The Chasing Greatness Podcast: Recent Episodes
Jonathan Watts
Chasing greatness is a belief and philosophy that no one achieves greatness, but is on a continual journey towards it. Everyone has a unique story and Jonathan Watts, writer, coach, and self-experimenter talks with individuals about their unique path towards greatness, breaking down habits, routines, successes, failures and everything in between.
Diving into the teachings and philosophies of the philosopher Seneca
Sources:
On The Shortness of Life
Letters From a Stoic
Check out my books below:
Daily Greatness: Short Stories and Essays on the Act of Becoming
Chasing Greatness 2nd Edition - Timeless Stories on the Pursuit of Excellence
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Diving into the story of a handful of women who broke the social norms in aviation during the 1920s and 1930s
Sources: Fly Girls - Keith O'Brien
:30 - Make Yourself Proud
10:30 - Ruth Nichols: Relinquish yourself from the world
16:30 - Capacity for criticism
18:20 - "Make your atom count."
19:36 - Frances Grayson transatlantic attempt: Risk vs consequence
25:30 - Amelia Earhart: her first attempt, the importance of self-satisfaction
30:20 - The national air races + the battle for opportunity
35:10 - Be a thorn
36:20 - The cost/burden of challenging
41:40 - Prepare for a long fight
42:40 - Ruth Nichols - overlooking the small details
45:02 - The grudge flight
47:20 - More breakthroughs, more battles.
55:45 - Louise Thaden: speed with safety
58:38 - Plant some trees
Diving into the struggle Lionel Messi went through to become the greatest soccer player ever, and the burdens he had to carry along the way.
Sources
Lionel Messi - Guillem Balague
Check out my books below:
Daily Greatness: Short Stories and Essays on the Act of Becoming
Chasing Greatness 2nd Edition - Timeless Stories on the Pursuit of Excellence
Stay connected and check out more on our website:
Chasegreatness.net
Diving into the mental approach and working ways of Cristiano Ronaldo
Sources:
Cristiano Ronaldo - Guilleme Balague
1:35 - A motivational weapon
4:00 - A want to play and work
"Ronaldo spent ten to twelve hours with the ball every day.”
5:05 - Losing as a certain kind of death
7:12: The perfect mother
8:55 - The obsessive work ethic
11:00 - Never satisfied
14:37 - Earning the right to be confident
15:40 - Champions do more than people who think they've done more
17:45 - Seek out those who can help you
19:33 - The Ronaldo motto
22:00 - The discipline
24:29 - An intense competitor
27:00 - Confidence
29:00 - Ideas thief
Diving into the life and story of Elon Musk, from his upbringing in South Africa, to the wild story of building Tesla and SpaceX, to his biggest regrets and mistakes, and everything in between.
Sources
Elon Musk - Walter Isaacson
Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future - Ashlee Vance
Wisdom Takes Work - Ryan Holiday
3:19 - Understanding Elon
6:35 - A fanatical reader/tough childhood
9:28 - The root of his risk-taking
11:40 - "You'll never be successful."
12:45 - The power of asking
14:00 - Choosing his future/You can always go back
16:38 - First company and Elon's working ways
19:31 - Impossible isn't tolerated
20:25 - Putting chips back into the game/his relationship with risk
22:45 - Elon's leadership paradox
25:52 - "The Man Who Didn’t Understand the Meaning of the Word ‘Risk.’”
27:52 - Getting into space + First principles approach
33:55 - The odds facing SpaceX's
34:45 - Musk's business principles
41:05 - Attention to detail
43:40 - SpaceX hiccups/"SpaceX is in it for the long haul, and, come hell or high water, we are going to make this work."
47:20 - Barometer for making decisions
47:35 - 2008: Pain. Misery. Suffering
56:15 - The line between boldness and recklessness is very thin
1:03:43 - The role of luck
1:09:25 - The Surges
1:11:40 - The algorithm
1:13:45 - Impulsive decision-making
1:16:23 - Elon's flaws
1:24:35 - Final thoughts and stories
Check out my books below:
Daily Greatness: Short Stories and Essays on the Act of Becoming
Chasing Greatness 2nd Edition - Timeless Stories on the Pursuit of Excellence
Stay connected and check out more on our website:
Chasegreatness.net
Diving into Elon Musk in his own words, everything from his approach to making decisions, the traits that define him, how he thinks about building and creating, and more.
Sources
The Book of Elon - Eric Jorgenson
2:35 - Be useful
4:35 - How Elon makes decisions
6:20 - Be curious
6:45 - Don't worship anything
12:50 - Capacity for pain
14:40 - An obsessive work ethic
17:05 - On dealing with fear
19:07 - First principles approach/relentlessly pursue the truth
25:15 - Read. Read. Read.
27:10 - Sleep on the factory floor
28:20 - Bring in great people
30:33 - Fail and fail fast
32:15 - A maniacal sense of urgency
34:45 - Advice to entrepreneurs/how he decided to start his companies
36:04 - How he decided to start his companies
37:10 - The goal of the game is to stay in the game
40:10 - Short ideas from Musk
Check out my books below:
Daily Greatness: Short Stories and Essays on the Act of Becoming
Chasing Greatness 2nd Edition - Timeless Stories on the Pursuit of Excellence
Stay connected and check out more on our website:
Chasegreatness.net
Diving into the working ways of some of the world's greatest artists.
Sources
Daily Rituals - Mason Currey
Time Stamps:
3:49 - Benjamin Franklin: The two questions and the "air bath."
6:05 - Scott F. Fitzgerald: Work like a lion
9:04 - Paul Erdos: Drugs and stimulants
12:20 - William Gass: Work angry
14:07 - Anne Rice: Flexibility, ease, and uninterrupted time
16:42 - David Lynch: Find a thinking place
17:40 - Umberto Eco: Thinking in the cracks
19:05 - Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec: Is it sustainable?
20:50 - Twyla Tharp: Building a bridge
22:20 - Graham Greece: Burn your youth, sustain as you age
23:50 - Marcel Proust and Philip Roth: Go monk mode
26:25 - Carl Jung: Make it boring
28:15 - Thomas Mann: Setting Boundaries
30:05 - Gustav Mahler, Twyla Tharp: Preparing to be creative
32:47 - Nicholson Baker, Thomas Wolfe, Fredreich Schiller, Woody Allen - Get creative, find your way
37:20 - Pyotr Ilich Tchaikovsky: Do the unpleasant first
40:25 - Bernard Malamud: The only thing that matters
42:03 - Anthony Trollope - Advice on starting a craft
44:52 - Gustave Flaubert: the ups and downs of the creative process
46:38 - Ernest Hemingway: Keep some juice in the tank
47:30 - James Boswell: The morning reminder
49:55 - Gertrude Stein, Martin Amis, Joyce Carol Oates - Genius in endurance in disguise
52:22 - Ideas on making time, finding effortless work, and inspiration
54:20 - Karl Marx: The right regrets
56:00 - William James: The Solomon Paradox
58:26 - Rene Descartes - Don't compromise your working way
Check out my books below:
Daily Greatness: Short Stories and Essays on the Act of Becoming
Chasing Greatness 2nd Edition - Timeless Stories on the Pursuit of Excellence
Stay connected and check out more on our website:
Diving into the life of the last great Roman emperor, Marcus Aurelius, and his own personal notes to himself.
Sources
The Lives of the Stoics - Ryan Holiday
Marcus Aurelius: The Stoic Emperor - Donald Robertson
Meditations - Marcus Aurelius
Check out my books below:
Daily Greatness: Short Stories and Essays on the Act of Becoming
Chasing Greatness 2nd Edition - Timeless Stories on the Pursuit of Excellence
Stay connected and check out more on our website:
Chasegreatness.net
Doing a new little mini-series called a "History Dump" where I offer stories, ideas, and things I've found interesting from books, documentaries, and anything I've researched recently.
This episode focuses on three individuals: Richard Feynman, Henry Ford, and Chris Hadfield.
Sources
My Life and Work - Henry Ford
An Astronaut's Guide to Life on Earth - Chris Hadfield
Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman
Check out my books below:
Daily Greatness: Short Stories and Essays on the Act of Becoming
Chasing Greatness 2nd Edition - Timeless Stories on the Pursuit of Excellence
Stay connected and check out more on our website:
Chasegreatness.net
Diving into the early years of Howard Schultz and his unusual path to building Starbucks.
"I can't give you any secret recipe for success, any foolproof plan for making it in the world of business. But my own experience suggests that it is possible to start from nothing and achieve even beyond your dreams."
Sources - Pour Your Heart Into It - Howard Schultz
Check out my books below:
Daily Greatness: Short Stories and Essays on the Act of Becoming
Chasing Greatness 2nd Edition - Timeless Stories on the Pursuit of Excellence
Stay connected and check out more on our website:
Chasegreatness.net
Diving into the emotional ride of Rory McIlroy and his journey to winning the Masters.
“You’re trying to overcome all of history. These memories. All these different things that are going through your head while you’re playing that golf course, and trying to win this massive tournament…And that’s one of the hurdles I have found so hard to overcome. You have to get over the demons that you have on that course.”
- Rory McIlroy
Sources: Rory McIlroy: The Masters Wait
Check out my books below:
Daily Greatness: Short Stories and Essays on the Act of Becoming
Chasing Greatness 2nd Edition - Timeless Stories on the Pursuit of Excellence
Stay connected and check out more on our website:
Chasegreatness.net
Diving into the working ways and creative process of comedian Jerry Seinfeld
“Your blessing in life is when you find the torture you’re comfortable with.”
- Jerry Seinfeld
Sources
Is This Anything? - Jerry Seinfeld
485: Jerry Seinfeld — A Comedy Legend’s Systems, Routines, and Methods for Success
Jerry Seinfeld Intends to Die Standing Up
Life's Work
Check out my books below:
Daily Greatness: Short Stories and Essays on the Act of Becoming
Chasing Greatness 2nd Edition - Timeless Stories on the Pursuit of Excellence
Stay connected and check out more on our website:
Chasegreatness.net
Dr. Karl Pillemer interviewed a thousand elderly individuals with one common goal: what can we learn from them on how to live better?
Today's episode dives into those lessons and insights.
Sources:
30 Lesssons for Living
Check out my books below:
Daily Greatness: Short Stories and Essays on the Act of Becoming
Chasing Greatness 2nd Edition - Timeless Stories on the Pursuit of Excellence
Stay connected and check out more on our website:
Chasegreatness.net
Diving into the inspiring story of Maria Sharapova and her rise to becoming one of the greatest tennis players ever.
Sources
Unstoppable, My Life So Far - Maria Sharapova
Check out my books below:
Daily Greatness: Short Stories and Essays on the Act of Becoming
Chasing Greatness 2nd Edition - Timeless Stories on the Pursuit of Excellence
Stay connected and check out more on our website:
Chasegreatness.net
Diving into the key moments and experinces that made Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, and Lyndon B. Johnson.
Sources
Leadership - Dorris Kearns
Check out my books below:
Daily Greatness: Short Stories and Essays on the Act of Becoming
Chasing Greatness 2nd Edition - Timeless Stories on the Pursuit of Excellence
Stay connected and check out more on our website:
Chasegreatness.net
Diving into the dance choreogrpaher Tywla Tharp and her great ideas and thoughts on the creative process.
"A creative life has the nourishing power we normally associate with food, love, and faith." - Twyla Tharpe
Sources
The Creative Habit - Twyla Tharp
2:55 - Preparing to do the work
"In order to be creative you have to know how to prepare to be creative."
8:32 - What's in it for you?
9:45 - Solitude as an indicator
"Solitude is an unavoidable part of creativity. Self-reliance is a happy by-product."
11:30 - Finding your "Creative DNA."
14:02 - The power of imitaiton and emulation
16:05 - A short practice from Austin Kleon
16:35 - The process of finding good ideas
21:30 - Some practices for idea generation
25:25 - Submerge yourself with the masters
28:25 - Banish obligation
30:05 - Create your own "box."
33:30 - Creativity is a skill
39:00 - Ruts and grooves
46:40 - A way to keep momentum and grooves alive
48:10 - Get an A in failure
51:05 - Common themes of failure
53:15 - 128 ballets to get to mastery
54:35 - Build a bubble
"When I look back on my best work, it was inevitably created in what I call the Bubble. I eliminated every distraction, sacrificed almost everything that gave me pleasure, placed myself in a single-minded isolation chamber, and structured my life so that everything was not only feeding the work but subordinated to it. It is not a particularly sociable way to operate. It's actively antisocial. On the other hand, it is procreative."
1:01:00 - The power of a creative life
Check out my books below:
Daily Greatness: Short Stories and Essays on the Act of Becoming
Chasing Greatness 2nd Edition - Timeless Stories on the Pursuit of Excellence
Stay connected and check out more here:
Chasegreatness.net
Diving into the greatest living climber, Alex Honnold.
Sources
Free Solo Documentary
Learning to Live with Fear - Alex Honnold
The Greatest Climber Alive
How Alex Honnold Faces Fear
6:30 - Risk versus consequence
9:05 - Dealing with fear
11:02 - How to overcome fear + Viewing things as a skill
"What's your hack to overcome fear? You just get really freaking scared over and over for so long. And eventually it's not that scary anymore.”
12:25 - Are your fears founded?
13:45 - Alex and the 10,000 rule
15:05 - Fear and hunger analogy
15:50 - The importance of death in Alex's life and career
20:05 - El Cap and an analogy for life
21:42 - The work is the reward
25:40 - His success in a single line
26:12 - Advice for others
26:20 - The chase is the dream
Check out my books below:
Daily Greatness: Short Stories and Essays on the Act of Becoming
Chasing Greatness 2nd Edition - Timeless Stories on the Pursuit of Excellence
Stay connected and check out more here:
Chasegreatness.net
Diving into the greatest college basketball coach ever and his timeless teachings.
Sources
Wooden on Leadership - John Wooden
Wooden: A Coach's Life - Seth Devis
3:30 - The lessons from his father
11:20 - The Pyramid of Success
16:52 - Wooden's most important block/quality
19:17 - A great idea from Chinese Philosopher Chuang Tzu
23:30 - Are you willing or eager to sacrifice
25:58 - Little things make big things happen
32:18 - Lead with love
35:20 - On being a great teacher
39:00 - Wooden's superpower
39:48 - Deplore excessive emotion
42:45 - Make each day your masterpiece
48:35 - Success = Reaching your potential
52:15 - A story that epitomizes Wooden
Check out my book below:
Daily Greatness: Short Stories and Essays on the Act of Becoming
Chasing Greatness 2nd Edition - Timeless Stories on the Pursuit of Excellence
Stay connected and check out more here:
Chasegreatness.net
Diving into a short story on Franklin D. Roosevelt and the power a mission can have.
“When you’re a person who always has a goal, who always has a mission, the less time you have to think, ‘How do I feel today? Am I depressed today? Do I feel sorry for myself? Have I become a victim? Oh my god, I feel so bad about myself.’ I don’t have time for this crap. A lot of times, it’s people who don’t work enough. When you’re busy all the time, you don’t have time to think about this stuff.”
- Arnold Schwarzenegger
Sources: Leadership - Doris Kearns Goodwin
Check out my books below.
Daily Greatness: Short Stories and Essays on the Act of Becoming
Chasing Greatness 2nd Edition - Timeless Stories on the Pursuit of Excellence
Diving into some of the very best stories from a few baseball legends.
Sources: Baseball 100 - Joe Posnanski
Sources
0:00 - Brooks Robinson - An essay from a 13-year-old boy
4:34 - Justin Verlander and Ted Williams - The power of negative energy
13:25 - Ted Williams - Put it on the line
14:38 - The infectious joy of Enrnie Banks
19:00 - Derek Jeter - One hit at a time and loving the truth
25:05 - Ichiro Suzuki and Jeter - Small wins
26:30 - The unlikely path of Larry Walker
29:10 - Frank Thomas - Meaning > Talent
32:00 - The approach of Tom Seaver
38:40 - Hank Aaron - The burden of greatness
43:40 - Mariano Rivera, Sandy Koufax, and Randy Johnson - Some short stories
52:23 - Joe Dimaggio - You need some luck
54:20 - Mike Schmidt - Keep the joy alive
Check out my books below.
Daily Greatness: Short Stories and Essays on the Act of Becoming
Chasing Greatness 2nd Edition - Timeless Stories on the Pursuit of Excellence
Check out our other episodes on baseball legends:
116. Derek Jeter
135. Clayton Kershaw
Diving into some of the very best ideas from one of my favorite writers and thinkers, Morgan Housel.
"People can be led to believe and defend almost anything, because the goal of a belief is often not to discover what’s true – it’s to justify past actions, or protect your reputation, or provide hope when it’s lacking, or to maximize your income, or to signal to others that you belong to the tribe."
- Morgan Housel
Sources/Essays are linked in the time stamps below
1:15 - Why You Beleive What You Do
14:21 - The Power of Failing Well
18:40 - The Freakisly Strong Base
26:25 - You Have To Live It To Believe It
36:07 - How it All Works (Short Stories on Big Things)
42:00 - Little Rules About Big Things
Check out my books below.
Daily Greatness: Short Stories and Essays on the Act of Becoming
Chasing Greatness 2nd Edition - Timeless Stories on the Pursuit of Excellence
You can check stay connected and support below:WebsiteBooksInstagramXLinkedIn
Diving into the life of craftsman and boatbuilder, George Pocock
“It’s a great art, is rowing. It’s the finest art there is. It’s a symphony of motion. And when you’re rowing well, why it’s nearing perfection. And when you’re nearing perfection, you’re touching the Divine. It touches the you of yous. Which is your soul.”
- George Pocock
Sources
Ready All - Gordan Newell and Dick Erickson
Boys in the Boat - Daniel James Brown
Time Stamps
3:40 - Why be a craftsman
4:55 - George's origins
5:45 - A motto for life - amor fati
9:22 - The apprenticeship
10:50 - The lesson from his dad: “Now you can build your own boat for this race, and I will give you one bit of advice. No one will ask you how long it took you to build it, they will only ask who built it.”
16:20 - Good work leads to good oppotunities
18:55 - Great opportunity, followed by great disaster
20:45 - The craftsman banishes negativity and bullshit
23:45 - How building boats opened up new opportunties
26:50 - How Geroge Pocock helped build/get the Boeing company off the ground
28:45 - Choosing meaning > money
30:05 - How he dealt with the tough early days as a full-time boat builder
34:10 - A beautiful story on loyalty
38:20 - The character building of rowing and finding your "rowing" activities
42:15 - The craftsman ultiamte goal
42:53 - Lose yourself in the work
44:18 - Good work needs good thoughts
45:00 - The work should touch your soul
Check out my books below.
Daily Greatness: Short Stories and Essays on the Act of Becoming
Chasing Greatness 2nd Edition - Timeless Stories on the Pursuit of Excellence
You can check stay connected and support below:WebsiteBooksInstagramXLinkedIn
Diving into the single trait that was at the root of Thomas Edison's greatness.
