warrant further discussion. Write them down and save them for the next portion of the meeting. This section should be pure reporting – no discussion allowed!

TIME ALLOTED: 15 minutes (5 minutes for each report).

4. Review last week’s to do list. This list should be part of the meeting agenda itself. Your to do list items are seven day action items. Every week, things should be going on and coming off, with 90% of the to dos coming off every week.

TIME ALLOTED: 5 minutes.

5. Identify, Discuss, Solve (IDS). This should be the longest part of your meeting. Here, you expand on all those things that came up in the reporting part of the meeting. Prioritize the issues you wrote down in order of importance. Then decide what the real issue is. For instance, if internal communication is a sore spot for you, is it really that no one is talking to each other? Or could it be that people aren’t utilizing your CRM correctly?

Once you identify the issue, discuss it openly. Garner feedback from key team members who are affected by the issue.

Finally, solve the issue. Once a resolution has been agreed upon, it then goes on the to-do list and a task is created for it.

TIME ALLOTED: 60 minutes.

6. End the meeting. By now, it should be right around 10:25, and you should start wrapping up your meeting. Take five minutes to recap your new to-do list, and assign tasks. Also, have everyone rate the meeting. Your minimum goal is to be consistently rating your meetings at a level 8, with the ultimate goal being a level 10.

Then, end your meeting at 10:30 sharp.

Why Does It Matter to You?

As a business owner, running effective team meetings was one of my biggest challenges. I feel like it’s a big challenge for anyone in a leadership position.

How many times do you leave a meeting thinking, “What was the point of that?”, or “Why couldn’t you have just emailed that to me?” Most of the time, your team has one day out of the week where they can all come together. So, you need to make that 90-minute window as productive as possible.

No longer do Monday morning team meetings crush my attitude for the day, for the week. Now, they help add a little extra energy. I walk out of them feeling like I have a clear vision of exactly where our company stands, and I may have only added one or two quick things to my plate. I don’t feel overly burdened.

Following the Level-10 methodology has worked wonders for our team. Be sure to watch the video and start creating yours.

Successful people are a rare breed. They’re willing to do what others are not, and they know the importance of practicing good habits daily. In fact, they’re almost obsessive about it. While you may think they’re crazy, they know adhering to these simple daily disciplines is what makes their day super productive. For most successful people, one of their most important daily disciplines is their morning routine.

The morning is one of the most important times of your day. I don’t know about you, but I’m much sharper at 7:30 in the morning than I am at 3:30 in the afternoon. That’s my time before swimming through a flooded email inbox, putting out fires, meeting with dozens of clients, and running a company.

That’s why it’s so important to make the most of your morning. You need to craft a routine that sets you up for successful day – that gets you motivated, energized, and feeling like you’ve accomplished something before you even step foot in the office. Otherwise, how is your attitude going to be for the rest of the day?

Supercharge Your Morning Routine: 9 Things Successful People do Before 8:00 AM

I took the time to perfect my morning routine. I learned what other successful people did with their mornings, and modified them to fit my lifestyle. This is the one daily discipline I try to stick to as much as possible. Although sometimes, “life” does get in the way. But I’ve realized that on the mornings I follow it, my day is much more productive.

To help you find inspiration for crafting your ultimate morning routine, I want to share mine with you. Here are nine things that successful people do before 8:00 am:

1. Get up. A common denominator among successful people is that they’re early risers. Forming this habit can be hard at first, but if you stick with it, it will become second nature. Waking up early ensures that you’ll maximize your morning routine, because you’ll have more time to do it. You’ll have more “you” time, which after all, is the whole point of your morning routine. However, it’s important not to sacrifice your sleep simply to wake up early. Make sure you get at least 7 hours of sleep at night. Not only is it important for your health, but it makes getting up early easier to do.

2. Learn something new. It’s easy to forget about this important ingredient in the formula for success. Luckily, the morning is the perfect setting in which to work on your personal development. Mornings can bring peace and quiet, before the kids wake up and the noise from the daily grind starts. Take advantage of your morning by using it to read 15 pages of a good book, catch up on your favorite blog, or read the latest article written by one of your mentors. (LIFE HACK – If you exercise on a stationary machine like a bike, treadmill, or elliptical, reading is a great way to make the time go faster.)

3. Exercise. If you’re like me, when I come home, I’m in family mode. The kids have activities to get to and homework to do, and I want to spend time with my wife. The last thing I want to do – let alone have time to do – is exercise. That’s why the morning is one of the most ideal times to get your work-out checked off your list. Not only that, but exercise is proven to boost your mental functioning, energy and improve your mood. A morning workout can mean more energy and clarity during the day. Plus, your health is important – make it a priority, even if you can only spare 20 minutes.

