When it arrived, I discovered it was his most recent book, Thrive Fitness (2009), not the one I wanted. So, I drove to Borders and bought The Thrive Diet, too. [...]]]> After listening to the 20 minute abridged version of The Thrive Diet (2008) by Brendan Brazier on MP3, I immediately ordered the book.

When it arrived, I discovered it was his most recent book, Thrive Fitness (2009), not the one I wanted. So, I drove to Borders and bought The Thrive Diet, too. No problem, I’ll read them both!

I love it when I find something that makes total sense, is provided by someone with credibility (walks their talk), and provides an easy-to-follow road map to duplicate their success. This book delivers—big time.

If you’re serious about maximizing your productivity through improving your fitness and health, reducing stress, and getting the most efficient sleep possible—all in the least amount of time possible—then this is a must read.

You don’t have to be an ironman triathlete, even though Brendan Brazier is, to benefit tremendously from this book.

In case you don’t know, the ironman triathlon consists of swimming 2.4 miles (3.86 km), biking 112 miles (180.25 km), and then running 26 miles 385 yards (42.195 km). Brendan is one of a handful of people on the planet who completes the ironman triathlon in under 9 hours.

A remarkable thing is that he is one of a hand full of professional athletes who eats nothing but plant based foods (no animal products whatsoever), aka, veganism.

I can already hear some people thinking, “How can he do this? Where does he get his protein?” Read the book!

“The cornerstone of the Thrive Diet is high net-gain foods. It’s that simple. By eating more high net-gain foods, your energy will rise, body fat will decrease, mental clarity will be enhanced, and cravings for refined foods will fade.”
—Brendan Brazier, author of The Thrive Diet

He tells of his 15 years of using himself as a Guiney pig to discover the most efficient use of food, exercise, sleep, and stress (three types) to maximize endurance to be able to withstand the rigors of competing as an ironman triathlete.

If you only incorporate some of his suggestions, I’m convinced you will see significant gains in your productivity.

He offers some important distinctions that have fueled my resolve to eat and exercise better and sleep more efficiently. It’s also helped me understand how different types of stress, including something I’ve never heard of before but makes total sense to me, nutritional stress, affects productivity.

I highly recommend reading either one—or both of the books—for improving your productivity, health and fitness, energy, success, and happiness.

Continuing from last week…

If you want to find an exact phrase, put the request in quotes (“”). Google will only display web pages that [...]]]> I got such a positive response from my Google Search Secrets newsletter last week, I decided to share a few more search tips. Here goes.

Continuing from last week…

If you want to find an exact phrase, put the request in quotes (“”). Google will only display web pages that contain the exact phrase, not variations of the words within the phrase. This narrows your search considerably and is helpful when you want to find a certain person’s name, for example.

If you want to search within a certain website, after the search word or phrase put “site:” followed by the domain name. So let’s say you’re doing some research on global warming and want to find everything related to it on the NYTimes.com site.

Enter:
global warming site:nytimes.com
or
“global warming” site:nytimes.com
Only pages on the NYTimes.com site will appear.

Maybe you want to find sites with a certain extension (.com (commercial sites), .edu, (educational/college sites), .org, (organizations, NPOs), .gov, (government), .mil (military), etc.).

Just add “site:” plus the extension (without the period).

Type in:
positive psychology site:edu
Only sites about positive psychology that end in .edu will appear.

You can exclude certain words from a search by putting a hyphen (dash) before the word. This is helpful when searching for words with multiple meanings. For example, this search:
jaguar -cars -football –os
results in the cats and excludes references to the Jaguar car, the Jacksonville Jaguars, and the Macintosh operating system.

You can also put a hyphen before the site: operator (mentioned above) to exclude certain sites from your search, i.e, -site:nytimes.com

When you need to fill in the blanks, use the wildcard operator: the asterisk (*). When you know part of a phrase, but not all, insert the asterisk and Google will fill in the blanks for you.

For example:
“between a rock and a” *
results in hard place, stone, pineapple, etc.

Google is great for finding local movie show times. Here’s the syntax:

showtimes (name of movie) (postal/zip code)

Type in:
showtimes The Expendables 37167
results in

The Expendables showtimes for Smyrna, TN 37167
‎1hr 43min‎ – ‎Rated R‎ – ‎Action/Adventure‎ – Trailer – Reviews:
Malco Roxy Cinema – 100 Movie Row, Smyrna, TN – Map
12:05  2:35  5:05  7:35  10:00pm
Carmike Wynnsong 16 – Murfreesboro – 2626 Cason Square Boulevard, Murfreesboro, TN – Map
12:10 1:00 2:35 3:35 5:00 6:05 7:25 8:30 9:50pm

For example, you can define words without having to go to Dictionary.com and do battle with all of those pesky ads.

