Table of Contents

Brief History on The Project ...........................................................5

The Aha! Moment ...........................................................................7
What is How to Get Focused? . .......................................................7
What The Principles in this Book Taught Me ................................8
The Less Than Glamorous Journey to Those Accomplishments . .9
Introduction .................................................................................. 13
How the Mind Works . .................................................................. 13
Moving Forward . .......................................................................... 14
What this book will teach you . ..................................................... 15
A History of This Book . ................................................................ 16
What this book is not .................................................................... 17
Before Beginning The Journey: The Gut Check ........................... 18
One Thing All Wealthy People Have In Common . ...................... 18

Part I: The Elements of Focus . .................................................. 21

I. The Roots of Focus ...................................................................22
II. Short-Term Focus ....................................................................25
III. Long-Term Focus . ..................................................................35
IV. Flow ......................................................................................... 41

Part II: The daily foundation.....................................................49

V. The Daily Foundation . ............................................................. 51
VI. The Focus Lab .........................................................................54
VII. Hand-writing ......................................................................... 57
VI. What Writing Does For The Mind ..........................................69
VII. Leveraging Sleep to Become More Focused . ........................ 77
VIII. Reading . ...............................................................................85
The Four Types of Blogs . ..................................................93
IX. Exercise ...................................................................................98

Part III: Igniting a Focus-Driven Life..................................... 101

X. Vision ......................................................................................102
XI. Questions to Ask Yourself ...................................................... 111
XII. Setting Focused Goals ..........................................................119
XIII. Finishing Projects and Goals ............................................. 126
XIV. The Zen Master To-do List Strategy .................................. 135

Part IV: Focus 2.0: The Online Battle...................................... 145

XV. Facebook .............................................................................. 146
XVI. Twitter ................................................................................ 153
XVII. Leveraging LinkedIn For Results ..................................... 159
XVIII. The Three Online Wells of Knowledge . .......................... 164
XIX. Email and Focus ................................................................. 172

Part V: The Sage.......................................................................182

The Sage is occupied with the unspoken .................................... 182
The Characteristics of The Sage Entrepreneur .......................... 183
Entrepreneurs Today ..................................................................184
Dont be bashful .......................................................................... 185
The Seven Habits of Sage Entrepreneurs: . ................................186
How to test an idea in the marketplace: . ................................... 187
Whats next ................................................................................. 192
The Beginners Guide to Outsourcing Effectively ...................... 192
Why Outsourcing is Important . ................................................. 193
When should you outsource? ..................................................... 194
Critical Steps of Outsourcing Effectively . .................................. 195
The 5 Steps to Effective Outsourcing: ........................................ 195
Ongoing services ......................................................................... 197
Final tips .....................................................................................198
Focus in the Workplace .............................................................. 199
Critical Characteristics . ..............................................................201
7 Characteristics of a Productive Work Environment: ..............201
Focused Networking .................................................................. 208
Proven Principles of Focused Networking ................................ 209
Focusing in The Face of Emotions ............................................. 214
Why You Must Focus Your Emotions ........................................ 215
How To Counter The 10 Emotions of Life Through Focus: ....... 216
Fear ............................................................................................. 217
Hurt ............................................................................................. 217
Anger ........................................................................................... 219

Frustration ................................................................................. 220

Disappointment .......................................................................... 221
Guilt.............................................................................................. 221
Inadequacy...................................................................................222
Becoming an Autodidact . ...........................................................225
The Good: . ..................................................................................227
The Bad: ......................................................................................229
The Ugly: .................................................................................... 230
The Bottom line: ........................................................................ 230
How to Get an Ivy League Education For Free .......................... 231
Lets circle back ...........................................................................233

Part VI: Digital Detoxing.........................................................235

How to Audit Your Gadgets For Focus . .................................... 240
The Guide to Giving Up Your Cell Phone ...................................246
10 Tips for Giving Up Your Cell Phone . .................................... 248
Practicing Focused Thought .......................................................252
The Concept of Focused Thought ...............................................253
The Roots of Focused Thought ...................................................253
3 Ways to Practice Focused Thought .........................................254
There are three practical ways to practice focused thought: ..... 257
Focus and Food ...........................................................................257
Your Focus ..................................................................................258
Crash course through basics of metabolism and your brain function
259
The Golden Rule of Focus and Food ......................................... 260
Turbocharging Your Focus for The Long Haul .......................... 261
Special Thanks: ...........................................................................264
The Fascinating History of Coffee ..............................................264
End Notes . ..................................................................................270

How to Get Focused

Get Focused in an Age of Distraction

by Scott P. Scheper
All Content Copyright - How To Get Focused 2010
Creative Commons License
How To Get Focused by How To Get Focused is licensed under a Creative
Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States
License.
Based on a work at howtogetfocused.com. All rights reserved. No part of this
book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic
or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information
storage and retrieval system, without the written permission of the author.
I dedicate this book to my wife, Laura, who habitually took our dog Winston out
to pee, as I wrote away in my office every morning.

Brief History on The Project

I wrote How to Get Focused by leveraging a unique writing
method that I term, Writing 2.0. This centers on publishing
chapters as blog posts, and soliciting feedback from readers in
the form of comments. As a result of leveraging this method, Ive
discovered that many readers have very similar questions when first
discovering this book. Ive answered these questions below:

Q: Im not into How To books. Why would I read this?

A: First, How to Get Focused, is a very misleading title. It is not
a How to book in a traditional sense; rather, its a rescue-plan.
How to Get Focused is an action-plan and a work of stories that
proposes to assist people in regaining not only their focus, but
becoming aware about their digitally-concentrated environment.
Q: Focus? That sounds boring. Almost as boring as
studying. This book must be for the math nerds, finance
jocks, or lawyers, eh?
A: This book isnt for college kids that need to concentrate better.
If you fall into this category, indeed, this book will help you; but
this work is intended for creatives, for artists, for entrepreneurs
and those with entrepreneurial characteristics. This book is for
those who have limitless potential, yet have floundered thus far in
bringing their talents to reality due to lack of focus.
Q: There doesnt need to be a book on the concept of focus.
Focusing is simple. Why would I need to read an entire
book on it?
A: Youre confusing Focus with Concentration. This is something
well cover more in the book; the concept of Focus is profoundly
misunderstood and surprisingly underrated in our age. This book
will give you an accurate understanding of Focus, as well as provide
you with actionable concepts in adding Focus to your life.
Q: I focus fine. Why would I need to read this book?
A: Do you really focus just fine? Have you settled for success when
you could have significance? Are you simply skooting by in a
comfortable environment? Have you fallen short of your dreams,
and yet find yourself content because you feel comfortable? In
my experience, Ive found that many of us are simply lost without
knowing it. Were distracted, but are too distracted to realize were
distracted. Youll learn about this and much more through reading
this book.

The Aha! Moment

The song, Forever Young, was somewhat audible as we stood on
the fourth story of our $20 million yacht as it hummed along the
sunny waters of Coronado, CA. We joked and reflected on the day-a day filled with helicopters, Ferraris and hanging around the
beach-front mansion. In that moment, we felt like the masters of
the universe. This feeling was partly driven from the fact that a year
earlier I was flat out broke. A year earlier I was holding my wife on
the floor of our apartment consoling her that it will be all right, I
think well be able to make this months rent.
Later that night, it all started coming together. My group of friends
(some new, some old, yet all multi-millionaires), began to reflect
upon life. I began to realize that the way we spoke and viewed life
was nothing extraordinary; we were just like everyone else in the
world. We were people, after all. Yet, we mastered a concept that is
rarely covered in books and the media. A concept, which Ill discuss
shortly.
About four years prior to our gathering, I invested an entire
summer reading almost a hundred books on success. These books
were almost twenty years old. They were handed down by my father
and forgotten about as they sat buried in the garage. The principles
in these books, were just that--principles. Though, after four years
of application and looking around at my friends, it was clear that
there is an unspoken, but critical gap that separates actualized
success from potential success. This book was written with that gap
in mind. That gap is focus.

What is How to Get Focused?

How to Get Focused takes one through an organic framework of
both philosophical concepts and actionable concepts that show you
how to master focus. It is my thesis that the critical gap between
success and failure is mastering the concept of focus--a concept
that is supremely misunderstood. In order to do this, one must

habitually train themselves to step into a state of flow through

practicing short-term focus (concentration) and long-term focus
(purpose). This is exemplified through six parts of the book:
Part I: The Elements of Focus
Part II: The Daily Foundation
Part III: Focused Goals
Part IV: Focus 2.0: Leveraging technology for focus
Part V: The Sage Lifestyle
Part VI: Digital Detoxing
An appendix of additional materials and interviews with bestselling
authors and notable entrepreneurs is also provided for application
of these principles. Interviews include figures such as Seth Godin,
Tony Wright, Lukas Mathis and more.
Also included is a wealth of resources at the website: www.
HowToGetFocused.com
Youll find the following at the website:
Mind games
Brain power games
Focus and productivity applications
Goal setting applications
A focus-driven community

What The Principles in this Book Taught

Me
This book taught me specifically how to accomplish the following
items:
Formed successful startup companies that have been featured
in a variety of publications like Tech Crunch, Mashable,
ReadWriteWeb, LifeHacker and more.
Experienced first liquidity event (selling business assets) before
the age of 25.
Went from a labeled, ADHD failure to a Magna Cum Laude,
triple emphasis, double major university graduate.

 Leveraged specific principles to outsource and build businesses

through establishing focused, purposeful processes that operate
without lifting a finger.

The Less Than Glamorous Journey to

Those Accomplishments
I was born in 1986 to a mom who was a loving nurse, and an ADHD
mortgage broker father. First thing I did when I took a breathe of
fresh air in the world: urinate on my father. No joke. Things were
looking good.
In Kindergarden I was taken to the school nurse after refusing to
use counting beans for counting, and instead stuck them deep
up my nose. I told the nurse that the counting beans were stuck,
and wouldnt come out. When she took out the tweezers, I quickly
pressed my finger to the opposite nostril and blew the bean on
to the floor. Soon-thereafter, I was given my first dose of ADHD
medication: ritalin.
After kindergarden, I quickly established myself as not only the
class clown, but the school clown. I did this through my inability to
sit still, and the inability to resist repeatedly pulling the fire alarm.
By this time, my mother moved me to a couple different ADHD
drugs. I soon developed the ability to swallow horse-pill ADHD
drugs even with the smallest amount of drinking fountain water. I
was proud of myself.
Despite being thrown every single ADHD medication known to man
at that time, my humor (or hyperness, if youre my mother, and
outlandishness, if you were one of my teachers), never ceased.
As a solution to this, my mother set me up with a doctor that
hooked my head up to wires and made me watch a screen. It was
a typical videogame, yet the character would only move when one
concentrated. I thought it was fun; yet the wires to my scalp hurt a
bit. I would go once per week. My father called it braintendo.
At the age of 12 I started my first business, a technology and video

consulting company. I couldnt convince my friends to work for me.

Thus, for the next three years, I was the only employee. I solved
problems, fixed bugs and edited videos for neighbors, parents and
teachers. After a while, I realized that theres only so much of this
type of work one can take. Solving problems for others gets old.
This spawned the next chapter in my life: my very own version of
Jackass.
Myself, and a friend named Doug decided to skip out on making
videos for others, and decided to make videos for ourselves. This
was a mix of skate videos and a mix of videos that entailed any of
the following:
Faking like we were injured in the gutter with a skateboard on top
of us, and blood all over us (it was really ketchup).
Acting as if we fell on our skateboards and smashed our face
into a green power generator. People would stop and ask if we
were OK. Wed get up, and walk around as if everything was
normal--as if we didnt know what the hell they were talking
about.
Throwing water balloons at anything that moved or didnt move
(cars, houses, and of course, people).
Wearing old football helmets (without the facemask) and
asking people serious questions. These were social experiments,
and they were hilarious. Getting them on film was even more of a
kick.
Putting duct tape on the road upside down with the sticky part
facing up, and watching cars run over them thinking that they
popped a tire.
Standing on the sides of the road acting as if we were pulling a
rope. This worked great when it was dark outside.
About every three months, I would get caught, and as a remedy, I
was given more ADHD medication. After a certain point, I could
no longer fight the medication. I became a bit more serious and
hermetic. Instead of throwing water balloons, I decided to throw
axes at Elves and Dwarves in virtual worlds. I engulfed myself in
the world of Massively Multiplayer Online Role-playing Games
(MMORPGs). When I discovered this phenomenon at the age
of 15, I knew instantly--this was the future. My belief in the power

of peoples interaction across technology sparked the idea for my

second company, Ktulu Enterprises. Essentially, I acquired (or
looted) goods in virtual worlds, and then flipped them out on
eBay for money. I made a killing (well, I thought so at the time, at
least). $125/week was great money for a kid.
Ktulu Enterprises faded away when I discovered that hitting
people in real life was more fun than in online worlds: I discovered
football. My days as a football player were cut short by an injury: I
blew out my height. I was short, but I was slow. Yet, I enjoyed every
minute of it. I have a couple First-team All-league honors sitting on
my wall. They make me feel better about myself.
My first job was also probably the hardest one Ill ever have: I was
a bagging clerk at Albertsons grocery store. Id literally stand for
eight hours and bag groceries under the furrowed brow of MILF
moms in Orange County. And they werent nice MILFs. My feet
hurt like hell every single day after work. Every job Ive taken since
then were carried out sitting down.
This brings me to my college days. I went to Chapman University,
a small private school in Southern California. I was a very average
student up to that point in my life. Im not sure why any college
accepted me at that time. I viewed this as an opportunity given to
me, and I had to make the most out of it. I decided to emphasize in
three areas of business, tack on a minor and work as a sales guy at
a start-up. I ended up getting straight As, and doing really well in
school. I actually enjoyed school for the first time in my life. Some
of this was also driven by the fact that I didnt want ADHD to define
me. I learned that performing well in school isnt about ADHD, or
even intelligence. It was about attitude, which drives focus. This
love for school lasted all nine years (just kidding... it was four).
After a while, I left work at the startup. When I sat down to really
think about it, selling to attorneys wasnt that fun. I moved on
to the next logical thing I could do: I founded a fraternity. As the
president, it was my duty to manage a large number of tasks,
events, rituals, social events and grow the organization. We
began with 26 members. I applied lessons in the classroom to my
management style and quickly learned that not everything sticks.
When I realized that the principles they teach you in management

classes dont always work in real life, I was confused. I recovered

quickly, and instead focused on people and kicking ass. In turn, we
broke International Headquarters records and grew to 81 members.
After my term as president ended, it was the spring of my senior
year in college. I first tried to launch a startup and outsource
items. This quickly failed, and I lost money. Youll learn more
about outsourcing, and avoiding my first business mistake later
in the book. As a recovery method, it was my goal to learn how to
successfully create a startup. I figured that the successful startups
got funded by venture capitalists. Thus, I called every single venture
capital firm in Orange County and begged for a job so that I could
be around successful entrepreneurs. One firm called me back and
allowed me to intern for them.
Upon graduation, the internship ended and I was looking for a job.
In spite of the financial crap-pool that 2008 was, two of my friends
had already landed positions in large finance firms. On the surface,
I was very happy for them; however, deep-down, I was down on
myself. I was jobless. Fortunately, a couple weeks later, the venture
capital fund called me back up and offered me a full time position.
I worked with them for another six months. Yet, a little after
Christmas of 2008, the managing partner brought me in, explained
to me that his fund hit some rough waters, and proceeded to lay
me off. It was an interesting way to lay someone off. He slid my
paycheck across the table and said, The good news is that this is
your paycheck. The bad news is that its your last one.
The VC world wasnt all Id hope it to be. However, before the layoff,
I was planning an event for the CEO of TheFunded.com, Adeo
Ressi. The timing couldnt have been more ironic, as the thesis of
his speech revolved around the fact that venture capital is dead.
Shortly after that event I was offered a position at a stealth startup. This lasted for another three months. A combination of travel,
arguments between founders and lack of direction resulted in this
startup heading for the deadpool.
Yet in the midst of all of this, I somehow found a way to have little
successes and side projects that got me exposure in a variety of local
technology publications. One of them lead to a recruiter calling

me up, and placing me at a job in Carlsbad. About an hour south

of where I lived. I was reluctant to go down there at first, yet after
meeting up with the team and checking out the environment, I
jumped aboard and proceeded to build the startup into a multimillion dollar company.
After about six months into this position, I was working fourteen
hour days, would come home and get distracted by the TV and
Playstation 3. Though I was working hard during the day, I felt that
my aim in life was directionless. I lacked the long-term focus that
are only experienced by those who are successful.
This book is the manual that takes you through the journey of
getting focus back in your life. If you have questions regarding any
part of this book, please feel free to ask me, and introduce yourself.
Heres my email address: me@scottscheper.com
Now, lets begin.