Sources
Thomas Edison - Matthew Josephson
Check out my books below.
Daily Greatness: Short Stories and Essays on the Act of Becoming
Chasing Greatness 2nd Edition - Timeless Stories on the Pursuit of Excellence
You can check stay connected and support below:WebsiteBooksInstagramXLinkedIn
Diving into the biggest lessons and ideas from the two greatest soccer managers ever, Sir Alex Ferguson and Pep Guardiola
Listen to the full epsiodes on Ferguson and Pep below.
124: The Leadership Genius of Sir Alex Ferguson
139: The Mastermind of Pep Guardiola
Time Stamps
0:00 - Trajectory > Results
6:55 - Be a _____ man
10:02 - Observe obsessively
12:00 - Stick like glue
14:05 - Understand the human condition
16:50 - Look for bad losers
18:30 - Excellence first, winning second
20:37 - Reduce your experience
22:45 - Burn your youth
24:20 - Obsess the details
26:45 - Be a relentless consumer
28:22 - Top to bottom excellence
30:18 - Love the pieces, not the puzzle
NEW BOOKS ARE LIVE. Check them out below.
Daily Greatness: Short Stories and Essays on the Act of Becoming
Chasing Greatness 2nd Edition - Timeless Stories on the Pursuit of Excellence
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Diving into the life and mastermind of soccer coach and legend, Pep Guardiola
"Each night when you are going to sleep, ask yourselves if you like football or not; ask yourselves if right then, you’d get up, grab the ball and play for a bit. If the answer is ‘no,’ then that is the day to start looking for something else to do."
- Pep Guardiola
Sources:
Pep Guardiola: Another Way of Winning - Guillem Ballague
The Greatness of Pep Guardiola, in a Blade of Grass
Inside the Pep Guardiola bubble – as told by his assistants
How Pep Guardiola is inspired by other sports, from basketball to chess to swimming
Pep Guardiola: The man behind the genius
Chasing Perfection Documentary
4:20 - A young Pep
5:30 - Pep's superpower
6:40 - Win without talent
8:30 - The question/the sign
11:40 - Preparing to be a coach/Being a sponge
15:05 - The LBJ Motto
18:00 - There is no good or bad work
20:35 - Stickler for the details/controlling everything
22:18 - Building a great culture
28:20 - Taking over Barcelona
31:00 - The reward is the puzzle
32:40 - Treajectory > Results
39:45 - His greatest trait
43:42: What gives his work meaning
45:25 - Great coaches are great psychologist
48:20 - One of my favorite stories
50:03 - A blade of grass
52:20 - Ferguson and Pep - the importance of observation
57:50 - Find an enemy
1:00:40 - Find your Cato
NEW BOOKS ARE LIVE. Check them out below.
Daily Greatness: Short Stories and Essays on the Act of Becoming
Chasing Greatness 2nd Edition - Timeless Stories on the Pursuit of Excellence
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Diving into the life and creative genius of music producer, Rick Rubin.
Part II focuses solely on Rubin's life and how he works.
Sources:
The Creative Act - Rick Rubin
In the Studio - Jake Brown
2:00 - How Rubin operates in the studio
17:28 - Everything was unintentional
19:50 - Music was his drug
20:45 - Rubin, Kubrick, and creative supporting habits
23:30 - Future plans: law and philosophy
24:25 - Be around the game & scratching your own itch
28:35 - Creating his company
30:00 - Working with LL Cool J
31:15 - Make what you want to make
33:00 - The power of taking time
35:25 - Be strict with who you work with
37:30 - The Red Hot Chili Peppers, what creativity needs, and the power of changing things up.
41:38 - Johnny Cash, AC/DC, and the importance of volume
NEW BOOKS ARE LIVE. Check them out below.
Daily Greatness: Short Stories and Essays on the Act of Becoming
Chasing Greatness 2nd Edition - Timeless Stories on the Pursuit of Excellence
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Diving into the life and creative genius of music producer, Rick Rubin.
Part I focuses solely on Rubin's creative philosophies.
Sources:
The Creative Act - Rick Rubin
In the Studio - Jake Brown
2:10 - Creativity is something you are, not something you do
4:05 - Developing a noticing habit
9:07 - Listening
10:38 - The beginner mind/the danger of wisdom
16:50 - Pursue excitement
19:12 - Balancing joy with seriousness
22:30 - Finding your rhythm
26:32 - Rules are limitations
32:12 - Keep the joy alive
35:05 - Temporary rules
36:55 - Tools for finishing the work
39:45 - Defining success
41:50 - Non-competition
43:12 - Habits and art
45:30 - Patience and tuning out
49:05 - Self-doubt
56:18 - Try everything
57:12 - Submerge yourself in great work
58:45 - Spirituality and work
59:52 - Inspiration and diligence
1:03:50 - Some short and final ideas
NEW BOOKS ARE LIVE. Check them out below.
Daily Greatness: Short Stories and Essays on the Act of Becoming
Chasing Greatness 2nd Edition - Timeless Stories on the Pursuit of Excellence
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Diving into the life and genius of legendary filmmaker, Stanley Kubrick
Sources:
Kubrick: An Odyssey - Robert Kolker
Kubrick on Kubrick
Time Stamps
2:38 - Chess and creative supporting activities
4:15 - Get your reps
6:55 - “Get a hold of the camera and some film and make a movie of any kind at all.”
8:00 - What are you insanely curious about?
11:08 - Shoot your shot
14:23 - Doing the thing is the best education. “What I learned in that four-year period exceeded what I could have learned in school…the experience was invaluable to me. Not only because I learned a lot about photography, but also because it gave me a quick education in how things happened in the world.
16:45 - Stanley Kubrick and Woody Allen - Build volume
18:52 - The one word to describe Stanley
19:42 - Constraints aren't an excuse
21:23 - Early work is just work. “There’s no such thing as good work or bad work, there is only work at the beginning.”
24:25 - The power is creating things
26:05 - Obey your artistic muse
29:25 - A turning point and the importance of early work
31:30 - A lesson in control
33:48 - Stanley's insane preparation (Short essay on LeBron James and Preparation)
40:05 - Quality is the goal. "Stanley’s approach is, how can we do it better than it’s ever been done before? "
“Film stock is cheap, but remarkable quality will pay dividends forever.”
45:00 - The need for details and depths
47:05 - The need for control
49:03 - Obsessive worker/tinkerer
51:45 - Barometer for finding the right film
56:37 - Moviemaking as a metaphor for life
NEW BOOKS ARE LIVE. Check them out below.
Daily Greatness: Short Stories and Essays on the Act of Becoming
Chasing Greatness 2nd Edition - Timeless Stories on the Pursuit of Excellence
Diving into the unqiue approach and mindset of legendary Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher, Clayton Kershaw
Sources:
Every Fifth Day: The Mentality That Drove Klayton Kershaw to Greatness
Time Stamps
2:00 - The five day cycle
12:45 - The game-day approach
20:35 - It's a 24/7 thing
23:57 - Do you want it
26:25 - Be intense in burst
27:45 - Relentlessness rooted in the struggle
29:30 - Software + Hardware
31:55 - The burden of expectations
NEW BOOKS ARE LIVE. Check them out below.
Daily Greatness: Short Stories and Essays on the Act of Becoming
Chasing Greatness 2nd Edition - Timeless Stories on the Pursuit of Excellence
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Diving into the life and teachings of the great 19th century zen archery master, Awa Kenzo
Sources:
Zen Bow, Zen Arrow: The Life and Teachings of Awe Kenzo
Zen in the Art of Archery - Eugen Herrigel
NEW BOOKS ARE LIVE. Check them out below.
Daily Greatness: Short Stories and Essays on the Act of Becoming
Chasing Greatness 2nd Edition - Timeless Stories on the Pursuit of Excellence
You can check stay connected and support below:WebsiteBooksInstagramXLinkedIn
I spent the last two weeks diving through all my past podcast episodes and filtering it through one idea: how do the greats think?
How they think about their craft.
How they think about time.
How they think about risk.
How they think about sacrifice.
How they think about quality.
And more.
Enjoy a deep dive into the mind of the ambitious, the obsessed, and the greats.
NEW BOOKS ARE LIVE. Check them out below.
Daily Greatness: Short Stories and Essays on the Act of Becoming
Chasing Greatness 2nd Edition - Timeless Stories on the Pursuit of Excellence
You can check stay connected and support below:WebsiteBooksInstagramXLinkedIn
Diving into the intense work ethic of Danielle Steel, one of the great writers of the 21st century.
“There are no miracles. There is only discipline.”
- Danielle Steel
2:05 - Trying to make it/The early years
6:05 - How she got through the dry patches
7:20 - Tiger Woods, "I love this game to death. It's a drug I have to have."
8:28 - Make it a priority
9:50 - The thing she came up short in
10:55 - "I just had a need to write. It's a part of my soul."
11:05 - Her insane stamina/working abilities
13:35 - Capacity for pain
15:30 - Increase your capacity
18:10 - "Dead or alive, rain or shine, I get to my desk and I do my work."
19:35 - A Steven Pressfield story
22:10 - On when she will stop writing: "When I die."
23:40 - An old-school approach
25:15 - "When I was first starting out, I had the same agent as Agatha Christie. I was about 19 years old and she was in her nineties. I met her once, and I remember she said, 'I want to die face-first on my typewriter.' And I feel that way. I mean, I want to go on forever, just writing."
25:38 - Choose your regrets
27:30 - Be a missionary
31:05 - Work like a lion
33:40 - Make quality the deadline
35:20 - Alone or lonely? A sign you're doing the right work.
36:40 - "I guess I chase excellence."
NEW BOOKS ARE LIVE. Check them out below.
Daily Greatness: Short Stories and Essays on the Act of Becoming
Chasing Greatness 2nd Edition - Timeless Stories on the Pursuit of Excellence
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Diving into the teachings and philosophy of Epictetus
Sources:
Discoures and Selected Writings - Epictetus
NEW BOOKS ARE LIVE . Check them out below.
Daily Greatness: Short Stories and Essays on the Act of Becoming
Chasing Greatness 2nd Edition - Timeless Stories on the Pursuit of Excellence
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Diving into the life and making of Marshall Mathers (Eminem), and behind the scenes of how he works and creates.
Sources:
Not Afraid - Anthony Bozza
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Daily Greatness: Short Stories and Essays on the Act of Becoming
Chasing Greatness 2nd Edition - Timeless Stories on the Pursuit of Excellence
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Diving into the leadership and coaching genius of the Sir Alex Ferguson.
"There was no resting on the status quo, even in the best times. The longer I stayed, the further I look ahead. There was no resting on the status quo, even in the best times…Regeneration was an everyday duty."
Sources:
Alex Ferguon: My Autobiography
Documentary: Never Give In
Interviews
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VqkcJgyTLQs
youtube.com/watch?si=6vAgRjFEKpa8h27K&v=LsuT1pS0jZs&feature=youtu.be
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Bjkk411Mpc
Ferguson Formula
NEW BOOKS ARE LIVE FOR PRE-ORDER. Check them out below.
Daily Greatness: Short Stories and Essays on the Act of Becoming
Chasing Greatness 2nd Edition - Timeless Stories on the Pursuit of Excellence
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Diving into the early life of Martin Luther King, the Montgomery Bus Boycott, and the moments that made the man.
“At a certain point in every struggle of great importance, a moment of doubt or hesitation develops. If there is one lesson experience has taught us…it is that when you have found by the help of God a correct cause, a morally sound objective, you do not equivocate, you do not retreat—you struggle to win a victory.”
Sources
Bearing the Cross - David Garrow
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Daily Greatness: Short Stories and Essays on the Act of Becoming
Chasing Greatness 2nd Edition - Timeless Stories on the Pursuit of Excellence
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Diving into the life, lessons, and story of Mary Kay Ash.
"To me, life is no brief candle. It is a sort of splendid torch which I have got hold of for the moment, and I want to make it burn as brightly as possible before handing it on to future generations"
Sources:
Miracles Happen - Mary Kay Ash
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Daily Greatness: Short Stories and Essays on the Act of Becoming
Chasing Greatness 2nd Edition - Timeless Stories on the Pursuit of Excellence
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Diving into the short stories, traits, and tenacious nature that made Ted Turner special.
Sources:
Ted Turner Speaks - Janet Lowe
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Daily Greatness: Short Stories and Essays on the Act of Becoming
Chasing Greatness 2nd Edition - Timeless Stories on the Pursuit of Excellence
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For the last year to two years, I've dove into the lives of over hundreds of people, and through that research, there's a lot history can teach us about finding the answer to one of life's most important questions: What do I want to do with my life?
Today, we dive into the stories, lessons, questions, and signs that can help you find your life's calling. Enjoy.
NEW BOOKS ARE LIVE FOR PRE-ORDER. Check them out below.
Daily Greatness: Short Stories and Essays on the Act of Becoming
Chasing Greatness 2nd Edition - Timeless Stories on the Pursuit of Excellence
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Diving into the story of Dick and Ed Stack and how they built Dick's Sporting Goods into a global brand.
NEW BOOKS ARE LIVE FOR PRE-ORDER. Check them out below.
Daily Greatness: Short Stories and Essays on the Act of Becoming
Chasing Greatness 2nd Edition - Timeless Stories on the Pursuit of Excellence
Sources
It's How We Play the Game - Ed Stack
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An early look at some of the stories and parts of my two new books, Daily Greatness: Short Stories and Essays on the Act of Becoming, and a second edition of my first book, Chasing Greatness: Timeless Stories on the Pursuit of Excellence.
Both books are live for pre-order. Order before September 21st, and get the books two week before the official launch date of November 1st.
Pre-order here
1:40 - Chasing Greatness
32:05 - Daily Greatness
Diving into three of the great sports dynasties: Chicago Bulls, New England Patriots, and the Kansas City Chiefs, and the key levers and principles behind their winning ways.
Sources
The Kingdom Documentary
The Dynasty - Jeff Benedict
Michal Jordan - Roland Lazenby
Eleven Rings - Phil Jackson
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Diving into the life and story of the Yankee Legend, Derek Jeter.
Sources
The Captain - Ian O'Connor
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Diving into the thoughts and wisdom of entreprenuers, Jason Fried and David Hanson, who built their company Basecamp by defying many of the traditional business beliefs and ideas.
You don’t need more hours, you need better hours.
- Jason and David
Sources
ReWork
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Diving into the life of Ronda Rousey and her rise to becoming the first woman in the UFC.
To win, you must be willing to die. If you're willing to die when you fight, if you're giving absolutely everything you have for every single second you are in there, you're going to separate yourself.
- Ronda Rousey
Sources
My Fight / Your Fight
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Diving into the story of Frank Serpico and how he battled the corruption in the NYPD during the 1960s and 70s.
Sources:
Serpico - Peter Maas
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Diving into Bruce Lee, the philosopher. Over the course of his life, Bruce kept notes on his beliefs, his mottos, and his philosophies. And today, we're going to dive into those words and works, and what we can learn from them.
The poorer we are inwardly, the more we try to enrich ourselves outwardly.
- Bruce Lee
Sources
Striking Thoughts
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Diving into leadership practices of some of the world's greatest leaders.
“As a leader you must be filled with energy and eagerness, joy and love for what you do. If you lack enthusiasm for your job, you can not perform to the best of your ability. Success is unattainable without enthusiasm"
- John Wooden
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Diving into leadership and the common qualities and characters of some of the world's greatest leaders.
“The cost of leadership is self-interest.”
- Lieutenant General George Flynn
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Diving into the lessons we can take from what many call the greatest sushi chef ever, Jiro Ono
“All I want to do is make better sushi. I do the same thing over and over, improving bit by bit. There is always a yearning to achieve more. I'll continue to climb, trying to reach the top but no one knows where the top is. Even at my age, after decades of work I don't think I have achieved perfection.”
- Jiro Ono
Sources
Jiro Dreams of Sushi
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Diving into the life and leadership of what many have called the greatest leader ever, Sir Ernest Shackleton.
"Some people say it is wrong to regard life as a game; I don't think so. Life to me means the greatest of all games. The danger lies in treating it as a trivial game, a game to be taken lightly, and a game in which the rules don't matter much. The rules matter a great deal. The game has to be played fairly, or it is no game at all. And even to win the game is not the chief end. The chief end is to win it honorably and splendidly.”
- Ernest Shackelton
Sources
Endurance
Shakelton's Way
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Diving into two short stories on Pat Tillman and Matthew McConaughey, and the trait that is at the root of all great things in life.
Sources:
Where Men Win Glory - Jon Krakauer
Greenlights - Matthew McConaughey
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Diving into the life of Phil Knight and how he built Nike.
"Let everyone else call your idea crazy . . . just keep going. Don’t stop. Don’t even think about stopping until you get there, and don’t give much thought to where “there” is. Whatever comes, just don’t stop."
- Phil Knight
Sources
Shoe Dog
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Diving into a short story of one of the first women astronauts Rhea Seddon, and the question that altered her life for the better.
Sources:
The Six - Loren Grush
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Diving into the life and greatness of a tennis legend, Roger Federer.
“When you're good at something, make that everything."
- Roger Federer
Sources
The Master - Christopher Clarey
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Diving into the lives, philosophies, and work of some of the worlds greatest artists and how they can help you do great work.
"Sharing art is the price of making it. Exposing your vulnerability is the fee."
- Rick Rubin
Sources
Daily Rituals - Mason Currey
The Creative Act: A Way of Being - Rick Rubin
Steal Like an Artist - Austin Kleon
War of Art - Stephen Pressfield
I Can't Make This Up - Kevin Hart
More Myself - Alicia Keys
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Diving into the lives, philosophies, and work of some of the worlds greatest artists and how they can help you do great work.
"There’s a secret that real writers know that wannabe writers don't, and the secret is this: It’s not the writing part that’s hard. What’s hard is sitting down to write. What keeps us from sitting down is resistance."
- Stephen Pressfield
Sources
Daily Rituals - Mason Currey
The Creative Act: A Way of Being - Rick Rubin
Steal Like an Artist - Austin Kleon
War of Art - Stephen Pressfield
I Can't Make This Up - Kevin Hart
More Myself - Alicia Keys
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Diving into the lives, philosophies, and work of some of the worlds greatest artists and how they can help you do great work.
"Creativity is something you are, not only something you do. It’s a way of moving through the world, every minute, every day."
- Rick Rubin
Sources
Daily Rituals - Mason Currey
The Creative Act: A Way of Being - Rick Rubin
Steal Like an Artist - Austin Kleon
War of Art - Stephen Pressfield
I Can't Make This Up - Kevin Hart
More Myself - Alicia Keys
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Diving into two basketball legends, LeBron James and Kobe Bryant, and what we can learn from their approach to the game of basketball.
LeBron on discipline,
"You have to sacrifice loved one for a long period of time."
Kobe on the Mamba Mentality,
"The mindset isn't about seeking a result—it’s more about the process of getting to that result. It’s about the journey and the approach. It’s a way of life. I do think that it’s important, in all endeavors, to have that mentality ."
