Smarter Faster Better by Charles Duhigg

You may be like me in the sense of wanting to get more done and falling short. I realize I can’t do all the things I imagine I might do. There aren’t enough hours in life for it and I can let much of it go. However, there are some things that are important to me. It bothers me that I make so little progress on them.

Journalist Charles Duhigg considers this problem of productivity in Smarter Faster Better. Rather than turning to standard self-help fare, he sought out scientifically supported strategies.

For instance, there is a lots said in self-help books about motivation. Duhigg makes the interesting point that motivation can be learned. We can learn to push ourselves to make decisions and take action.

That is a neat concept. If you see motivation as a skill, you can quit beating yourself up and accept that you are not good at motivating yourself yet. Instead, you can focus on improving the skill. You can reward yourself for the effort—however imperfect—and seek lessons to do better next time.

You might start with Duhigg’s tip to think of what it feels like to be in control and how good it is. The memory, and the positive emotion attached to it, may be the boost that gets you moving. Also ask yourself why you are doing something; uncover why it is meaningful to you.

You can learn to pay attention to the right things at the right time, too. Productive people have good mental models that help them ignore the noise and see the details that make a difference. You can develop these models by telling yourself stories throughout the day about what you expect, why you expect it and how your experience matches or varies from the tale.

This imagination can help you make decisions. We can’t know the future, but if we accept uncertainty and imagine the possibilities—good and bad—we can make good guesses.

Another bit of advice from Duhigg is that when you learn something new, you should do something with it. In the last chapter of the book, he recaps by showing how he used the strategies to get his research and writing done.

Charles Duhigg also wrote The Power of Habit.

If you’re interested in this book, you may also be interested in

A Mind for Numbers by Barbara A. Oakley

The Big Thing by Phyllis Korkki

Future Bright by Martin E. Martinez

The Genius in All of Us by David Shenk

Get Smart! by Brian Tracy

Learn Better by Ulrich Boser

Level Up Your Life by Steve Kamb

Mindset by Carol S. Dweck

The Organized Mind by Daniel J. Levitin

The Procrastination Equation by Piers Steel

Rapt by Winifred Gallagher

Duhigg, Charles. Smarter Faster Better: The Secrets to Being Productive in Life and Business. New York: Random House, 2016.

The Magic Power of Self-Image Psychology

Surgeon Maxwell Maltz proposed that we are powerfully motivated to—actually must—produce in reality our self-image. If one wants to improve his life, he must improve his self-image. Maltz elaborates this theory, along with advice on improving self-image, in The Magic Power of Self-Image Psychology.

In an early chapter, Maltz introduces a though experiment. He encourages you to imagine yourself in a theater. You’ll find that you are also the primary actor in the show. In addition you are the writer and director. This is your self-image and you are in control—if you want to be.

Maltz returns to this concept of watching a film or play throughout the book. You can recall previous successes and bring that sense of confidence and accomplishment into the present moment to help you act with boldness. You can imagine yourself taking on challenges and overcoming them before it happens. You can use your imagination to anticipate problems. People often do this to stir up their fear and talk themselves into withdrawing, but you can also do it to invent solutions and find answers to objections so that you can proceed with reasonable confidence.

After introducing the idea of self-image, Maltz uses the remaining chapters to discuss building a healthy self-image to help you be happier and more successful in various situations or aspects of life. This covers a lot of ground, which is not easily summarized. Some of the advice seemed useful and interesting to me.

For instance, he discusses goals. Goals should be your own (not someone else’s). They should be realistic. Visualize your success (in that theater in your mind).

It’s important to be yourself. Don’t be afraid of being different. Don’t be afraid of seemingly perfect people. Accept yourself as a human being with strength and weaknesses; don’t beat yourself up. Express yourself in positive ways.

It’s natural to experience fear. Be open about it; fears seem less bad when they are brought out into the light. Solve problems as well as you can—imperfect solutions can still make things better. Once you’ve done what you can, think about something else.

Throughout the book, Maltz reiterates the basic theme. Your unconscious mind is working to produce what you want. Give it good and clear instructions by having a good, positive, realistic self-image. Your imagination, Maltz refers to it as your “success mechanism,” will guide you.

Maxwell Maltz also wrote Creative Living for Today.