Introduction

If you passed away in 1950, youd have seen as many

advertisements in your entire life as people experienced in 2010
alone.
In 1971, the average American saw 560 advertisements per day.
Today, we see around 3,000 advertisements per day. Assimilated
into this are nearly 5,000 messages from phones, emails, instant
messages, wall posts, tweets and more. This is a massive increase;
an increase that is profoundly unhealthyand yet, were still adding
more and more distractions to our lives every day.

How the Mind Works

In order to understand how dangerous this is, its critical to first

understand how the mind works. The human mind has 60,000
thoughts per day. When measuring the amount of advertising
impressions we see per day, we arrive at the following figures: In
1971, advertisements controlled almost 1% of our minds; today,
advertisements control 13.33% of our minds. A significant part of
your brain is being run by commercials, brands and pop-up ads.
This noise and distraction leads to one thing: distraction.
Your focus is under attack. The purpose of this book is to not only
make you cognizant of this reality, but equipped to fight the 13.33%
of your mind that is run by brands, noise and tweets.
So you now ask yourself, what do I need to learn, what tools do I
need, what strategies do I need?
These questions reveal the problem facing all of us. Its not what
gadgets and tools you need, its what you need to forget. Its what
you need to abandon. In order to counteract the stolen 13.33% of
your mind, one must learn to extinguish the noise, and replace it
with Focused Thought (which well cover later).

You must learn to abandon noise that have

taken your mind from 1% to 13.33%. This
style of thinking is what will give you the
edge in todays world.
We have too many things that do too many things.

Moving Forward
In your entire life, you may have never felt focused, or, maybe
youre just in a temporary rut. Whatever the case, know this: Youre
not alone. The masters of the future will be those who focus better
than others. Its that simple.
Scientists find that focused people feel less frustration, pain and

sadness. Yet, getting focused isnt a one-time thing, its an all-thetime thing. What youre doing right now is better than reading
TMZ. Good job. Thats a start. But, youve got a lot to learn, as do
we all.
Who this book is for
Are you unable to sit still and get things done?
Do you start projects and never finish them?
Do you feel out of control in your life?
Are you unable to accomplish your goals?
Have you lost touch with your dreams?
Do you think that wealth and success are out of reach?
Are you too distracted to create?
Are you uncertain about what you want to do?
Are you confused about your purpose and your beliefs?
If you answered yes to any of these questions or a combination of
some, this book is for you. This book does not center simply around
getting focused. It covers the core beliefs and items that are often
the true culprit of losing focus in life.

What this book will teach you

After interviewing and researching the lives of the top
entrepreneurs, artists, businessmen, writers and musicians, it
is my thesis that their focus sets them apart. I will be teaching
you specific methods in getting focused, which will result in the
following behaviors:
You will become more creative
Have peace of mind
Have more leisure time
Improve your self-esteem
Enhance self-control
Avoid fear and uncertainty
Get more done in less time (thus allowing you to work less)
Have more freedom and fun in life
Reach the dreams youve since forgotten
Acquire the success youve always dreamed of

A History of This Book

The reason youre reading this book is because one night in a
late, warm Southern California winter of 2009, I decided that I
needed to get my life back. To be perfectly honest, I was inspired
after watching the film Julie and Julia. I experienced a profound
motivation to write a book. At that time in my life, I felt unfocused,
out-of-control, and as if my life was slipping away into mediocrity.
Id work twelve hours, see my wife for a couple hours, get distracted
by my dog, play Playstation 3 and then surf my iPhone until I fell
asleep at 2 a.m. I could not find the answer to the question I was
striving for: How do I get focused?
In order to explore this topic, I set out to research and write about
how one not only regains focus, but also becomes focused for the
first time in their life. I knew that if I embarked on writing a book
about focus, Id likely lose focus. In order to avoid this, I decided
to add social pressure to my writing experience. I did this in three
ways:
1. First, I released each chapter to the public through my website
www.HowToGetFocused.com
2. Second, I sold pre-orders for my book.
3. Third, I outsourced the books editors to my readers. After
releasing each chapter, Id have a flood of people who loved the
work, and a flood of people who pointed out confusing passages,
typos and grammar flaws. I gave them free content, they gave me
free advice. It was a beautiful bartering system.
4. Fourth, the data told me when I was writing crap. If I wrote
the book in private, Id have to wait until the book was published
to see what my readers really thought. Being that I released
the book in tranches of chapters (instead of one lump sum), I
discovered in real-time which chapters were lacking, and which
chapters had an impact. This was gauged through my website
analytics, which displayed the average amount of time reading
each chapter (after factoring in word-count). I also could gauge
good chapters by its viralness (how many times each chapter was
shared). And the easiest way to gauge quality was through my
readers comments. Not necessarily the nature of their comments,
but by the number and meaning behind their comments.

As a result, I had hundreds of thousands of people visiting my

website and asking for more lessons. I also had dozens of people
glaring at me as to when I would release the book in order for them
to reap their pre-order investment.
I used the capital from the pre-orders to advertise my book, design
the book and create supplemental products for the book. Through
their support, Ive been able to not only write this book, but make it
a more enjoyable read for them.
The names of the people that pre-ordered as well as those that
provided insightful comments are listed in the last page as a special
thanks.
With a little history about this books conception, I hope that its
unique roots will have a lasting effect on you.

What this book is not

How To Get Focused is not a quit your job,
travel the world book. Those books are
cute and amusing, but the core elements
within those types of books didnt work
for me. I believe this revolves around the
fact that I wake up to a wife and an ugly
pug dog every day who count on me to not
quit my job. Many people simply have too
much responsibility to focus on themselves
and travel the world. Yet focused, balanced
enjoyment is always needed. This book
will show you how to achieve focused
enjoyment, as well.
The Me Plan leads to a path of endless suffering. -

Sakyong Mipham
I believe we all have the responsibility to break away from societys
teet of distraction. The responsibility to wake up earlier than
others. The responsibility to get focused. And thats what this book
is about: Fighting our dopamine-driven age of distraction and
getting your focus back.
Really, the only thing Im doing is helping those who want to help
themselves with lessons that have helped me.

Before Beginning The Journey: The Gut

Check
There are two components that lead to a sustainable successful
person: Hard Work and Focus.
If youre not willing to work hard, please dont read this book.
If youre browsing this book at a bookstore, please put it back on
the shelf. Or, if youve already bought this book, return it or give
it to a friend thats willing to put in the work. It will save you time,
and it will save me face in the Amazon reviews. Actually, I take that
back. Ill get a negative review on Amazon for not getting a negative
review. Listen, Im not here to change you. Thats your job. What
I can do is show you how Ive become a more focused person. And
hopefully, if you trust and believe in me, youll be able to apply
these concepts to your life.
Its my thesis that with Focus and Hard Work, you will become
more successful in all facets of your life. I cant teach you hard
work, but I can teach you focus. Both combined, will lead you to
sustainable success.

One Thing All Wealthy People Have In

Common

Wealthy people have one thing in common: Theyre grinders. They

work really, really, really hard. Yet wealthy people also experience
epic downfalls. Tiger Woods, Michael Phelps, Michael Jackson even
Vincent Young. Why? Because they lost focus. They were distracted
with earthly temptations and dismissed their purpose.

Heres a quote from Tiger Woods prescandal:

My main focus is on my game.
- Tiger Woods
I guess the game Tiger was referring to wasnt the golf game. His
focus was on earthly items, not on values. In this book, youll learn
that focusing isnt the answer; rather, focusing on truly meaningful
items is the answer.
We all lose our focus at some point in our life. What separates you
from a success or failure is not a question of working hard, but a
question of having the maturity and commitment to regain your
focus.
Any self-made wealthy person will face a crisis at some point after
attaining earthly riches. They often overlook the fact that becoming
wealthy is only half the battle. Sustaining wealth and deriving
significance from wealth is where the rubber meets the road. This
stage requires focus.
There isnt a book out there that can teach you hard work, but there
are those that can give you tools to create a purposeful life when
complemented with hard work.
This book proposes to give you a tool which I believe to be severely
under-addressed in our society: Focus.

PART I: THE ELEMENTS OF

FOCUS
The first part of this book is broken into four sections:
The Roots of Focus: This chapter covers the overall concept of
focus, the history of focus and the two components of focus: Shortterm Focus and Long-term Focus.

Short-Term Focus: This chapter discusses the concept of shortterm focus, which is Concentration. This chapter outlines eight
principles that are critical in understanding short-term focus.
Long-Term Focus: This chapter covers the second component of
focus, Long-Term Focus, which centers around establishing a life of
purpose.
Flow: This chapter outlines a concept by Mihly Cskszentmihlyi,
which occurs when one habitually practices a mix of both shortterm focus and long-term focus.

I. The Roots of Focus

At its most natural core, the Latin term focus refers to a hearth,
which is simply another name for a fireplace. In the 1600s,
the hearth was the foundation of a home and possessed three
capabilities:
1. The hearth was used for light (so that one can see)
2. It was used for warmth (so that one doesnt feel cold)
3. It was used for hunger (for cooking)
The hearth was the life-blood of the home. It was its most critical
feature, as well as its most delicate feature. In fact the famous
World War I song, keep the home fires burning, highlights the
significance of the hearth.
The three capabilities above are true of those who understand and
master the concept of focus:
Light: Your character will project a light on others. Focus gives
you the it factor. People wont be able to put a finger on it,
theyll just feel that youre driven by something unique.
Warmth: You will experience life as it was meant to be felt; with
love and warmth; with purpose and pride.
Hunger: You will quench the hunger that you unconsciously
strive for every day. For some of us this is happiness, for others
monetary-success. A life built on focus is a life built on purpose.
Definitions of Focus

 The center of interest or activity

The state or quality of having or producing clear visual
definition: his face is out of focus.
The point at which an object must be situated with respect to a
lens or mirror for an image of the object to be well defined.
A focal point.
An act of focusing on something.

Yea, but isnt focus just concentrating?

The reason most people lose focus in the first place is because they
think focus and concentration are the same thing.
Concentration is short-term focus. Long-term focus is driven by
purpose.
For one to get focused, they must first sharpen their skills in both
short-term focus (concentration) and long-term focus (purpose).
This oversight is why focusing appears so challenging in our age.
It becomes nearly impossible to stay focused when ones idea of
focused is so far from reality.

Concentration (short-term focus):

Youve likely heard that the human mind can only concentrate for
about fifteen minutes. In reality, most would consider themselves
lucky to concentrate for this length of time. Why do you think
commercials cap out at around 30 seconds? As technology and
entertainment have become standard parts of our everyday lives,
so to has our inability to concentrate for extended periods of time.
We have trained our minds to operate in short blips of branded
messages (as a result of advertisements). Yet theres also good news.
You can re-train your mind. You can re-calibrate your brain to
concentrate for longer periods of time. Longer than you ever have.
We will be exploring how in this book.

Purpose (long-term focus):

A concept that will resurface itself again and again is the concept of
sustainability. So often successful people face a tragic fall because
of what their success is built on. Success is typically built on past

hard-work and things that represent this past hard-work. Once

one discovers that the most valuable things in life arent things
is when he or she begins the path towards building sustainable
success, not thing-success. The sustainability Im speaking of is
driven by establishing purpose, not on dreams of fame, owning a
yacht or traveling. Sustainability is built on uncovering a purpose
that has nothing to do with oneself. Sustainability is built solely on
using your talents to assist others. A well-respected Tibetan monk,
Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche, once said, The me plan leads to a
path of endless suffering. By practicing and understanding the
concept of long-term focus, you will avoid the me-plan. Shortly,
you will learn how.

Whats Next
As outlined in the introduction, this book will take you through
a series of processes, modules and lessons that will re-train not
just the way you think or act. It will recalibrate the lens through
which you view life. Change takes time. Lots of it. And sometimes
it will seem as if this change in becoming a more focused person is
taking too long. For me, this was the case. Even after two weeks of
attempting every day to establish focused habits, I would relapse,
getting sucked into watching the Real Housewives of Orange
County when it was accidentally on. Before embarking on this
journey, remember that the human body possesses an innate,
magical ability to adjust. Your body and your mind are one. Youll
be going through changes as if youre having withdrawals. As we
highlighted in the model previously, thats where Hard Work comes
in and thats where Focus comes into play. If youre the type of
person that rarely finishes something you start, this book is for you.
But again, the Hard Work is for you, too.

More Readings, Sources and Resources:

Wikipedia on Focus and Hearth

Special Thanks:
Thanks to Kristen (from the comment section below) for
helping me edit this article. You can read Kristens blog,
Factotums Rostrum here.

II. Short-Term Focus

Music helps me concentrate, Mike said to me glancing briefly over
his shoulder.
Mike was in his room writing a paper for his U.S. History class.
On his desk next to his computer sat crunched Red Bulls, empty
Gatorade bottles, some extra pocket change and scattered pieces
of paper. In the pocket of his sweat pants rested a blaring iPod
with a chord that dangled near the floor, almost touching against
his Adidas sandals. On his computer sat even more stray objects
than his surrounding environment. There must have been twenty
browser tabs open. The tabs included political blog news, random
Wikipedia entries, Facebook profiles and a Myspace page blasting
even more music at him. Two sound notifications popped-up
simultaneously in the top-right corner of his screen. One was an
email; the other was a tweet. Behind the dozens of browser windows
sat a pending music download and a handful of blinking chat boxes.
Mike shifted his attention about every thirty seconds between all
of the above. Hed write a little bit of his history paper, check his
pending download, reply to his blinking chat boxes, and then start
all over again.
Do you know a person like this? Those were my concentration
habits at one point in my life. Today I cannot even fathom the idea
of working in that environment. About six years ago, I made a series
of decisions that resulted in a 180 degree turn away from those
noise-filled habits.
This chapter centers on the first step in making a change towards a
more focused lifestyle. This chapter concerns itself with short-term
focus, which is the concept of concentration. Well first outline what
science teaches us about concentration, and then well dive into how
one can concentrate even when he or she feels overwhelmed.