Sources
LeBron - Jeff Benedict
Showboat - Roland Lazenby
The Mamba Mentality: How I Play - Kobe Bryant
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Diving into the life and greatness of a giant in the science world, the first woman to win the Nobel Prize and first person to win it twice, Marie Curie.
Sources
Madame Curie: A Biography - Eve Curie
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Diving into the works and wisdom on entrepreneur, investor, and philsopher Naval Ravikant.
"Peace is happiness at rest, and happiness is peace in motion."
- Naval Ravikant
Sources
The Almanack of Naval Ravikant - Eric Jorgenson
2:05 - Happiness
26:05 - Wealth
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Diving into the life and greatness of the greatest first basemen in baseball history, the "Iron Man" himself, Lou Gehrig.
Sources
Luckiest Man - Joanthan Eig
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Diving into some short stories on the First Lady who changed the world and what I like to call, The Eleanor Roosevelt Tests.
Sources:
Eleanor - David Michaelis
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Diving into the early life of Mike Tyson and how legendary trainer, Cus D'Amato, help Mike become the youngest boxing heavyweight champion.
Sources
Iron Ambition - Mike Tyson
The Turbulent True Story of Mike Tyson
1:55 - Poverty and crime
6:50 - The turning point
12:10 - Meeting Cus D'Amato
13:30 - Cus's training techniques/journey to becoming champion
35:15 - Lessons/takeaways
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Diving into the early life of Bruce Springstein and the moment, the motto, that changed everything.
Sources:
Born to Run - Bruce Springstein
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Diving into stories and lessons on two of the four cardinal virtues--discipline and wisdom.
Sources:
Lives of the Stoics - Ryan Holiday
Meditations - Marcus Aurelius
Letters from a Stoic - Seneca
Dicourses - Epictetus
2:35 - John Wooden: dichtomomy of control
9:00 - Jalen Hurts, Abaraham Lincoln, and Marcus Aurelius: motional discipline
19:10 - Michael Phelps: work and preparation
25:00 - Haruki Murakami: be disciplined about your discipline
29:55 - Discipline + desires
33:55 - Jobs, Edison, and Paypal: discipline's best-friend
36:55 - Bruce Lee + Kobe: empty your cup
40:15- Zeno: talk with the dead
46:00 - Epictetus + Taylor Swift: blame yourself
47:35 - Marcus Aurelius: associations
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Diving into stories and lessons on two of the four cardinal virtues--justice and courage
Sources:
Lives of the Stoics - Ryan Holiday
Meditations - Marcus Aurelius
Letters from a Stoic - Seneca
Dicourses - Epictetus
5:20 - Zeno: embarrassment
8:45 - Cicero: your fears are fears
13:00 - Winston Churchill: your capacity is great
14:45 - Charles Lindbergh: build courage
16:55 - Woody Allen: the hardest step
18:30 - George Norris: it inspires
23:30 - Publius Rufus: knowing vs doing
27:20 - Muhammud Ali: don't compromise
31:25 - Helvidius Priscus: accept your roles
34:05 - Matthew McConaughey: do less
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Diving into my favorite story on Theodore Roosevelt and the trait that made him special.
“It is only through labor and painful effort, by grim energy and resolute courage, that we move on to better things.”
- Theodore Roosevelt
Sources:
The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt - Edmund Morris
Leadership in Turbulent Times - Doris Kearns Goodwin
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Diving into the life of Abraham Lincoln and the three stories that define his greatness.
“Always bear in mind that your own resolution to succeed is more important than any other thing.” - Abraham Lincoln
Sources:
Team of Rivals - Doris Kearns Goodwin
Leadership in Turbulent Times - Doris Kearns Goodwin
1:35 - Overcoming poverty
9:10 - Die or get better
15:35 - Advice for life
19:55 - Do everything
28:30 - Traits and practices as a leader
39:25 - Lessons/takeaways
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Sources:
Team of Rivals - Doris Kearns Goodwin
Leadership in Turbulent Times - Doris Kearns Goodwin
Diving into a short story of the Wright Brothers and what I like to call the belief-doubt paradox.
Source - The Wright Brothers by David McCullough
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Diving into the story of how Gertrude "Trudy" Ederle etched her name in history and became the first woman to conquer the English Channel.
Source - Young Woman and the Sea by Glenn Stout
2:40 - The daunting task
6:15 - The beginning/just an ordinary girl
9:50 - The role of luck
14:30 - The first day in the pool
16:20 - The breakthrough
19:05 - The keys to her success
23:55 - The 1924 Olympics and heartbreak
26:20 - The challenge
31:20 - A second stab
37:10 - Lessons/takeaways
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Diving into the life and greatness of Kevin Hart from his book, I Can't Make This Shit Up
We’re all writing a book. What’s your book look like. Your life is a book. You got a bunch of chapters in your book. But when they close that book, how good was the book? How good was your book? What was the ending to your book?
- Kevin Hart
**-----
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Diving into the life and greatness of Cristiano Ronaldo from Guilleme Balague book, Cristiano Ronaldo
"From an early age I wanted to be a professional, and I dreamt of playing in the first division. I had to make many sacrifices. The first was to leave Argentina when I was thirteen years old and start again from zero, make new friends, an a city where I knew no one."
**4:00 - Childhood and upbringing
5:00 - A teacher's doubts
8:30 - How Ronaldo's mom gave his dream a chance
Sometimes, I let Ronaldo miss class to play. His teacher told me that I should tell him off for that, but I didn’t punish him. He had to practice a lot to become a great player.
10:25 - Love and obsession to the game 12:10 - Bob Bowman on practice*“When we practice long hours, we’re depositing money into the bank. We need to deposit enough so that when we make a large withdrawal, we have enough funds to withdraw.”***12:50 - Trial with Sporting
15:55 - Leaving his family
17:50 - Life is about trade-offs
20:15 - Addicted to the game
24:35 - A story of confidence
27:20 - Overcoming struggles as a pro
30:55 - Keys to Ronaldo's success
40:30 - Keep it simple
42:45 - Find an enemy: Messi vs Ronaldo
50:20 - Lessons/takeaways**
**-----
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Diving into the life and greatness of Lionel Messi from Guilleme Balague book, Messi
"From an early age I wanted to be a professional, and I dreamt of playing in the first division. I had to make many sacrifices. The first was to leave Argentina when I was thirteen years old and start again from zero, make new friends, an a city where I knew no one."
**1:50 - A life of football
4:45 - A fierce competitor
8:50 - A turning point of Messi's life
11:50 - Going to Barcelona 16:35 - Leaving his family
18:00 - Struggles in Barcelona
19:55 - Are you set up for success?
22:00 - Chasing dreams are like start-ups
23:40 - Keys to Messi's success*“He had extraordinary passion. I’ve never seen a player with such zeal. He was desperate to train, to run around the field, to do whatever was asked of him."*
**“I never saw a boy as demanding of himself as he was. Sometimes he would play a fantastic game but would then leave the pitch angry with himself because he thought he could have done better.”
28:55 - A story of belief**
**30:30 - Professional struggles
34:50 - Talent, genius, or hard work? Factors to Messi's greatness**
**42:35 - Pep Guardiola and Messi
44:50 - Defeats and triumphs with Argentina
52:50 - Lessons/takeaways**
**-----
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Diving into the stories and lessons we can learn from the life of Sam Walton and the rise of Walmart from his autobiography, Made in America
When folks would ask Sam Walton how he built Walmart, he responded with the same answer, “Friend, we just got after it and stayed after it.”
**1:15 - Lessons from parents and childhood
4:45 - How Sam knew what he was going to do for the rest of his life
7:15 - First store
8:00 - Be a student of your craft
I learned a lesson which has stuck with me all through the years: you can learn from everybody.****12:20 - The worst moment of Sam's life
13:45 - Love your fate
16:35 - Steal and steal often*Most everything I’ve done, I’ve copied from somebody else.*
**18:10 - The start of Walmart
18:50 - Find your leverage**
**22:25 - Increase your embarrassment capacity
“If you wish to improve, be content appearing clueless and stupid.” - Epictetus**
**26:35 - Six keys to Walmarts success
34:10 - The ultimate goal I always wanted to be the best retailer in the world, not necessarily the biggest.**
**35:15 - Thinking small
37:35 - Sam Walton's Ten Rules
40:45 - Life is about trade-offs
42:20 - Lessons/takeaways**
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Diving into the works and wisdom of one of the world's great philosophers, Seneca
The duty of a man is to be useful to his fellow-men; if possible, to be useful to many of them; failing this, to be useful to a few; failing this, to be useful to his neighbours, and, failing them, to himself: for when he helps others, he advances the general interests of mankind.
- Seneca
3:30 - The purpose of studying philosophy "[Philosophy] moulds and constructs the soul; it orders our life, guides our conduct, shows us what we should do and what we should leave undone."
6:50 - The usage of timeIt is a small part of life we really live. Indeed, all the rest is not life, but merely of time. People are frugal in guarding their personal property; but as soon as it comes to squandering time they are most wasteful of the one thing in which it is right to be stingy.
**11:25- Self-made suffering
20:55- Find a cato*So choose yourself a Cato…Choose someone whose way of life as well as words…have won your approval. Be always pointing him out to yourself either as your guardian or as your model. There is a need, in my view, for someone as a standard against which our characters can measure themselves.*
25:10 - On happinessWe have reached the heights if we know what it is that we find joy in and we have not placed our happiness in the control of the externals…Above all, my dear Lucilius, make this your business: learn how to feel joy.
32:50 - On angerNo plague has cost the human race more dear: you will see slaughterings and poisonings, accusations and counter-accusations, sacking of cities, ruin of whole peoples, the persons of princes sold into slavery by auction, torches applied to roofs, and fires not merely confined within city-walls but making whole tracts of country glow with hostile flame.
36:40 -Lessons/takeaways
**-----
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If you want to read more of Seneca's works, you can check out some books below*Letter from a StoicOn the Shortness of Life*
Diving into the twenty-five biggest lessons from Greatness in 2024
Enjoy
**1:15 - Pursue excitement
5:50 - If you can go back, always take the risk
9:30 - First efforts aren't supposed to work
12:30 - A high pain threshold is a competitive advantage
18:50 - Seek to renew yourself when you’re hitting home runs
23:00 - Life responds to subtraction
26:20 - Volume wins**
**29:40 - The world belongs to thieves
32:35 - Genius/greatness is endurance in disguise
35:30 - Ambition is never satisfied
39:20 - Life doesn't respond to circumstances, it responds to effort
42:30 - You can’t care
44:55 - Use history
46:45 - Be bold
49:10 - Have a philosophy
52:15 - Just start
54:10 - Death is life greatest motivator**
**57:50 - Happiness lies in doing difficult things
59:50 - Do The Greatest Thing Possible
1:02:25 - Difference-makers don’t have different feelings, they just have a different relationship with certain feelings**
**1:04:00 - Great ambition requires great sacrifice
1:06:05 - Great work is deep work
1:08:30 - Be Relentless/Be Obsessed
1:11:30 - You can doubt your way to excellence
1:14:40 - There is no silver bullet**
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Diving into the life and greatness of Jackie Cochran from her autobiography.
"To live without risk for me would have been tantamount to death."
- Jackie Cochran
4:25 - An upbringing of povertyUntil I was eight years old I had no shoes. My bed was usually a pallet on the floor and sometimes just the floor…Food at best consisted of the barest essentials–sometimes nothing except what I foraged for myself in the woods of the Northern Florida sawmill towns my foster family called home. And we were always a little hungry.
8:50 - Feeling different
**10:25 - Stubbornness wins
13:20 - The dream*14:10- The power of hardship* Because of where I came from and then where I went, I ended up understanding intimately one very sustaining line of life: I could never have so little that I hadn’t had less.**
**17:30 - Aviation and a reason for living
20:45 - Signs that you're on the right path
23:20 - Speed with safety
26:10 - Challenging the norms/ambition
29:35 - Facing fear
“Do you know what you call that? Guts. Jackie would get in there, in a race, in a contest, in a jet trying to set a new record, and she’d keep pushing, because she had the guts."**
36:35 - Breaking the sound barrier
38:00 -Lessons/takeaways
**-----
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Diving into the single most important thing we can learn and take from the greatness of Leonardo da Vinci
Check out Walter Isaacson's book, Leonardo da Vinci, for more on Leonardo's life.
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Diving into the life and greatness of Michael Jordan from the books, Michael Jordan: A Life and Playing For Keeps
“You have to be uncompromised in your level of commitment to whatever you are doing, or it can disappear as fast as it appeared.”
- Michael Jordan
**3:00 - The root of his competitive fire
5:35 - The cut
“Whenever I was working out and got tired and figured I ought to stop, I’d close my eyes and see that list in the locker room without my name on it, and that usually got me going again.”**
9:45 - The MJ trio**13:00- Why he trash talked
Jordan started talking more and more trash and explaining what he was going to do, not to instill fear into his opponents, but force himself to work harder and deliver on his promises.
16:10 - Michael's greatest skill**“My greatest skill was being teachable. I was like a sponge. Even if I thought my coaches were wrong, I tried to listen and learn something.”
**20:40 - Divine discontent
24:10 - Nike**
**26:00 - Are you joyous about the work?
27:35 - How to approach your craft
“He came to practice like it was Game 7 of the NBA finals. He would destroy you in practice. That’s what set the tone for our team.”
32:45 - You need some luck**
34:00 - Pistons + reinvention
39:30 - How Michael kept himself motivated
“If you look at why Amazon is so different from almost any other company that started early on the internet, it’s because Jeff approached it from the very beginning with that long-term vision. It was a multi decade project. The notion that he can accomplish a huge amount with a larger time frame, if he is steady about it, is fundamentally his philosophy.”**42:15- Winners vs losers
45:15 - Ambition and work**46:40 - Lessons/takeaways
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Diving into the stories and lessons we can learn from the Jeff Bezos and the rise of Amazon from the Brad Stone's book, The Everything Store, and the writings of Jeff Bezos Invent and Wander
"I will hazard a prediction. When you are eighty years old and, in a quiet moment of reflection, narrating for only yourself the most personal version of your life story, the telling that will be most compact and meaningful will be a series of choices you have made….And when I’m eighty I want to have minimized the number of regrets I have in my life, and most of our regrets are acts of omission, things we didn’t try, the path untraveled. Those are the things that haunt us."
- Jeff Bezos
**1:50 - Pursue excitement/Make decisions through your 80-year old self
7:45- Chasing Dreams are like start-ups
9:40 - A duality mindset
"Y*ou have to have this duality in your head. On the one hand you're you know what the Baseline statistics say about startup companies and the other hand you have to ignore all of that and just be 100% sure it's going to work and you're doing both things at the same time you're holding that contradiction in your head."12:00- Doubts about Amazon14:00 - Amazon's philosophy “If you want to get to the truth about what makes us different, it’s this. We are genuinely customer centric, we are genuinely long-term oriented and we genuinely like to invent."*
**15:40 - Experiment relentlessly + be bold
19:05 - Amazon core practices/strategies**
**22:00 - Lose now, win later
32:20 - How to make decisions**
34:50 - Play the long game
“If you look at why Amazon is so different from almost any other company that started early on the internet, it’s because Jeff approached it from the very beginning with that long-term vision. It was a multi decade project. The notion that he can accomplish a huge amount with a larger time frame, if he is steady about it, is fundamentally his philosophy.”36:05- Advice from Bezos 39:10 - Lessons/takeaways
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Diving into my favorite stories and lessons we can learn from the legend himself Steve Jobs from Walter Isaacson book, Steve Jobs, and article, The Real Leadership Lessons of Steve Jobs
"Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important tool I've ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Almost everything--all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure--these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important." - Steve Jobs
**1:15 - Life has no speed limit
6:10 - Just get started
8:30 - Have a philosophy/motto for life
13:10 - Steal like an artist****16:50 - Do the greatest thing possible
19:15 - Focus
23:45 - Collaboration is creativity
25:15 - You are mortal
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Diving into a short story on scientist Jennifer Doudna and what I like to call the Obsession Test.
Check out Walter Isaacson's book, The Code Breaker, for more on Doudna and how she is changing the world.
***“I’m someone who’s thinking about science all the time. I’m always focused on what’s cooking in the lab, the next experiment, or the bigger question to pursue. I was always obsessed with what my next experiment was going to be.”
- Jennifer Doudna***
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Diving into the life and greatness of writer and runner Haruki Murakami from his book, What I Talk About When I Talk About Running
**“I didn’t start running because somebody asked me to become a runner. Just like I didn’t become a novelist because someone asked me to. One day, out of the blue, I wanted to write a novel. And one day, out of the blue, I started to run— simply because I wanted to. I’ve always done whatever I felt like doing in life. People may try to stop me, and convince me I’m wrong, but I won’t change.”
- Haruki Murakami**
**1:15 - Follow your instincts
8:45- Life responds to subtraction
10:05- Becoming a writer/pursuing the itch
11:45 - A framework for big decisions 14:45 - The key to willpower and discipline
17:45 - Daily routine + choose your consequences
19:50 - Leave some juice in the tank
21:15 - Marathons and personal responsibility
26:00 - Have a motto/mantra*29:45* - Running and writing advice for life
31:45 - How to do great work
36:10 - Lesson/Takeaways
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Diving into what history can tell us about the truth of specialization, and other factors that play a role in doing great work.
Check out David Epstein's book, Range, for more on how generalists are winning in a specialized world
“Everyone progresses at a different rate, so don’t let anyone else make you feel behind. You probably don’t even know exactly where you’re going, so feeling behind doesn't help…Approach your own personal voyage and projects like Michelangelo approached a block of marble, willing to learn and adjust as you do, and even to abandon a previous goal and change direction entirely should the need to arise.”
- David Epstein
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Diving into the life and greatness of Stephen King from his book, On Writing
“The scariest moment is always just before you start.”
**0:50 - Imitation precedes creatio
3:30 - Where ideas come from Good story ideas seem to come quite literally from nowhere, sailing at you right out of the empty sky: two previously unrelated ideas come together and make something new under the sun. Your job isn’t to find these ideas but to recognize them when they show up.**
7:20 - First efforts don't workBy the time I was fourteen, the nail in my wall would no longer support the weight of rejection slips impaled upon it. I replaced the nail with a spike and went on writing.
10:25 - You need someone who believes in youWriting is a lonely job. Having someone who believes in you, makes a lot of difference. They don’t have to make speeches. Just believing is usually enough.**14:20 - Success and struggles
19:50 - Source of King's success
When I’m writing, I write every day. That includes Christmas, the Fourth of July, and my birthday.
26:12 - Writing advice that is life advice If you don’t want to work your ass off, you have no business trying to write well.*31:20* - Lessons and takeaways -----
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Diving into the story of how Elizabeth Blackwell, Elizabeth Garrett Anderson, and Sophia Jex Blake became the world's first women doctors from Olivia Campbell's book, Women in White Coats
**-----
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Diving into the life and greatness of Tom Brady, Bill Belichick and the New England Patriots from Jeff Benedict's book, The Dynasty.