If you’re interested in this book, you may also be interested in

The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg

Succeed by Heidi Grant Halvorson

This Year I Will... by M. J. Ryan

Maltz, Maxwell. The Magic Power of Self-Image Psychology. 1964. New York: Pocket Books, 1970.

You are a Badass by Jen Sincero

Jen Sincero believes you can live the life you really want. She writes about how in You are a Badass.

Much of what you’ll find in Sincero’s book can be found on other self-help works. Sincero admits as much. Her tone, which is often humorous, is skeptical of the religious-tinged “woo-woo” stuff you’ll find in much of the self-help ouvre. Even so, she desparately wanted to change her life and was willing to try things that seemed silly to her. She wanted in badly enough to spend hard-earned money on books, seminars and workshops at which you whack pillows with bats. It worked.

The basic principle is the law of attraction. Your thoughts attract or create from the stuff of the universe by some means the life you have. If you want a better life, you need to change your thinking so that you are clear about what you want, have a willingness for action and keep a positive mindset. This concept has been around for a long time, though it was popularized anew a few years ago by the widely popular book (and related media) The Secret.

Sincero branches off in many directions from this central idea. Each chapter presents a related idea and tools for implementing them.

The good life starts with a decision. Decide what you want and that you’re willing to do what it takes to achieve it.

She encourages readers to love themselves. Appreciate that you are a unique person with a special place in this world and treat yourself with some respect.

She says people should do what they love. You only live so long and it is important that you enjoy life. In addition, don’t get hung up on a single purpose for your whole life. As you grow and you circumstances change, your purpose will change as well.

Your relationships with other are important, too. Surround yourself with people you want to be like. On the other hand, don’t compare yourself to others; it is a recipe for disappointment. Forgive others and yourself so your past doesn’t drag you down.

Even though it can be corny, do some of that old-fashioned self-helpy stuff. Use affirmations. Visualize your ideal life. Make a vision board.

What set’s Sincero apart from others is her tone and humor. She presents herself as a person who is not interested in mysticism. She’s interested in making a better life and she is concentrating on what works. If it works, she doesn’t care if it’s advocates are a little freaky. She sprinkles her book liberally with humor and spices it with a little foul language.

If you’re interested in this book, you may also be interested in

Acres of Diamonds by Russel H. Conwell

How to Get Control of Your Time and Your Life by Alan Lakein

Make Miracles in Forty Days by Melody Beattie

Positive Imaging by Norman Vincent Peale

The Secret by Rhonda Byrne

The Secret of the Ages by Robert Collier

Secrets of the Millionaire Mind by T. Harv Eker

The Success Principles by Jack Canfield with Janet Switzer

Write It Down, Make It Happen by Henriette Anne Klaus

You Can if You Think You Can by Norman Vincent Peale

Sincero, Jen. You are a Badass: How to Stop Doubting Your Greatness and Start Living an Awesome Life. Philadelphia: Running Press, 2013.

The Peter Principle by Laurence J. Peter & Raymond Hull

Peter, Laurence J., & Raymond Hull.  The Peter Principle.  New York: William Morrow, 1969.

It’s very likely you’ve heard the Peter Principle, or some paraphrase of it: “In a hierarchy every employee tends to rise to his level of incompetence.”  It’s been around for more than 40 years (KBR doesn’t claim to review the latest books).

It’s a cynical thing to say, too.  The humorously pseudo-academic tone used by Laurence J. Peter (an actual academic) and Raymond Hull does little to soften the cynicism.  I don’t think they were trying to be sarcastic.  I think they were a little bit serious.

The Peter Principle makes sense.  Organizations promote people based on their performance in their current job.  Eventually, promotions lead a person into a job for which he is not competent.  I used to work in an organization that had almost no promotion potential except through the ranks of supervisor and managers, though almost all the employees were technical experts of one sort or another.  The talent that made employees excel on the front line had little to do with making good supervisors and managers.  Middle management mediocrity and misery was common.

Corollaries to the Peter Principle predict that misery.  Even incompetents who are too deluded to recognize it feel the stress of their shortcomings and suffer physically and mentally.

Peter and Hull demonstrate the principle and its corollaries through case studies.  They describe the cases humorously, but I suspect they have some basis in reality, especially since many come from educational institutions, Peter’s area of expertise.

They suggest a possible solution in creative incompetence.  That is, do what you do well and enjoy, but be just bad enough at something inconsequential to your work, but important to you boss, to make yourself appear incompetent for promotion.