“Pesky,” that’s an interesting word. I [...]]]> Did you know you can do a ton very useful things to increase your productivity inside of Google without having to go to other web sites?

For example, you can define words without having to go to Dictionary.com and do battle with all of those pesky ads.

“Pesky,” that’s an interesting word. I wonder what it means?

Just type the following into Google to instantly get the definition:

define:pesky
results in
annoying: causing irritation or annoyance…

How cool is that?! Just precede the word you want to look up with “define:” and click Google Search.

Traveling and need to convert US dollars to pounds or pesos or some other currency? To get the conversion, type in:

usd in pounds
results in (as of Aug. 23, 2010)
1 US dollar = 0.6429 British pounds sterling

usd in pesos
results in (as of Aug. 23, 2010)
1 US dollar = 12.7486 Mexican pesos

If you want to know how many pesos you can get for $20, type in:

20 usd to pesos
results in
20 US dollars = 254.9720 Mexican pesos

Or maybe you want to know how much you’re about to spend in US dollars. Type in:

100 euros to usd
results in
100 euros = 126.5600 US dollars

Maybe you want to know what time it is in any city in the world? Type this:

time New York
results in
9:52am Monday (EDT) – Time in New York, United States of America

time London
results in
2:54pm Monday (BST) – Time in London, United Kingdom

Need to know about your flight status before you head off to the airport? Type in:

american flight 153
results in
Track status of AA 153 from Chicago (ORD) to Tokyo (NRT)
23 Aug 2010 – On schedule
Departure: 12:55 PM, Arrival: 3:35 PM

Need to calculate something quickly without having to open up Microsoft Excel? You can do simple calculations like this:

45% of 5280
results in
45% of 5280 = 2376

Or more complicated calculations like this:

(3^10 + 6*97) /2 -5000
results in
(((3^10) + (6 * 97)) / 2) – 5 000 = 24 815.5

Use the same operators you use in Microsoft Excel.

Google is your friend: an extremely powerful productivity tool — when you know how to use it!

There is conditional self-esteem (CSE). This is when you win a game, or succeed at achieving a goal, or are perceived as being a good conversationalist, etc., you may think, “This is good and I am a good and worthy person.”

If you lose [...]]]> It depends on how you define self-esteem.

There is conditional self-esteem (CSE). This is when you win a game, or succeed at achieving a goal, or are perceived as being a good conversationalist, etc., you may think, “This is good and I am a good and worthy person.”

If you lose the game, fail to achieve the goal, or are perceived as being socially inept, etc., you may think, “This is bad and I am a bad and unworthy person.”

Hence you take a ride on the drama roller coaster of life. We are all fallible human beings. You can’t help occasionally failing at work and love, so your self-esteem is temporary at best.

Shortcut to High Self-Esteem

You must realize that your performance is part of you, not all of you.

Instead of self-esteem, consider unconditional self-acceptance (USA). This is when no matter what happens, you totally and completely love and accept yourself – unconditionally – warts and all.

This is what I refer to as happily achieving. In my last newsletter I talked about how to experience more flow: be happy in the eternal NOW and have a clear vision for the future.

Being happy in the eternal NOW requires that you unconditionally accept yourself. If you don’t, you can’t be happy or happily achieve, so your productivity and happiness will suffer.

Here’s another ‘big idea’/ tool/ technique/ shortcut about how to increase self-esteem, or better, experience USA.

Stop seeing people as better or worse, higher or lower, good or bad. This puts you in competition with everyone else. No matter how good you get there will always be someone better.

So, instead of seeing the differences in people focus on the one thing we all have in common. The one thing that kings and serfs, moguls and tramps, blue collars and white collars all have in common. We’re all human.

When you see everyone as being equal in that we’re all human, your self-esteem will improve, as well as your happiness and productivity, because no one will be better or worse than you. This is how to more easily experience USA.

“Everyone puts their pants on one leg at a time.” We are all equal in that we are all human. Adopt and live this belief and you won’t be intimidated by anyone ever again.