The Science Behind Concentration

In the above account, Mike is obviously stuck in a routine that
many of us may have found ourselves in. Yet in the moment we feel

its almost an impossible routine to get out of. Many fall into this
pattern because constantly shifting attention and multitasking eases
the pain of doing something you hate in the first place. We mitigate
essays and projects with blasts of dopamine delivered through
tweets, music and gossip.What science tells us, though, is that not
only does multitasking make our work 50% less valuable; it takes
50% longer to finish. Moreover, its physiologically impossible for
the brain to multitask.
When we constantly multitask to get things done, were not
multitasking, were rapidly shifting our attention. And this rapid
shifting kills the minds ability to adequately work. Multitasking
waters-down the minds ability to create meaningful and powerful
forms of output. When we follow Mikes pattern above, the mind
shifts through three phases:

Phase 1: Blood Rush Alert

When Mike decides to start writing his History essay, blood rushes
to his anterior pre-frontal cortex. Within this part of the brain, sits a
neurological switchboard. The switchboard alerts the brain that its
about to experience a shift in concentration.

Phase 2: Find and Execute

The alert carries an electrical charge thats composed of two parts:
first, a search query (which is needed to find the correct neurons
for executing the task of writing), and second, a command (which
tells the appropriate neuron what to do). This process propels Mike
into a mental state of writing for his History essay. Your mind
literally puts a writing cap on.

Phase 3: Disengagement
While in this state, Mike then hears an email notification. His mind
rapidly disengages his current writing state, and then sends bloodflow back to Phase 1, which then leads him to phase 2, and when he
gets distracted again, hell find himself at phase 3.
The process repeats itself sequentially. It doesnt work
simultaneously (i.e. multitasking). The mind shifts rapidly through

this phase at a rate of one-tenth of a second, which tells us two

important things: it reinforces the case that we must only focus
on one thing at a time, and second, its critical to master selective
attention, which well explore below.

Concentration drives intelligence

Research surfaced recently that revealed what the true drivers
of intelligence are. Researchers asked, Is intelligence simply
the ability to assimilate information and recall upon it whenever
needed? Is intelligence really a measure of memory? If not, then
what makes a person intelligent? Amazingly, they found that
intelligence is not founded on the ability to recall facts. Instead,
intelligence emanates from ones ability to control selective
attention. Intelligence arises from the ability to control the three
phases above, and how ones routes their blood-flow within the
prefrontal cortex of their brain. The most exciting part of this
discovery is that you can train your mind in the above phases.
In other-words, you can exercise intelligence through practicing
focused-thought (which well learn more about later).
As one improves in their ability to strategically allocate attention,
the brain also improves. In fact, it rewires itself. As you exercise
concentration and selective attention, your mind rewires itself to
support your new habits. This is brings with it both good news and
bad news. The good news is that you become better and better at
concentrating when you concentrate. The bad news is that as you
age, your minds flexibility slows down slightly. Meaning, you cant
rapidly jump out of habits and processes as well as you could in
your earlier days. Yet, by practicing the small steps and exercises
today within your mind, you can establish solid mental faculties
for your older years. By practicing brain exercises through mental
games you can significantly sharpen your mind. For some brain
exercises that allow you to sharpen your mind, you can visit my
website and pour through the resources. Youll find brain games
and many other tools that allow you to become a more focused
person (www.HowToGetFocused.com)http://bit.ly/cD7f6u
http://bit.ly/cD7f6u

8 Principles of Short-Term Focus

Now that you know a bit about the science of your mind, well
now explore 8 things that will help you build short-term focus
(concentration).
1. You cant start concentrating until youve stopped getting
distracted
The phrase above is self-explanatory. Yet, its amazing how most
people look for some crazy, obtuse solution for the reason why
they cant concentrate. They reason, I just have ADD. I cant
concentrate. In reality, their situation likens itself to Mikes
situation above. In other words, those who cant concentrate
typically surround themselves in distractions.
In the late 1980s, two researchers asked themselves a chicken-egg
question. (What came first the chicken or the egg?). Their version
centers on distraction and boredom. They asked themselves, What
came first, distraction or boredom. What they found is rather
subtle, yet its profoundly significant. They found that distraction
leads to boredom (not the other way around). This displays that
we must cut out distraction in order to get focused, or else well get
bored.
2. Just do one important thing per day
Scientists also found that we can only focus on one thing at once.
Yet, nobody actually practices this concept. Weve always got
something going on in the background of whatever were doing.
Makers of the latest smart-phones brag about multitasking
capabilities (which means the phone is capable of running many
applications at once). Devices are becoming proponents of
multitasking yourself into a state of distraction. Weve always got
two-dozen tasks on our to-do list. On top of this, weve got a handful
of projects that we try and finish simultaneously. How does anyone
get anything done anymore?
When youve got a mountain of paperwork on your desk, the best
thing to do is clear it all off. Pick it all up and place it in a drawer.

Do anything required to get it out of your sight. After this, kickup your feet and daydream. Yes, Im serious. Daydream and ask
yourself the following question: Whats the most important thing I
can do right now? Once youve identified the item that will actually
make a difference, do it.
This concept revolves around focusing on the essentials. Try
and make it a goal to do just one critical task per day. This habit
proves much more effective than living the routine everyone else
lives: doing many insignificant things a day. They live on fooling
themselves into thinking theyve added value.

The quote below by John Wooden

summarizes this quite nicely. Recall
upon this daily if youre having a difficult
time breaking away from the ineffective
lifestyle.
Dont mistake activity for achievement. John Wooden
3. Chunk into threes
Most of the time your one important task that you do per day
takes more than just one action. Oftentimes it takes a series of
smaller steps to accomplish. For this reason, its very helpful to
chunk activities into sets of three. If you set out to accomplish one
important item without a plan, youll find yourself just as ineffective
as the crack-berry, work-a-holic running around the office making
copies.
Outline your three-step to-do list using an offline to-do planner
(which we outline in another chapter); or if youre working online,
use a three-item FocusList to keep you focused on the task at hand
(You can visit www.HowToGetFocused.com for resources, to-do
lists and applications).
4. Questions that kill procrastination

The brain processes meaning before detail. Procrastinations roots

stem from this concept. Your boss, professor or co-worker tells you
that the task on your desk is important, but your brain doesnt yet
agree. If you push forth anyways, and embark on the task before
understanding its meaning, youll end up frustrating yourself and
wasting time because you may have to do it all over.
For this reason, whenever you find yourself procrastinating, ask
yourself the following questions:
Question one: Does this really need to be done?
If youre in the business world, term it as, Will this increase
revenue, and/or reduce cost?
If youre in school, ask Will this impact my grade? Note: In
school, its not necessarily about preparing you for the real-world,
its about assimilating information, regurgitating it on a test, and
then hopefully remembering some of it in the future, which gives
you more context for the real world. Hence the reason why the
question isnt, Will this prepare me for the real world?
Whatever your environment, if you cant come up with a compelling
reason for doing something, ask why the task needs to be done. If
its not your choice, and its your boss choice, have him or her step
into your office and explain the situation. Tell them, So, Ive been
sitting here trying to figure out how to best approach this project,
yet I every time I advance further, I keep coming back to why this is
meaningful in the first place. Can you help me understand the big
picture and value this actually adds to our business?
The result will be one of four things:
1. The person will realize that this is just busy work. Thus, you
wont have to do it,
2. The person will try and convince you that its important. In
this case, assign yourself an insanely fast deadline to finish the
project, and finish it. This type of boss values people that look like
theyve done something; he or she doesnt actually care about its
effectiveness, thus they wont care about results.
3. The person will come up with a compelling reason for why
its important, and thus youll be able to finish the project with
grace and effectiveness because you understand its meaning and
purpose.

4. The person will get angry at you for questioning the process.
This indicates that youre at a bureaucratic organization that
devalues innovation and purpose. If youre OK with this, enjoy a
work-life of hell. If youre not OK with this, sprint to the exit as
quickly as possible.
Question two: Can I delegate this?
If you find yourself with a task that has meaning (with or without
a lie from a boss), and you dont want to do it, delegate it. Doing
something you hate is a lose-lose. Its bad for you, as well as your
organization because youll likely turn in sub-par work.

5. Be Smart With Your Time

The Pareto principle is founded on a theory that 80% of
effectiveness is driven by 20% of our activity (or causes). I argue
that its more like 99%:1%. Its amazing how many insignificant
tasks were constantly filling our lives with. Dont make it your goal
to involve yourself with 20% of meaningful items during the day. It
gets too confusing, and your untrained mind will still end up takingon too much. As state above, just do one important task per day.
Say no to everything elseeven your boss. Be humble, but be logical.
Theres three types of people in corporations:
Type 1: Busy People
This is the person who constantly stresses themselves out by
running around with paper, working on vacations and constantly
checking email. They look like work-a-holics, but they get very little
work done. They end up burning themselves out. They can even end
up lashing out at others.
What ends up happening is that others perceive them as being able
to get the most done, thus people assign more work to them. The
work results in being half-assed because the busy person doesnt
have the appropriate time needed for the task. People end up giving
the most work to those who are least effective. This is why busy
people and work-a-holics are bad for organizations. They eventually
end up hurting companies.

Type 2: Lazy People

Lazy people are those that put the blame on their external
environment for a lot of things. In the back of their minds sits hope
that theyll one day succeed and hit that million-dollar home-run.
Yet in the meantime, they fill their lives with activities that release
dopamine.
Activities such as T.V., potato chips, video games, researching
whether or not Tupac faked his death and conspiring over whether
our government is run by free masons. I was this person once.
These were my habits. I occupied my time with message-boards,
reading hours of sports articles, and more. I wanted to achieve my
dreams, but my mind craved dopamine derived from reading sports
blogs. Getting out of this state and into the state below is what this
book is about.
Type 3: A Sage
A Sage is one that doesnt involve themselves in dopamine-driven
activities; instead, he or she is very selective about what they do.
They have a habit of asking themselves questions that most people
are too busy to ask. They pre-occupy themselves with the unspoken,
yet meaningful assumptions that others fail to address. Sages
ask questions about the meaning behind any activity that they
embark on. They view turning down work as a logical decision, not
an emotional one. They even say no to their bosses in a strategic
way. In order to become a Sage, you must become indispensable
to your organization, which is accomplished through practicing
Wu Wei (which we will cover soon in the chapter on Flow). Of
course, when it comes to business, nobody is indispensable, even
the CEO and Founder can be replaced (e.g. Yahoos CEO/Founder,
Jerry Yang). By becoming indispensable, I mean you must be
economically indispensable. Meaning, to the economy, you must be
indispensable. In other words, you, yourself, can generate monetary
value wherever you goeven if you work for yourself. The most
empowering feeling is knowing you can land a job at any time, or
just make money for yourself whenever you want to.
A true sign of being indispensable is not a pat on the ass from a

boss. Its not a bonus or a raise. A true sign of being indispensable

comes from making money on your own and getting job offers when
youre not looking for a job.
In summary, in order to be a Sage, you must earn it. You must earn
it by being economically indispensable, and well learn shortly that
this falls into place naturally.

6. Mind Maps
Whenever youre feeling overwhelmed, its critical to allow the mind
to disentangle itself by mapping out your thoughts on paper.
Theres two types of maps: (i) P.S. Map, and (ii) Fear Map
I. P.S. Map:
A P.S. Map is short for a problem-solution mind map. This becomes
a helpful tool when youre trying to get something done and your
mind keeps wandering towards a problem you think you have.
A P.S. Map is also critical for when you feel restlesswhen your
mind wont stop racing right. Whether laying in bed or pacing
around the house, your mind spins without thoughts, fears and
ideas. Whenever youre in this state, pull out a piece of paper and
at the top write: Problem. Then map out every single detail and
nature of the problem. Halfway down, on the same piece of paper,
write out Solution And then map out possible solutions to this
problem. This simple exercise slows down the mind, puts things
into perspective and makes the solution shockingly clear.
II. A Fear Map
Sometimes, thoughts and ideas creep into our mind that are
intrinsically negative in nature. These thoughts generate fear. In
this situation, its best to outline the consequences of your fear.
Through outlining the results of your fear, you can oftentimes find
how insignificant the fear really is. And even in the case of where
the fear still seems significant, at least you know what the worst
thing could happen is. Oftentimes youll find that the worst thing

that could happen, really isnt that bad.

A fear map forces you to apply simple logic to the source of your
fear. Its founded on If X, then Y.
1

On paper map out the following formula if x, then y. Where x is

the fear, and y is your estimate of the fears result.
Through mapping out your thoughts, you can calm the racing mind,
which will free your mind to focus on the task at hand.

7. Blame something
Other times, sitting down to concentrate is as simple as blaming
a simple object for your inability to concentrate. As we discussed
above, lazy people are those that blame almost everything on their
environment. You dont want to do this, as its not a long-term,
sustainable solution to problems. However, in instances where you
cant get excited to actually pump blood to your prefrontal cortex
(phase 1 of concentrating), a simple object can help you out. Such
an object would be coffee, a drink, a Bonsai tree or a walk. You can
reward your mind for concentrating by saying, OK, mind, heres
the dealits hard to concentrate on this right now, but Ill pick up
a bonsai tree, which will create a more compelling environment to
concentrate. Youll find that this object-based motivator actually
works.

8. Interest
Researchers found that concentration is not a gift. Its not
about intelligence. Its not about being a prodigy with a gifted
memory. Its not about possessing the ability to recall an insane
amount of facts (Thats what Googles for). Researchers found
that concentration is driven by interest, and interest is driven by
attitude. If your attitude towards a specific project swells with
interest, intrigue and passion, concentration is astonishingly easy.

Summary
A core component of concentrating is building up a repertoire of
purpose-driven habits that enables you to seamlessly step into

flow. Its my thesis that flow is the combination of mastering

short-term focus and long-term focus. This book is about building
this repertoire through goals, habits, exercises, philosophies and
practices which will result in you becoming a more focused person.

Whats Next
As we covered, the key to proper concentration is creating your own
purpose-driven habits that enable you to step into flow.2
Its my thesis that flow is the mastery of both short-term focus
and long-term focus. In this chapter, weve outlined the science
behind short-term focus, and the 8 actions you can do to improve
concentration.
Remember intelligence comes from focused concentration.
Beware of the distractions around you. Were all human and prone
to laziness or becoming an inefficient work-a-holic, but we can
choose to become a Sage, and thus, becoming effective.