It goes against the grain.  Bookstore shelves are full of books on getting ahead, getting a promotion, getting a better job, getting richer, and generally getting.  Peter and Hull suggest the opposite: You’ll do more good if you stick to doing what you do well.  You’ll be happier, too.  You may not be richer or more powerful, but if that costs your health and joy, is it worth it?

I think it is easier to opt out of hierarchies than it used to be, thank to advances in communication and information technology.  Even so, large organizations in both the private and public sectors are common for many good reasons and a hierarchy is an efficient way to organize.  If you don’t work for a hierarchy, you still deal with many.  The Peter Principle may help you recognize problems and deal with them with good humor and grace.  It may even help you find ways to avoid becoming part of the problem.  On the other hand, it may just cause you to pull your hair out in frustration.

If you’re interested in this book, you may also be interested in

The 4-Hour Workweek by Timothy Ferriss

The Leadership Triad by Dale E. Zand

Revved! by Harry Paul and Ross Reck

Seamless Government by Russell M. Linden

The Vulnerable Fortress by James R. Taylor and Elizabeth J. Van Every

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Do Less Get More by Shaa Wasmund

The title of Shaa Wasmund’s book was certain to grab my attention: Do Less Get More. The purpose of the book is to show people how to focus on what really matters to them and cut out what doesn’t.

The early chapters deal with the problems of doing too much. I didn’t need much convincing that I spend a lot of time on things I ought to do and too little time on things I love to do. She then gives attention to the ways a life in which we do (or possibly even have) less is better if those things we do or have are those that are the most important, valuable and meaningful to us. Again, I didn’t need much convincing on that part. Wasmund describes it this way, “Happiness isn’t a consequence of living a successful life; success is a consequence of living happy life.”

The final chapters are practical advice on how to achieve the “less is more” life. I won’t go into all of them. The book is short and written in a simple style, so you won’t have to invest a lot of time reading it if you’re interested in learning more.

Even so, I’ll mention a few things that resonated with me. It’s important to ask for help. Don’t let fear of appearing stupid or weak prevent you from getting help; asking for aid and counsel is one of the smartest things you can do and the humility it takes is a great strength. Concentrate on your strength; working on your weaknesses eats up a lot of time and probably won’t lead where you want to go. By focusing on what you do best, you’ll achieve more and increase your expertise. Concentrate on one thing at a time, especially the best thing you can do right now. Clean up your clutter, get organized, let go of stuff that holds you back.

Especially, value your time. When you value your time, you’ll want to spend it on those things that are most important and valuable to you, that produce the best results in your life.

If you’re interested in this book, you may also be interested in

The 4-Hour Workweek by Timothy Ferriss

How to Get Control of Your Time and Your Life by Alan Lakein

Idea Mapping by Jamie Nast

Rapt by Winifred Gallagher

Secrets You Keep from Yourself by Dan Neuharth

Wasmund, Shaa. Do Less Get More: How to Work Smart and Live Life Your Way. New York: Portfolio/Penguin, 2015.

The Five Secrets You Must Discover Before You Die by John Izzo

Psychologist John Izzo interviewed seniors who had a reputation for wisdom to find out what they knew about happiness. He describes the ideas he gleaned from these interviews in his book The Five Secrets You Must Discover Before You Die (also a five-part television series that aired on PBS).

As the title suggests, Izzo doesn’t shy away from discussing death. He suggests it is important to remember that live is short and our choices define our lives. We all want joy, contentment, connection and purpose. We can learn from the example of people who have achieved such lives and have a more satisfying life as well.

First, follow your heart. You will not be happy if you try to be someone else. You can be more authentically yourself by living intentionally and examining your life to see if you are doing what matters to you.

Live without regrets. You can forgive yourself for the mistakes you make (if you try), but you’ll likely regret the important things you left undone. Encourage yourself to take worthy risks in life. If you love someone, put the work into fixing a broken relationship.

Love is incredibly important to a happy life. Make room for people in your life and practice loving them. Love is more than a feeling toward others; it is kindness and generosity.

Almost everywhere I look, I see books, articles and television segments on mindfulness. Izzo suggest that a kind of mindfulness—living in the moment—is practiced by happy people. Recognize that every day of life is a gift and we should enjoy it while it is here.

Finally, give. Giving is a way to connect to something larger than ourselves. It is a path to purpose, love, and joy.