Obsessively comparing yourself with others is a complete waste of time. I’m not against competition. But if you want to experience USA instead of CSE, the only person you should compete with is yourself. Strive to improve your best, even if just a little bit, every time, then watch your self-esteem, happiness, productivity, and success sky rocket!

Or a little more esoteric…

“Thinking without thinking.” - Bruce Lee

According to Buddhism: “action of inaction” or “doing without doing.”

Athletes, artists, and musicians frequently experience flow. “It felt like everything was [...]]]> According to the Free dictionary, ‘flow’ is:

1. An apparent ease or effortlessness of performance
2. To proceed steadily and easily

Or a little more esoteric…

“Thinking without thinking.”
- Bruce Lee

According to Buddhism: “action of inaction” or “doing without doing.”

Athletes, artists, and musicians frequently experience flow. “It felt like everything was going in slow motion.” And, “I was totally relaxed and focused at the same time.” And, “I was completely in the moment and experiencing bliss.”

I experienced flow a lot when I was playing drums professionally. It was like time stood still and I was ‘blissing out,’ totally in the moment and relaxed while focused on delivering an outstanding performance (my intention/goal).

How does one get into this highly productive state referred to as flow?

I believe several things contribute to the flow experience:

1. have a clear and compelling vision of what you want to achieve (goals),
2. do what you love doing (something you’re passionate about),
3. experience happiness in the now (unconditional happiness).

Hence the paradox. “Shouldn’t I wait to be happy? Shouldn’t I have a reason to be happy? If I’m happy now, without the achievement of my intention/goal/vision, won’t that diminish my motivation to succeed on a higher level?”

Actually, the studies show the opposite to be true.

When you’re not happy or when you’re not happily achieving your goals, you tend to experience more stress, frustration, and anger along the way. These negative emotions in your body actually contribute to dis-ease. You’ll notice it in the weakest part of your body first. So how can having a weakened immune system and poor health add to your motivation to achieve your goals? It can’t.

When you’re happy or when you happily achieve, you experience positive emotions such as compassion, gratitude, and joy. These positive emotions release powerful chemicals that support great health in your body. This has now been scientifically proven.

So, given the choice—and you do have a choice—which decision do you think will diminish your motivation to succeed more: happily achieving your goals in good health or unhappily struggling to achieve your goals in a body that is steadily declining in health?

A side note: I also believe that the more mastery you have for the given task, the better, because you will be more able to relax and shift into “thinking without thinking”, aka, experience more ‘flow.’

So, to recap:

1. have a clear and compelling vision of what you want to achieve (goals),
2. do what you love doing,
3. experience happiness in the now (unconditional happiness).

Now, GET FLOWING!

“Do you have a sample I could download and use as a template or starting point?” As a matter of fact, I do. In a minute. [...]]]> Shortly after my last newsletter went out about always using a check list for packing (for traveling), I had several requests for my list.

“Do you have a sample I could download and use as a template or starting point?” As a matter of fact, I do. In a minute.

I was also asked what to include in the list. Here’s the methodology I use. This may sound a bit geeky, but once you’ve created and implemented your unique travel packing list that works for you, you will find that your limited mental RAM is freed up to better enjoy the trip.

Once you’ve created it or modified the file I’m about to give you, packing for each subsequent trip is much easier.

I don’t use a ‘template’ per se. I save each packing list as a separate Microsoft Word file/document. I name each file beginning with the date as follows: YY-MMDD and then something relative to the trip. Example:

10-0409 McDonalds XL Phili.doc

By naming my travel packing lists this way, I can easily open one of the previous trip’s lists that is similar to the trip I’m currently planning and do a ‘Save As…’ to a different name. Just be sure to do the ‘Save As…’ immediately upon opening the file so you don’t accidentally save over (erase) the original.

This causes the files to always sort by date even when viewing by document Name.

I have multiple types of trips. For example, a local (drive) gig in the afternoon, a one-day training where I fly to another state the day before, a two-day seminar, a 3 day convention, etc.

Then when I have an upcoming gig, I open the last one that is similar to what I need and ‘Save As…’ to a new name and make minor changes. This insures I have the most current packing information for that type of trip. I prefer this method to using MS Word ‘templates,’ although templates will work just fine if you prefer.