Sources and resources

Attention and Intelligence
Brain Rules

III. Long-Term Focus

Jills preschool years can be summarized in three words: sex, drugs
and fear. You see, Jills father began molesting Jill and her sister
ever since she can remember. Her mother, meanwhile, was pacing
around in an institution down the street as she recovered from
nervous breakdowns. At the age of 7, Jills father held a family
meeting that he deemed important. It turned out, he was right. In
the meeting he blamed his problems on Jill before pressing a gun
against his temple and pulling the trigger. This was a broken home.
Weve heard similar stories before and thus we know what comes
next. Jill will become a drug addict, get pregnant, drop out of High
School and end up like her father, right? Wrong. Jills an honor
student, talented singer and president of her high school class.

Todd Marinovich began training for the NFL before he was born.
He was bred to love pain, contact and intimidation. His father, an
ex-Raider from the steroids heyday of the NFL, is remembered
today for his unusual intensityotherwise referred to as insanity.
Todd was going to be everything his father never wastrained, wellfed and cared for. From his first breath on earth, Todd was on a
strict diet that outlawed any hamburgers or junk food. Instead, his
father fed him food that only did one thing: built muscle.
Todd quietly rebelled in his late high school days. It started with
Marijuana, and throughout college and into his pro career, led to
Heroin and Methamphetamine. Todd recounts stories of shootingup at half-time of football games as he pretended to take a shit.
After his brief stint in the NFL, he shifted between two places: rehab
and jail. You might have even seen Todd if youve spent time in
Newport Beach. He could be seen skating around on the boardwalk.
Put simply, he turned into an addict.
Todd had all the care in the worldin fact, he had too much care,
and he turned into a drug addict. Jill was raised in a violently
broken home, yet she became a successful young lady.
So, what separates Jill from Todd? I argue that it all revolves
around one concept: Focus. Yet, Im not speaking of focus in its
traditional sense. Thats short-term focus, and we covered that in
the previous chapter. Im referring to long-term focus, which is
driven by four elements: purpose, values, actions and habits. Those
four principles build the foundation for Long-term Focus.
The rest of this book is dedicated to showing you how to become a
focused person through re-awakening your purpose, defining values
that drive your everyday actions, outlining activities that can help
you focus and establishing a set of habits that will make it easy for
you to step into a state of flow. Not only will this enable you to finish
projects that you start, youll be able to achieve dreams you were
put here on earth to carry out.
I cant tell you how many people I know who still feel empty at
night even as their Visa Blackcard rests in their wallet. The problem
with success is that its the wrong goal. Most people seek success,
when in reality theyre looking for significance. Success does not

make you significant. Significance stems from actually making

a difference in the world. Many people are shocked when they
discover that significance isnt achieved through action. Its reached
throughout taking focused, purposeful action.
Below, Ill touch briefly on the four components of long-term focus.

I. Habits
In the first section of the book, well explore various habits
that drive a focused person. These habits revolve around doing
something that sharpens your mind before you start the day.
Essentially, you get to work before you get to work. Good habits not
only enable your mind to focus better during the day, they enable
you to feel more complete as a person. You feel younger, more alert,
and put simply, you feel happier. I believe that you should establish
one of the following habits outlined in the section of the book, and
then carry it out once per day. Well explore Focused Habits in the
next section of the book.

II. Purpose
Purpose revolves around living a life built on meaning. It stems
from visualizing how you will impact the world and what you are
here to do. Living with purpose is then actualized by setting a
simple, focused goal, which you reach in a short time-span (three
months). Well cover this in a later part of this book.
Heres an example of someone who let focus and purpose drive
their life. The following passage was uncovered in Bruce Lees
personal journals after his death.
My Chief Personal Aim In Life
I, Bruce Lee, will be the highest paid Oriental superstar in
the United States. In return I will give the most exciting
performances and render the best of quality in the capacity of
an actor. Starting in 1970, I will achieve world fame and from
then onward till the end of 1980 I will have in my possession
the sum of $10,000,000then I will live the way I please and
achieve inner harmony and happiness.

- Bruce Lee
1969
Lee, who died at the young age of 32, often said, If I should die
tomorrow, I will have no regrets. I did what I wanted to do. You
cant expect more from life.
Bruce Lee lived a life filled with focus and purpose.

III. Actions
Its not: Ideas without action are worthless.
Its: Without action, ideas are worthless.
(Feel free to read that again to catch what I mean)
Long-term focus centers on taking action in simple, logical and
effective ways. The philosophy of this book outlines ways to break
apart the complexities in life, and only focus on what truly drives
results. In later sections, well learn how to use tools including
Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, email and other activities in a focused
fashion. We explore how one can expand their mind through
auditing Ivy League courses for free. Well also cover how you can
sky-rocket the effectiveness of your organization through practices
and philosophies that lead to less work and more effectiveness. If
youre stuck in a job or in a routine that feels as if youre trapped
as if you cant focus due to your lack of interest in whatever youre
doingIll show you how to get out of that situation. Im not
promising that youll be an organized person. Im by no means
organized and my wife can attest to that. What I do specialize in
doing better than most around me, is thinking about one thing that
truly matters every day, and doing it. Nothing more, nothing less.
Well get into all of these actions in the book.

IV. Values
Purpose tells you what you should be doing; Values tell you what
you should stand for.
As we learned through Jill and Todd, values arent driven by

our parents. Of course, your family influences your values, but

they dont define your values. Values are entirely your own
decision. You must make sure you understand what you stand for,
otherwise, society and your environment will do it for you. And
thats dangerous. As well learn, our minds have a tendency to get
carried away with things that are driven by dopaminebut arent
necessarily good for us.
Before beginning the journey and quest in becoming focused, I first
want you to spend some time defining what it is you wish to get out
of this book, as well as what your values are. But before that, Ill
share with you my personal values.
Defining Values
We live in an ideal time to exemplify and learn about the
importance of defining personal values. Michael Jackson died
from drugs. Michael Phelps took a bong hit and lost millions in
endorsements. And Tiger Woods had a sex scandal erupt that will
stain his career forever. These people lived a life filled with success.
But they didnt live a life filled with significance or sustainability.
Their values were focused on the wrong items. Their focus was on
earthly items. Items that society defined as symbols of success; not
symbols of significance.
Before his scandal, Tiger Woods said, My main focus is on my
[golf] game.
As stated previously, when one places their focus on earthly items,
a downfall is almost certain to follow. I bring this up again because
its absolutely critical in establishing a life of focus.
Think hard about what values drive your life. But dont get too
crazy. Have fun with defining and setting values for yourself. If
you have a family, bring them together and create your own family
creed.
My personal creed centers on four values:
Integrity: Honesty is not bullshitting others. Integrity is not

bullshitting yourself. If you make it your job to sound off an alert

anytime your mind moves towards cognitive dissonance, youre
living a life of integrity. If youd like asistance in spotting bullshit, I
suggest picking up a Bullshit Button from Amazon: (http://amzn.
to/d7iwas)
Growth: Physiologically, our brains are either learning, or dying.
Until the year 2000, we believed that we were given a certain
number of brain cells as a baby, and then they would die as we
progressed through life. Neuroscience now tells us that we actually
fire up new pathways within our minds as a result of how we think.
We come from the jungles. From a land of adjust or die; thus,
our minds must constantly sharpen itself and learn about the
environment.
3

Hard Work: We live in a land of work less, take a vacation, travel

the world. I agree with pieces of this. I believe that one should
work smart, which will lead to them working less; however, I believe
that working smart is hard work. Dont let successful people trick
you. Significance (and success) requires hard work.
Enjoyment: Of course, youve got to follow up Hard Work with
Enjoyment. Otherwise, youll turn into a work-a-holic. Every day its
important to appreciate what you have and enjoy what youve been
given.
Those are my values. Theyre what drive my actions everyday.
Theyre what drive my long-term focus. In order to become a more
focused person, you must first start with your values.
Heres an exercise that Id like you to carry out before moving on
to the next chapter. Either write the answer in an open area in this
book, or pull out a blank piece of paper.

1. What are your values?

2. What specific challenges are you facing that you would like to
learn from this book?

Conclusion

In summary, a focused person is one who doesnt merely have a gift

of concentration. Someone who is focused has a foundation built
on four things: purpose, habits, focused action and values. The rest
of this book is dedicated to a variety of these items that help you
become a more focused, productive person. In the next chapter,
well cover the concept of Flow, which is an organic combination
of Short-term Focus (concentration), and Long-term Focus
(purpose).

IV. Flow
In this chapter well analyze the concept of flow. Well first take a
look at the historical implications of flow. Then, well outline how
you can can adopt the discipline of flow. As a result, youll be able
to meet the goals youve always dreamed of and finish the projects
youve been putting off. Through developing flow, youll not only
be more creative, youll be more creative on a consistent basisand
through flowit will be easy; creating will be natural.

The secret history of flow

The concept of flow was recently proposed by Mihly
Cskszentmihlyi, in which flow was characterized as a state of
completely immersible, focused energy. Because of Mihalys
inspiring work, many fell into the belief that the concept is
modernthey think the concept of flow is new. A state that
describes the zone athletes enter into. Yet through researching
history, it becomes clear that the concept of flow is not new. Its
been described for thousands of yearsand the concept has been
explicitly defined over-and-over again. Below, well look into
different cultures descriptions of flow.

Taoisms sacred belief of flow

Wu Wei is an ancient concept rooted in Chinese Taoism. Wu Wei
is the belief that one is at its most natural behavior when he or
she doesnt have to think about acting, or think about creating.
By definition, Wu translates to not having; Wei translates to

action. Combined, this translates to not having to act.

The concept of Wu Wei is likened to the suns orbit around the
earth. It is acting without trying to act. Its a natural form of
movement. The sun moves because its nature is to move; just like
you must create because your nature is to create. The Taoist schools
of thought teach that ones goal should be to experience Wu Wei in
perfect equilibrium, thus allowing you to experience the natural,
invisible power you were meant to experience.

In the passage below, youll find that one

who practices Wu Wei is referred to as
the third type of person that we covered
previously.
The Sage is occupied with the unspoken
and acts without effort.
Teaching without verbosity,
producing without possessing,
creating without regard to result,
claiming nothing,
the Sage has nothing to lose.
- Tao Te Ching by Priya Hemenway, Chapter II
A Sage is one who steps into a state of flow habitually. We will now
explore this concept further through learning about the two ancient
truths in developing flow.

The two ancient truths to developing flow

Within the teachings of Yoga and meditation rests a concept
called Samyama. This term is used in a general sense and
refers to the concept of flow. Samyama is practice that leverages
Daharana (concentration or short-term focus), as well as Dhayana
(contemplating purpose or long-term focus). In practice, these two
elements are combined with meditation and focus. Upon practicing
these two concepts, flow arises as a result.
Samyama teaches what we have already established, in that, flow is
developed through the binding of short-term focus and long-term

focus, and then practicing it daily.

Zens secret to attaining a peaceful mind

Within the teachings of zen, theres a state of flow thats said to
control the minds of martial artists called Mushin. This term is
shortened from mushin no shin, which is a Zen term for mind of
no mind. Much like Wu Wei, this is the zone one enters which
feels as if nature is guiding them.
It centers on thinking without thinking; creating without trying to
create.
When in the state of Mushin, the fighter does not think of the next
move; he or she knows their purpose, knows their focus and knows
their next action through hours of contemplation and training. The
fighting style is intuitive. Its casual action, yet the mind operates in
a hyper-speed state.
Teachings have said this state of mind feels like a still pond.
The mind is emptyactions are serene. Like a pond reflects its
environment and the trees around it, the focused Mushin mind
reflects its purpose. The ponds environment and reflections are
only disrupted when disturbances arise. The waves and ripples
of the pond distort the ponds environment and foundation.
This analogy reflects the minds behavior when presented with
distraction.
The key in developing flow and Mushin centers on blocking out
distraction, and keeping the mind serene, like the unmoving pond.
This reminds us of a concept we already covered: you cant start
focusing until youve stopped getting distracted.

How to Develop Flow That Allows You to Finish

Projects and Exceed Your Goals:
Now that weve looked into the historical context surround flow,
how does one actually implement flow in their everyday life? How
can you unleash this practice, which allows you to accomplish your
goals, finish projects and feel in control? These questions will be
answered below.

There are 5 elements that you must follow in order to establish flow:
I. Understand the two sacred elements of flow
Above, we learned that history tells us that flow is developed
through employing two concepts:
1. Daharana (concentration, which drives short-term focus)
2. Dhayana (contemplation, which drives long-term focus)
Flow stems from the combination of short-term focus and longterm focus. In the first chapter of this book, we outlined that shortterm focus is driven by concentration and long-term focus is driven
by purpose. Now weve introduced a third component of focus,
Flow. So where does Flow fit into the picture? Put simply, when
both short-term focus and long-term focus intertwine, flow arises.
In flow, creation is born, artists are made and genius is unraveled.
Visually, the inception of flow looks like the diagram below:

When working on something, you simply know when youre in a

state of flow. You feel as if time has no bearing on your creation, you
feel spontaneous excitement while performing task. As if nothing
can stop you.
No matter who you are, flow must be developed. The concept of
flow moves beyond any industry, occupation or practice. Flow
can be experienced whether youre in business, music, comedy,
a sport, programming, engineering or anything else. It doesnt
matter if youre a CEO, bartender or a plumber. If you exceed
the basic strictures society places on your occupation, and apply
concentration and purpose to it, which in turn adds value to
others lives, youll experience flow; youll experience success.
And hopefully, if youve learned anything from this book, youll
experience significance. However, this is easier said than done.
There are specific practices and routines that can help one develop
flow on a habitual basis.
II. Eliminate distraction in order to establish a peaceful mind
As we discussed in an earlier chapter, you cant start focusing until
youve stopped getting distracted. To cut out distraction, you must
audit your devices (which well cover in a later chapter) and then
simply cut out the distractions. Cutting out distraction is the most
critical component in developing flow.
As the ancient martial art concept of Mushin likens itself to a still
pond, so too shall your aim be in developing flow. This is done
through eliminating distraction.
III. Develop flow rituals
Soon, youll learn about a concept called the Daily Foundation.
Your Daily Foundation is critical for establishing flow. The concept
of flow doesnt stem from serendipity. It arises from disciplined,
focused rituals that drive your actions, and thus leading to flow.
IV. The most overlooked element to developing flow
When one is in the state of flow, theyre completely immersed

in their activity. You can do this toalmost instantly. What this

requires is a deep, thorough understanding of your subject. This can
be carried out through a concept called overlearning, This concept
is so often overlooked and under-explored. The vehicle for flow is
challenging the mind, which is done through overlearning.
Overlearning is the practice of rapidly crunching information
that challenges you to look beyond surface-level implications. For
example, if applied to reading, this means that you research each
element or concept that you dont understand. And by research, I
dont mean simply looking up a word on Dictionary.com, I mean
looking into the latin roots of the word; the transformation of
the word; what history tells us about the word. Much like the
historical roots of Focus that I outlined in the first chapterhttp://
howtogetfocused.com/introduction. It means you must look for
symbols in what youre proposing to learn. When youre creating,
innovating and overlearning, time is at a stand-still. You will
experience flow and finish the projects youve always wanted to
finish.
V. How to stop handicapping your minds thirst for flow:
Montessori
As we will learn more about in a future chapter, we are severely
limited by our education systems methods for teaching. The
curriculum outlined by the universities still cater towards
industrial-age workers; not information-age workers. Instead of
flexibility, our university systems support stagnant curricula.
In the early 20th century, however, a new teaching methodology
arose from Italian physician, Maria Montessori. Her philosophy
was founded on many of the principles that exist in our present-day
world: transparency, problem-solving, team-work and self-learning.
This teaching method never adopted a nameits simply referred to
as the Montessori Method of teaching.
The basis of the Montesorri Method revolves around problem
solving. Maria put children in natural environments to solve
problems. She found that children learn the most when theyre
aligned with their normal nature. Much like Mushin (mind of no

mind), Maria believed that children can unleash flow through giving
them freedom to leverage their natural cognitive abilitiesinstead of
shoveling a regimented curriculum down their throats.
This isnt a practice that simply withered away. In fact, a recent
study published by the journal of Science found that Montessori
students outperformed students that were trained using traditional
teaching mechanisms. The positive results pervaded a variety
of disciplines. The Montessori students displayed higher IQ
(Intelligence Quotient) and higher EQ (Emotional Quotient). They
were superior in mathematics, literature, social skills and common
sense. Thats right, common sense. They had a more mature
understanding of fairness and justice and they were also more
creative.