Izzo isn’t simply concerned with giving advice; he wants to equip people to apply that advice. One of the ways he suggests this can be done is by paying attention to the way we want to live. Each chapter ends with a short list of questions that are collected in one of the later chapters. Izzo suggest reading and answering these questions in a weekly time of reflection. Often all we need to do to make the changes we want is to intend to do it and remind ourselves of that intention.

If you’re interested in this book, you may also be interested in

The 4:8 Principle by Tommy Newberry

Happier by Tal Ben-Shahar

The 100 Simple Secrets of Happy People by David Niven

Rapt by Winifred Gallagher

Think 4:8 by Tommy Newberry & Lyn Smith

Izzo, John. The Five Secrets You Must Discover Before You Die. San Francisco: Berrett-Koehler Publishers, 2008.

It’s Not About Me by Max Lucado

Lucado, Max.  It’s Not About Me.  Nashville: Integrity, 2004.

Do you want a life that is happy and fulfilling?  According to Max Lucado, in his book It’s Not About Me, that life is found when it is centered on God.

When Moses found favor with God and could have asked for anything, he asked to see God’s glory.  Lucado describes this glory as God’s preeminence and priority.  God made everything.  Our purpose, the purpose of all creation, is to show His glory.

How do we glorify God and experience this happy, fulfilling life?  It starts with two steps that go together.  We must stop being self-centered and start contemplating God.

Self-centeredness is common.  If you think you’ve never been self-centered, you’re deluding yourself.    Many of us think about ourselves, our problems, our hopes, our needs, our pains, our pride, or something about ourselves almost all the time.  It is very easy to do.

To change this, we turn our thoughts to God.  We contemplate Him, His glory, His goodness, His power, His holiness, His accomplishments, His character, His ongoing work in this world, His love, and more about Him.

Keeping the eternal God on our minds gives us perspective.  We experience troubles, but those who are His in Christ will experience unending perfection with Him, making even a lifetime of problems seem like a brief moment.  Our immutable God as good plan that will not be changed by the shifting sands of human cultures, governments, and economies.  God’s love is inexhaustible; He chooses to love, He eternally purifies His people in Christ, and He will not withdraw His love.

This perspective on God should affect our behavior.  We should reflect His glory.  We should talk about Him.  We should express gratitude to Him, first for saving us and then for everything else He does in our lives.  We should live purely and take care of our bodies.  We should face problems with equanimity, remembering that problems are temporary and God may be glorified in surprising ways.  Even when we succeed, we should remember God, recognize His blessings, and imitate His generosity.

And we should never get things backwards.  We can never add anything to what God has done for us in Christ.  We can never deserve it.  We do good because God makes us able, because we are grateful, and because we love Him who loved us first.  It starts with God and He deserves the praise.

*

Yet we get something out of it anyway.  It’s all about God, but God loves us and wants us to be joyful and deeply satisfied.  Following God is the path to fulfillment.  When we delight ourselves in God and lift Him up, He readily delights in us and lifts us up.

If you’re interested in this book, you may also be interested in

Into the Depths of God by Calvin Miller

Walking with God by John Eldredge

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Essentialism by Greg McKeown

I’ve had friends complain about feeling spread thin. They’re doing so many things that they’re doing none of them well. The worst part of it is, they spend a lot of time on things that just don’t seem that important. I’ve felt that way myself.

According to Greg McKeown, there is an answer to this problem, but it takes discipline. He describes it in his book, Essentialism.

The practice of essentialism begins with a mindset. First, you control how you spend your time and energy. If you don’t control it, someone else will. Next, very few things are important. Finally, life is about tradeoffs, and choosing to do some things also means choosing not to do other things.

I other words, you can’t have it all. You can concentrate on the things that matter most. In this way, you can get more value out of what you do while doing less.

The discipline of essentialism begins with applying this way of thinking all the time. McKeown devotes close to half of the book to fleshing out this mindset before moving on to the process of applying it.

Perhaps it should not be surprising that that doing “less but better” involves taking time to think. Because it boils downs to the decisions you make, it’s worthwhile to make time and space to think. You have to know what is important, meaningful and valuable to you before you can start making choices about what to agree too and what to cut out. We get into trouble by saying yes to too many things without weighing the decision first.

You have to discipline yourself to cut out the less important stuff. You have to say no a lot. Perhaps some of the best advice McKeown offers is tips on saying no to people.