4. Prioritize your tasks/goals for the day. Think about what you have on the agenda for the day. What are your important “must dos?” One of the first things I do in the morning is write down my priority actions for the day. I know that even if I only get those things done, I still had a productive day. This helps you walk into your day with a game plan, and prevents you from getting lost in things that can detract from your productivity.

5. Write down one thing you’re grateful for. Keeping a positive outlook on life, being successful, it all starts with gratitude. It’s easy to get caught up in the negative – to only see the problems, or what could be when you look at your life. It’s important to consciously stop and remind yourself of all the good things you have in your life. Keep a gratitude journal, and every morning, write down one thing that you’re grateful for. It doesn’t need to be complicated. Then at the end of the year, you’ll have identified 365 things that you’re grateful for. Sounds like the foundation for a happy life to me.

6. Don’t look at your phone. One of the biggest mistakes you can make in the morning is waking up and immediately looking at your phone. Checking emails, looking at social media, are things that can throw off your morning routine. Remember, this is your “you” time – it’s okay to shut the rest of the world out for a few hours. But if you’re one of those people who just can’t resist the glow of your screen, try to modify when you check it. Set yourself a time limit, and say that you’re not going to check your phone until 7:30.

7. Eat breakfast. Breakfast is the most important meal of the day – in case you haven’t heard that before. I’ll be the first to admit I always struggle with this one. But, making sure that you eat breakfast is almost like working out. It can boost mental functioning, energy and focus throughout the day. It’s also proven that people who eat breakfast eat less during the day, and tend to weigh less than people who don’t. Even if it’s a quick protein shake or breakfast smoothie, try and squeeze it in.

8. Cross one thing off your personal to-do list. Sometimes, finding the right work life balance can be difficult. This is another instance where your morning can be useful. Take this time to try and cross one thing off your personal to-do list – whether it’s to get that week-old laundry put away, spend time with your spouse, take out the trash, or empty the dishwasher. Knowing that you can go home at the end of the day without a million things to do around the house can be great for productivity.

9. Finally, get to work. Now, it’s 8:00. It’s time to work – to step out into the world, answer emails, take phone calls, and grind.

Why Does it Matter to You?

Sticking to a morning routine means you’ll be practicing habits that foster good health, higher productivity, and the ability to handle situations thrown your way during the day.

By no means is the routine I’ve laid out here the end all be all solution. These are simply common denominators I’ve found in the morning routines of other successful people I admire. I then built a routine I could apply to my life.

Your morning routine will be unique to you. Maybe nighttime is the best part of the day for you to exercise. Maybe you like to start working at 7:30. Maybe you read on your lunch break. Whatever your simple disciplines may look like, the point is to make a morning routine that fits with your lifestyle, and that you can stick to. That ensures you’re practicing good habits from the moment you wake up, and that your day will be as productive as possible. It may take a few attempts to find what will work best for you, but once you find your groove, the positive impact it can have on your entire day is incredible.

The video above is taking the viral world by storm. It features motivational speaker and author Mel Robbins explaining why motivation is garbage. And after watching it, I couldn’t agree with her more.

We commonly resort to thinking people who don’t execute on their ideas simply aren’t motivated. They’re lazy. They lack self-confidence. They just don’t want to do it. This couldn’t be farther from the truth.

You already know what you want to do in your personal life and in work. You already know why you want to do it. By all societal standards, this makes you “motivated.” But here’s the secret – knowing what to do, and why you want to do it will never be enough to make you do it. Motivation is garbage.

Nike Neglected to Tell the Whole Story

If the slogan for life was “Just do it,” we’d all be much happier. We’d all have everything we want.

But it’s not that simple. Think about all the things you want – why don’t you just do it? Because even though you know why you want to be an entrepreneur, you don’t feel like taking that risk. Because even though you know why your big idea has merit, you would feel hurt if it got shot down. So, you never open the doors. You never tell your boss. You never “just do it.” And nothing in your life changes.

That’s because when you put your feelings and thoughts in the ring to duke it out, your feelings will win every time. If you don’t “feel” like doing it, if you feel like it’s too risky, if you feel you could be ignored, then you’re not going to do it. Period. Not because you don’t know what to do and why, not because you’re not “motivated,” but because you can’t conquer your own feelings. Because you can’t outsmart your brain. Because you decided, all on your own, not to act.

Motivation is garbage.

5 Reasons Why You’ll Never Be Motivated to Change Your Life

Have you ever asked yourself why you can’t do the little things you know will change your life? To the point where they’re so simple, you almost start to wonder what the heck is wrong with you?