Concepts of Montessori:
The concepts of Montessori are really not much different than
various principles outlined in this book. They are founded on
being in touch with nature, and solving problems on your own
on directing your own path in seeking education. The model is
founded on preparing an environment that espouses flow (which
weve outlined previously), and thus allowing you to become a more
focused person. A person that finishes the projects they start, and
one who finally makes progresses towards achieving their purpose.
In summary, if you create an environment that espouses focus and a
curriculum driven by your own passion, youve set yourself up to be
at your most-natural state of creation, which is flow.

Summary
Weve outlined the history of flow and how to implement flow into
your life. Below is a summary of what was stated above.

What weve learned:

Flow is not new
Wu Wei is a Chinese term that translates to not having to act.
This describes flows state of natural creativity
Samyama is Yogas teachings that short-term focus and long-

term focus drive flow

Mushin is the concept of innovating without forced effort
You must make flow a rituala daily effort done through the
daily foundation
In order to establish flow, your mind must be like a still pond
You must implement the concept of overlearning
And last, you should implement the freedom-based teachings of
Montessori
Before moving on to Part II of this book, try implementing these
principles into your life, and make them habitual. Over the course
of this book, well learn specifically how.

Resources:
WolframAlpha: (www.WolframAlpha.com) This website is an
excellent resource and tool to use when practicing overlearning.
WolframAlpha is a knowledge engine that allows you to learn
more about many different disciplines through entering a query.
Local Library: Your local library is also an excellent place to learn
more about the world around you. On a weekend afternoon, visit a
local library and explore books in a section of interest to you.
Google Scholar: (scholar.google.com) Many simply conduct
research through Googling around and searching blogs. Google has
done a wonderful job by allowing you to search millions of academic
articles through Google Scholar.
Wikipedia: (www.wikipedia.org) Wikipedia provides a wonderful
starting point for conducting research. Through their sources, you
can find excellent leads to articles that are worth reading.

PART II: THE DAILY

FOUNDATION

Part II of How to Get Focused outlines specific principles, exercises

and actions that have the ability to help you become a more focused
person. Using the principles outlined in Part I, and applying those
principles to the actions and habits outlined in this section of the
book, will allow you to put focus into practice every single day in

your life.
Part II is separated into the following chapters:
Daily Foundation: The first step in becoming a focused person
in this new information age centers on establishing a Daily
Foundation. A Daily Foundation is a daily routine that breaks itself
off from distraction. It allows you to win before you even start the
day. It allows you to break away from the distraction and noise that
kills your focus in everyday life.
Focus Lab: The Focus Lab is a quarantined environment that rids
itself of distraction. This can be a place in your house, your office, a
bathroom (for reading, heh), or whatever.
Hand-writing: The first exercise that you may want to implement
into your Daily Foundation centers on hand-writing to flesh out
ideas, thoughts and insights. This simple practice often results in a
surprising result of experiencing a more purposeful, focused day.
Flashcards: A second exercise that you may want to fit into your
Daily Foundation centers around reflecting on short, brief thoughts.
This can help you maintain a feeling of focus throughout the rest
of the day. This chapter shows you how to leverage flashcards to
become a more focused, purposeful person.
Writing: In this chapter we explore what writing does for the
mind, and how one can leverage the practice of writing to become a
more focused person.
Healthy Sleep: In order to change the lives of others through any
occupation, one must thrive in their ability to focus. And sleep is a
very silent assassin to focus. We explore the concept of sleep in this
chapter.
Reading: In an age where everyone is flocking to technology, social
media-driven news and entertainment blogs, many are forgetting
the fact that what you read is more important than how much you
read.
Exercise: Most people hold the belief that exercise will help you

become more focused throughout the day. But does science hold
this as true? Or do people simply feel more focused from exercise
because they anticipate theyll feel more focused? In this chapter
well look into exercise and its effects on the human body.

V. The Daily Foundation

Theres no time to think.
The tools and lessons that once espoused success are quickly being
washed away by the surge of innovation within the sectors of the
internet, media and mobile devices. If famous success writers like
Napoleon Hill took his own advice today from Think and Grow
Rich, hed lose himself at page 6 because hed be distracted by a
tweet, wall post or TMZs latest breaking scandal.
Its time to get focused. And the tools handed down to you by our
parents are proving to be less effective. So how do you set yourself
up for success in this new age? Well, the first thing youve got to do,
is do. This concept leads us to the Daily Foundation.
The first step in becoming a focused person in this new information
age centers on establishing a Daily Foundation. A Daily Foundation
is a daily routine that breaks itself off from distraction. It allows you
to win before you even start the day. It allows you to break away
from the distraction and noise that kills your focus in everyday life.
If a football team wants to become successful, winning doesnt start
on the day of the game; it starts on the prior Monday morning at
5:30am when players and coaches meet to lift, watch film and study
before anyone else is up. One must think and learn before the game
because theres no time to think and learn during the game.
The same principle applies to any industry or occupation. Becoming
a focused person is not a skill you develop on the job. Its a skill
you hone before you step into the office. Essentially, you must go to
work before you go to work.
In order to become a more focused person, it all starts with your

daily foundation.

Creating the Daily Foundation

The objective of your daily foundation is to break away from your
typical routine.
Heres an example of an averagebut commonlifestyle:
Roll out of bed
Stumble like a drunk to the kitchen
Turn on the lights
Eyes burn. Light hurts eyes, you think.
Wife asks questions, you get distracted.
Coffee. Yes, coffee will solve my problems.
How do you take your coffee? With Good morning America.
Yes, thatll help me forget the shit Im about to experience at
work.
Stay under the radar at work, getting distracted by Digg, blogs
and news websites.
Drive home in a vehicle filled with sports talk and Metallica
Watch a few reality shows, shovel down dinner and gossip
about other people
Stalk people on Facebook and Twitter for two and a half hours
Go to bed
Start over
Theres got to be more to life than this, right? There isnt if thats the
way you start your day.
So how do you create your daily foundation? We already established
that you must not think. Instead, you must do. But heres the twist:
You must do so that you can think. What I mean is you must wake
up and immediatelywithout thinkingmove towards an exercise
that allows you think.
Recently, studies from Harvard scholars found evidence that
suggests that new brain cells can be created if one practices deep,
focused thought every single day. Deep focused thought is also
known as a concept we covered previously, Flow. One can
establish Flow through carrying out creation-driven exercises.
These exercises form the basis of the rest of this section. Excercises

that enable one to step into Flow include: reflecting on small quotes
and passages, writing, practicing healthy sleep, hand-writing,
reading and exercising.
By starting your day with one of the exercises that well outline
in the upcoming chapters, the rest of your day will fill itself with
Focus.

More on the Daily Foundation

The Daily Foundation is so critically important to establishing a life
built on Focus that it must be elaborated on further.
Stephen King often experiences massive Writers Block. As you may
know, Stephen King is the man behind Carrie, The Green Mile,
Shawshank Redemption, The Shining and a couple dozen more.
Hes an author whos renowned for slamming out books like a
Mormons slam out babies--extremely well.
When one experiences Writers Block, he or she usually falls into
the trap of focusing on an inaccurate big-picture idea. When King
finds himself in this state, he focuses on one thing: the next step. He
finds that the key to writing is taking it one word at a time.
This concept explains why the Daily Foundation is important. The
Daily Foundation forces you to take the day one step at a time.
Whether rain or shine, or whether youre giving a huge presentation
at work, or taking a huge final for class, you always start the day the
same: with the Daily Foundation. You take life one step at a time.
And by taking one step at a time, youll naturally become a more
focused person.

Time
Many people object that they dont have time for something like
the Daily Foundation. They argue that they dont have time for X
(where X equals either exercise, reading, writing, working, studying,
learning or proper sleep).
For people that throw out this objection, I understand. In fact, Ive
lived by that objection for a number of years. Yet, the excuse of

the time constraint grows old after a while. Whenever you throw
out time as an excuse for not doing something, people can see
through the excuse and identify what the real issue is: its simply
not a big priority. The thing is: Everyone has the time. Its just a
question of, what are you willing to give up in order to become a
more focused, productive person?
In summary, the secret to becoming a focused person centers on
establishing a Daily Foundation. And the secret to establishing a
Daily Foundation centers on making it a habit. Anthony Trollope,
a British Writer who wrote long and profound novels on a regular
basis, exemplifies this principle perfectly. Anthonys day job wasnt
being a writer; it was as a postal clerk. In fact, those red public
mailboxes were Anthony Trollopes invention. Trollopes Daily
Foundation exercise was writing. He wrote for two and half hours
every single morning. It was a regimen. It was his routine. He didnt
have to think about it because he didnt have to thinkhe just acted.
As soon his allocated writing time was up, he dropped the pen
immediately and went to work.
Once you cut out the distraction and make your Daily Foundation a
regimen, youll have the time.

Summary
The Daily Foundation is the first step you must take every single day
in becoming a more focused person. The Daily Foundation can be
filled with any excercise that allows you to step into a state of Flow.
And as we learned about Flow, entering this state must be natural.
It must be founded on the principle of Wu Wei, which is a natural
state of being. In the upcoming chapters we will explore a variety
of exercises that many find helpful in entering a state of Flow. But
first, we will explore the concept of the Focus Lab, which centers
on creating an environment that espouses focus.

VI. The Focus Lab

Even after establishing a Daily Foundation, its easy to get

distracted. This is the result of one word: people. It really doesnt

matter how meticulous a persons to-do list is. If one is around
people, distractions are bound to arise.
People run into problems throughout the day, and unless youre at
the bottom of the totem pole, people will flock to you for solutions.
If this happens an appropriate number of times per day, I call
this, healthy distraction. Distraction driven by the external
environment is alrightif its people-driven.
Well get into to-do list construction in a later chapter, which covers
how one can organize their to-do list to be flexible and adaptable to
healthy distraction. But for now, heres the greatest secret to getting
things done: a Focus Lab. Youll also hear this referred to as a man
cave (or, so that Im not considered a sexist, a woman cave).
A Focus Lab is much different than a man cave (i.e. one filled
with beer, posters of chicks and sports gear that smells like stale
Doritos).http://www.mancavesite.org/

The Focus Lab

This can be a place in your house, your office, a bathroom (for
reading, heh), or whatever. Bottom line: create quarantined
environment that rids itself of distraction.

The Setup for the Focus Lab

Setting the environment for your Focus Lab is critical. There
must be a lot of Nos. For instance: No TV, no video games, no
magazines, no pets, no people, no phones, no computer (unless for
writing, offline). Step into the Focus Lab when carrying out your
Daily Foundation (unless your Daily Foundation requires being
outdoors). First thing in the morning, I step into my Focus Lab in
order to develop a foundation that centers on thought-provoking
actions (writing this book).
At the office, first-thing when I get in, I meet and greet, then shut
the door. I knock down the most critical items on my to-do list; and
then, Ill solve others problems.

In Stephen Kings memoir, On Writing,

he virtually dedicates a chapter to the
importance of working in a distraction-free
environment. Heres what he recommends
for your Focus Lab.
If possible, there should be no telephone in your writing room,
certainly no TV or videogames to fool around with. If theres a
window, draw the curtains or pull down the shades unless it looks
out at a blank wall. For any writer, but the beginning writer in
particular, its wise to eliminate every possible distraction.

The Crazy Focused Scientist

I once read a story of a renowned scientist who would get sideswiped with an idea and proceed to hibernate in his lab for weeks.
He would work tirelessly on the idea until he felt it was finished.
According to his assistant, the man worked an insane amounts of
hours. Twenty-hour workdays were normal. The only time he would
come out was for food. And it was brief. The assistant had one
responsibility: guard his lab from distractions.
While this may be a little overboard for most professions, its
important to apply some degree of this characteristic to your work.
The degree in which you apply this concept is your decision. For
me, I try to balance out my day by shutting myself into my Focus
Lab at least two times per day. Once before work (for my Daily
Foundation). And once at work.

I hear dead people

When you study the works and biographies of successful people,
youll often run into their reliance on a Focus Lab. Oftentimes,
theyll literally cite voices and inspirations that are only heard when
theyre in their zone.

When Stephen King concludes that his

Focus Lab is critical for success, he touches

on the voice (or the muse):

But you need the room, you need the door, and you need the
determination to shut the door. You need a concrete goal, as well.
The longer you keep to these basics, the easier the act of writing will
become. Dont wait for the muse. As Ive said hes a hard-headed
guy whos not susceptible to a lot of creative fluttering. This isnt the
Ouija board or the spirit-world were talking about here, but just
another job like laying pipe or driving long-haul trucks. Your job is
to make sure the muse knows where youre going to be every day
from nine til noon or seven til three. If he does know, I assure you
that sooner or later hell start showing up, chomping his cigar and
making his magic.
Elizabeth Gilbert, author of bestseller, Eat Pray Love, cites a voice
of inspiration in her TED address. She calls the voice of inspiration
by a different name: a little genius.
In Napoleon Hills classic work, Think and Grow Rich, he also
cites his imaginary board of directors, which guides his thoughts.

Summary
There are a wealth of other successful leaders around the world
that cite the same experiences and practices. In my case, Im able
to gather thoughts and ideas that Ive taken mental note of, focus
that thought and actually apply it. Im not into hearing people,
or demons, but rather hearing my own thoughts and having them
disentangle themselves once I write them down. And this only
arises when Im in my Focus Lab.
Action item: Create your own Focus Lab and establish the habit of
thinking in that room first-thing in the morning.