Oddly, McKeown doesn’t focus on making things happen in the manner of others writing about productivity. Instead, he suggests clearing the path. Find and eliminate constraints. Protect your time by allowing for plenty of it; be realistic about how much time and energy things really require. Pay attention to what is important right now. In order to spend time on the important things, you need to make space for it and protect that space. Over time, you can build systems and habits that help you.

If you’re interested in this book, you may also be interested

Be All You Can Be! by John C. Maxwell

Developing the Leader Within by John Maxwell
The Difference Maker by John Maxwell 

Genesis

The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg

Rapt by Winifred Gallagher

The Thinking Life by P. M. Forni

McKeown, Greg. Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less. New York: Crown Business, 2014.

No Excuses by Brian Tracy

In his book No Excuses!, self-help, business and sales author Brian Tracy says that there are several strategies that can lead to success. Self-discipline makes them all work.

For Tracy, self-discipline is the same as self-control, self-denial, delayed gratification and self-mastery. As you might guess from this description, he relates discipline to character. One of the important aspects of exercising discipline, even more than what you achieve by it, is who you become by it. Self-discipline leads to greater character, courage and persistence.

Self-discipline is also important to having a great personal life. Our relationships with spouses, children and friends, our physical fitness, and even our happiness and internal peace can be improved by discipline.

Of course, as you would expect from Tracy, he addresses the importance of discipline in business and work. Discipline is important to success in every aspect of business.

If you’ve read many self-help or business books, you may have seen many of the ideas presented by Tracy in No Excuses! Even so, some are so simple, powerful, possibly obvious and often overlooked that they bear repeating.

-Always be improving your skills.

-Writing down your goals greatly increases the likelihood you will complete them.

-When you are at work, work.

-If you want to be wealthy, save money.

-Spend most of your time on your most valuable activities.

Tracy presents an interesting idea that you may not have seen elsewhere. Happiness is not an end to itself; it is not something you achieve. Instead, happiness arises out of the process of doing what you love, having great relationships and meeting needs. To paraphrase the cliché, happiness doesn’t come from reaching a destination, it comes from enjoying the journey.

Tracy brings up another worthy concept about discipline. Disciplining yourself in one area helps you to discipline yourself in another. Every chapter in the book is about using self-discipline in a different aspect of life. Don’t burn out trying to do it all at once. Pick an area or two that you find most important or needful and begin disciplining yourself in those areas. When you make a habit of being disciplined in those areas, it will be easier to be more self-disciplined in other areas as well.

If you’re interested in this book, you may also be interested in

How to Get Control of Your Time and Your Life by Alan Lakein

The Procrastination Equation by Piers Steel

The Richest Man Who Ever Lived by Steven K. Scott

The Thinking Life by P. M. Forni

Tracy, Brian. No Excuses! The Power of Self-Discipline. New York: MJF, 2010.

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Succeed by Heidi Grant Halvorson

Grant Halvorson, Heidi.  Succeed: How We Can Reach Our Goals.  New York: Hudson Street Press, 2010.

Psychologist Heidi Grant Halvorson discusses the latest research on what works in goal setting in her book Succeed.  The way we think about and construct our goals has a lot to do with whether we achieve them.

There a few things that a strongly related to successful goal pursuit.  One is to have goals focused on “getting better” rather than on “being good.”  Many people focus on being good and operate from a theory that talent, ability and personal traits are fixed.  This can lead to discouragement and giving up in the face of difficulties (if you’re not succeeding now, you probably won’t later).  The more fruitful, and it turns out more true, theory is that many personal traits are flexible, even intelligence and personality.  If we make our goal to get better at something, it takes the pressure off of having to do things well at the start (of course you won’t do a new thing well the first time), and gives you the perspective of a learner who can be resilient when experiencing set-backs.

Another important aspect of successful goal pursuit is planning.  Grant Halvorson describes a type of simple planning that helps people achieve goals.  One of the especially powerful things about these plans is that you can foresee temptations and obstacles and plan your response.  If you plan in advance what you’ll do when someone brings doughnuts to the office (I once was acquainted with someone famous for shouting out “Who brought the damn doughnuts?”), you’ll be more like to do it and avoid eating one (or three).

Succeed includes many other strategies for improving goal pursuit.  The effectiveness of these strategies varies depending on what motivates the individual person or the type of goal being pursued.  Grant Halvorson provides simple tests to help the reader discover which strategies will work best for them.  I was not at all surprised by the type of things that motivate me.  I had not previously tried to structure my goals to take advantage of it.  I’m looking forward to putting that idea to the test.