1:20 - Trust your instincts
3:50 - Tom Brady's journey“In sport, you have to go for the throat. Because if all friendly, they come back and beat your ass. So kill them. Take their heart.”**9:55 - Turbulent start
14:30 - Brady takeover
18:10 - Be bold****20:25 - Building a culture of excellence
23:15 *- Brady and obsession
“If you’re going to compete against me, you better be willing to give up your life because I’m giving up mine.”*28:30 ***- The secret to the success: accountability
29:55 - The difficult years
“What are you willing to do and what are you willing to give up to be the best you can be?"
34:05 - Patriots motto
35:00 -* Lessons/Takeaways
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Diving into the lessons you can learn from some of the world's greatest coaches. "Sometimes when I’m filling out forms, I list my profession as 'magician.' I’m not trying to be mischievous. It’s just that when I think about the ego-balancing act NBA coaches have to perform, making magic may be the best way to describe what we do…Because***I can’t pretend to be an expert in leadership theory. But what I do know is that the art of transforming a group of young, ambitious individuals into an integrated championship team is not a mechanistic process. It’s a mysterious juggling act that requires not only a thorough knowledge of the time honored laws of the game but also an open heart, a clear mind, and a deep curiosity about the ways of the human spirit.
- Phil Jackson***
----- **2:20 - Vince Lombardi
9:50 - Phil Jackson
15:30 - John Wooden
21:45 - Pete Carroll
You can check out books on each coach below:*When Pride Still Mattered* - Vince Lombardi*Win Forever* - Pete Carroll*Wooden* - John Wooden*Eleven Rings* - Phil Jackson
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**Diving into the story of the first man to fly non-stop across the Atlantic Ocean and what we can learn from his historic feat.
Check out A. Scott Berg book, Lindbergh****, for more on the life and greatness of Charles Lindberg
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Diving into the life and greatness of Tiger Woods from James Patterson's book, Tiger, Tiger, and Jeff Benedict's book, Tiger Woods
3:40 - Young TigerBy eleven months old, when most kids are just learning to walk, Tiger Woods picked up a golf club crafted to his size and hit a golf ball perfectly into the net.
6:30 - Mom's advice“In sport, you have to go for the throat. Because if all friendly, they come back and beat your ass. So kill them. Take their heart.”**9:25 - Father's influence
"The psychological training that my father used inured me to whatever I might have to deal with in golf. He taught me to be completely unaware of my surroundings, while maintaining complete focus on the task at hand."
11:30 - The goal at 15
"*I want to be the Michael Jordan of golf. I’d like to be the best ever.” 12:10 - Work = Play*Practicing golf was never a chore or something Tiger felt obligated to do. He looked forward to being alone on the range or the course with his clubs.**15:35 - Golf was a drug
"*I love this game to death. It’s like a drug I have to have."*
20:50- Earn the right to be confident**Confidence stems from one thing, relentless work. If you’re lacking confidence, ask yourself if you’ve put in the work to have confidence
23:45*- Pure obsession*By the spring of 1997, Tiger was consumed with practicing and working out. A typical practice day for him entailed hitting six hundred balls, working on his shirt game and putting, playing a round (Sometimes on his own), and working out in the gym for two or three hours
***27:35- Relentless reinvention
“I was in it to find the answer to one question. How good can I be?***
33:20 - What made Tiger great
- Constant evolution and reinvention
- Obsession to the craft
- Self-belief
- High capacity for pain
37:55- The ComebackWith every fiber in my body I’ve got to make you the best football player that I can make you. And I’ll try. And I’ll try. And if I don’t succeed on the first day. I’ll try again. And I’ll try again. And you’ve got to give everything that is in you.
42:15 - **Lessons/Takeaways
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**Diving into the stories behind the characteristic trait that helped Elon Musk build two of the biggest companies in the world, SpaceX and Tesla.
Check out Ashley Vance's book, Elon Musk****, for more on the life and greatness on the man who is changing the world.
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Diving into the life and greatness of the legendary football coach, Vince Lombardi from David Maraniss' book: When Pride Still Mattered
0:00 - Winning is an all the time thing "Winning is not a sometime thing; it's an all the time thing. You don't win once in a while; you don't do things right once in a while; you do them right all of the time. Winning is a habit. Unfortunately, so is losing.
2:30 - Lesson from father“No one’s ever hurt. Hurt is in your mind.”**4:25 - Playing to coaching
5:50 - What's the thing that gives you a seven-day weekend?**
7:00 - The core of Lombardi's coaching philosophy“Repetition was at the core of his coaching philosophy. Doing the same thing over and over again, whether it was a play or calisthenics”
9:30- Attention to detailVince Lombardi spent eight hours at a coaching clinic talking about one play.
***12:30- The cost of ambition
20:30 - New York to Green Bay
“When I am done. It will be on that map.”
21:40 - Being relentless**With every fiber in my body I’ve got to make you the best football player that I can make you. And I’ll try. And I’ll try. And if I don’t succeed on the first day. I’ll try again. And I’ll try again. And you’ve got to give everything that is in you.*
***23:10- What's your pain tolerance
29:25 - Excellence > Winning
The mistake championship teams often make is to try to repeat their winning formula. But that rarely works because by the time the next season starts, your opponents have studied all the videos and figured out how to counter every move you made. Winning is about moving into the unknown and creating something new. It’s about that scene in the first Indiana Jones movie when someone asks Indy what he’s going to do next, and he replies, “I don’t know, I’m making it up as we go along.” That’s how I view leadership. It’s an act of controlled improvisation.
30:30 - Some coaching philosophies***
**36:50 - Lessons and takeaways
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Diving into the short stories on Urban Meyer, Neil Armstrong, Thomas Edison, Frances Grayson, and more about the curse of ambition.
Check out Wright Thompson's book, The Cost of These Dreams, for more on the dark side of ambition.
1:40 - Urban Meyer Why do people persist in their self-destructive behavior, ignoring the blatant fact that what they’ve been doing for many years hasn’t solved their problems? They think that they need to do it even more fervently, or frequently, as if they were doing the right thing but had to try even harder.
7:40 - Neil Armstrong“The one regret was that my work required an enormous amount of my time and a lot of travel,and I didn’t get to spend the time I would have liked with my family as they grew up.”
**9:05 - Thomas Edison
The other thing he said was his superpower was the ability to work more than others on less sleep. He called sleep a waste of time, often working 18-22 hours a day, even putting in a couple days worth of work without a break.**
**12:40 - Frances Grayson
“*I would rather give my life to something big and worthwhile, than to live longer and do less.”***13:40 - Ted Turner
“Work, Racing, Family, in that order.”
Quote**
“Your heroes aren't gods, they're just regular people who got good at one thing by neglecting everything." - Jason Pargin
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Diving into the life, greatness, and his leadership philosophy from Phil Jackson book: Eleven Rings
0:00 - Leadership is being a magician Sometimes when I’m filling out forms, I list my profession as “magician.” I’m not trying to be mischievous. It’s just that when I think about the ego-balancing act NBA coaches have to perform, making magic may be the best way to describe what we do1:30 - Brother's life advice that changed Phil's career
**9:45 - Impact of Zen Buddhism/importance of freedom and latitude
12:45 - John Wooden vs Phil Jackson**
18:20 - Two types of "luck"
21:40***- How Phil used non-action to solve problems/mastering the art of letting go
When the men are preparing for a flight they are really home hardly at all . They come home on weekends and even they have work to do. We’re lucky if they have a chance to come in and sit down and say hello before they go off again a day later.
24:45- Three leadership practices
26:45 - The importance of a pause/delay in conflict
The best way to handle most flare-ups is to sleep on them. The point is to avoid acting out in anger and creating an even stickier mess. And if you’re lucky, the problem may solve itself.
30:45 - *Buddha’s Noble Eightfold Path.
***36:20 - How to sustain excellence
The mistake championship teams often make is to try to repeat their winning formula. But that rarely works because by the time the next season starts, your opponents have studied all the videos and figured out how to counter every move you made. Winning is about moving into the unknown and creating something new. It’s about that scene in the first Indiana Jones movie when someone asks Indy what he’s going to do next, and he replies, “I don’t know, I’m making it up as we go along.” That’s how I view leadership. It’s an act of controlled improvisation.***
40:20 - **Humiliation is motivation
43:55 - Lessons and takeaways
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Diving into the life and greatness of Neil Armstrong from James Hansen's book: First Man
1:40 - What reading did for Neil
4:20 - Napoleon: are you lucky?
10:15 - The low point of Neil's life + Theodore Roosevelt and how to honor lost loved ones13:15 - Pursue excitement
15:00 - Early days at NASA
20:30***- The lifestyle and sacrifices
When the men are preparing for a flight they are really home hardly at all . They come home on weekends and even they have work to do. We’re lucky if they have a chance to come in and sit down and say hello before they go off again a day later.
23:00- What's your capacity to move on?
26:45 - The purpose of Apollo 11
I think we’re going to the moon because it’s in the nature of human beings to face challenges. It is by the nature of his deep inner soul. We’re required to do these things just as salmon swim up river.***
27:40 - How the moon landing almost didn't happen
32:45 - **The need for a team
34:15 - Lessons and takeaways
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Diving into the life and greatness of Matthew McConaughey from his book, Greenlights
0:00 - A roof is a man made thing
3:30 - The forbidden word
5:30- Don't half-ass it/How to make the right decisions14:30 - Preparation = FreedomWe have to prepare to have freedom. We have to do the work to then do the job. We have to prepare for the job so we can be free to do the work.
20:10 - Reverse engineer the person you want to become/things you want to accomplish
22:30***- The power of less
I had five things on my proverbial desk to tend to daily: family, foundation, acting, a production company, and a music label. I felt like I was making Bs in all five. By shutting down the production company and the music label, I eliminated two of my five commitments with plans to make As in the other three.***
25:10:- Turning down $15 million
31:25 - TakeawaysAny success takes one in a row. Do one thing well, then another. Once, then once more. Over and ove until the end, then it’s oneinarow again
I’ve never care much for destinations. The idea of landing is too finite for my imagination and sense of song. Give me a direction and a sixteen lane highway with room to swerve and explore along the way. Like jazz, I prefer to see life as a river.
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Diving into the life and greatness of the greatest Olympian, Michael Phelps, from his book, Beneath The Surface
4:30 - To find what you love, you have to suck at first
7:40 - How Bob Bowman, Michael Phelps' coach, helped him prepare for competitions“Champions produce normal and predictable results in abnormal and unpredictable circumstances9:30 - First efforts aren't meant to work
12:20 - Michael's goal at 15, "“I want to change the sport of swimming… I want to change the sport of swimming. I want people to talk about it, think about it, and look forward to seeing it. I want them to want to jump in and do it. That’s my goal.”
14:00 - Volume wins. Michael trained every single day. Christmas. Holidays. Birthdays. Every single day.
16:45 - “When we practice long hours, we’re depositing money into the bank. We need to deposit enough so that when we make a large withdrawal, we have enough funds to withdraw.”
17:30 - Find different sources of motivation. "I use whatever I can to motivate myself." 22:30 - Bet on yourself . "If i were to win seven gold at either of the next two olympics, Speedo would pay me a $1 millions bonus for equaling Mark Spitz’ record for gold medals at one Olympic set in 1972. And unlike most contractual provisions, which remain confidential, we decided to talk about his one publicly."
25:50 - Daily routine."I’d wake up at 7a.m. and swim until 8:30 or 9. After that, it was a nap and at 3:45, we’d start up again. I’d get there at 3:15 to stretch. After swimming, we’d do between half an hour of dryland training. "
***29:45 - Motivation leading up to 2008 Olympics,
"Leave it to Bob to grab the article that would set me off like a rocket. The article quotes Ian Thorpe, who was asked about my prospects for winning seven or eight gold medals in Beijing. 'I don’t think he’ll do it, but I’d love to see it. There’s a thing called competition. There won’t be one athlete competing and in a lot of events he has strong competition.'"***
I then took the article and taped it to my locker. Whenever I look inside the locker each morning after arriving at the pool, the underlined story is the very first thing I see. If I'm dragging trying to accomplish what I need to do, I think about Ian’s words. Then I train a little harder.
***33:00 - How/why he set records at Beijing
39:50 - Key takeaways* -----
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Diving into routines and rituals of the world's greatest artist from Eric Lax's biography, Woody Allen
Woody Allen was once asked in an interview how he makes one film a year, quite a great feat. Woody simply responded, “It’s not all that big a deal when you think of it because what I do is make films. It’s not that I’m torn between other activities.”
3:30 - Find the thing that makes you feel alive 8:00 - Increase your volume to do great work. Woody Allen wrote 50 jokes a day. Not all were great. But when you write and everyday and write a lot, you create a bulk of volume that will lead to success eventually9:40 - How much do you want it, "“You have to want it more than anything else in the world. It’s a tough scramble and you just have to want it.”
11:10 - Enthusiasm is the ultimate projection of success16:00 - “Every writer has trouble with beginnings, that the beginning is the hardest part, and once you get going it does get a little easier.”
18:10 - Becoming a comedian and overcoming fear, “The scariest moment is always before you start.” 27:10 - **Greatness doesn't dabble. Woody Allen makes a film a year because he is just always working on material.
30:20 - *"I’m obeying nobody but my artistic muse. The experience is doing the project; the critical and commercial responses are not terribly relevant…If I don’t like something, it doesn't matter how many awards it’s own. It’s important to keep your own criteria and not defer to the trends of the marketplace.”
34:20 - "Writing doesn’t come easy. I learned to get at it early in the morning nand work at it and rewrite and rethink and tear up my stuff and write it again. I was brought up in a hard-line approach–you never wait for inspiration, you have to do it and force it until you get it right."
37:00 - “Thank god the public only sees the final product.”
41:30 - "I love work. I’d work seven days a week. I don’t care about hours. When we solve this problem, whether it’s five or ten at night, then we move on to something else. Hours or days mean nothing,"
43:00 - If you're meeting your standards and expectations, that's a bad thing
45:00 - Make the process as easy as possible***
**47:00 Key takeaways
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Diving into routines and rituals of the world's greatest artist from Mason Currey's book: Daily Rituals
4:45 - Gertrude Stein and Haruki Murakami - Short vs long routines6:50 - Ernest Hemingway - Leave some juice in the tank**9:30 - Marcel Proust - Is it sustainable
12:40 - Beethoven and Soren Kierkegaard - Walks as an aid to creativity*17:30* *- Woody Allen and Nicholas Baker - The importance of novelty
21:15 - David Lynch - Meditation
23:50 - N.C. Wyeth - Limit Distractions
25:40 - Creativity Reminders
30:00- Do's and Don'ts
-----***Check out my new book Chasing Greatness: Timeless Stories on the Pursuit of Excellence
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Diving into lessons and stories from Oksana Masters autobiography: The Hard Parts
0:00 - Upbringing/rough beginnings15:30 - Finding happiness/understanding the importance of hardship**20:30 - The power of a purpose
23:15 - Rowing an an antidote to living*24:30* *- Use your enemies
28:15 - Taking the risk/filter for making life's biggest decisions
32:00 - Doubts will always be present
35:10 - Oksana on beauty
36:55 - Make it visible
44:30 - Heaven to hell
46:35 - Happiness vs anger
49:20 - 2018 Olympic Games and perseverance
52:50 - Capacity for pain/create a bigger hurt
57:40 - Advice to younger self
-----***Check out my new book Chasing Greatness: Timeless Stories on the Pursuit of Excellence
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Diving into lessons and stories from Tim Grover's book: Relentless
2:40 - Relentless is seizing the moment6:50 - Relentless is sustained excellence9:15: Relentless is never satisfied 13:00 ***- Relentless is about one thing
18:05 - Relentless is calm, cool, and steady
21:20 - Relentless is about being strict with yourself***
***23:25 - Relentless is being mentally unstoppable
32:30 Relentless is about attention to detail
36:35 - Relentless is about reinvention***
***42:30 - Relentless is monotonous
44:25 - Relentless is irrational self-belief
49:45 - Relentless doesn’t care
52:00 - Relentless is about work
55:50 - Relentless is having the right frame of mind
1:02:30- Relentless is making sacrifices/playing the long
1:07:30 - Relentless is a little crazy***
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Diving into the life and greatness of Bruce Lee from Matthew Polly's book: Bruce Lee: A Life
4:40 - First Kung Fu Lesson5:30 - Ambition is never satisfied/How Bruce viewed winning**9:30 - The importance of being like water
11:05 *- How Bruce Lee created his own kung fu style
14:15 - Bruce's chief aim + the power of giving yourself time
17:55 - Some martial arts motto's
28:30 - Creating his own style of martial arts + adaptability
29:15- Bruce Lee on martial arts' most important skill
34:50 - Empty your cup: how to learn more
37:30 - Bruce and the belief battle
42:30 - Bruce and the belief battle
44:30 - Steal, steal, steal
48:30 - How Bruce used the past as motivation***
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Diving into the life and greatness of Ted Tuner from Janet Lowe's book: Ted Turner Speaks
1:45 - Lesson's on how to win 3:30 - Ted's competitive advantage**5:10 - Ted on what losing means
6:55 *- How death helped Ted Turner deal with risk
12:45 - Ted on winning
14:40 - What it means to have fun
16:05 - The ultimate life goal
24:30 - Playing the limitless game
28:20 - *Happiness lies in being a good person
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Diving into the life and greatness of Pete Carroll from his autobiography: All In
6:00 - A coach's job 7:30 - Coaching is a two way street
10:00 - Biggest lesson of his career***12:30 - What success was to Pete Carroll
20:10- The turning point/how Pete Carroll found his philosophy
25:10 - The importance of competition/what it is/building an environment of competition
31:00 - Coaching lessons/takeaways
34:45 - How Pete Carroll learned about the power of observation
37:00 - *The importance of a philosophy
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Diving into the life and greatness of Billie Jean King from her autobiography: All In
3:40 - Early life lessons 4:50 - How Billie Jean would become a Champion + Humiliation Become Motivation
9:50 - A key to Billie Jean's Success/how Billie Jean set herself up to be one of the best players ever***11:15 - Playing the long game
12:30 - Denying a chance at fulfilling her dream
14:25 - The practices and methods Billie Jean used before and during tennis matches
17:00 - On losing and being a champion
19:35 - The powerful practice to make you work harder
21:40 - Seek to renew yourself when you're hitting home-runs
26:50 - Tennis player to social activist
34:00 - The Battle of the Sexes/match against Bobby Riggs
40:20 - Pre-match checklist/mindset
47:15 - The framework for making decisions + how to make big decisions in life***
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Diving into the life of one of greatest artist the world has ever seen, Alicia Keys, from her autobiography: More Myself
**5:30 - Becoming the "Next"
When Alicia Keys was sixteen, she started her own girl group with two of her friends called EMbishion. With hopes of being like the Jackson 5, Alicia quickly realized it wasn’t about becoming someone**
***I now understand that trying to be the “next” anyone is as foolish as it sounds. The shoes you dream of fulfilling have already been worn ragged through their soles. You’ve gotta step into your own kicks and just do you.