Travel Packing List Suggestions:

• Group your list by bag, computer case, roll-on, purse, wear/carry, etc.
• Within each group, you might have sub-groups, like an outside pocket on your roll-on bag or computer bag.
• Have emergency phone numbers of your ‘significant other’ and/or closest relative(s), car rental company, and car insurance company.
• Software serial numbers (if you rely on software to do a job at your destination)
• Airline confirmation number (nice to have as a printed backup with you in case your smart phone unexpectedly dies)
• Destination hotel, address and phone number
• Client name and contact information (if applicable)

This all goes on one piece of paper that I keep on my person. If my electronic device(s) ever fail, this is my backup.

Getting organized initially takes some conscious effort to create systems. However, once they’re created, your life will be less stressed and far more productive.

Download my travel packing list to use as a starting point. It’s free and editable in MS Word or MS Works.

I have. Several years ago I was at [...]]]> Have you ever traveled somewhere for business or pleasure only to find that you forgot something vitally important to the trip? Maybe you had to purchase a replacement at a premium price or get someone to FedEx something to you?

I have. Several years ago I was at the Nashville airport waiting to board a plane. It was on a Sunday evening. I was scheduled to do five seminars in five different cities in the next five days beginning Monday morning in New York.

I absolutely had to be there. Canceling was not an option.

About 10 minutes before we were to begin boarding I noticed that I had forgotten to pack the little VGA adapter for my brand new Macintosh laptop I had just purchased.

The little adapter was absolutely vital to the trip. It allowed me to connect my laptop to my projector. Without it, it was impossible to connect to a projector and I wouldn’t be able to deliver my training.

I knew that trying to purchase a new adapter in New York would be nearly impossible since it was unique to the Mac and it would be late Sunday night by the time I arrived.

I had to get that little adapter before I left and I had to get it as quickly as possible so I could hopefully catch a later flight out of Nashville.

I didn’t have anyone at home to bring it to me and my car was parked at the “Park and Fly” place, which would have taken too much time anyway.

I ended up taking a cab back home to get the adapter and I luckily got rebooked on the last flight out of Nashville.

What did it cost me?
1. Cab ride: $50.
2. The emotional stress of worrying about missing the gig.
3. Beating myself up for failing to pack the adapter.
4. The time it took for the cab driver to drive me home and back to the airport, rebooking the flight, and arriving later than planned.

Failing to plan effectively cost me time and money. From that point on I vowed to never allow that to happen again.

When traveling, always use a check list for packing. I have a few travel check list templates I made in Microsoft Word.

So depending on whether I’m traveling for business or pleasure and how long I’ll be away, I can quickly edit and print out the appropriate list and reasonably guarantee I won’t forget anything.

All they think about is their next drink, meal, or fix. This [...]]]> When you think about the least unsuccessful people in society, who comes to mind? I think of the homeless drunk or heroin addict. And what do they think about? How far into the future do they plan?

All they think about is their next drink, meal, or fix. This is called short-term planning, or more accurately, NO planning.

At the other extreme would include conscientious parents in England who register their children for college as soon as they’re born. This is what I call long-term planning.

It’s interesting to me that the higher up you go on the corporate ladder, the more planning is done. CEO’s spend the majority of their time planning how others will spend their time to meet the company goals and objectives.

So, does more planning equal more success? Planning doesn’t guarantee success, but it improves your odds significantly.

Planning helps you to keep focused, maximize your time, increase your productivity, and lower your vulnerability to stress.

“Every moment spent planning saves four or five in execution.”
—Crawford Greenwalt, President, DuPont

That’s a 400%-500% return on investment! Time is money.

In addition to formally planning your short-term, mid-term, and long-term life goals, there are lots of little opportunities to incorporate planning into your life to improve your productivity, success, and happiness.

1) For example, you may do better to plan what they’re going to wear for the upcoming week ahead of time, rather than waiting until each morning to decide. Because you will have done your thinking/planning ahead of time, you will reduce the anxiety and stress associated with the pressure to be early or on-time to your job and/or appointments.

If you can’t plan the entire week ahead of time, at least do it the night before. You’ll have a better night sleep and it will be one less thing to have to worry about at crunch time.

2) When you have to run multiple errands, like go to the bank, Post Office, grocery store, drop of dry cleaning, etc., plan the best route ahead of time, so you won’t have to back-track. This will save lots of time.

3) How many times have you returned from the store only to discover you’ve forgotten something, so you have to go back? I hate when that happens! Always have a list when you go to the store to buy things.

4) When/if possible, plan on running your errands before or after the commute hours for your area.