VII. Hand-writing
The first exercise that you may want to

implement into your Daily Foundation

centers on hand-writing to flesh out ideas,
thoughts and insights. This simple practice
often results in a surprising result of
experiencing a more purposeful, focused
day.
Thoughts disentangle themselves when they pass through
your fingertips - Dawson Trotman
Why did we even bother to learn handwriting and cursive if we
rarely practice it after elementary school?
Today, high schools are filled with laptops and gadgets.
Handwritten essays are only assigned for in-class exams. Its the
teachers way of ensuring that nobody cheats. With this as virtually
the only living conduit of handwriting, no wonder people grow up
hating handwriting. The only time one writes by hand is under the
furrowed brow of a suspicious teacher or professor. The way in
which our teachers and professors employ hand-writing today is
ridiculous. And more, its wrong. Well now explore why.
Handwriting is obsolete in certain circumstances and helpful in
others.
When not to hand-write:
When youre writing two paragraphs or more.
When youre writing a book
When to hand-write:
Reminders and quotes
To-do lists
Mapping out ideas, strategies or ventures
Reaching very important people
Creating outlines for what youre about to write
Storyboarding presentations or speeches
Theres just something special about writing by hand. It gives one
that sense of speed. It gives freedom to draw in whatever pattern

necessary; it enables one to rapidly link together ideas with arrows.

It allows you to focus and step into flowas youre completely
immersed in the idea. Theres no email alert popping up in the
background. In brief, hand-writing helps the mind focus.

I. Reminders and quotes

When I was nineteen, I took up a habit of

writing down bite-sized thoughts. I wrote
quotes, lessons and ideas on note cards.
As I read various books, I wrote down
vocabulary that I didnt understand. Id
write the word on the front of the card,
and the definition on the back. Every single
day I reviewed these note cards. They
served as reminders. Reviewing them was
a great way to start the day. There was no
distractions. Though my time invested in
writing has crowded out this habit, I plan
on re-awakening it soon. This practice
serves as a wonderful Daily Foundation
exercise.
Repetition is the mother of skill. - Anonymous

There were actually quite a few notable

figures that employ this techniquethe
technique of jotting down quick thoughts.
Many of them recommend having
something handy next to your nightstand:
I keep little notepads all over the place to write down
ideas as soon as they strike, but the ones that fill up the

quickest are always the ones at my nightstand. ~Emily

Logan Decens
These little flashes of quotes, lessons or inspirations are perfect for
hand-writing.
How to get in the habit of writing down quick thoughts:
Listed below are some items, practices and tips that Ive found
helpful in practicing this as part of your Daily Foundation. In the
next chapter, well expand on these.
Invest in a comfortable pen or pencil. Dont shy away from investing
in a tool over $10. The money spent may help you feel obligated to
use it, which is good when trying to establish a habit. Heres a site
with interesting pens.
1. Buy some note cards (35) and put them in your back pocket
2. When youve written down thoughts or lessons, put them in a
note card case (you can pick one up at Office Max or Staples)
3. I separate them into three categories: a) vocabulary, b) life
lessons, c) business strategy
4. Review them first thing in the morning as part of the daily
foundation

II. To-do lists

Theres no better feeling than scratching off an item from your todo list. OK, maybe there is. But scratching out completed items can
quickly become a sweet obsession. Ive tried different to-do lists
whether they be online, offline, through the phone--you name it,
Ive tried it. What Ive found to be the most important is keeping
to-do lists simple. In a later chapter well dive more into to-do list
strategies, and a special type of to-do list, which I call the FocusList.

A to-do list is a list of things to do. Write

it down and do it, dont over-think it
otherwise youll get nothing done.

One of the secrets of getting more done is to make a TO DO List

every day, keep it visible, and use it as a guide to action as you go
through the day. Jean de La Fontaine
What is crucial; however, is keeping your main to-do list offline.
To those that object, I feel your pain. I know it sucks to ditch
Remember The Milk, Google To-Dos, or Jott. Ive been through it.
Those services are fine for building repositories of things youd like
to get done in the future, but for everyday actions, get an offline list.
Why? Because your to-do list must be flexible and open. You need
to circle items, draw connected arrows and scratch things out on the
fly.

III. Mapping out ideas, strategies or ventures

The Founder and CEO of Apple, Steve Jobs, is the greatest
presenter of our time. His presentations are founded on a secret.
The secret of his great presentations all start with two things: a pad
and paper.
In the book, The Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs, the following
is outlined about Jobs:
Jobs is closely involved in every detail of a presentation: writing
descriptive taglines, creating slides, practicing demos, and making
sure the lighting is just right. Jobs takes nothing for granted.
He does what most top presentation designers recommend: he
starts on paper. Theres just something about paper and pen and
sketching out rough ideas in the analog world in the early stages
that seems to lead to more clarity and better, more creative results
when we finally get down to representing our ideas digitally, writes
Garr Reylods in Presentation Zen.
4

Many of the biggest companies have massive deals written out

on paper. Even Facebook is rumored to have the term sheets
with hundred-million dollar deals in venture capital investments
mapped out on a napkin. Theres likely a business plan or deal
written on a napkin that drives services or products you use
everyday--even services you fly in like Southwest Airlines.
Richard Tait, the creator of various smash-hit board games, has

a similar story that revolved around mapping ideas out on paper.

While on a flight from New York to Seattle, Tait grew tired of
staring out the window and reading over the editorial column in
the Wall Street Journal. Amidst the sleeping executives flying in
the first-class section around him, Tait pulled out a napkin that was
resting next to his Canada Dry Ginger Ale. On it, he devised an idea
for a game that enabled everyone to succeed in at least one area.
The name of this game, he decided, would be Cranium. This simple
concept took audiences by storm, and the game was later bought by
Hasbro. All of this, was started by simply mapping out ideas on the
back of a small napkin. 5
When people gather for lunch and bounce ideas around, they
choose one simple medium: a napkin. Youll rarely, if ever, see two
people whipping out their iPhone to map out ideas. Why? Because
a pen and a napkin get the job done just fine. For this reason,
I highly recommend companies to employ whiteboards within
their teams. Ive lived through a variety of startups, some of which
succeeded, some of which failed. What was critical in the successful
ones was the ability to communicate ideas. Ive led various software
re-hauls and implemented various project management systems.
None of them came close to accomplishing more than the very
basic whiteboard. This was hard for me to swallow at first, because
I wanted to bring a nifty piece of software to the organization. I
wanted to be responsible for implementing software that helped our
team become more productive. But each tool I brought failedthey
all had one thing in common: the whiteboard does the job just as
well, if not better.
If you require data and notes for your whiteboard, programmer
Stephen Furlani points out that theres tools that give you this
ability: mimio (www.mimio.com).
Furlani also notes that hand-writing within programming isnt
dead. In fact, it isnt even close. With all of the electronic ways to
map out ideas and use-cases through software, nothing comes
close to mapping out ideas by hand. Furlani writes, I write it out
in pseudocode on a notebook in front of me while I am examining
the code, make the changes by hand, and then re-code the section
on the computer. It aids greatly in understanding what the original

code does, since most of it is usually undocumented, and how the

fix interacts with the original code. Even if youre a programmer,
hand-writing still prevails.

IV. Reaching VIPs

In an age of emoticons and LOLs, youll stun people when you
communicate via hand-written notes. Itll take the reader back to
their childhood. This strategy works because hand-written notes are
more intimate. The actual living ink is a reflection of time and work
composing the letter.

When reading an e-mail, one processes

electronic text. And what do most people
complain about at work? Reading too
much electronic text. Im so busy, I get 100
emails per day. Think about it. Have you
ever met a person thats said, In my offtime I really enjoy sipping cappuccinos
and reading emails. Chances are very
unlikely. People very much dislike email.
Dont add fuel to the fire. Instead, try and
reach them through less crowded mediums
using a personal, hand-written note.
Ive never met a person thats said, In my off-time I really enjoy
sipping cappuccinos and reading emails. People hate email. Dont
add fuel to the fire.
Bottom line: Its a wise marketing tactic to reach people through
hand-written notes. In our age of noise, the most crowded channels
are the newest ones: texting, emails and cell phones. The emptiest
channels are the most intimate: hand-written notes.
Next action: I suggest adopting at least one of the four ways to
use hand-writing above. Whether making this practice part of your

everyday life through the Daily Foundation, or trying to practice

hand-writing more, give this exercise a try at least once this week.

V. Flashcards (or Focused Affirmations)

A second exercise that you may want to fit into your Daily
Foundation centers around reflecting on short, brief thoughts. This
can help you maintain a feeling of focus throughout the rest of the
day. This exercise is leveraged through flashcards.
In the prior chapter on handwriting ideas, I mentioned the concept
of using flashcards to start the day. In this chapter, Ill elaborate on
the why, what, how, who and best practices in leveraging flashcards
to focus the mind.
The concept of using flashcards
In our information age, technology has centered on delivering
more information, in less time. In turn, were left with TMI (Too
Much Information). Were presented with a sea of data, and a
millisecond to derive meaning from this data. More than ever, we
need to find a way to understand and reflect on meaningful data.
Thats where flashcards come into the picture.
The act of flashcard reflection is a habit that likens itself to Western
forms of meditationfocused, contemplation-based meditations
(which well cover in a later chapter).
The concept is simple: throughout the day, write down quotes,
ideas, actions, insights, vocabulary and lessons. Then, each
morning, review the ideas and digest a handful of them to remind
you of what youve learned and why youre here.
Three Sections of Flashcards:
(i) Vocabulary
This section includes vocabulary and terms that youve picked up
out of books, or even a book specifically aimed at vocabulary.
Why should you care about vocab? I mean, the SAT is likely long

gone, right?
Youll want to sharpen your vocabulary not for the purpose of using
the terms to sound smart; rather, youll want to digest terms so
that whenever anyone attempts to sound smart around you by using
big words, youll be capable of immediately interpreting what
theyre trying to say. And, if youre lucky, youll be able to correct
them if they use the term inccorectly (if theyre arrogantly using a
term, of course).
Heres a book I used for sharpening my vocabulary: Word Smart
(ii) Life
The second section within your flashcard deck centers on the part of
life that matters most: life itself.
Life lessons include quotes, ideas and personal experiences that you
intend to learn from. These can be anything that are inspirational,
moving or self-affirmations that remind you who you are and what
your purpose is (well get into purpose in a later chapter). Fill this
section with ideas that not only move you, but also define who you
are.
The pain and lack of purpose in our world is very real. I have quite
a few friends and colleagues that have pulled themselves up from
their bootstraps and launched successful ventures. These are
people that are written about in newspapers, blogs and even books;
however, I find that their vulnerabilities and feelings are exactly
the same as the rest of the worlds. And the ones that dont have a
sense of purpose, or a sense of meaning, end up burning out. Again,
you must remember that success is not as important as significance.
This section within your flashcard deck serves as a reminder of this
concept every single day.
(iii) Career
The career section contains lessons, concepts, quotes and models of
a specific industry or occupation that youre passionate about. For
instance, if its entrepreneurship, and you come across an excellent
article on entrepreneurship, youll write down lessons from the

article on a flashcard.
If youre in the engineering realm, write down critical formulas,
laws and concepts. If youre a business consultant, write down
business concepts such as Porters 5 Forces. If youre in real-estate,
write down some of the old economics laws that build a foundation
for your thought process. If youre an artist, jot down some ideas
that inspire you; or inspirational stories from famous artists.
Daily foundation:
If you elect to make flashcard reviews your Daily Foundation
exercise, then youll want to review at least ten new flashcards every
single day. This results in three outcomes: it gives one clarity, peace
of mind and a focused start to the day. Every single day, you start by
reminding yourself why youre here, what youre passionate about,
and what you plan to do in life. If you make this a habit, youll get
focused at the start of every dayand it will translate into not only
results, but fulfillment. Guaranteed.
4 Simple steps for getting your flashcard system up-and-running:
1. Get a large number of flashcards
2. Get the flashcard separators (like manila file separators, but
smaller for flash cards)
3. Get a flashcard box (a box about five inches wide and a foot
long that stores flash cards)
4. Get a solid pen that encourages your to write (youll do a lot of
it)
Starting from nothing:
The value of flashcards, like the network effect, sits in direct
proportion to the quantity and quality of flashcards that you
have available. In order to get started, though, heres a trick that
wasnt available to me when I began creating flashcards: Its called
Flashcard Exchange (www.FlashCardExchange.com).
This services contains thousands of Flashcards made available
by others. Its like YouTube for flashcards. These flashcards are
for studying, and span a wide range of material and disciplines.

The best part of this service is that you can select either to review
flashcards online or offline.
With productivity applications, I always suggest offline apps
because of the environment that surrounds the application. Online
applications are surrounded by the internet, which is a powerful,
yet powerfully-destructive form of distraction. Yet, Theres really
pros and cons with both.
The pros with online flashcards centers on the ability to edit,
rearrange and save paper.
The cons with online flashcards sits on the freedom to actually
write freely. Additionally, youre more likely to get distracted
when YouTube, and Perez Hilton are just a click away.
Why Flashcards Work:
As touched on above, we live in an age of information overload.
Services that make it a point to provide less information are
thriving. Youll see articles that are going viral that show the best
start-up advice in three words. Youll see tools like Twitter, who
make it a point to share bite-sized bits of information. Or even
productivity company, 37 Signals, who make it their competitive
edge to focus on lessand focus on only core features.
Bite-sized pieces of powerful, moving ideas are contained within
flashcards. The shape, style and nature of flashcards enable one
to swiftly engage and absorb those ideas. This is the power of
flashcards. The power sits in their bite-sized ability to galvanize one
to take action. Its a perfect routine for starting any day.
The Science Behind Flashcards:
The use of flashcards is really a form of self-affirmations.
The repetitive use of flashcards is a focus-driven form of self
affirmations. Being that these affirmations are based on knowledge
and prior thought, I refer to them as Focused Affirmations.
Focused affirmations are a form of autosuggestion that allow the
brains synapses to strengthen, sharpen and move towards actions
that are built within the foundation of focused affirmations.

Youll find autosuggestion and affirmations in many self-help

books; typically they come across as touchy-feely, and the author
sometimes doesnt even give a damn on whether it truly works
or not. Theyll just say, tell yourself that youre the best! Then
theyll give you a quote from some benign author; or theyll take you
through a meandering story about someone that told themselves
that they were the best. Ill do you a favor and cut through that.
Heres the real juice:

The no bullshit take on self affirmations, and whether

or not they work:
In the human brain, there sits a type of cell which rarely gets any
coverage or exposure in the media--or even in textbooks one finds
in school. These cells are known as glial cells. Glia, in Greek, refers
to glue. These cells surround and glue together neurons within the
brain, and kill inanimate and dying neurons.
Thus, if youre not using a specific set of neural synapses, youve
got a glial cell looking over its shoulder ready to kill it off. Thus, in
order to counter this neurological act, you must routinely exercise
your neurons. You do this through consistent focused thought.
Scientists have found that affirmations keep the neurons firing, and
as a result, the neurological pathways remain fresh. Thus, focused
affirmations do expand the mind and allow you to carry out the
actions in which youve envisioned.