6:25 - Study the Greats*As she was growing up, Alicia started to study the greats before her,
I drew inspiration from the musical geniuses in my mother’s record collection, as well as the collection I’d started for myself. I studied every note of Marvin Gaye’s “What’s Going on.”
9:35 - The Performance Mindset At every showcase, I played my music like it was the only chance I’d ever get to land a contract, because in my view, it was. I’d grown up seeing my life through a single lens: survival. And from that vantage point, opportunity is never a promise. Rather, it is a hope and a hustle.
10:40 - The Battle of College vs Music
18:00 - The Creative ProcessI’m often asked where my melodies and lyrics come from. I may never fully comprehend how a song sprouts from nothingness into existence, and truthfully, I’m not tempted to decode the mystery. I hope to be constantly surprised, in amazement of how the tiny seed of a possible chord or lyric miraculously sprints to life…I don’t create from a set of rules or formulas. I tap into my true feelings and experiences and allow them to guide me.
22:50 - Dealing with FameMy world was so filled with the steady clanking of appointments and appearances and press interviews and pandemonium, I could no longer even hear my own thoughts. I longed for solitude, for space and breathing room without the thought that someone else might be impacted.
26:10 - Oprah's LessonsYou know what a resounding yes feels like. It’s undeniable Nothing going to stop you from doing it. You’re excited. You don’t have to convince yourself to move forward. You simply know this is the right thing. And that’s what I live by
.
For many years, I looked for someone outside of myself to dream up and create what only I could. I eventually realized that no one else can see your big picture. Only you can know the journey you’re on. Others can contribute, and you should definitely surround yourself with smart people who lift you higher and share in your vision. But the truth is, even with wise counsel, only you know what your next step should be. All my best decisions in life have come when I’ve turned to what felt like the best move for me.”
**28:10 - Alicia's Pre-Performance Mindset
Before every performance, Alicia Keys asks herself,**
Do you want to be good, or do you want to be great
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You can get some Chasing Greatness Apparel hereAlicia Keys Grammy Performance: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tPbwJQ1XR4c
Diving into a short story on the Roman Philosopher, Seneca, from my book: Chasing Greatness: Timeless Stories on the Pursuit of Excellence
Diving into the life of one of greatest athletes the world has ever seen, LeBron James, from Jeff Benedict's book: LeBron
1:00 - LeBron's upbringingWhen you wake up in the morning, tell yourself: The people I deal with today will be meddling, ungrateful, arrogant, dishonest, jealous, and surly…
5:15 - The advice that shaped how LeBron played the gameLebron paid attention whenever his coach wanted to talk shop about basketball. On this occasion, coach Dru encouraged him to integrate his teammates into the offense. “Bron, if you pass the ball, everyone is going to want to play with you.” Lebrons seized that last part of the sentence–everyone is going to want to play with you…For a kid who has spent so much time alone, there was nothing Lebron wanted more than to be wanted.
6:00 - The DreamIn school, when his teacher passed out a blank note card at the beginning of the year and instructed the students to write down three things they wanted to be when they grew up, Lebron wrote,
NBA Player
NBA Player
NBA Player
8:45 - Make it visible The last thing he saw before going to sleep each night and the first thing he saw when he woke up each morning were images of Michael Jordan looking down on him from the walls of his bedroom. To Lebron, Jordan was the ultimate athlete.
10:10 - T-Mac's Advice
When you get on the court, you have no friends. No matter who you’re playing, you gotta kill’em.
15:00 - Playing philosophy I go for the winning play. The winning play when two guys come at you and a teammate is open is to give it up. It’s as simple as that.
18:25 - The Decision
The world’s most celebrated basketball player couldn’t foresee that by the end of the night he would be the most hated athlete in all of sports.
23:00- Proving vs Improvement
***I lost touch with who I was as a basketball player and a person. I got caught up in everything that was going on around me, and I felt like I had to prove something to people, and I don’t know why. Everything was tight, stressed.
23:50 - Losing is Winning
The best thing that happened to me last year was us losing the Finals. It humbled me…I knew I was going to have to change as a basketball player and I was going to have to change as a person.***
29:10 - Make It VisibleA excerpt on LeBron from my book, Chasing Greatness: Timeless Stories on the Pursuit of Excellence
Diving into the unique journal of Marcus Aurelius when he was the most powerful man in the world from the book: Meditations
2:40 - On a morning practiceWhen you wake up in the morning, tell yourself: The people I deal with today will be meddling, ungrateful, arrogant, dishonest, jealous, and surly…
7:25 - Protect your thoughtsThe things you think about determine the quality of your mind. Your soul takes on the color of your thoughts.
8:10 - On being harmedChoose not to be harmed-and you won't feel harmed. Don’t feel harmed – and you havent been.
Nothing that goes on in anyone’s else’s mind can harm you. Nor can shifts and changes in the world around you. Then where is harm to be found? In your capacity to see it. Stop doing that and everything will be fine
9:40 - A couple rules/practices to follow ***Ask yourself at every moment, ‘Is this necessary’
When you need encouragement, think of the qualities the people around you have: this one's energy, that one's modesty, another's generosity, and so on. Nothing is as encouraging as when virtues are visibly embodied in the people around us, when we're practically showered with them. It's good to keep this in mind.***
14:15 On revengeThe best revenge is to not be like that.
17:00 - Keep your philosophy ready Doctors keep their scalpels and other instruments handy, for emergencies. Keep your philosophy ready too ready to understand heaven and earth.18:15 - On asking for help
Don’t be ashamed to need help. Like a soldier storming a wall, you have a mission to accomplish. And if you’ve been wounded and you need a comrade to pull you up? So what?”
19:00 - On worrying about your reputation
Or is it your reputation that’s bothering you? But look at how soon we’re all forgotten.
So many who were remembered already forgotten, and those who remembered them are long gone.
One Final Note/Challenge
Just as you overhear people saying that ‘the doctor prescribed such-and-such for him’ (like riding, or cold baths, or walking barefoot…), say this: ‘Nature prescribed illness for me’ Or blindness. Or the loss of a limb. Or whatever. There ‘prescribed’ means something like ‘ordered, so as to further his recovery.’ And so too here. What happens to each of us is ordered. It furthers our destiny.
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Diving into the lessons and stories of how Howard Schultz helped turn Starbucks around from his book: Onward
0:00 - Opening“I’ve come to think that I am at my best as a leader when Starbucks is being challenged or fighting for survival. I’m comfortable with, and in a way enjoy, the rugged, steep ascent. That is my nature. And while I would not want to constantly battle against the odds, the raw feeling of accomplishing something that others did not think possible, or leading people beyond where they thought they could go, is extremely gratifying.”
2:30 - The GoalAs a business leader, my quest has never been just about winning or making money; it has also been about building a great, enduring company, which has always meant trying to strike a balance between profit and social conscience
5:20 - Mastering the CraftWe’re taking time to perfect our espresso. Great espresso requires practice. That’s why we’re dedicating ourselves to honing our craft.
6:55 - Decision-Making The only filters to our thinking should be: will it make the people proud? Will this make the customer experience better? And will this enhance Starbucks in the minds and hearts of our customers?
11:15 - The Power of OneLike a doctor who measures a patient’s height and weight every year without checking blood pressure or heart rate, Starbucks was not diagnosing itself at a level of detail that would help ensure its long-term health. We predicted future success on how many stores we opened during a quarter instead of taking the time to determine whether each of those stores would in fact be profitable. We thought in terms of millions of customers, and thousands of stores instead of one customer, one partner, and one cup of coffee at a time…We forgot that “ones” add up.
13:45 - On Being an Entrepreneur***But the entrepreneurial journey is not for everyone. Yes, the highs are high and the rewards can be thrilling. But the lows can break your heart. Entrepreneurs must love what they do to such a degree that doing it is worth sacrifice, at times, pain. But doing anything else, we think, would be unimaginable.
18:05 - On Innovation***
I’ve always believed that innovation is about rethinking the nature of relationships, not just rethinking products.
***19:30 - No Magic Pills
Our success would only be won by many. Transforming Starbucks was a complex puzzle we were trying to piece together, where everything we did contributed to the whole. We just had to focus on the right, relevant things for our partners, for our customers, for our shareholders, and our brand.
21:00 - Lessons Learned
Grow with discipline. Balance intuition with rigor. InnovaTe around the core. Don’t embrace the status quo. Find new ways to see. Never expect a silver bullet. Get your hands dirty. Listen with empathy and over communicate with transparency. Tell your story, refusing to let others define you. Use authentic experiences to inspire. Stick to your values, they are your foundation. Hold people accountable but give them the tools to succeed. Make the tough choices; it’s how you execute that counts. Be decisive in times of crisis. Be nimble. Find truth in trials and lessons in mistakes. Be responsible for what you see, hear, and do. Believe.***
One Final NoteStarbucks is not a coffee company that serves people, it’s a people company that serves coffee.
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Diving into the lessons and stories from the career and life of Kobe Bryant
1:10 - The Mamba Mentality"If you see me in a fight with a bear, prey for the bear". I've always loved that quote. That's "mamba mentality" we don't quit, we don't cower, we don't run. We endure and conquer.
**2:40 - Three Stories on Self-Belief
Kobe had dreams of making it to the NBA and a counselor told him, “Only one in a million make it to the NBA so you have to plan on a future other than basketball.” Kobe responded,**
"I’m going to be that one in a million."
5:05 - Obsession“I wanted you to know that it doesn’t matter how hard you work, I’m willing to work harder than you.” - Kobe to Jay Willaims
8:45 - FocusA reporter asked Kobe about what he would do during the 1999 summer after the season,
"Basketball. There is nothing else."
10:15 - What is the Mamba MentalityThe most important thing about it is curiosity…do you have a curiosity to learn more. It’s not good enough to just understand that something worked or didn’t work, but you have to understand why it worked and why it didn’t work.16:30 - What Does Losing Mean to You?***It’s exciting because it means you have different ways to get better.
17:50 - What’s your definition of Greatness?***
To inspire people next to you
***22:00 - Non-negotiables
I don’t negotiate with myself…when I told myself you know at 13 that I want to be one of the greatest to ever play, that's the deal I made. I shook hands with myself. That is the deal, that is the contract that is non-negotiable. I don't wake up three years from now and say oh you know this really hurts. I don't want nope uh-uh i don't negotiate with myself in that regard.***
One Final Note High school’s teacher advice to kobe,
“Rest at the end, not in the middle.”
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Resouces
Books
The Rise
ShowBoat
Interviews
Lewis Howes and Kobe BryantDanny Morrell and Kobe Bryant Alex Rodriguez and Big Cat Interview Kobe Bryant - The CorpJay Shetty and Kobe Bryant
Diving into the story, lessons, and greatness of Thomas Edison from Edmund Morris' book: Edison
3:20 - Childhood AdversityHis greatness was clearly to be seen when difficulties arose. They always made him cheerful, and started him thinking; and very soon would come a line of suggestions which would not end until the difficulty was met or found insurmountable.
6:20 - Turning Point I am twenty one. I may not live to be fifty. Can I get as much done as he did? I have got so much to do and life is so short, I am going to hustle.
9:40 - ObsessionIn the early 1870s he had a rush order for thirty thousand dollars worth of the Edison Stock printers, then being manufactured according to a much improved model he had lately developed. But these new instruments turned out to have “bugs” in them and refused to perform as they were supposed. Edison then called together a half dozen of his devoted helpmates, and informed them that he intended to shut himself up with them in the laboratory on the top floor of the Ward Street Factory until they had located the cause of the trouble. “Now you fellows. I’ve locked the door, and you’ll have to stay here until the job is completed. Well let’s find the ‘bugs.’”13:15 - On Genius Genius is “99 percent perspiration and one percent inspiration.”
14:00 - Impact > Money“I don’t care so much about making my fortune as far I do for getting ahead of the other fellows.”16:30 - Facing FailureWhy man, I’ve got a lot of results. I know several thousand things that won’t work.
One Final Note “The problem with other inventors is that they try a few things and quit. I never quit until I get what I want.”
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Diving into the lessons and ideas music producer, Rick Rubin, can offer us in our quest of becoming a great artist from his book: The Creative Act: A Way of Being
3:15 - The Power of AwarenessThe universe is only as large as our perception of it. When we cultivate our awareness, we are expanding the universe. This expands the scope, not just of the material at our disposal to create from, but of the life we get to live.
7:30 - SubmergeIn service of this robust instinct, consider submerging yourself in the canon of great works. Read the finest literature, watch the masterpieces of cinema, get up close to the most influential paintings, visit architectural landmarks. There’s no standard list; no one has the same measure of greatness…The goal is not to learn to mimic greatness, but to calibrate our internal meter for greatness.
9:50 - The Artist Mindset The artist’s goal is not merely to produce, but to make the finest work they are capable of. The business thinks in terms of quarterly earnings and production schedules. The artist thinks in terms of timeless excellence.
Fear of criticism. Attachment to a commercial result. Competing with past work. Time and resource constraints. The aspiration of wanting to change the world. And any story beyond, “I want to make the best thing I can make, whatever it is,” Are all undermining forces in the quest for greatness
11:40 - On Rules ***So rather than climbing the five tallest mountains in the 80 days, what was stopping me from topping all 14 death zone mountains in the quickest time imaginable? I struggled to think of too many pitfalls. Only politics or money. Or maybe an avalanche or a crevasse, if I’m really unlucky
The goal of shaving off an entire seven years from the world record was wildly ambitious, but I quickly embraced the idea. The bottom line was to climb as quickly as possible, whatever the weather, Nims style***
14:40 - When is The Work Done?How do we know when an idea is flourishing? Often the most accurate signposts are emotional, not intellectual. Excitement tends to be the best barometer for selecting which seeds to focus on.
The call of the artist is to follow the excitement. Where there’s excitement, there’s energy. And where there is energy, there is light.
16:30 - How an Artist Defines Success***Success occurs in the privacy of the soul. It comes in the moment you decide to release the work, before exposure to a single opinion. When you’ve done all you can to bring out the world's greatest potential. When you’re pleased and ready to let go.
19:15: Why Create Art? The reason we’re alive is to express ourselves in the world. And creating art may be the most effective and beautiful method of doing so. Art goes beyond language, beyond lives. It’s a universal way to send messages between each other and through time***
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Diving into the story, lessons, and greatness of Nims Purja from his book: Beyond Possible
1:20 - The doubtersIn 2019, an article on the Red Bull website said my goal as an unknown climber was as likely as a “swim to the moon.” Still, I believed it.
2:00 - Why do the impossible?But for me, it was an opportunity to prove the world that everything, anything, was possible if you dedicated your heart and mind to a plan
7:20 - Make your goals your God15:20 - The Impossible Goal ***So rather than climbing the five tallest mountains in the 80 days, what was stopping me from topping all 14 death zone mountains in the quickest time imaginable? I struggled to think of too many pitfalls. Only politics or money. Or maybe an avalanche or a crevasse, if I’m really unlucky
The goal of shaving off an entire seven years from the world record was wildly ambitious, but I quickly embraced the idea. The bottom line was to climb as quickly as possible, whatever the weather, Nims style***
17:40 - How to make the right decisionThe man who wishes to keep at a problem long enough to really learn anything positively must not take dangerous risks. Carelessness and overconfidence are usually more dangerous than deliberately accepted risks.20:25 - Nine lessons from Project PossibleWhen trying to negotiate with pain, I often worked to create a bigger more controllable hurt, one that would shut out the first: replacing an agony beyond my control.
***My biggest concern throughout the mission was not finishing, either through weakness or dying. So I used the potential consequences of failure as a way of not quitting. I pictured the disappointed people who had once looked to my project for inspiration, or the joking doubters who could inevitably make comments in inerviews and call me out online. Imagining their faces fired me up.
You’re not going to get to your dream by just fantasizing about it. But if you make it your ultimate goal, or god, and give yourself to it entirely, there’s a good chance it will come your way…The job had become my church, and I invested all my efforts in it.***
***Disguising my pain and suffering was a skill I practiced at all times, and I did so by focusing intensely on the job at hand; it helped to shut out the chaos around me.
One Final Note**Whatever you’re after or whoever you’re representing, make it visible*
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Diving into the story, lessons, and greatness of the Wright Brothers from David McCullough's Book: The Wright Brothers
2:50 - Wilbur's AdvicePick out a good father and mother, and begin life in Ohio
**3:20 - Their Greatest Advantage
T*he greatest thing in our favor was growing up in a family where there was always much encouragement to intellectual curiosity.*
4:40 - Wilbur's Turning Point10:30 - No Excuses, No Problem In no way did that discourage or deter Wilbur or Orville Wright, any more than the fact that they had no college education, no formal technical training, no experience working with anyone other than themselves, no friends in high places, no financial backers, no government subsidies.
14:20 - On Unnecessary RiskThe man who wishes to keep at a problem long enough to really learn anything positively must not take dangerous risks. Carelessness and overconfidence are usually more dangerous than deliberately accepted risks.23:40 - How long are you willing to wait?It had taken four years. They had endured violent storms, accidents, one disappointment after another, public indifference or ridicule, and clouds of demon mosquitoes. To get to and from their remote sand dune testing ground they had made five round trips from Dayton, a total of seven thousand miles by train, all to fly little more than half a mile. No matter. They had done it.
27:35 - Patiently PersistenceThe character trait that described the boys best is they were patiently persistent. 30:10 - On Achieving FlightMore than anything else the sensation is one of perfect peace, mingled with the excitement that strains every nerve to the utmost, if you can conceive such a combination.
Two Final Notes The best dividends on the labor invested have invariably come from seeking more knowledge rather than more power.
A man who works for the immediate present and its immediate rewards is nothing but a fool
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Diving into the story, lessons, and greatness of Howard Shultz and how he built Starbucks into an empire from his book: Pour Your Heart Into It
0:20- Lead with your heartWe have to lead with our hearts. In business, as in life, we each should have an internal compass that guides our decisions, an instinctive understanding of what matters most in this world. For me, it’s not profits, or sales, or number of stores, but the passion, commitment, and enthusiasm of a dedicated group of people. It’s not about money, it’s about pursuing a dream others think you can’t achieve and finding a way to give something back, to the employees, to the customers, to the community
1:45 - The Power of a Poor ChildhoodFrom my personal experience, I’d say that the more uninspiring your origins, the more likely you are to use your imagination and invent worlds where everything seems possible.
3:00 - The Greatness Mindset I wanted to be in charge of my own destiny. It may be a weakness in me: I’m always wondering what’ll do next. Enough is never enough.