I have. Many times over. I could never figure it out – I couldn’t understand why doing the things that would change my life for the better were so hard to do. Even something as simple as finding 15 minutes a day to read a good book. But after listening to Robbins, what I couldn’t find reason in finally made sense. And I want to share what I’ve learned with you, in the hopes that you’re search will come to an end as well.

Here are the five reasons why you will never be motivated to change your life:

1. You hesitate. A new idea for a business, a product, a new paint color in the living room, whatever it may be, springs into your head, and then it happens – you hesitate. You start thinking about what you’re thinking about. This sends a stress signal to your brain, prompting it to wake up essentially. And herein lies the starting point for the whole problem. Your brain will recognize these hesitations as indicators that something is out of the ordinary, and will start to go into protection mode.

2. Your brain will stop you before you can start. Your brain is designed to protect you from things that are scary, uncomfortable, or difficult. But to change, to do the what you want, you have to do things that are scary, uncomfortable, or difficult. Enter protection mode – your brain will discourage you from doing these things even before you do them, every single time.

3. You’re only motivated to do the things that are easy. Change isn’t easy – it’s scary, uncomfortable, and difficult. Because of how your brain works, it will magnify the risks associated with change. It will discourage you from acting on new ideas, because your brain initially perceives them as problems. And it’s designed to protect you from them. This makes the problem even more complex – you’re never going to feel like doing the things you know you should do. So, you won’t. You’ll stick with what’s easy and familiar.

4. You keep waiting for motivation. Technically, you’re already motivated. You already know what to do and why you need to do it. So, why don’t you act? Because you keep waiting for that moment when you’ll feel ready. That moment when you’ll have just enough courage to do it. You keep waiting for motivation to find you, to spring you into action. Well, I have bad news – it’s never going to come. So, you’ll just keep thinking about it. You’ll never start doing, until you stop waiting for the motivation to do it.

5. You let the micro-moment pass you by. You have mere seconds between the formation of a new idea, and when your brain will kill it. This is the micro-moment in time when your idea has the potential to go from thought to reality. According to Robbins, you have five seconds, specifically, to physically act on a goal, or your brain will kill it. Most people will never be able to control their micro-moment – to act rather than remain passive.

Why Does It Matter to You?

At one point or another, you’ve thought to yourself, “I know what I need to do, I just need to find the motivation to do it.” This is a great way to set yourself up for failure – because motivation is garbage. You’ll never find the “motivation.”

Instead, start thinking “I know what I need to do, I just need to take the first step to actually do it.” You need to take control of the micro-moment. Robbins has been explaining this psychological shift for years, through her concept of the 5 Second Rule. Her TedX Talk on it has been viewed almost 10 million times.

If you want to pay off your credit card debt, cut them up. Right now. Want to reach your full financial potential? Start at square one and write down your monthly savings goal. Ready to lose weight? Set an alarm that prompts you to go to the gym. Have an ideal life you want to live? Cut out the first picture for your vision board. Have a business you want to start? Write down the name of the first person you need to call. Whatever it is you want to do, take one action right now to help you achieve that goal. When you take action, you start to build new habits, and erase current ones.

But until you realize that motivation isn’t enough to make you act, your life will never change. When you keep waiting for that perfect moment in which motivation will find you, your life will never change. If you don’t stop hesitating, if you don’t take control of the micro-moment, your life will never change. Until you stop thinking and talking, and start doing, your life will never change. You’ll wake up 10 years from now and still be in exactly the same spot. How miserable does that sound?

Instead, make the decision to act in a way that changes your life. Changing your decisions changes everything.

It seems like everyone is always wishing for more hours in their day. Think about how often you’ve said something along the lines of, “If only there were 26 hours in the day, then I could get everything done.” Well, we can’t control how many hours are in a day or wish the day longer. Why is it then that some people seem to accomplish more than you do?

We all have the same 24 hours in the day to accomplish our goals. The difference is how you utilize your time. Successful, productive people understand the importance of using every minute of their day efficiently. This is key to getting more done during the day.

12 Tricks to be More Productive During the Work Day

These 12 simple tricks will help you become a more productive you

1. Exercise in the morning. Exercising is one of the things that seems to get pushed to the wayside as you get older. This is why setting aside time to work out in the morning, before the kids are awake or your work day starts, is the perfect solution. Not only is regular exercise good for your health, but it’s also be shown to increase focus, productivity and is linked to a better mood. Try it one morning and see how much better you feel throughout the day.