The book also addresses positive thinking and optimism.  I’ve read quite a bit of self-help and you’ll find in some of that literature suggested that positive thinking and optimism is unmitigated good and the essence of achieving dreams.  Grant Halvorson says that imagining you will succeed is very good, but imagining it will be easy is not.  We need to recognize that the road to success has many obstacles, and realistically assessing the obstacles will help us deal with them.

If you’re interested in this book, you may also be interested in

The Procrastination Equation by Piers Steel

Secrets You Keep from Yourself by Dan Neuharth

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Unfu*k Yourself by Gary John Bishop

Gary John Bishop offers straightforward, and sometimes rudely stated, advice on getting your life together in Unfu*k Yourself. If you’re drawn in by the title of the of the book, you may feel your life is screwed up. Bishop suggests it is very likely your own fault, but you have the power to do something about it.

 “You have the life your willing to put up with,” Gary John Bishop, Unfu*k Yourself

It starts in your head. Thousands of thoughts flow through your mind every day and many of them are nonsense. Instead of reacting to crazy-making thoughts and feelings, let them go. You can learn to choose the thoughts you pay attention to.

Even so, our head can get in the way. The blessing and curse of our minds is that they are really good at moving us toward what we want. Subconsciously we all want security. Unfortunately, our subconscious minds can have some messed up ideas about what security is and how to achieve it. We achieve security with great success even if it makes us miserable.

Fortunately, we can train our minds to achieve a different success. We can learn to let go of thought that drive our self-defeating behavior.

We can reinforce our changing habits of thought by taking action. Rather than getting wrapped up on our own heads a fighting thoughts and feelings that come from our imaginations, we an face reality and do things that might actually make life better. Action is both the cure for self-defeating thoughts and the way to handle real problems.

As the title of the book, it is part of the trend in self-help to use tough talk and crude language. I don’t know that I need that to get a kick in the pants. However, I appreciate writing that uses simple language and gets to the point; Bishop does that.

If you’re interested in this book, you may also be interested in

How to Fail at Almost Anything and Still Win Big by Scott Adams

Language and the Pursuit of Happiness by Chalmers Brothers

Positive Imaging by Norman Vincent Peale

The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg

The Power of Positive Thinking by Norman Vincent Peale

The Road Less Traveled by M. Scott Peck

You are a Badass by Jen Sincero

You Can if You Think You Can by Norman Vincent Peale

Bishop, Gary John. Unfu*k Yourself: Get Out of Your Head and Into Your Life. New York: HarperOne, 2016.

Mojo by Marshall Goldsmith

Mojo, as used by Marshall Goldsmith as the concept and title of his book, is not a magical ability, though when you have you may feel supernaturally potent. Mojo is a combination of identity, achievement, reputation and acceptance. That is

-Who am I?

-What are my worthy accomplishments?

-Who do others think I am?

-Am I enjoying life now?

If you have satisfying answers to these questions, you probably have good mojo. If you lack satisfying answers, or you have no answers, you probably lack mojo and it shows in your performance, your relationships and the way you feel about yourself.

As you can see from these concepts, Goldsmith’s idea of mojo is a result of our thoughts, actions, and relationships. It is not a thing in itself, but it arises from living in a way that we find to be happy and meaningful.

Mojo is not constant. It can be lost and found. It can be too easily lost through bad habits, selfishness, bad relationships, and refusal to adapt.

Goldsmith devotes a chapter to how one can lose mojo, but much of the book is about keeping or regaining it. For each element (identity, achievement, reputation and acceptance), Goldsmith describes three or four strategies to build mojo. Some of these resonated with me more than others, as I suspect would be true of most readers. With 15 strategies, readers are likely to find at least two or three they can use. Sometimes one good idea put into practice is enough to make a great improvement.

You can have great mojo in one part of life, and less in another. Goldsmith distinguishes between professional and personal mojo. Ideally, you spend as much of your time as you can on things that are high in both types of mojo.