**6:45 - Early Starbuck Lessons
E*very company must stand for something. Starbucks stood not only for good coffee, but specifically for the dark-roasted flavor profile that the founders were passionate about. That’s what differentiated it and made it authentic....You don’t just give the customers what they ask for. If you offer them something they’re not accustomed to, something so far superior that it takes a while to develop their plates, you can create a sense of discovery and excitement and loyalty that will bond them to you.15:50 - The Risk* This is my moment. If I don’t seize the opportunity, if I don't step out of my comfort zone and risk it all, if I let too much time tick on, my moment will pass. I knew that if I didn’t take advantage of this opportunity, I would replay it in my mind for my whole life, wondering: What if? Why didn’t I?**
19:40 - The Entrepreneur FeelingThere’s a fine line between self doubt and self-confidence, and it’s even possible to feel both emotions simultaneously. Back then, and often enough today, I could be overwhelmed with insecurities, and at the same time have an abundance of self assurance and faith.
24:50- Starbucks Competitive AdvantageOur competitive strategy was to win customers by offering the best coffee and customer service and an inviting atmosphere….We built the Starbucks brand first with our people, not with consumers–the opposite approach from that of the crackers-and-cereal companies. Because we believed the best way to meet and exceed expectations of customers was to hire and train great people.
One Final NoteI figure I’ve had to reinvent myself at least three times. I started off as a dreamer. That was the thirty two year old who knocked on every investor’s door in Seattle looking for money to realize his business plan. Then I moved to entrepreneur, first founding Il Giornale and then taking over Starbucks and re-creating it as a fast growth company. Then I had to become a professional manager, as the company grew larger and I needed to delegate more and more decisions.
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Diving into the story, lessons, and greatness of the greatest of all times, Muhammad Ali from Jonathan Eig's book: Ali
**2:30- Cassius' Reality
"*Why can’t I be rich?"hHe asked his father*
Look there, his father said, touching the boys walnut-colored hand. That’s why you can’t be rich.
4:20 - Misfortune to Fortune: The Stolen Bike
7:20- The GoalHis goal, he said, was to be the youngest heavyweight champion in the history of boxing. Clay was only eighteen, which meant he had three years to break the record of Floyd Patterson, who had become the champ at the age of twenty one years and ten months.
10:20 - Having a Plan I got a fight plan and I will do it when I can. But it would be the worst thing I could do to go in there with my mind all made up. I have been fighting since I was a child, and I do everything on instinct. Sometimes I wonder at myself when I see a big fist coming at my head, and my head moves without me thinking and the big fist goes by. I wonder how I did it.
11:20- Fighting = Forgetting The great fighter lose themselves in the void. They don’t think about it. They ride the rush.
17:50 - Champion MindsetMaybe I can be beat. I doubt it. But the man is going to have to knock me down and then I’ll get up and he’ll have to knock me down again and I’ll get up and he’ll have to knock me down and I’ll still get up. I’ve worked too hard and too long to get this chance. I’m gonna have to be killed before I lose, and I ain't going to die easily.
22:30 - Stand on Your Beliefs Who wants to go to jail, he said. I’m used to running around free like a little bird. In jail, you got no wife, no freedom. You can’t eat what you want…being in prison every day, looking out of the cell, not seeing nobody…A man’s got to be serious in his beliefs to do that.
35:00 - ***Getting Kicked in the Face
Best thing that ever happened to me. I needed that. Thank you very much. Losing that fight was just what I needed. It made me humble. I’m going into the woods and will train at my camp. No more fooling around.***
Three Final NotesAli spoke of the meaning of his life,
God is watching me. God don’t praise me because I beat Joe Fraizer. He wants to know ho do we treat each other, how do we help on another.”
On being scared,
Years later, he would admit to friends that he had been frightened before every one of his fights. But he hid it beautifully. And once the bell rang, his fears vanished.
On your purpose
I got a feeling I was born for a purpose. I don’t know what I’m here for. I just feel abnormal, a different kind of man. I don’t know why I was born. I’m just here. A young man rumbling. I’ve always had that feeling since I was a little boy. Perhaps I was born to fulfill Biblical prophecies. I just feel I may be a part of something–divine things. Everything seems strange to me.
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Diving into the story, lessons, and greatness of the five women who changed aviation history forever from Kieth O'Brien's book: Fly Girls
2:45- Amelia Earhart's ScrapbookShe kept a scrapbook filled with clippings about female achievers making news; she cut out the stories and pasted them on the pages as motivation, perhaps, or proof that anything was possible.
4:00 - The DareAs stimulus to the courageous aviators, I desire to offer through the auspices and regulation of the aero club of america, a prize of $25,000 to the first aviator of any allied country crossing the atlantic, in one flight from Paris to New York or New York to Paris, all other details in your care.
6:30 - Ruth Elder Purpose I want to do something that will make people notice me, that may give me an opportunity to get somewhere in this world.
8:20 - Doing something great I would rather give my life to something big and worthwhile, than to live longer and do less - Frances Grayson9:10 - The Right Sort of Girl The publisher was looking for the “right sort of girl.” This women wouldn’t be doing any actual flying, but it would look better if she could–and new york publisher George Palmer Putnam was big on appearances…He wanted to put the first woman over the ocean
10:35 - The Call "I might as well lay the cards on the table,” he told Earhart. “Would you like to fly across the Atlantic.”
13:05 - The Derby and SabotageBeware of sabotage. The cryptic message arrived via telegram that day, and shortly after dinner that night, the women believed they had proof of it, if not sabotage, then at least tampering.
17:00 - ***Setting Records
In early December 1930, Nichols set a transcontinental speed record, flying from New York to Los Angeles with four overnight stops but a total elapsed time of just sixteen hours and fifty nine and a half minutes. Unsatisfied, Nichols turned around, flew back east and set another record going in that direction–thirteen hours and twenty-two minutes, almost an hour and half shorter than Lindbergh’s fastest transcontinental flight…She had proven herself to be the arguably the bravest, frastest, and strongest female flier in America.***
19:25 - The Grudge FlightEarhart–the fourteenth person ever to pilot a plane east across the ocean, the first women ever to do it and the first person to do it solo since Lindenbergh himself–was finished. For once in her life, she felt no need to go further
24:40 - Speed with Safety
It might have been seven years since she won the powder puff derby, but she remembered why she had prevailed in that long, grueling race: by not getting lost, by not rushing and making mistakes, and by not crippling the engine by forcing it to run beyond its capabilities over thousands of miles. “Speed with safety,” the men liked to say
26:30 - One Final Note
***Thaden knew what the men thought of the women and it was hard, at times to keep going, to keep flying. As she said, “it took dedication and the courage to accept defeat, after defeat, after defeat.”
-----***
Check out my new book Chasing Greatness: Timeless Stories on the Pursuit of Excellence
Diving into the lessons and greatness of Epictetus's teachings and writings from the book: Discourses and Selected Writings -----0:25 - A Simple PracticeHow do you categorize these things, exile, imprisonment, chains, death, and disgrace… Or things like getting fired, ending a relationship, dealing with financial struggles?
It is not the events that disturb people, it is their judgements concerning them…Remember that it is we who torment, who make difficulties for ourselves, that is, our opinions do.
1:55 - On MisfortuneWhen you don’t have much, you do
4:20 - The Right Kind of Progress Where is progress, then? If there is anyone who renounces externals and attends instead to their character, cultivating and perfecting it so that it agrees with nature, making it honest and trustworthy, elevated, free, unchecked and undeterred; and if they've learned that whoever desires or avoids things outside their control cannot be free or faithful, but has to shift and fluctuate right along with them, subject to anyone with the power to furnish or deprive them of these externals; and if from the moment they get up in the morning they adhere to their ideals, eating and bathing like a person of integrity, putting their principles into practice in every situation they face - the way a runner does when he applies the principles of running, or a singer those of musicianship - that is where you will see true progress embodied, and find someone who has not wasted their time making the journey here from home."
8:20 - The Only Gift You Need So it’s only appropriate that the gods have given us the best and most efficacious gift: the ability to make good use of impressions…Don’t let the force of the impression when first it hits you knock you off your feet; just say to it, ‘hold on a moment; let me see who you are and what you represent. Let me put you to the test.
13:40 - On Getting What You Want This is god's signal to you: if you want, you are free, if you want, you will blame no one, you will accuse no one - if you want, everything will happen according to plan, yours as well as God’s
14:30 - The Two Worst VicesThere were two vices much blacker and more serious than the rest: lack of persistence and lack of self control: The former means we cannot bear and endure hardships that we have to endure, the latter means that we cannot resist pleasures or other things we ought to resist.
19:15 - A daily reminderWhen giving your wife or child a kiss, repeat to yourself, ‘ I am kissing a mortal,’ Then you won’t be so distraught if they are taken from you.
20:50 - One Final Note How long will you wait before you demand the best of yourself?-----Check out my new book Chasing Greatness: Timeless Stories on the Pursuit of Excellence
Diving into the life, lessons, and greatness of John Wooden from Seth Davis' book, Wooden: A Coach's Life -----**2:30 - His Fathers Advice
Never lie, never cheat, never steal. Done whine, don’t complain, don’t make excuses**
7:00 - Early LessonWhen you don’t have much, you do
8:10 - Success Origin Success is peace of mind which is a direct result of self-satisfaction in knowing you did your best to become the best that you are capable of becoming
12:40 - Mistakes = Winning The team that makes the most mistakes usually wins the game - Peggy Lambert
22:50 - Be an Honorable Man You have to earn the right to be confident
25:20 - Little Things = Big ThingsLittle things add up, and they become big things. That's what I tried to teach my players in practice. You’re not going to make a great improvement today. Maybe you’ll make a little but. But tomorrow it’s a little more, and the next day a little more.”
27:30 - Have I Been Fair? All I want to know is, have I been fair. Not have I been right, because I know I haven’t always been. But have I been fair? I think I have. I always remember to do my best, and I have peace of mind
28:45 - Office Credo It’s what you learn after you know it all that counts
29:00 - One Final Note “I’d like to be remembered as a person who tried to do his best.”-----Check out my new book Chasing Greatness: Timeless Stories on the Pursuit of Excellence
Diving into the life, lessons, and greatness of John Wooden from his book, Wooden on Leadership -----2:30 - Definition of SuccessSuccess is peace of mind which is a direct result of self-satisfaction in knowing you made the effort to become the best of which you are capable.
3:50 - Dad's adviceDon’t worry about whether you’re better than somebody else, but never cease trying to be the best you can become. You have control over that; the other you don’t.”
- Be true to yourself
- Make each day your masterpiece
- Help others
- Drink deeply from good books including the good book
- Make friendship a fine art.
- Build a shelter against a rainy day
- Pray for guidance and give thanks for your blessings everyday
7:00 - Enthusiasm Success is unattainable without enthusiasm…enthusiasm comes from your heart being in your work...You will perish without hard work, without industriousness. Industriousness is not possible without enthusiasm. Success is unattainable without both of them.11:25 - Eagerness vs willing to sacrifice Initially, I defined team spirit as a “willingness to sacrifice personal interest or glory for the welfare of all,” but there was something in the definition that bothered me, something not quite right…When it came to team spirit, willingness was not enough; eagerness was the exact description of what I sought in myself and in those I coached. A willingness to be selfless suggests a begrudging aspect of doing what is required for the team. I wanted each player to be eager to sacrifice personal interest for the good of the group…Team spirit is nearness to sacrifice personal interests or glory for the welfare of all.
13:50 - Confidence You have to earn the right to be confident
16:50 - Strongest four-letter word “Love is patient; love is kind. It is not jealous; it is not pompous; it is not inflated; it is not rude; it does not seek its own interest; it is not quick tempered; it does not brood over injury; it does not rejoice over wrongdoing but rejoices with truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, and endures all things.”
18:15 - Don't give 110% Give me 100 percent. You can’t make up for poor effort today by giving 110 percent tomorrow. You don’t have 110 percent. You only have 100 percent, and that’s what I want from you right now.
20:10 - How to Win If you want to extend a winning streak – forget about it. If you want to break a losing streak – forget about it. Forget about everything except concentrating on hard work and intelligent planning…The best way to achieve dreams is to ignore them
21:30 - Assume Adversity All leaders and organizations are blind-seided by bad luck and misfortune in varius ways at various times. The best leaders understand this and are seldom thrown off stride when it occurs. They recognize the opportunity it presents, namely, that your response can separate you and your organization front he competition whose leader is stunned and then disheartened when fate frowns. Expect the rough patches and allow them to make you stronger
25:45 - One Final Note
A good leader never stops le
Diving into the life, lessons, and greatness of Giannis Antetokounmpo from Mirin Fader's book, Giannis: The Improbable Rise of an NBA Champion -----1:45 - Daily ReminderWe’ve got to make the most of today. Tomorrow is not promised
3:25 - MotivationIt’s hard to be motivated when you have everything. When your life is good. I didn’t have a choice. I had to be motivated.
6:20 - The Change Let’s do something with our lives so we can never have to do this again
7:45 - Find a Sanctuary Basketball was the only way Giannis could forget about everything happening in his life. He told me when he plays, the problems are gone. And he’s happy.”
10:00 - Nigerian Proverb However far the stream flows, it never forgets its source - Nigerian Proverb
11:20 - You'll Never Be Ready I know I’m not ready. I have a lot of work ahead of me. But I’m not afraid. I will give everything on the court, in the gym. And I will prove to the Milwaukee Bucks that they made the right choice.
13:20 - Kobe's Advice to Giannis Be serious until the last time you play basketball. You have to have that killer mindset. That mindset that you will not be beat. That you will outwork everybody.”
You always gotta be a kid. A kid uses fantasy. You can see a kid being creative, playing with two rocks and playing around with them. When you’re a lid you always wanna learn. You ask question. Why did I do this? Why am I sitting in the passenger seat? Why am I going to school today? You’re always asking questions. Be a kid.
19:45 - The Thought What if we all went to sleep and woke up and we were back where we started?
23:10 - MindsetIt’s human nature to want to relax, but you can’t relax. You have to get back into killer mode.28:45 - One Final Note
Fate can start you at the bottom. Dreams can take you to the top.
-----Check out my new book Chasing Greatness: Timeless Stories on the Pursuit of Excellence
Diving into the life, lessons, and greatness of Theodore Roosevelt from Edmund Morris' book, The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt -----1:10 - The Power of ReadingYet from reading of the people I admired...I felt a great admiration for men who were fearless and could hold their own in the world, and I had a great desire to be like one.”
**2:40 - Make Your Body
Theodore, you have the mind but you have not the body, and without the help of the body the mind cannot go as far as it should. You must make your body. It is hard drudgery to make one’s body, but I know you will do it.**
8:10 - Live With Cancer Doctor. I’m going to do all the things you tell me not to do. If I’ve got to live the sort of life you have described, I don’t care how short it is.”
10:20 - Love and Death There is nothing left for me except to try to live so as not to dishonor the memory of those I loved who have gone before me.
12:30 - Father's Motto “Take care of your morals first, your health next, and finally your studies.”
18:40 - On dissapointmentI have been fairly defeated, but to tell the truth I am not disappointed at the result.
23:30 - Calling > ComfortThere are higher things in this life than the soft and easy enjoyment of material comfort25:15 - One Final Note
I have only a second rate brain, but I think I have a capacity for action.”
-----Check out my new book Chasing Greatness: Timeless Stories on the Pursuit of Excellence
Diving into the life, lessons, and greatness of Phil Knight from his book, Shoe Dog. -----4:45 - Work as Play I asked myself: What if there were a way, without being an athlete, to feel what athletes feel? To play all the time, instead of working? Or else to enjoy work so much that it becomes essentially the same thing.
7:15 - The Two VoicesGo home, a faint inner voice told me. Get a normal job. Be a normal person. Then I heard another faint voice, equally emphatic. No, don’t go home. Keep going. Don’t stop.
9:30 - Marketing and Belief Driving back to Portland, I’d puzzle over my sudden success at selling. I’d been unable to sell encyclopedias, and I’d despised it to boot. I’d been slightly better at selling mutual funds, but I’d felt dead inside. So why was selling shoes so different? Because I realized, it wasn’t selling. I believed in running. I believed that if people got out and ran a few miles every day, the world would be a better place and I believed these shoes were better to run in. People, sensing my belief, wanted some of that belief for themselves. Belief I decided. Belief is irresistible.
15:15 - On Imbalance I was putting in six days a week at Price Waterhouse, spending early morning and late nights and all weekends anf vacations at Blue Ribbon. No friends, no exercise, no social life–and wholly content. My life was out of balance, sure, but I didn't care. In fact, I wanted even more imbalance. Or a different kind of imbalance.
18:50 - On LeadingOne lesson I took from all my home-schooling about heroes was that they didn’t say much. None was a blabbermouth. None micromanaged. Don’t tell people how to do things, tell them what to do and let them surprise you with their results.
23:15 - Competition is ForgettingPeople reflexively assume that competition is always a good thing, that is always brings out the best in people, but that’s only true for people who can forget the competition. The art of competing, I’d learned from track, was the art of forgetting, and I now reminded myself of that fact. You must forget your limits. You must forget your doubts, your pain, your past. You must forget that internal voice screaming, begging, “Not one more step.” And when it’s not possible to forget it, you must negotiate with it. I thought over all the races in which my mind wanted one thing, and my body wanted another, those laps in which I’d had to tell my body, “Yes, you raise some excellent points, but let’s keep going anyway…
25:30 - Grow or Die
Leaning back in my recliner each night, staring at the ceiling, I tried to settle myself. I told myself: Life is growth. You grow or you die.32:30 - One Final Note
I’d tell men and women in their mid-twenties not to settle for a job or a profession or even a career. Seek a calling. Even if you don’t know what that means. Seek it. If you’re following your calling, the fatigue will be easier to bear, the disappointments will be fuel, and the highs will be nothing like you’ve ever felt.
-----Check out my new book Chasing Greatness: Timeless Stories on the Pursuit of Excellence
Diving into the life, lessons, and greatness of the founders of PayPal from Jimmy Soni's book called, The Founders: The Story of PayPal and the Entreprenuers Who Shaped Silicon Valley
Check out my new book Chasing Greatness: Timeless Stories on the Pursuit of Excellence
0:00 - Wrong Ideas “You start off with an idea, and that idea is mostly wrong. And then you adapt that idea and keep refining it and you listen to criticism…and then engage in sort of a recursive self-improvement…keep iterating on a loop that says, ‘Am I doing something useful for other people?’ Because that’s what a company is supposed to do.” - Elon Musk
2:50 - On questions
“A lot of times the question is harder than the answer, and if you can properly phrase the question, then the answer is the easy part.” - Elon Musk
6:35 - Trust“Trust builds speed. We could be on a much faster cycle than a lot of companies where you have to take a month to sort of massage things throughout the company before you could say what you were trying to say.” - Peter Thiel
7:40 - On hirings“As hire As. Bs hire Cs. So the first B you hire takes the whole company down." - Max Levchin
15:30 - On all-nighters“I think there's something very special about the all-nighter ethic. There's definitely something about the nocturnal lifestyle for engineers specifically that really opens up the chakras of creativity or code writing. People get slightly sillier, but also maybe a little more creative. They get tired and some spirit and camaraderie wakes up in those hours and you get more done because you're not afraid to tell people to shove it when they're doing something wrong and the interactions become more interesting." - Max Levchin
17:15 - On losers
“Show me a good loser and I’ll show you a loser.” - Peter Thiel25:50 - A question to ask.