I would guestimate that it’s less than 10%. It’s probably [...]]]> News Kills
Approximately what percent of the news you see on TV or listen to on the radio or read about online is good, positive, uplifting information that will help you live a more productive, successful, and happy life?

I would guestimate that it’s less than 10%. It’s probably more like 2%, and that’s being generous.

If it’s true that you attract what you think about (and it IS), then the collective thoughts of millions of people subjecting their minds to 98% negative information/programming by watching the news every day isn’t helping the problems of the world. It isn’t helping you individually, either.

I know, I know. I can hear some people thinking, “Don’t you want to know what’s going on in the world? Aren’t you concerned about what’s happening out there?”

My answer is, “Absolutely! But how much is too much? Won’t the world keep turning if you were to totally stop subjecting your mind to 98% negative programming — the news? What is your intention in life? How is ‘the news’ helping you to live your life’s intention?”

If you want to take up a cause, TAKE UP A CAUSE! But regularly watching too much negative news contributes to experiencing negative emotions, such as anger, hopelessness, and depression, among others.

How will that help you? It won’t. It will only hurt you. How will it hurt you?

It hurts you by diverting your energy away from your ability to focus on achieving your most cherished goals.  It slows down the progressive realization of your goals. It’s a negative distraction and a huge time waster.

Too much news kills: it kills your attitude, your energy, and your time.

Believe me, if the world comes to an end, you’ll hear about it. Doesn’t everyone talk about the negative stuff that goes on in the world anyway? Just by eves-dropping you can get the hot-topic of the day.

My suggestion? Go on a news diet: no news for at least the next 90 days. The only exception is if it’s your job or business to do so. And if it is, limit yourself to 30-60 minutes per day maximum, if possible. Or better yet, use filtering services, like Google Alerts, so you only get what’s of interest to you without having to spend time sifting through the garbage.

Kill it before it kills you. If the news is not absolutely necessary for your job or business, kill it for 90 days and see how much more productive you are and how much more happy you feel. Let me know either way. I’m curious.

After seeing the effects of [...]]]> Last week I wrote about the lightning bolt that cut off the top half of one of our 40′ maple trees. According to the American Meteorological Society (AMS), lightning kills more people per year (on average) than hurricanes and tornadoes combined.

After seeing the effects of an electrical storm first hand with my own eyes, in my own backyard, I have a deeper respect for the power of electrical storms.

Imagine an electrical storm hits your house and fries all of your computer equipment, including the external hard drive you use to back everything up. (You do have a backup solution, don’t you?) How would that affect your productivity? Not good.

Luckily it’s never happened to me, but I know people it has happened to. “An ounce of prevention…”

My intention here isn’t to scare you about electrical storms. My intention is to help you to be more prepared and productive in protecting your electrical equipment from destruction that can be caused by electrical storms.

If you’ve ever had a hard drive crash and lost all of your data, you really appreciate a backup solution that works. I’m offering you a simple and effective option that could prevent such a disaster caused by a lightning strike.

When I would hear an electrical storm coming or see one coming on www.weather.com, I would turn everything off and then go around and unplug everything I didn’t want destroyed.

I don’t care what the AC power strip promises on the packaging. If a lightning strike can cut a tree in half, it could fry an AC strip and possibly ‘jump through’ the strip on/off switch and fry my stuff. I’d rather not take the chance, especially since we can be warned ahead of time.

In fact, you can get severe weather warnings sent to you via email or text messages. Be sure and ‘Edit Settings’ to only receive ‘Severe Only’ instead of the default ‘Moderate Severity and Above’ so you’re only interrupted when it’s severe.

I know I teach that you have to become ruthless about preventing interruptions, but this is an exception that could save you from a catastrophic loss of productivity.

Instead of going around and unplugging everything one at a time or an AC power strip here and an AC power strip there, I thought I’d practice what I preach.

“How could I make the process, of protecting my electronic gear in an electrical storm, better?” Better questions give you better answers.

The answer I got was to have everything related to my computer in my office, i.e., laptops, external hard drives, printer, digital AV interface, iPhone charger, etc., ultimately plugged into ONE heavy duty (thick) power cord that’s easily accessible.

Then I could simply unplug the ONE cord and everything would be unplugged and totally and absolutely protected. (I trust ‘unplugged’ infinitely more than the little on/off switch on the side of AC power strips.)

I obviously wouldn’t recommend this for electrical equipment that draws a lot of juice. Computer related equipment, for the most part, doesn’t. But to appease the attorneys: please check with a qualified electrician before attempting this.