1: Author and podcaster Sam Harris was at lunch with a friend.  

He remembers “moaning on about the various problems he was confronting in his work,” Oliver Burkeman writes in his book Meditations for Mortals.

Sam’s friend interrupted him mid-flow. “Were you really expecting to have no more problems at some point in your life?” she asked.

Her question was jarring. It suddenly occurred to him that he “had … continue reading

1:  For more than two decades, Jay had been “shaming himself for his drinking, always apologizing and promising to do better,” Gay Hendricks writes in The Genius Zone: The Breakthrough Process to End Negative Thinking and Live in True Creativity.

For twenty years, he’d insisted to his concerned family and friends that he wasn’t an alcoholic.  He told himself he could control his drinking.   

“All the while, though, he … continue reading

1: Maury was referred to Gay Hendricks by a local psychologist who had read about Gay’s work with breathing and anxiety.

Maury explained how his anxiety was blocking his professional advancement.

“It took only ten seconds to see what the real problem was,” Gay writes in The Genius Zone. “He held his breath against his feelings. I noticed right away that when he talked about his anxiety, he … continue reading

1: “I got sober the first time when I was around thirty,” the friend said. “After two years of sobriety I had a slip. I took a sip of white wine at a party.”

The man continued: “I could have gone to a meeting, confessed my slip, and recommitted, but instead I thought to myself, ‘Since I took one sip, I might as well just finish the glass—it would be … continue reading

1: On July 2nd, 1776, the Second Continental Congress voted to declare independence from Britain.

The following day, July 3rd, final revisions to Thomas Jefferson‘s draft of The Declaration of Independence were agreed to.

Which brings us to the 4th of July, 1776.

“In later years the excessive summer heat of Philadelphia would frequently figure in accounts of Thursday, July 4th, 1776,” David McCullough writes in his Pulitzer … continue reading

1: On July 2nd, 1776, the Second Continental Congress voted unanimously to declare independence from Britain.

“That these United Colonies are, and of a right ought to be, free and independent states, that they are absolved from all allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the state of Great Britain is, and ought to be, totally dissolved,” so read the motion.

But “there was … continue reading

1: “Monday, July 1st, 1776, began hot and steamy in Philadelphia, and before the morning was ended a full-scale summer storm would break,” David McCullough writes in his book John Adams.

John Adams, then one of Massachusetts’s delegates to the Second Continental Congress, was up before sunrise. 

Early that morning, he wrote a long letter to Archibald Bulloch, the new president of Georgia: “This morning is assigned … continue reading

1: “Oprah Winfrey had a rough childhood,” Dan Martell writes in his book  Buy Back Your Time: Get Unstuck, Reclaim Your Freedom, and Build Your Empire.

“She bounced between her grandmother, her mother, and the man she calls her father, Vernon,” Dan writes. “As a young girl, she was abused. As a teenager, she had an unplanned pregnancy. Those were just a couple of the many troubles she … continue reading

1: GSD. Getting stuff done.

Perhaps replace stuff with a less polite word.

This trait is fundamental for most entrepreneurs. “Born entrepreneurs have to find a way to live fully, in their business and in life,”  Dan Martell writes in his book  Buy Back Your Time.

“If we’ve been eating the GSD fruit for some time now, we’ve probably found some success,” Dan notes. “Hard work, even at … continue reading

1: Billionaire Charlie Munger was once asked: What should a young person look for in a career?

“I have three basic rules—meeting all three is nearly impossible, but you should try anyway,” he writes in  Poor Charlie’s Almanack: The Wit and Wisdom of Charlie Munger.

Rule #1: Don’t sell anything you wouldn’t buy yourself.

Rule #2: Don’t work for anyone you don’t respect and admire.

Rule #3:… continue reading