“Who is the most eccentric or unorthodox person you know and could I meet them.” - Reid Hoffman27:00 - One final note
"The fates guide the person who accepts them and hinders the person who resists them." - Cleanthes
Diving into the life, lessons, and greatness of Tiger Woods from Jeff Benedict's and Armen Keteyian's book, Tiger Woods
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0:00 - 10,000 hours“Malcolm Gladwell who coined the phrase 10,000 hours said, “the people at the very top don’t work just harder or even much harder than everyone else. They work much, much harder.” And Tiger Woods had probably accumulated ten thousand hours by the time he was twelve.
2:30 - Make it Visible“Earl was always looking for ways to give his son an edge. Tiger was in grade school when his father furnished him with a cassette player and motivational self-help tapes…Tiger was filling his mind with words that were intended to make him great. He even wrote some of the messages from the self-help cassettes on a sheet of paper that he taped on his bedroom wall:
4:45 - Philosophy“In sport, you have to go for the throat because if all friendly, they come back and beat your ass. So you kill them. Take their heart.”
10:00 - Chasing History“Many believed Tiger’s primary goal was to win more major championships than Jack Nicklaus. Nicklaus’s eighteen major championships, however, were not Woods’ primary focus. It was age not numbers, that mattered most to Tiger.
“It was the first time he broke 40, the first time he broke 80, the first golf tournament he ever won, first time he ever won the state amateur, first time he won the US amateur, and the first time he won the US Open…That was it. That was the list. It was all age related. To me, it was important. This guys the best out there and the best of all time. If I can beat each age that he did it, then I have a chance at being the best.”
13:25 - Belief“In my life, I’ve never gone to a tournament without thinking I could win. I’ve explained that to you guys before. That’s just the mindset I have.”
17:15 - Never Satisfied
“I was in in it to find the answer to one question. How good can I be?”
“I didn’t care that I won by twelve shots. I knew what I needed to do…I thrived on working on my swing. I was addicted to staying on the range for hours.”
22:30 - Capacity for Pain
“There is a difference between being hurt and being injured. If I’m hurt, I can deal with pain. Pain is no big deal. I can block that out.30:30 - One final Note
"There’s no sense in going to a tournament if you don’t believe that you can win it. That is the belief I’ve always had, and that’s not going to change.”
Diving into the life, lessons, and greatness of Elon Musk from Ashlee Vance's book, Elon Musk: How Billionaire CEO of SpaceX and Tesla is Shaping the Future
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0:50 - Musk Purpose “If we can solve sustainable energy problems and be well on our way to becoming a multiplanetary species with a self-sustaining civilization on another planet…I think that would be really good.”
2:30 - Asking Better Questions
“A lot of times, the question is harder than the answer, and if you can properly phrase the question, then answer is the easy part?”
The questions he asked himself after graduating college, “What would most influence the world? What are the problems we have to solve?”
7:00 - Belief Before Ability“He has this belief that he is the guy who can change the world.” - Dave Bearden, a space industry veteran
8:30 - Personal Risk and Sacrifice“He’s willing to take an insane amount of personal risk. When you do a deal like that, it either pays off or you end up in a bus shelter somewhere.”
16:35 - Mentality“My mentality is that of a samurai. I would rather commit sepuuku than fail.”
17:45 - Failing Fast
“If there were two paths where we had to choose one thing or the other, and one wasn’t obviously better han the other, the rather than spend a lot of time trying to figure out which one was slightly better, we would just pick one and do it . And sometimes we’d be wrong…but oftentimes it’s better to just pick a path and do it rather than just vacillate endlessly on the choice.”
24:20 - Capacity for Pain
*“He has the ability to work harder and endure more stress than anyone I’ve ever met,”
"The harder it gets, the better he gets. Anyone who saw what he went through firsthand came away with more respect for the guy. I’ve just never seen anything like his ability to take pain.”32:10: One Final Note“Elon came to the conclusion early in his career that life is short. If you really embrace this, it leaves you with the obvious conclusion that you should be working as hard as you can.”*
Diving into the life, lessons, and greatness of Bill Gates from Janet Lowe's book, Bill Gates Speaks: Insight From the World's Greatest Entrepreneur.
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4:10 - Microsoft's Culture
“If you don’t like to work hard and be intense and do your best, this is not the place to work.”
7:00: Maintaining Focus
“Maintaining focus is a key to success. You should understand your circle of competence, the thing that you’re good at, and spend your time and energy there.”
12:30 - Innovation
“The entrepreneurial mind-set continues to thrive at Microsoft because one of our major goals is to reinvent ourselves–we have to make sure that we are the ones replacing our products instead of someone else.”14:45 - Rules for Business“We tell people that if no one laughs at at least one of their ideas, they’re probably not being creative enough.”
20:00 - Worst Case Scenario“How should we prepare ourselves in case our most important partner decides not to work with us anymore?”
24:30 - Think Week
“A couple of times a year I go away for a think week, during which I read books and other materials my colleagues believe I should see to stay up to date. These materials often include Ph.D theses exploring the frontiers of computer science.”
28:40 - Making Right Decisions
“A couple of times a year I g o away for a think week, during which I read books and other materials my colleagues believe I should see to stay up to date. These materials often include Ph.D theses exploring the frontiers of computer science.”
Great questions are the at the root of innovation, progress, and improvement. If you want to change your life or the world, you just need to ask better question.
In today's episode, we take a dive into the questions some of the greatest entrepreneurs, emperors, and artists have asked.
1:30 - Elon Musk
“What would most influence the world?”
3:55 - Peter Thiel“Will this business be around a decade from now?”
5:55 - Reid Hoffman“Who is the most eccentric or unorthodox person you know, and could I meet them?”
8:15 - Marcus Aurelius“What am I doing with my soul?
9:25 - Leonardo Da VinciWhy is the sky blue?
11:30 - The Obsession QuestionHow much are you thinking about the thing—your interest or passion or work—when you’re not doing the thing?
13:30- Asking Better Questions“A lot of times, the question is harder than the answer, and if you can properly phrase the question, then the answer is the easy part.”
Diving into the life and work of Lucius Annaeus Seneca from his Letters From a Stoic and On the Shortness of Life
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Show Notes
1:45 - Background on Seneca
8:25 - On wealth and riches“I do not regard a man as poor, if the little which remains is enough for him.”
“It is not the man who has too little, but the man who craves more, that is poor.”
9:50 - On building discipline
“The body should be treated more rigorously, that it may not be disobedient to the mind. Eat merely to relieve your hunger; drink merely to quench your thirst; dress merely to keep out the cold; house yourself merely as a protection against personal discomfort.”
13:10- Practicing poverty“I shall give you also a lesson: Set aside a certain number of days, during which you shall be content with the scantiest and cheapest fare, with coarse and rough dress, saying to yourself the while: "Is this the condition that I feared?"
18:45 - On death“There is no fixed count on our years. You do not know where death awaits you; so be ready for it everywhere.”
21:40 - On reflection“As far as possible, prove yourself guilty, hunt up charges against yourself; play the part first of accuser, then of judge, last of intercessor. At times be harsh with yourself.”
“I shall keep watching myself continually, and – a most useful habit – shall review each day. For this is what makes us wicked: that no one of us looks back over his own life. Our thoughts are devoted only to what we are about to do. And yet our plans for the future always depend on the past.”
26:00- On freedom“And what is freedom, you ask? It means not being a slave to any circumstance, to any constraint, to any chance; it means compelling fortune to enter the list on equal terms.”
“You may therefore be sure that you are at peace with yourself, when no noise reaches you, when no word shakes you out of yourself, whether it be of flattery or of threat, or merely an empty sound buzzing about you with an unmeaning dim.”
34:30: On preparation
“That which has been long expected comes more gently.”
“Each day, he leaves his home with this thought in mind: “Today I will meet many addicted to wine, many overcome by lust, many who lack gratitude, many enslaved by greed, and many bewitched by the false promises of ambition” But all these conditions he will treat with kindness, as a doctor treats his own patients.”
40:35: On a daily reminder“What can be given can also be taken away.”
43:15 On time“It is not that we have a short time to love. But that we waste a lot of it. Life is long enough, and a sufficiently generous amount has been given to us for the highest achievements if it we all well invested…So it is: we are not given a short life but we make it short, adn we are not ill-supplied bit wasteful of it.”
Resources
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Diving into the similarities, differences, and lessons we can learn from the lives of the two legends Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant
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Show Notes
1:15 - Defining Moments
5:15 - Obsession vs Controlled Obsession“The most dedicated athlete I’ve ever worked with by far. Jordan would do the extra work when he needed to. Kobe was always going. His dedication to being the best basketball player, to me, was unparalleled. - Tex Winter
8:30 - Confidence + Irrational Belief
“His competence was exceeded only by his confidence.” - Lacy Banks on MJ
11:57 - Self-Made Motivation“If you look at his path, it’s filled with moments of sort of created challenges for himself to raise his level. The thing that amazes me is that the standards he has set are so unbelievably high that it’s almost unfair that he has to maintain them.” - Steve Kerr on MJ
14:38 - Find Your Team
16:16 - Be a Sponge“Kobe was like a sponge. If he wanted to know something, he’d come and ask you…show me how you do this, show me how you do that.”
18:15 - Be a Competitor“Jordan came to practice every day like it was Game 7 of the NBA finals. He would destroy you in practice. That’s what set the tone of our team.”
20:10 - One Big Takeaway“The moment is bigger than the injury. You don’t feel the pain.” - Kobe Bryant
Check out Roland Lazenby's books Showboat: The Life of Kobe Bryant and Michael Jordan: The Life to dive deeper into their stories.
Diving into the stories, lessons, and greatness of Kobe Bryant from Roland Lazenby's book Showboat: The Life of Kobe Bryant
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Show Notes
2:15 - Childhood“Kobe on stage was probably the most focused kid I’ve ever seen on the court. No bullshit, no taking it easy. He’s not going to smile at you. He’s going to kill you from bell to bell, no mercy. He didn’t give a fuck.” - Sonny Voccaro
6:25 - Irrational Belief
"I’m going to be that one in a million.”
8:55 - Kobe's Obsession
“We worked out twice a day. We’d start at ten in the morning; Kobe was there at eight. We’d get done at twelve; Kobe would stay till two. We’d start again at seve at night; Kobe’s be there at five.” We’d finish at nine, he’d stay to eleven. Every day. Non of the pros were doing that.” - Mo Howard
15:00 - His Defining Moment“Coach, if you give me the ball, I’ll drain it for you.”
21:45 - Imagination and Curiosity
Sports Illustrated said on Kobe, “Perhaps no player has ever made more use of his imagination.”
28:15 - Being the Man
“I just want to be the man. I don’t know how I’m going to get there. I just have to find a way.”
30:04 - Unparalleled ConfidenceKobe scored 62 through three quarters in 2006. When assistant Bryan Shaw asked if he wanted to go in in the 4th to get 70, he said, “Nah, I’ll get it another time.”
33:15 - Work, Work, and More Work
“He was on his second workout before anyone else had even showed up. That’s when I knew he was a different beast. It told me about his work ethic and his will to be great.” - Dwyane Wade
34:55 - Struggle and Pain
“The moment is bigger than the injury. You don’t feel the pain.”
37:42: Lessons Learned“Kobe was like a sponge. If he wanted to know something, he’d come and ask you…show me how you do this, show me how you do that.” - Mo Howard
Diving into the stories, lessons, and greatness of Michael Jordan from Roland Lazenby's book Michael Jordan: The Life
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2:15 - The Root of his Competitiveness
5:50 - The Cut and Closing Your Eyes
11:40 - MJ's Superpower
14:25 - College Ball
18:30 - MJ's Turning Point
19:50 - The Pros
24:00 - Jordan's Unique Drive
28:01 - Find an Enemy
31:36 - Seven Years
33:19 - Create Your Own Motivation
40:43 - The Power of Struggling
47:20 - Key Takeaways and Lessons
Discover the resilience, dedication, and passion that powered one of NBA's greatest players, Magic Johnson. This episode promises to take you behind the scenes of Magic's life, unveiling the profound influence of his father, his unwavering obsession with basketball, and the critical decisions that propelled his career to stardom. We'll follow Magic's journey, from his awe-inspiring performance on the court, his famous rivalry with Larry Bird and the Boston Celtics, to his life-changing HIV diagnosis.
We'll explore the struggles and triumphs that made Magic Johnson an NBA legend. His battles with best teams, his response to criticism, injuries, and the intense pressure of fame - these experiences shaped Magic's career and life in ways unimaginable. We'll relive the unforgettable and forgotten 1988 NBA finals.
But Magic's story doesn't end on the court. Post his HIV diagnosis, he reinvented himself as an activist, educating the public about HIV and AIDS. His inspiring journey teaches us valuable lessons about duty, love, support, and the transformative power of a relentless spirit. So, come along for an unforgettable journey into the life of Magic Johnson, a true basketball legend and an enduring symbol of resilience. Let's delve into the magic that is Magic Johnson.
Sources:
My Life - Magic Johnson and William Novak
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At the heart of every great individual is the virtue of courage. It inspires. It moves us forward. It changes the world.
And in today's episode, we take a trip through history, from heroes Jonathan Yale and Jordan Hearter to Elizabeth Blackwell and Edmund G. Ross, to look at the difficulties of being courageous, but also how you can cultivate it in your life and be one of the greats.
Supplemented with the stories, I'll offer some tools and tactics to help you become a more courageous person today.
Let's get it.
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Welcome to Weekly Greatness, my newsletter sent out every Saturday morning with three short stories, three quotes from others, and three thoughts from me to challenge you in your pursuit of greatness.
Today, we're diving into some stories about Coach Mike Krzyzewski, Derek Jeter, and John Quincy Adams. We dive into some thought-provoking quotes from Alex Hormozi, Conor McGregor, and Marcus Aurelius. And I give some thoughts on time, success, and the paradox of doing the right things.
My first book, Chasing Greatness: Timeless Stories on the Pursuit of Excellence is live for pre-orders. You can check it out here. Please share with the world and anyone else in the pursuit of greatness.
Enjoy.
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In today's show, I sit down with Sayer Covington and talk about everything greatness. We dive into some stories, ideas, and lessons from the likes of Arnold Schwarzenegger and Michael Jordan to Leonardo Da Vinci and David Goggins, take a look at what's most misunderstood about the greats and why so few go on to change the world, keys to succeeding in the start-up world, and much more.
Enjoy
You can check out Sawyer's twitter and Newsletter "The Greats" below
Twitter: https://twitter.com/sawyercovington
Newsletter: https://the-greats.beehiiv.com
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Eleanor Roosevelt is the definition of greatness. Breaking the status quo, changing how the First Lady is seen today, and fighting for the underserved all across the world. And in today's episode, we dive into her journey and four key stories that define the amazing woman Eleanor was, and what she can teach us in our pursuit toward greatness.
Enjoy.
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Albert Einstein. A rebellion. An outlier. A difference maker. And in today's show, we take a deeper dive into his life and some unique stories that can offer some lessons, thoughts, and ideas to help in your pursuit of greatness.
Enjoy.
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We're all looking to make some progress, but often it's the same old advice again and again. So today, I bring you some unconventional, under-appreciated, and undervalued ways to help you keep moving forward along your journey.
Let's dive in.
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Thomas Edison. A creator. Inventor. World Changer. Difference Maker. And in today's show, we take a deeper dive into his life and some unique stories that can offer some lessons, thoughts, and ideas to help in your pursuit of greatness.
Enjoy.
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Today's episode is short and sweet. Ten one liners that challenge how you think, live and act.
Enjoy.
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There are many valuable skills in this world. Soft skills like leadership, creativity, and problem-solving, or hard skills like sales, marketing, and software software. All are valuable, but one trumps them all. A skill Malcolm X and Thomas Edison exemplified the most when the going got tough.
Enjoy.
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Greatness is persistence is disguise. It took John Wooden eighteen years before he won his first championship. Jerry West lost eight times in the NBA finals before he won his first ring. It took Thomas Edison six thousand experiments to create a sustainable electric light bulb. And in today's show, I dive into a handful of reasons why people come up short along their journey.
Enjoy.
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1992 was the hardest year for Queen Elizabeth, as she experienced blow, after blow, after blow. But it was how she responded that made the Queen who she is known as today. And from her story, I offer a handful of lessons and ideas you can take and apply to your journey today.
Enjoy.
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Your perception determines your reality. So if you can learn to make your perception your ally, you can overcome just about everything. And in today's show, I offer you guys a mindset shift that will challenge how you look at obstacles, challenges, and roadblocks throughout your journey.
Enjoy.
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When Jalen Hurts was benched in the national championship and when he lost the Super Bowl, how he responded exemplifies how we should all react to events in our lives. And in today's show, I dive into Jalen's story and where harm is to be found in this world, and how you have more power over things and events than you think.
Enjoy.
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Philosophy is meant to help move you forward. In it's literal sense, it a "love of wisdom," and provides ideas, thoughts, and practices to help you become a sounder person day by day. And today, I want to offer you guys the five philosophical practices that have challenged me the most in how I see, act, and live.
Enjoy.
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On today's episode, I dive into how you can choose what problems are thrown your way by the daily choices you make and what you choose to prioritize throughout your life.
Thanks for listening.
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Far top many people fall into the trap of thinking a goal, an accomplishments, or an achievement will bring happiness and satisfaction to their life, only to find out it doesn't. And that's because happiness isn't an if, then scenario (if I retire by sixty, then I'll be happy). Happiness has nothing to do with the result, and everything to do with the journey. And when you play a limitless game, focusing solely on the process, life opens up.
Everyone has an event, a person, a book, or a thing that turns their life around. It changes how they think and live, and for me, it was a book.
So in today's show, I'm going to go over the ten major quotes/lessons/ideas from the book and how they can help you in your journey toward greatness.
Enjoy.
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Life is about learning, and in today's episode, I give you guys the 23 biggest lessons I've learned over the last 23 years.
Enjoy.
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In an age of distraction, deep work is your superpower. It's a way to create the world you want by getting away from the world.
Deep work will help you learn more and create, and ultimately pass your peers. So in today's video, I'll dive into what deep work is and how I use it in my daily routine.
0:00 Introduction
0:52 Deep Work
2:45 My Deep Work Routine
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Everyone is in pursuit of fake dopamine, from likes, followers, and everything social media and technology. And the pursuit of fake dopamine has led to a cascade of negative effects, and most of all, our lack of or inability to pursue real dopamine from working out, getting outside, connecting with loved ones, doing hobbies, and more.
So in today's video, I offer you guys what I call a technology detox to help reset the mind and body, find balance, be more present, and feel better.
Enjoy.
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In today's show, I'm going to give you guys ten rules for life that won't change you, but will challenge you. They will challenge you to be a better person for yourself, for others, and for this world. Enjoy.