Self affirmations vs. Focused Affirmations

Self affirmations are short phrases that are in the present-tense. For
instance, I am confident, or I make shit happen. On the otherhand, Focused affirmations are quotes, vocabulary, lessons, models
and phrases outlined on flashcards.
So which type of affirmations should you implement?
In my flashcard deck, I have about 95% focused affirmations, and
5% self affirmations. I proportion my affirmations this way to
supplement focused insight with active belief. For me, this works
and makes sense. I suggest having more focused affirmations than
self affirmations; however, the actual percentage proportion is on

you to decide.

Summary:
The act of using flashcards for focused affirmations and selfaffirmations is critical for expanding the mind, and moving towards
a life of focus. By building a daily foundation containing the focused
affirmations, youll feel a certain sense of clarity. This clarity will
allow you to focus and live a more fulfilled day.

VI. What Writing Does For The Mind

If your brain isnt growing, its dying. The brain continually recalibrates itself based on your inputs. No matter what age you are,
your brain loses or grows neurons in proportion to your activities. It
really is use it or lose it.
Unlike any other organ in your body, your brain is wired to do
one thing: think. Your brain is a thinking organ. In order to grow
your brain, you must interact with the world through perception,
contemplation and action. Mental stimulation drives brain
functionality, and prevents cognitive decay. Just as exercises helps
the mind grow, so too does writing.
In this chapter well answer two questions:
1. What does writing do for the mind?
2. How can one become a better writer?

The Truth Behind Writings Effect on the Mind

One day, Dr. Stephen Krashen grew curious. Enjoying the beautiful
sun of Southern California, he paused and asked himself a couple
questions. Everyone always told him that in order to become a
better writer, one must write. But is this really true, he asked.
How do we know for sure? And how does one uncover if writing
really expands the mind?
As a black belt in Tae Kwan Doe and a champion in Venice Beach
weightlifting competitions, two things always drove Dr. Krashen:

curiosity and discipline. Now, as a middle-aged man, questions like

those above were his outlet for exercise.
Much like his 300-plus published papers and books, those
questions drove him to dive deep into the beliefs we hold true. And
his research on this subject changed our thoughts about writing
forever. In fact, his research on this area led to his induction in the
International Reading Associations Hall of Famea profound and
prestigious honor.
His paper, We Learn To Write By Reading, But Writing Can Make
You Smarter, yielded two findings:
1. Writing does not help you become a better writer; reading
does.
2. Writing makes you smarter and allows you to solve more
complex problems.
Dr. Krashen found that through writing, the brain becomes
stimulated. Ph.D.s from UC Berkely, Robert Yerkes and John
Dodson, have found that through stimulation, the mind is pruned
to become more focused an attentive. The more your mind is
stimulated, your mind grows and increases its ability to focus.
In summary, two important things were discovered about focus
through writing:
As one writes, they become smarter
As one writes, they increase their ability to focus

Formulating ideas
Through writing, thoughts disentangle themselves. When speaking,
thoughts are poured out in real-time. The communication is raw.
With writing, however, one has the ability to redraft and refocus
their thoughts. This results in a more clear and concise form of
communication. This act of organizing thoughts, is a powerful way
to enhance the mind. It allows you to slow down and ask yourself
critical questions. After making writing a routine, the way you think
will change, the way you speak will change and others will sense
this change.
Your ability to formulate thoughts and present them in a concise

manner will set you apart. If you make this a habit, you will go
further in business, in life and with people.

Grasping the main idea

Just as important, writing out your thoughts on a consistent basis
will allow you to better grasp conceptsno matter how vague or
abstract. For instance, a study was conducted by Arngala Ganguli
in the field of mathematics. After each class, the professor asked
one group of students to write a paragraph on what main ideas
theyve learned. When compared to the normal group, the group
that wrote down their thoughts significantly outperformed the rest
of the students. The act of writing down and summarizing what they
learned significantly helped them not only learn more proficiently,
but apply their knowledge more accurately.
The lesson is: If you want to really grasp something, dont read
about it. Thats passive; instead, write and reflect on it.

Writing is focused action

The vast majority of people out there reason, I dont have time to
write, or Id rather act and get things done, than write. These
excuses completely miss the point. Writing is focused action.
Writing hedges the trap most people run into: acting without focus.
Writing sets you up to act in a focused manner. If all we did was act,
wed all be running around like headless chickens. Writing leads to
an action-oriented life, not a reaction-oriented life.
Just because one acts, doesnt make one succeed. It is through
focused-action that one finds success. And this focused-action can
be procured through writing.

It is in giving that you receive

In , I outline what types of blogs and books you should look out for.
I exhibit that you must be wary of certain types of blogs. Over the
years, Ive read countless books and blogs that have allowed me to
grow as a person. If this wasnt available, I wouldve made countless
more business mistakes and wouldnt have self-taught myself how
to program, or even write this. I am in great debt to the leaders

and individuals who wrote books or blogged. Yet, they too benefit
from writing and teaching people like me. Authors and bloggers
learn more about their subject as they write. It is in giving that you
recieve. It is in writing that you learn.

9 Tips for Becoming an Unstoppable Writer:

Its clear that writing not only makes you a more focused person,
it makes you smarter. It will propel your career and your life ahead
of those who drool on themselves while watching The Kardishians.
It will enable you to re-spark your path to accomplish the dreams
youve since put on hold, or the projects that are on the backburner. So how do you get started? Here are 9 tips to become an
unstoppable writer.
1. Read. A lot.
As discovered above by Dr. Krashen, you must read to become a
better writer. In order to do this, I suggest writing in the morning
and reading at night. Slap on a pair of headphones and read while
your spouse stares at the T.V.
Yet, is what you read more important than how much you read?
To this day, studies havent found anything conclusive on this;
however, its common sense that this principle should hold true.
We are what we think about. And what we think about is correlated
with the inputs we load into our minds.
2. Map out the idea

Before you sit down to write, map out what youre going to write.
Otherwise, youre just journaling. And news flash: nobody cares. We
live in a world where people have less and less time to read. Dont
make it harder by meandering through thoughts; instead, spend
time in communicating points.
Dont restrict your mind by using electronic tools to map out your
idea. When I asked bestselling author Seth Godin about his favorite
tool for writing, he replied, Big pads. Different ones all the time.
Grease pencils.
If youre always on the go, you may want to look into Moleskine
notebooks. Theyre basic, simple and straightforward notebooks.
Theyve gained somewhat of a cultist following due to their history.
The list of famous writers and authors that use Moleskines include:
Vincent van Gogh, Pablo Picasso, Ernest Hemingway, and Bruce
Chatwin.
3. How a writing strategy makes writing easier
When writing about something, you want to present it in logical
fashion; yet, this concept doesnt hold true in writing a novel. In a

novel, youre essentially telling the truth. Youre revealing a story as

it comes to you, as the inspiration speaks to you. You then go back
and redraft.
Its different when writing a book that centers on communicating
and convincing others of your thesis (like this book). As in my case,
my thesis centers on the belief that the most successful people have
a degree of focus that normal people rarely practice. In order to
reach this thesis, I continually craft and map out how Im going to
communicate this point. My chapters are much different than it
would be if I were writing a novel. My chapters center on essentially
three parts: (i) I tell you what Im going to tell you, (ii) I tell you
through stories, data and steps, (iii) I tell you what I just told you.
You must have a strategy for writing the piece of art of your choice
(whehter novel, memoir, poem or thesis-based book). If youre
writing a novel, your strategy should be freedom of thought in
telling the story. If youre writing a thesis-based book, your strategy
should center on mapping out the direction of your book, and
focusing on what your reader wants to know about the subject at
hand. Once you understand your strategy, writing becomes easier.
4. Creating a writing environment
You need to create an environment that drives you to focus, and
enables you to write. Your environment should be quarantined
of any major distractions. This includes cell phones, television or
anything that may distract you.
In my Focus Lab, theres basically two things: a light and a desk.
Theres no pictures, no furniture--nothing. The closest thing to art
is the entire wall that I painted a deep redits my belief that this
color drives creativity, it drives action and it drives focus.
5. Effective ways to listen to music while writing
Believe it or not, Stephen King rocks out to Metallica while writing.
We all have different music preferences for working. Some prefer
listening to Pandora all day (www.pandora.com), whereas others
prefer silence. When writing, if you do decide to listen to music, I

recommend using headphones and an iPod instead of listening to

music through your computer. If youre trying to write and youve
got music thats running in the background, youll stop where you
are and begin fiddling with iTunes, Pandora, YouTube or whatevers
on your computer. Before you know it, youve just wasted an hour.
Having music running in the background on your computer is a
distraction--a dangerous one.
As well cover in auditing your gadgets for focus, when writing, you
should only use tools that serve one major function. In this case,
use a computer for writing, a pad of paper for mapping out thoughts
and an iPod for listening to music.
6. Redraft later and youll finish writing a book
When writing, nothings going to be perfect. Dont try to finish the
perfect chapter. In my case, I literally write this book in real-time. I
ship the chapters, and then re-write at a later time.
Redrafting a chapter over and over is a roadblock to finishing your
project or book. With this book, I was very selective in choosing
when and what to redraft. I shipped my chapters, and moved on
immediately to the next chapter. After finishing the entire book is
when I went back and actually revised and re-arranged the book.
If you want to finish a book, finish it, let it rest for six weeks and
then redraft it.
7. Enjoy the process
Its odd that in many professions, people hate the process of
creating. Theyre so focused on finishing, that they miss the
enjoyment of creating. Ironically, its because one loses focus on the
creative process that they never end up finishing projects or books
theyve started in the first place.
Take a step back and enjoy the process of writing.
8. Have a time-line

This is the most critical component in writing. Have a time-line of

about three months to finish the first draft; otherwise, the passion
that drove you to start the project will start to fade. In a later section
on goals, well explore why the time-line of three months is so
critical to keeping focused in the creative process.
After you finish the first draft, leave it alone for six weeks. When
youre ready, pick it up again, print out your work and read
it through (making marks of any changes). Youll find great
amusement out of this process. Youll be surprised with how good
your work is. Youll have forgotten about things youve written. And
youll be confused about things youve written, which allows you to
quickly correct the confusion. Thats why taking a break is good.
9. No biggie
Life is too important to take too seriously. Just like life, writing
is too important to take too seriously. You need to be honest with
yourself, and be honest with your readers. Theyll be able to sniff
out any bullshit you throw at them. For instance, as I was rereading this chapter, I had an introduction that could be cut down
to three words. So what did I do? I cut it down to three words. I
dont want to waste your time, because you respectfully havent
wasted any of my time.
Yet, if you do end up writing something that sucked, or even an
entire chapter that didnt move anyone, dont worry about it. No big
deal. Trust yourself to improve. Trust yourself to grow, and dont
cut yourself down for imperfect writing style.
Everyone must start somewhere. If you look back at prior drafts and
nothing stands out that could be improved, you should be worried.
That means you havent grown as a writer. Its a healthy sign to
look back at things youve written in the past and correct them, but
again, make sure you enjoy the process.

Summary:
In this chapter we learned the following lessons about writing and
the mind:

 Writing helps you focus

Writing makes you smarter
Reading makes you a better writer
Writing helps you formulate ideas
Writing helps you grasp concepts
In order to become a better writer:
3. Read. A lot.
1. Map out the idea
2. Have a writing strategy
3. Create a writing environment
4. How to use music to become a better writer
5. Re-draft later
6. Enjoy the process
7. Have a time-line
8. No biggie: forgive yourself if you make style mistakes
Other tools:
Tempation blocker
Write or die
Further Sources, Resources and Readings:
Your brain and exercises to expand the mind
Stephen Krashen PDF on Writing
Ganguli on Mathematics and Writing
Xomba Writing Tips
Tips to Focus on Writing

VII. Leveraging Sleep to Become More

Focused
If take a stroll around any college campus before 12pm, youll hear
it. Im so tired, I didnt get any sleep. Yet, this phrase echoes
beyond dormitories and college classrooms. It echoes into the
corporate world. Everyday youll run into one person thats just so
tired.

The issue of sleep arises everyday in our lives; yet, we have a foggy
sense of what science tells us about sleep. Sure weve seen a 60
minutes documentary on the topic. Or read an article about sleep
deprivation in Readers Digest; but those articles quickly become
forgotten. We dont realize that sleep deprivation is a much bigger
issue than we think.
The National Sleep Foundation conducted a study from 1999
2004. They found that on a monthly basis, almost half of the United
States experiences sleep deprivation to the point where theyre
rendered useless in the workplace. People arrive at work without
the cognitive ability to actually work. Almost twenty five percent of
adults experience this on a weekly basis. Due to lack of sleep were
literally seeing a work-place filled with sleep-deprived zombies.

Why this is important

The future of wealth accumulation, success and changing the lives
of others centers on your ability to focus (both short-term and
long-term focus). No matter what industry youre fromsocial
services, studying at a university, in the medical field, the financial
realm, creating technology, developing web applications, realestatewhatever. In order to change the lives of others through any
occupation, one must thrive in their ability to focus. And sleep is a
very silent assassin to focus.
You can do everything outlined in this book, and implement any
Daily Foundation exercise (writing, reading, flashcards, etc.).
However, if your physiological sleep systems are out of tune, your
ability to focus is severely hindered. For this reason, well outline
the scientific nature of sleep, and cover interesting elements
surrounding the subject of sleep.

Sleep and The Mind

After a marathon one regenerates muscle fibers through sitting still.
Awake or not, you can simply kick-back, prop your feet up and stare
at the television. With the mind, we regenerate and recover through
sleep. Sleep is the minds way of recovering from a workout. Sleep
revitalizes cognitive functions of the brain.

There are certain stages of sleepand during those stages, different

parts of the mind are recovered, and like muscle, they develop
differently. Some stages develop neurons within the cerebral cortex;
while other stages generate synaptic connections within the mind.
To exemplify this, take the experiment of the temporal lobe.
Within the cerebral cortex, the temporal lobe is used for processing
language. Two subjects were given an exercise in order to test the
development of this area: sleep deprived subjects and normal sleep
subjects. Those that were sleep deprived scored lower across the
board. Their results were embarrassing; after a period, the sleep
deprived subjects were literally slurring through the exercise.
Through hundreds of studies, and thousands of metrics, one thing
stands true: there are no instances where lack of sleep enables
one to perform better in a given subject or test. There are certain
sectors of the brain that fight a good fight against sleep deprivation;
yet, other parts of the mind either shut down completely, or are
rendered useless through severe hallucinations, or in extreme
scenarios, death.
Bottom line: without sleep our brain deteriorates. With sleep our
brain regenerates. And with certain sleep exercises, our brain can
grow.

How Much Time You Need to Sleep

The number of hours required for sleep is a topic that arises in
water-cooler conversations around the office. I only need five
hours of sleep, someone brags.
Youve heard growing up that eight hours is the golden number
for adequate sleep. Though truth reveals that each individual has
a different requirement. For myself, I need a solid seven hours of
sleep to be operate adequately. Sometimes, Ill sleep eight hours.
Ive got a family member, on the other-hand, that sleeps three
hours, and feels refreshed. Youll find that the people that sleep
very little have been doing so since they were very little. Its not a
choiceits natural. And to me, its not admirable, but Ill admit, it is
quite fascinating.