Sometimes you may have high professional mojo and low personal, or vice-versa. Goldsmith presents the option of changing “it” (your job or situation) or changing “you.” He doesn’t argue for one over the other. He includes examples of people who improved there mojo from both camps, those who changed their work and those who changed themselves. If you understand yourself well (identity), you should be able to make a good decision about what to change. Reading the chapter on this subject, with its examples, may give you an idea of how to approach it. It’s not an either/or choice. If you have low in either professional or personal mojo, you can make changes that lead to high mojo in both areas.

Goldsmith, Marshall, with Mark Reiter. Mojo: How to Get It, How to Keep It, How to Get It Back If You Lose It. New York: MJF Books, 2009.

Take the Leap by Heather McCloskey Beck

According to Heather McCloskey Beck, you were meant for a unique life of creativity and meaning. Many of us are pushed away from that life for various reasons and become disappointed and dissatisfied. In her book Take the Leap, Beck describes a path for reconnecting to your calling.

The first and last parts of the book are pretty woo-woo (to borrow a term from Jen Sincero). I admit I mostly skimmed these sections and I think other readers can without missing much of the meat of the book. The middle section contains advice and practices for getting back in touch with your calling, the creative meaningful life you’re meant to enjoy.

The key practice is to set aside 15 minutes a day to do something you enjoy—make no exceptions.  Beck suggests some exercises you can do to get some ideas if you feel at a loss for what this might be. I suspect that your first guess doesn’t have to be perfect. Just do it 15 minutes a day for a month, taking time to reflect on it as Beck suggests, and you’ll learn things that help you get closer on the next round.

The book contains several other practices to support your new path. Beck recommends using affirmations to counteract the negative messages you’ve picked up and open yourself to the possibility of a deeply meaningful life. Her book includes several suggestions for meditation. Many of us have too much stuff and do too many things;  we need to reduce the clutter, say no, and set boundaries in our relationships. Good health is important, too.

I was surprised to find that I’m already using some of Beck’s suggestions. I’ve read many self-help books, so I should have learned something.

One of the suggestions I’m just starting to practicing is the intentional reflection on the connection between how I feel and what I do. This also includes reflecting on how I feel when I don’t do things. This is a method for discovering your calling because when you do things associated with your calling it will tend to produce feelings of flow, peace, excitement and passion. When you’re not doing things you love, you miss them. (This type of reflection reminds me of the metacognition discussed by Ulrich Boser in Learn Better, which is important for learning.)

Beck, Heather McCloskey. Take the Leap: Do What You Love 15 Minutes a Day and Create the Life of Your Dreams. San Francisco: Conari Press, 2013.

Awakening the Entrepreneur Within by Michael Gerber

Gerber, Michael E. Awakening the Entrepreneur Within: How Ordinary People Create Extraordinary Companies. New York: HarperCollins, 2008.

Sometimes Michael Gerber writes like a New Age guru. Sometimes he writes like a bad poet. Sometimes you may wonder if you’ve paid $25 to read a sales presentation on his latest ventures. Sometimes he writes paragraphs as bad as this one.



To be fair, Awakening the Entrepreneur Within is not strictly a business book. Gerber says of the book, “This is not a do-it-yourself manual. It is an entrepreneurial spiritual guidebook.”

The book is a series of stories. Mostly they are the stories of how he started his businesses. One is the story of how he imagines he’ll start a business.

The stories illustrate the stages of entrepreneurial development. An entrepreneur progresses through being a dreamer, a thinker, a storyteller and a leader. More properly, he accumulates these roles as he develops himself and his business, though at each stage one role predominates. An individual need not necessarily fulfill all these roles himself. In founding what is now E-Myth Worldwide, he teamed with a thinker. In his imagined story of a company to come, he hires someone to serve as the leader.

A dreamer contribute what you might expect, a dream. To be an entrepreneurial dream, it must be impersonal. It must be about others instead of the entrepreneur. The thinker develops the dream by picking it apart, asking questions, finding solutions and working out the details (Gerber calls this going from the dream to the vision). The storyteller takes the vision and creates an impassioned story, which he’ll tell repeatedly, refining it until it moves people (Gerber’s term here is purpose). Finally, the leader turns the dream, vision and purpose into reality through action (he takes on the mission).

Near the end of the book lays out, step-by-step, what he calls the golden pyramid. This process implicitly incorporates the stages of entrepreneurial development, but also incorporates the business development ideas from E-Myth. Though this is in some ways the most detailed how-to chapter, Gerber still falls into fanciful language.

If you’re looking for how-to, you may want to look elsewhere. If you’re looking for inspiration, this might be your book.