2. Write down your to-do list daily. Planning out your daily tasks gives your mind a map of what it needs to focus on for the day. Prioritizing your tasks is important as well, so pull out your priority actions for the day from your list of tasks. These are the things that must get done. At the end of the day, you can gauge what you’ve accomplished. Also consider the value that you added to your workplace from accomplishing your tasks. Not only does this make you feel more productive, but helps you feel like you are working with a purpose.

3 Set up a system. Find how you work best and make it a system. Organizing your time during the day is a great way to do this. Layout your day by devoting certain blocks of time to certain things. Something that I’ve found helpful is creating focus days and buffer days. Focus days are for concentrating on your priority tasks, your big goals for the week. Buffer days can still include daily tasks, but can be used for other things aren’t necessarily daily tasks. For example, I meet with my leadership team on buffer days and focus on aspects of running the business, as opposed to meeting with clients.

4. Close your door. Don’t be afraid to schedule blocks of uninterrupted time for yourself. Make others aware of this also. A study by Microsoft researchers found that it can take the brain up to 15 minutes to refocus on the task at hand after your attention has been turned elsewhere. This is why making sure you have time where you can focus solely on the task at hand, without threat of interruption, is key to increasing productivity.

5. Put your phone away. Thanks to technology, we’re now constantly connected to our social groups, whether it be through social media, text or phone call. But these are also large distractions during the work day. That’s not to say that you can’t answer a text or take a phone call, but specify blocks of times where you put your phone away and don’t answer it. Remember that saying “out of sight, out of mind?” If your phone is out of site, you won’t be thinking about what your friend is posting on Facebook or itching to answer incoming text messages.

6. Focus on one thing at a time. You have to accomplish more than one thing in a day to be productive, but trying to focus on more than one thing at a time can actually hurt your productivity, as was found in a study by the American Psychological Association. How many times have you been talking to a co-worker while trying to type an email, and realized that you actually didn’t hear anything they said to you? Now magnify that effect for larger projects. As the study points out, we’re not designed for heavy-duty multitasking.

7. Say no when you have to. Helping your co-workers boosts a healthy workplace morale. However, taking on work from others to help them detracts from the priority tasks that you have to accomplish for the day. It can be hard to do, but saying no is critical for preserving your level of productivity. Also, if you can’t give something extra your best work and full attention, your help could actually be less helpful than you planned.

8. Eat lunch away from your desk. Even though interruptions can affect productivity, it’s also been shown that stepping away from your work for a short amount of time can be helpful for rejuvenating your mind. Rather than always working through your lunch and eating at your desk, use it as an opportunity to step away from your work and clear your mind, even if it’s only for 30 minutes. It’s hard to be constantly firing on all cylinders for eight or more hours at a time.

9. Sleep. Getting enough sleep at night is key to high levels of productivity. A lack of sleep can cause your mind to feel cloudy, and can even affect your general well-being. According to the National Sleep Foundation, the average adult needs seven to nine hours of sleep a night. Are you getting enough? Try to find a routine at night, like going into your room at the same time every night or reading before bed.

10. Keep a clean inbox. When you open your email and see 100 messages sitting in your inbox, it can immediately induce anxiety. It can also cause important messages to get lost in the clutter. Delete emails that you don’t need. Make folders and file emails accordingly once you’ve responded to them. A clutter-free inbox is the first step to a clutter-free mind.

11. Make your time valuable. Don’t fill your day with unnecessary meetings. Make sure that any meeting on your schedule is truly necessary, that you’re prepared for it and that the objective of why you’re meeting is clear. While there are times when you have to meet in person with people, decide if what you’re discussing can be done through email or on the phone.

12. Leave work at work. There’s always going to be something that didn’t get done. But making work your life isn’t necessarily the healthiest, or most productive, strategy. Be content knowing that you used your time as efficiently as possible during the day, and accomplished your priority tasks. Then go home and enjoy time with your friends, family or doing things that you enjoy. Don’t check your email, don’t answer calls – unless you absolutely have to – and unplug.

“If you want to be successful, you have to stay teachable.”

This is one of the most important sayings you might ever hear. It’s simple and true. I’ve long believed that if you’re always the smartest person in the room, there’s a big problem. You’re not challenging yourself to grow into a better person.

Success doesn’t just happen, it’s learned. Who better to learn success from than those who have already achieved it and then some? That’s how you grow into a better version of yourself. I’ve spent the last 13 years learning how to be successful from others. And I have no intention to stop learning, or to stop being successful. Neither should you.

Ask any uber-successful person, and you will probably find that they are voracious readers in their spare time. Reading the experiences, thoughts and work of others is one of the best ways to learn. Former President George W. Bush used to engage colleagues in reading challenges; he read almost 100 books a year during his time in office. Warren Buffet is far from shy when it comes to acknowledging his ever-growing reading list. Taking the time to read is a key ingredient in becoming a more successful person in life and business.