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There are a handful of commonly accepted beliefs among society that I believe are flat out wrong. And in today's show, I dive into the one's that I think could be holding you back from your true potential.
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We all want the same thing, to be happy, yet so few attain it. There are many reasons why people aren't happy, but in today's show, I give you a framework that can help you in that pursuit to living a life of happiness, joy, and meaning
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Philosophy is about finding harmony between your words and actions, changing how you see the world, and making a little bit of progress each day. And today we dive into five philosophical practices that will help you along your journey.
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Today, I open up about one of the big challenges in my life and how I handled the adversity that I faced.
Some lessons, tools, and ideas that you can take an apply to the things that you're dealing with
0 - My Story
5:00 - How to face adversity
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As a human being, your goal is to get a little bit better each day. And on today's episode I give you guys five things that can help you make progress and keep moving forward.
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Kobe Bryant is a five time champion, the fourth leading scorer in NBA history, and eighteen time all star. A legend. An Icon. A role model.
But getting to those moments were bumpy. He faced adversity, failed endlessly, and hit roadblocks. And it was how he responded in those moments that shaped who he would turn out to be.
We take a ride down two stories of Kobe, one from his rookie year and one as an eight grader that would define his career.
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Welcome to greatness hacks, a series where I give you guys some of the things I've been using and experimenting with, from tools and best practices to use, supplements and foods to try, shows and books to watch and read, and more that can help you in your pursuit of greatness.
Below are links to this week's greatness hacks
Fear Setting
Practicing Poverty
3-3-3 Method
NSDR Practice
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Today, I dive into the lessons we can learn Steve Jobs, Leonardo Da Vinci, and Queen Elizabeth. Enjoy!
Show Notes:
0 - Introduction
1:40 - Lessons #1
3:40 - Lesson #2
4:50 - Lessons #3
7:00 - Lessons #4
8:20 - Lessons #5
10:05 - Lessons #6
11:55 - Lessons #7
14:25 - Lessons #8
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Today, I dive into into the life of Leonardo Da Vinci, but more importantly, the thing and trait that made him a unique individual. Hope you enjoy.
Show Notes
0 - Introduction
1:40 - Who is Leonardo Da Vinci and What Made Him Unique
7:40 - Leonardo Unknown Findings and Inventions
15:50 - Lessons From Leonardo
28:20 - How to be More Curious
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Welcome to greatness hacks, a new series where I give you guys some of the things I've been using and experimenting with, from tools and best practices to use, supplements and foods to try, shows and books to watch and read, and more that can help you in your pursuit of greatness.
Below are links to this week's greatness hacks
Huberman Sleep Cocktail: https://podcastnotes.org/huberman-lab/huberman-sleep-cocktail/
Memento Mori Calendar: https://stoicreflections.com/products/memento-mori-life-calendar-poster-print
Do Nothing or Write: https://anthony-moore.medium.com/you-can-sit-there-and-do-nothing-or-you-could-do-the-work-d881b224f566
Vivobarefoot: https://www.vivobarefoot.com/us/
The Mind Explained: https://www.netflix.com/title/81098586
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Today, I dive into the life of the last great Roman emperor, Marcus Aurelius. The first half discusses the unique journey and stories of Marcus' life, and the second half dives into the key lessons and traits we can learn from him.
Show Notes:
0 - Marcus' Journey
21:05 - Lessons from Marcus
28:10 - Reaming Questions and Thoughts
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In the last of this three part series, we're diving into what we can learn from the story of Steve Jobs, and also dive into where he came up short as an invdivial.
Enjoy.
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In part 2, I dive into the second half of Steve Jobs' life and career, including his second company NeXT, his time as Pixar, his return to apple, his time as a father and husband, and his battle with cancer.
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As the new year approaches, take today's idea so you can head into the new year and make real change. Not just for 2023, but for the rest of your life.
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In today's episode, we dive into the story of Steve Jobs. Part 1 will cover Jobs childhood, his time at Reed College, the start of Apple, and his eventual departure from the company he created.
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On today's episode, I offer you insight into why you should live everyday like a soldier, and it goes beyond just exemplifying courage, bravery, and selflessness.
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Growth occurs through action. And you're your own guinea pig, so you should constantly be applying and experimenting with yourself. And on today's episode, I'll offer you ten ideas and practices to try in your pursuit of greatnessShow Notes
0 - Intro
1:25 - Go 1->10, not 10 -> 1
3:45 - The 150% rule
5:50 - Put yourself up for review
7:45 - Create a challenge network
9:30 - Live by a single heuristic or principle
11:20 - Understand your insignificance
14:15 - Lower your expectations
16:15 - Use procrastination as a tool
17:45 - Find stillness
20:15 - Challenge your perception
23:25 - Conclusion
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When people look to maximize their time and produce results, they often look for the techniques that help with focus and concentration, teach them how and what to prioritize, and how to get rid of the non-essential. And tools that help with such have great value
But today, I want to give you a concept and saying that can help you use your finite time on this earth to the best of your ability
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There's value in the struggle. But more often than not, we're in the pursuit of what's easy, what till take the least amount of time and effort.
But the easy path brings little value, while the hard path prepares you for what life will throw at you.
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This week's challenge can help you with whatever you're dealing with and the things that you will be thrown your way in the future.
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Dr. Erik Korem is a former performance coach and doctor of exercise science with expertise in sleep and stress resiliency, and is now the founder of his company Aim7, where they bridge the gap between wearable technology and data and turning it into actionable steps. He is also the host of the blueprint podcast where he distills cutting edge-science, leadership, and lifeskills into simple tactics optimized for your busy lifestyle and goals.
Erik and I discussed his journey to becoming a performance coach , the lessons learned from starting his own company, the importance of sleep and how to optimize it, and the keys to becoming a more stress-resilient person. Hope you guys enjoy it.
Show Notes:
0 - Introduction and Background
9:15 - How to optimize sleep
20:10 - Combatting sleep deprivation
22:00 - Becoming more stress resilient
41:20 - Lessons from the founding of Aim7
47:45: Erik's habits and rituals
You can checkout Erik and his company below:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/erikkorem/
Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-blueprint-with-dr-erik-korem/id1519528171
Aim7: https://www.aim7.com
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Holding yourself to a high standard and striving for perfection can be good, but perfection is never attainable and you'll always come up short.
So focus on this instead.
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Reading isn't about finishing X number of books in a year or having a big library, it's about taking away the core principles and lessons from it.
So this week's challenge is to revisit an old passage that has helped you and your life.
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Andre Ingram's dream was eleven years in making. But without patience, his moment never would've come.
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When you're going through something or a bad event has happened, use this tool to bring some perspective and gratitude.
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Keep Chasing Greatness
To be ready for tough times, you have to prepare your mind for it. And you can do so by callousing the mind.
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Keep Chasing Greatness
If you want to have a good life, have a good day. If you want to have a good day, have a good morning.
On today's episode, I offer some tools, strategies, and ideas to help you win your morning.
Episode Notes:
0 - Intro
1:40 - Ideas for winning you morning routine
12:30 - Tools and strategies for morning energy
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Keep Chasing Greatness
Maya Moore left the WNBA at the height of her powers for something bigger than basketball and bigger than herself.
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Keep Chasing Greatness
When we’re looking to make a change in your life or trying to enhance a certain aspect or area, you first must implement the strategies and tools. Once those are implementing, the next step is to optimize to get the most out of them
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Keep Chasing Greatness
This week's challenge isn't crazy, it's very simple. Work on making some progress in some area in your life. It could be a relationship, a project, a value, or an area. Just find a way to keep moving forward
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Keep Chasing Greatness
How often have you tried to make a change or achieve a goal and come up short? For many, far too often.
And in today's episode, I offer ten things to consider before making a change to increase the risk of successfully implementing change into your life, whether that adopting a new habit or chasing a goal/dream.
Some will resonate, some won't. Experiment and find what works for you.
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Keep Chasing Greatness
In this episode, I spoke with Dr. Mark Goulston, who is a Marshall Goldsmith 100 Coaches member, author and co-author of nine books, an international keynote speaker, a former psychiatrist and police hostage negotiation trainer.
Mark's recent book "Just Listen" is considered one of the best books on communication and listening in the world. He is the host of the highly rated podcast, My Wakeup Call and the co-host of “Out of Our Minds and In Your Space” on Twitter.
Show Notes:
0:00 - Intro + Mark's Background
8:50 - Getting out of a rut and asking for help
13:20 - Fixed mindset and being coachable/helpable
19: 20 - Do people look forward to seeing you
20:25 - Busy people's biggest pet peeve
23:45 - How to win friends and influences bosses
26:00 - Traffic light rule
28:25 - Power of listening
39:15 - Four prompts to open up a conversation
44:35 - Magic hack for developing empathy + Listening for something
Show Resources
My Wakeup Call with Dr. Mark Goulston - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/my-wakeup-call-with-dr-mark-goulston/id1439752757
How to Tell If You Talk Too Much - https://hbr.org/2015/06/how-to-know-if-you-talk-too-much
Mark's Website - https://markgoulston.com
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Keep Chasing Greatness
To achieve any goal or project, you need to make progress everyday, but also ensure that you're not burning out along the way. And this week's challenge will help with that.
Podcast resources
Effortless: https://www.amazon.com/Effortless-Easier-Matters-Random-House/dp/0593401115
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Keep Chasing Greatness
In order to change, you must be aware of what needs to change. And the best way to do so is to reflect daily and consistently put yourself up for review.
To grow is to reflect.
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Keep Chasing Greatness
The British National team has dominated cycling for the last couple of decades, but the process of getting there may surprise you. It wasn't about drastic changes, it was about getting 1% better every day.
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Keep Chasing Greatness
We all want to win, but we don't understand what it takes to win. In today's episode, we dive into the the journey behind winning and how to get there.
0:00 - Introduction
1:00 - What Winning Takes
4:45: How to Win
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Keep Chasing Greatness
Our biggest fear, outside of death, is not having enough money. It controls us, but it shouldn't. And this weeks challenge can help you overcome that fear.
Practicing Poverty, will challenge you to live well below your means, be resourceful, and offers great perspective.
Show Notes
0:00 - Intro
1:15: Chasing Greatness Challenge
3:25: Three Benefits of Practicing Poverty
6:10: How to Practice Poverty
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Keep Chasing Greatness
To grow is to constantly reflect. Use these ten questions to help along your journey
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Keep Chasing Greatness
Curiosity is a superpower.
We look at how Intuit and Olivetti have used curiosity to inspire change for the better, dig deeper, and spark innovation.
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Keep Chasing Greatness
Stoicism is intensely centered around the question, What is needed to live the best and most virtuous life possible?I dive into key concepts and practices that the stoics did that can be applied to your life today
To learn more about Stoicism: check out the resources below
https://dailystoic.com
https://www.youtube.com/c/DailyStoic
Some books to read
Meditations - Marcus Aurelius
The Lives of the Stoics - Ryan holiday
Breakfast with Seneca - David Fideler
The obstacle is The Way - Ryan Holiday
How to practice poverty: https://www.chasegreatness.net/post/weekly-challenge-practicing-poverty
Always ask yourself this question: https://www.chasegreatness.net/post/always-ask-yourself-this-question
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Keep Chasing Greatness
Just because you start something, doesn't mean you should finish it.
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Keep Chasing Greatness
If you want to be the best, you must learn from the best. But it's not about taking the methods and tactics they used, it's about taking the traits and making them work for your life and situation
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Keep Chasing Greatness
To put your health first starts by living like our ancestors.
We look at the citizens of Okinawa and the practices they engage in to live some of the longest and happiest lives in the world.
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Keep Chasing Greatness
Adaptability is your superpower
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Keep Chasing Greatness
Engaging in deep work has become a lost art. Technology and social media have fragmented our ability to concentrate and produce valuable work. I talk about the importance of deep work, what it is, how to prepare for it, and how to use it in your life.
Show Notes:
0 - Introduction
4:10: Deep Work vs Shallow Work
10:40: Dangers of Social Media and Technology
15:25: Preparing for Deep Work: Embracing Boredom, Quit/Reduce Social Media, and Unplug
25:00: Engaging in Deep Work
28:15: Experiment
Buy Deep Work here: https://www.amazon.com/Deep-Work-Focused-Success-Distracted/dp/1455586692
Buy 24/6 here: https://www.amazon.com/24-Power-Unplugging-One-Week/dp/1982116862
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To be the best, surround yourself with the best
Visit our Website below to tell us your story today: https://www.chasegreatness.net
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Ever feel like you can't get started? Don't have any motivation? Just feel stuck? Brit Frank the author of "The Science of Stuck, Breaking Through Inertia to Find your Path Forward," dives into the science of getting out of a rut.
Britt Frank is a trauma specialist who went through drug addictions, abusive relationships, and everything in between. We talk about why we deal with anxiety, depression, panic disorders, and other feelings, the myth of motivation, and she gives some actionable steps that you can take today.
Follow Britt on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brittfrank/
Buy her book here: https://www.scienceofstuck.com (or at any major bookstores)
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Don't spend your life on trivial, non-important things, it's too short for that. Do what's valuable, what's important, and what's meaningful. To do so, ask this question constantly, "Is this essential?"
Visit our Website below to tell us your story today: https://www.chasegreatness.net
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Exercise, nutrition, and doing what you love are essential to maximizing your health. But none of that matters if you don't advantage of the greatest way to recover and rejuvenate you mind and body. And that's sleep.
I dive into the science of sleep, its affects on skills acquisition, memory, weight loss/gain, and more. And give you practical steps to apply both before you go to bed and when you wake up to optimize your sleep
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Unfortunate events will happen, selfish people will frustrate you, and things won't go your way. It's a part of life. Don't complain because complaining has no value. Instead respond with action that will resolve the situations and move you forward.
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The only thing you can control are your words, actions, and responses. You can't control what other people do or the circumstances around you so don't dwell on it. Hold yourself to the highest standard because it's the only thing you can do.
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Learning to unplug in today's society is hard, but it's necessary and valuable.
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Jess Racz is a performance trainer that works with basketball athletes from the WNBA, NBA, G-league, collegiate, high school, and youth level. She's the owner of JR Performance Gym and the hosts of the podcast JR Performance Bet On You Podcast.Jess and I talk about her unique and inspiring story of hardships and turning obstacles into opportunities. We talk about here approach to coaching, the importance of being who you truly are, and how to make it in the performance industry.
Show Notes
0:00 - Introduction
2:35: Bet on you
6:15: Jess' journey
21:00: Advice for getting into the performance industry
28:00: Coaching Approach/Philospohy
35:55: Differing Beliefs in Sports Performance
43:50: Building Buy-in
50:15: Habits and Personal Development
55:10: Speed Round
Jess' Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/coachjrperformance/
JR Performance Bet on You Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/jr-performance-bet-on-you-podcast/id1614314463
Jess Tiktok:https://www.tiktok.com/@coachjrperformance?is_from_webapp=1&sender_device=pc
Alan Stein Jr. is a former performance coach who worked with superstars Kevin Durant, Steph Curry, and Bryant. Today, he is the author of two books Raise Your Gameand Sustain Your Game,a keynote speaker, and coach helping individuals, teams, and organizations develop winning mindsets, habits, and results.
If your interested in his books, you can find that at the link below or on Amazon and any major book store
https://strongerteam.com/#
If you would like to connect with Alan, reach out to him on Instagram below
https://www.instagram.com/alansteinjr/
On his quest to becoming an NBA Champion, Giannis Antetokounmpo asked Kobe Bryant what he could do to improve his basketball game. The answer? Be a kid. But why?
In case you missed any of the episodes the past two months, we've compiled some of the best moments so far
Ben Artiano talks about his purpose and what drives him everyday
Willamette's head men's basketball coach Kip Ioane discuss how he separates father and coach
The Buffalo Bills Rookie Punter Matt Araiza explains how he used one of his struggles into a major success
Basketball Performance and Skills specialist Tyler Clark dives into how creativity and competition are essential to player development
Greg Popovich used a game six loss to bring his team closer together and Lexus used an early mistake to show what the company was about.
To be a leader means to put the person first. Leadership is a choice, not a rank. The choice to put your best foot forward, to go the extra mile, and to care deeply about the individual
Tanner Omlid is a professional basketball player for Club Sporting in Portugal. Tanner played college basketball at Army for two years and three years at Western Oregon where he was announced West Region Player of the Year his senior year and set countless records. Tanner, thank you for joining me.
Tanner and I talk about his time playing basketball in Portugal and Spain, how he's dealt with injuries, his approach to being the best player he can be, overcoming cultural barriers, and more
Tyler Clark is an assistant coach and the head sports performance and player development coach at Southern Maine Community College, where uses his three E’s philosophy, educate, empower, and earn to build better relationships and develop better basketball players. TC is a current student in his last semester at Saint Joseph’s University and is the host of the TCP Podcast where he talks to professionals in all realms of sports and athletic development.
Tyler and I dive into his philosophy and approach to developing basketball players, how to build buy-in with players, the importance of creativity, and how hardships and coaches shaped who he is today.
Follow Tyler below:
IG: https://www.instagram.com/tc.performance_/ & https://www.instagram.com/thetcppodcast/
Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-tcp-podcast/id1604852096 (The TCP Podcast)
Matt Araiza is a rookie punter for the Buffalo Bills. He attended San Diego State University where he put together the greatest hunting season in college football history, winning the Ray Guy award his senior season.
Matt and I discuss his journey and path to becoming an NFL kicker, how soccer played a major role in his success, lessons learned in high school and at San Diego State, advice to younger athletes and more.
Follow and check out Matt Araiza on IG below:
https://www.instagram.com/mattraraiza/
Visit chase greatness.net to tell us your story today
Andre Iguodala became a champion and finals MVP in 2015 with the Golden State Warriors, but his journey to becoming a champion took years and a decision made in 2013 changed the course of his career forever.
Kip Ioane is men's head basketball coach for Willamette University, founder of the Teams of Men Program which helps coaches and athletics build healthier manhood in their players through awareness, training, and application, and is a father of three.
We discuss how he uses basketball as a lens to build healthier manhood, how failing quickly helped him along his journey, how to balance all your roles, dealing with with stress and anxiety, and the meaning of his program's motto "men, family, legacy."
You can reach Kip Ioane below:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kip-ioane-a04aba134/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/KipIoane
His Teams of Men Program
Twitter: https://twitter.com/teams_men
Tik Tok: https://www.tiktok.com/@teamsofmen
Willamette Basketball
Instagram https://www.instagram.com/willamettembb/
Ben Artiano is a husband, coach, and leader that has worked with top producers in the real estate industry as a sales agent and as a success coach. He is passionate about developing and maintaining strong relationships and building high-performing teams.
Ben and I talk about his journey battling anxiety as a kid, lessons learned from basketball and college, unpacked his daily habits that help with mental health and personal development, and explore what's next for him
You can reach Ben below if you have any questions or would like to talk with him :
Email: benartiano@gmail.com
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/benartiano/
An introduction into the philosophy of chasing greatness, the power of storytelling, and the differences between eastern and western stories