How has University of Alabama coach Nick Saban built “perhaps the most dominant dynasty in the history of college football?” asks Ryan Holiday in The Obstacle Is the Way: The Timeless Art of Turning Trials into Triumph.
1: He doesn’t focus on winning, at least not the way other coaches do. Instead, he teaches “the process.”
“Don’t think about winning the SEC Championship. Don’t think about the National Championship,” … continue reading
1: The technology team at IMVU agreed to a hard deadline: Six months—180 days—to launch the startup’s product and attract its first paying customers.
“It was a grueling schedule, but we were determined to launch on time,” writes Eric Ries in his book The Lean Startup. As the company’s Chief Technology Officer, he was responsible for meeting the deadline and delivering the app, which would allow users to create … continue reading
The year is 2004. A seventeen-year-old girl is sitting in the office in front of a computer. A group of anxious entrepreneurs is standing behind her. They work for IMVU, a start-up technology company that allows people to create avatars when Instant Messaging.
The girl chooses her avatar and customizes it, deciding how she will look. She says, “Oh, this is really fun,” IMVU’s Chief Technology Officer Eric Ries… continue reading
“Jer, please tell my new assistant your story.” The Costco buyer made this request to start the meeting.
Jerry Swain, CEO and founder of Jer’s Chocolates, smiled at his VP of Sales. It was done: They were going to land distribution in Costco, one of the biggest whales in all of retailing. Put a fork in it. Book it.
How did Jerry know? Because they weren’t being asked about … continue reading
Imagine it is January 1.
“A year from now, your company is having the biggest New Year’s party it has ever thrown. Your entire team, your friends, your family—everyone has gathered to celebrate this year, your company’s biggest year ever. You are celebrating because you achieved … what?” ask Mark Moses, Craig Coleman, Chris Larkins, and Don Schiavone in Making Big Happen: Applying The Make Big Happen … continue reading
Aristotle tells us: To flourish as human beings, we need targets. We need goals.
This week we’re reviewing some of the key lessons from Brian Johnson’s Optimize Coach course. Today’s lesson? Happy people have projects. That’s step one. Â
In choosing goals, we want to aim for something just beyond our comfort zone. If it’s too easy, that’s boring. If it’s way too challenging, we lose interest. It’s the “Goldilocks” lesson: … continue reading
Brian Johnson has read and distilled the key learnings from over 500 books as part of his Philosopher’s Notes.
His rule #1?
Expect obstacles and challenges.
It’s a new year. One thing we know for sure? There will be challenges.
Rather than be surprised when obstacles present themselves (and they always do!), Brian encourages us to embrace the challenges we face as opportunities to hone our skills.
Because dealing … continue reading
Our goal?
To create “masterpiece days.”
This week we’ve looked at the importance of our morning and evening routines, what philosopher Brian Johnson calls our AM and PM bookends. I’m currently enrolled in Brian’s year-long Optimize Mastery program which has been an incredible learning opportunity. Â
One of the key elements of Brian’s AM bookend is meditation. We aim to practice “paying attention to our attention.” We begin by focusing on … continue reading
This week we are exploring what it means to be heroic. Â
This is the key learning from Brian Johnson’s year-long Optimize Mastery class. Brian tells us our highest goal as human beings is to flourish.
How do we do that?
By living virtuously. By expressing the best version of ourselves moment by moment.
Specifically, Brian recommends we focus on three areas of our lives: love, work, and energy.
According to … continue reading
What is the one question to ask to help us to turn things around?
According to Brian Johnson, this question is our secret weapon. He calls it the hero’s wand because it has the power to transform bad situations into something good.
What do I want?
Asking this question moves us from victim to creator. We ask: If I could wave a wand at this challenge, what would I … continue reading