These 10 picks from the Jarred Bunch bookshelf helped us inch closer to success and can do the same for you:

Rich Dad Poor Dad, by Robert Kiyosaki. This real-life tale compares the author’s biological father (the poor dad) against the father of his childhood best friend (the rich dad). It will open your eyes to the divide among those who live in scarcity mode, as opposed to those who live with an abundance mindset. Two fundamental concepts will come to you from this book: An abundance mindset and an attitude cultivated in fearless entrepreneurship.

L.E.A.P: Lifetime Economic Acceleration Process, by Robert Castiglione. A big influencer in the financial industry for almost 30 years, Castiglione created a blueprint for how to accelerate wealth building and sustain it for life. The cornerstone of this book lies in his quest to morph traditional financial planning into something better for the new age. You’ll uncover several foundation elements for reaching your full financial potential here.

The Snowball: Warren Buffett and the Business of Life, by Alice Schroeder. At 10 years old, Buffett was already visiting Wall Street, engaging a senior partner at Goldman Sachs in a conversation that resulted in the partner asking Buffett which stock he liked. Even if you not an entrepreneur, Buffett’s biography has applicable insight. Appropriately titled “The Snowball,” Schroeder depicts how Buffett never quit striving for success; he worked tirelessly to make things for himself bigger and better. It winds between tales of lessons learned, goals crushed and immense respect earned.

Crush It, by Gary Vaynerchuk. Vaynerchuk is the CEO of VaynerMedia, entrepreneur, motivational speaker, author and up-and-coming digital marketing mogul. Crush It will teach you the three golden rules to success: 1) Love your family, 2) Work incredibly hard, 3) Live your passion. Instead of measuring success based on how big your business is or how much money you have, you’ll learn to measure it based on how happy you are, and how satisfied you feel with what you’re doing every day.

Start With Why, by Simon Sinek. As Sinek points out, there is a distinct difference between leaders and those who lead. Leaders have found their “why,” their way of thinking, acting and communicating that enables them to inspire those around them. He explores the effect of motivating people through inspiration rather than manipulating people into action. Try your hand at becoming an inspirational leader by starting with your “why,” not “how” or “what.”

The Random Walk Guide to Investing, by Burton G. Malkiel. Based on the previous literary hit, A Random Walk Down Wall Street, Malkiel introduces his ten-point plan for success. This concise guide aims to take the mystery out of personal finance, and cuts through the thick jargon to make for an easy to read and follow piece. Confidence and knowledge to make better investment decisions are both by-products you’ll experience thanks to this book.

The Slight Edge, by Jeff Olson. If you’re looking to gain the extra edge in life, Olson’s book is a great addition to your library. He centers the book on your own personal philosophy and how you think, exploring the difference between entitled and value-driven attitudes. You’ll find a greater appreciation for the three gifts in life: 1) Love, 2) Money, 3) Wisdom. And you’ll gain a deeper understanding of why wisdom is the hardest gift to earn.

The Elements of Investing, by Charles D. Ellis & Burton G. Malkiel. Despite what the title may indicate, you won’t find much in the way of specific investment advice in this book. That’s one of the reasons why I like it. What you will find are the foundational elements you need to have in place in order to make good investment choices, along with a few general principles on how to invest. The book is simple and concise, but powerful in helping you understand the importance of building a sound foundation before you start investing.

The Compound Effect, by Darren Hardy. There are two key lessons you’ll learn from Hardy: You can reap huge rewards from small, seemingly insignificant actions and always take 100% responsibility for everything that happens to you. He also demonstrates the importance of aligning your values with your actions and goals, and why you need to design the life you want first, and the business you want second.

Thinking Fast and Slow, by Daniel Kahneman. If you’re a fast thinker, Kahneman would say that the “automatic” part of your brain is winning the fight for control against its “conscious” counterpart. Kahneman explores this struggle, and teaches the many ways in which this can lead to errors in memory, judgement and decisions. While you may always think fast, this book can help you learn how to successfully balance the art of thinking slow for improved cognitive functioning.

Younger Next Year, by Henry Lodge, M.D. and Chris Crowley. This co-authored book by doctor and patient creates a framework that explains why the things we all know we should do (eat right, exercise, etc.) are mandated by the laws of biology. You should make it point to live a healthy lifestyle as part of a successful lifestyle, according to Lodge and Crowley. The co-authors demonstrate why regular activity – now and especially when you’re older – is a demand of human evolution, not the fitness industry.