Polyphasic Sleep:
Theres recent buzz about a sleep pattern called Polyphasic sleep.
This centers on the practice of taking frequent cat-naps throughout
the day; opposed to one eight-hour sleep-cycle. This practice is
founded on the following concept:
There are multiple phases of sleep, and REM is the one that proves
itself critical for re-energizing the mind. Ironically, REM is also
the period where the brain is most activemainly due to dreams.
Polyphasic sleep is founded on the theory that many catnaps
throughout the day will result in immediate REM cycles, thus
allowing you to shave off the time spent in the preliminary sleep
stages.
In theory, this sounds logically sound, however in practice, its
much harder. Just because one takes many catnaps throughout
the day doesnt mean everyone else will. The practicality of this
schedule typically deters people from adopting polyphasic sleep
patterns. It must be noted, though, that there are a handful of
historical figures and even presidents that have successfully, and
sustainably, implemented bi-phasic sleep schedules (sleeping twice
per day).
My suggestion would be to adopt the sleep pattern that is most
aligned with your environment and schedule. If your current sleep
pattern has proven itself unsuccessful for an extended period of
time, experiment with different sleep patterns--even bi-phasic and
polyphasic sleep patterns if your environment and schedule permits
it.

18 ways to leverage sleep for focus

Not all sleep issues are in your control. If certain components of
your psychological system are out of whack, your sleep will likely
follow suit. For instance, if your cardiovascular system or nervous
system experience harmful abnormalities, chances are your sleep
will suffer. Yet there are certain elements within your control that
you can learn to counter. Below we will explore eighteen such
elements that you can control, and tools that you can apply to your
life, which will allow you to get more peace out of sleep.

1. Dont pretend to be a Rockstar:

Many people live life like rockstars (and by rockstars, I mean theyre
rockstars in their own minds). They constantly are pounding away
on their Blackberries, or tapping away on their iPhones. If theyre
waiting in line, theyre shooting off pointless emails to annoyed
co-workers. They brag about getting up at 4am for conference
calls around the world. They are the people you cant stand, and
unfortunately some of us are on our way there.
I admit, I once thought I was a rockstar (in my own mind); but
thankfully, I had a wife. And she was good at bringing me back
to reality: the reality that we are stewards of this universe, not
owners of this universe. Before going to bed, you need to stop and
take a deep breathe. If you dont youll be a sleep-deprived zombie.
Non-stop work, texting and emails in the hours leading up to bed
interrupts regular sleep patterns. You need a sleep ritual that tells
your mind when to simma down. Stephen Furlani notes that its
critical to have a ritual every night.6 For instance, brushing teeth,
reading book from nightstand, taking off glasses. The most critical
component (and Ill touch on this more below), centers on avoiding
electronicsTV, Internet, iPads (unless only reading from iBook)
and cell phonesbefore bed.
2. You are your environment
Ever had a horrible nights rest where you were tossing and turning
because it was hot? Its a pitiful experience. You wake up with in
a sweat. Youre tired, groggy, just out of a crazy dream, and more,
you need to figure out how to turn off the gah-damn heat. Same
experience applies when your room is too cold. You must create a
tranquil sleeping environment.
The following factors need to be in-check for a great nights sleep:
climate, light, electronics and noise. Create an environment that
tailors itself to proper sleep.
3. Get the lag out of your jet
When you travel, you throw off your circadian rhythms (which is a

fancy name for your internal sleep clock). When traveling its best to
slowly ease into your new time zoneand by slowly, I mean stick to
your old time zone for the first day, and then start gravitating to the
hours of your new time zone. By slowly gravitating towards the new
time-zone, youll rupture your bodys sleep cycle.
4. Know what the cons of shift-work schedules are
Twenty percent of the United States is filled with shift-workers. If
youre a shift-worker, you face a chance of sleep deprivation thats
four times more likely than other occupations.
A shift worker is the practice of using various time-slots wrapped
into a 24-hour period. Essentially, youre an employee on-demand
and your times are contingent upon what your boss tells you.
Theres usually three shifts wrapped into the day: graveyard shift,
sunrise shift, evening/afternoon shift. Depending on which one
you get, or which combination you get, your circadian rhythms may
suffer. Before accepting a shift-work job, make sure you understand
its implications on your sleep-cycle.
5. Dont be a pig
Ever had one of those sleep experiences where you slept much
longer than usual, yet in the morning you still felt tired and groggy?
For the rest of the day you feel out of it. Chances are the night
before was one filled with an irregular routine. If you throw off your
body immediately before going to bed, your body is semi-shut off
and semi-trying to digest what youve just wolfed down. For this
reason, its smart to avoid eating too much before bed. In addition,
the following items can hinder your sleep. Its recommended to
avoid these before bed: alcohol, caffeine and exercise.
6. Stop stressing
The number one cause of bad sleep: stress. Weve all gone through
this. You lay there contemplating the upcoming day or re-living
the previous day. That big test you have tomorrow or presentation
begins to freak you out. You begin to stress out. Remember: its not
wise to experience failure before you experience failure. Otherwise,

youll experience failure.

We all experience stress, and ultimately its on ourselves to calm
down. Whats helped me in the past is realizing how insignificant
the problem really is. When you adopt a high-level perspective on
stress-related problems, you can usually extinguish the stress. If
youre still experiencing stress, youre not at a high enough level.
7. Got Tryptophan?
Tryptophan-based foods are excellent for sleep. These include milk,
bananas, poultry, oats, turkey, yogurt, oat-based cereal and honey.
The key centers on eating a tryptophan-based snack, and not on
pigging out.
8. Dont eat lard
Avoid fatty foods because they not only assist in weight-gain, it also
hampers sleep stages.
9. Just say no to caffeine
Avoid caffeine after 2pm
10. Alcohol + Sleep = Fail
Alcohol not only can result in massive hangovers, it also leads to
ineffective sleep. Balance is key, and timing is key. Dont quench
your late-night thirst with Jack and Coke.
11. Dont be a spice-girl (or guy)
If youre going out for a spicy dinner, keep it lightand make sure
its not within a couple hours of your typical bed-time.
12. Slurping down protein shakes aint gonna help you sleep
Heres an interesting tip: avoid protein-rich foods immediately
before bed. Protein takes longer to digest, thus youll be straining
your body and mind while sleeping. So, stay away from protein

shakes as a midnight drink.

13. Dont wet the bed
Unless you like wetting the bed or constantly getting up to urinate,
try and avoid drinking lots of fluid before bedtime.
14. Stick to your guns
Make sure you keep a regular sleep routine. Dont deviate from this
routine as it may throw your body off. Even if youre traveling or in
a hotel, try your best to stick to your routine.
15. Dont be a hermit
Your body needs exercise. Make sure you get out during the day and
get some exercise. This doesnt have to even be jogging. A walk per
day will help round out your routine and assist with proper sleep.
16. Invest in some tools to enhance your sleep environment
As we outlined above, your environment is critical for proper sleep.
If your spouse prefers leaving the T.V. on or letting your snoring
dog sleep in your bed, get some earplugs and a sleep mask. During
my college days my bed was about 20 yards away from a train. Even
better, I had a massive window next to my bed. After picking up
some earplugs, the train never bothered me again.
17. Hate the sound of your alarm clock? Good, ditch it.
Dont rely on your alarm clock. If you rely on your alarm clock, you
may be waking yourself up when the mind isnt ready to. You may
reason, Im never ready to wake up. Dont kid yourself; you are
its just a matter of getting to bed early enough to wake up.
Its dangerous to get in a habit of waking up 15 minutes before
sprinting out the door for work. Your mind needs time, your body
needs time. Give yourself this by going to bed early enough to
ensure two hours of slack time in the morning. This slack time
should be allocated to your Daily Foundation.

18. Sleep is a no smoking section

Last, nicotines effect likens itself to caffeine. Avoid it before bed or
your mind will be racing for hours.

In closing, The Most Valuable Sleep Tip

For about six-months I fed the habit of going to bed around 12am.
At this time, I would read blogs, scan email and play games via
my iPhone. Id get a computer tan before going to bed every night.
Guess what happened when I was in this habit? My mind would be
racing and Id end up falling asleep around 2am. One of the worst
things you can do for sleep is surrounding yourself with a computer,
iPad or iPhone before bed. Its like asking your mind to run a
marathon one minute, and fall asleep the next.
So what did I do? After ridding myself of the iPhone (which youll
read about later), I picked up a Kindle and decided to read before
going to bed. This is a beautiful replacement as theres really only
one thing a person can do on a Kindle: read. This replacement
resulted in two effects: (i) it calmed my mind, which prepared
my mind for sleep, and (ii) it also fed my mind with interesting
thoughts and profound ideas before falling asleep. Instead of having
a dream about how many points Kobe scored the previous day, my
dreams were filled with contemplations about theories from books
Id just finished reading.
In closing, the most important lesson I can give to you would be to
avoid the internet before going to bed.

Further Sources, Resources and Recommended

Readings:
On Sleep and the Mind
Normal Sleep in Adults, Infants and Elderly
Fascinating visualization and explanation of Polyphasic Sleep
Web MD Sleep Foods

VIII. Reading

http://howtogetfocused.com/chapters/grow-your-mind-and-increase-focus-through-reading/ - comments
My track record with reading likens itself to J-Los acting career.
Im either really good, or really bad. I can digest a handful of books
a month; and then follow it up by not picking up a book for six
months.
In an age where everyone is flocking to technology, social mediadriven news and entertainment blogs, many are forgetting the fact
that what you read is more important than how much you read.
I remember a conversation I had with Ho Nam, a well-respected
venture capitalist. I asked him, What blogs do you read? His
response was simple. Take a look at my blog. It lists about 20
books Id recommend highly. In general, reading as much as
possible is a good idea. For the most part, I think blogs are a waste
of time. Bite sized ideas that are never fully developed. Read some
books which are vetted and more well thought out.
Many people overlook the fact that technology, political and
entertainment blogs are nothing more than content factories.
They blast out hundreds of stories daily because theyre in the
business of cramming, not crafting. Most follow a formula like,
x ways to improve your y, what everyone should really know
about x, scientists discover that taking x improves y, why x is
the y killer.And on, and on They blast out content so that youll
drive up advertising impressions, and hopefully over time, click on
advertisements when exposed to enough impressions. If not, then
perhaps laterwhich is why youll see news blogs push for RSS
feed readers. Its critical to understand not only the nature of what
youre reading, but the business model behind what youre reading.
In this chapter well explore three areas:
1. What scientists say about readings implications on helping
one focus
2. How one should approach blogs and reading differently
3. Ways to help yourself get into a habit of reading

1. What science tells us about readings effects on the

mind
Around the year 2000, an academic study surfaced that addressed
the question, What effect does reading have on the mind? This
research was compiled by Anne E. Cunningham and Kaith E.
Stanovich, two academics revered for their work in the field of
literacy. Their findings drive many concepts we know to be true
about reading today.
The findings can be broken into 7 areas that reading enhances ones
mind:

2. Reading develops your vocabulary

Reading, indeed, increases your vocabulary. The table below
displays this principle. The table is derived from the corpus of
written English. This ranks words based on their frequency. The
word the is ranked number 1; it is ranked 10; pass is ranked
1,000; vibrate is ranked 5,000. You get the point. You may look
up words at Wolfram Alpha if youre interested in exploring more
terms. In the table below, the column Rank of Median Word
shows you how advanced the medium is, in terms of word rank.
Medium

Rank of Median Word

Abstracts of Scientific Articles

4389

Newspapers

1690

Popular Magazines

1399

Adult Books

1058

Comic Books

867

Childrens Books

627

Preschool Books

578

Popular Prime-time T.V.

490

Popular Prime-time Childrens

Shows

543

Cartoon Shows

598

Mr. Rogers and Sesame Street

413

Expert Witness Testimony

1008

College Graduates Speaking to

Friends, Spouses

496

A couple interesting observations can be made from the table

above. First, the words used in popular adult T.V. shows are less
complex than those used in popular childrens shows. Second,
college graduates speak to their friends and spouses at levels lower
than Preschool books.
What this tells us about our society
One can conclude that were being spoon-fed simpler words and
simpler ideas as we age. We dont have the time to comprehend
complex vocabulary because, as a whole, we dont have time
to read complex works. Yet I argue that if we dont have time
to comprehend complex ideas, as a whole, we wont have time
to create complex ideas. For this reason, do not shy away from
complex or provocative texts that may challenge your current
reading selection.

3. Reading develops a wide-range of cognitive

abilities
Reading is not only for those who want to impress others through
vocabulary. If youre an academic, that may be the case; but if
youre a normal person (and by normal, I mean not a tool), reading
provides significant other benefits. Reading makes you a more
focused person. Reading gives you quicker wit. In the end, reading
elevates your mood, making you a happier person.
These wide-range of cognitive abilities are driven by the fact that
reading requires one thing: thought.

4. Comprehension grows over time

As you read more, you comprehend more. This embodies the
Mathew effect, in that the rich get richer, and the poor get poorer.

Reading has a tough barrier to entry because those who are new
to reading, wont enjoy reading as much as those who habitually
read. As you read more, your reading experience becomes more
pleasurable.

If youre a first-time reader, or trying to

get into the flow, lower your expectations
initially, but keep pressing on.
If at first you dont succeed, lower your standards
Tommy Boy (The Movie)

5. Reading drives street smarts

The study above was not geared towards the goody-two-shoes kid
that aimlessly regurgitates vocabulary words. The two researchers
found themselves under heavy criticism from all sides. How do
you measure knowledge? By being able to comprehend archaic
writings? The last thing the world needs are a bunch of hermits
that can comprehend Shakespeare. Many argued that real-world
knowledge trumps the ability to score high on an academic aptitude
test. For this reason, the researches used both styles of testing for
knowledge: academic aptitude tests and street-smart common
sense tests.
What they found was rather surprising; those who read more than
their peers possessed more practical knowledge about the world
around them than did those who hardly read at all. In short, reading
increases not only book-smarts, but also street-smarts.

6. Reading is inversely related to T.V.

In the study conducted by Stanovich and

Cunningham, they found that readings
positive effects were inversely related to
watching T.V.

We observed a clear effect of reading volume on the scores on

the question and significant effect of television viewing, but the
effects were in opposite directions! Reading volume was associated
with higher scores on the question, but television exposure was
associated with lower scores.
The question theyre speaking of was a sample question they used to
test their sample. They asked their students, are there more Jewish
people in the world or more Muslim people in the world?
This isnt a trick question. Dont worry, 69.3% of their sample got
this wrong. Even I was hesitant to answereven though Ive studied
both religions. I knew that there were much more Muslims in the
world; however, its weird to say because I know more Jews than
I know Muslims. The fact is Muslims outnumber Jews around
44 to 1. Those who read were more likely to get this right. Those
who watched T.V. were more inclined to get this wrong (too much
Seinfeld watching, I suppose).
If similar questions hold true for other areas in life, were essentially
getting dumberor at least more culturally unaware. And this
downward trend is driven by staring at an electronic box. On the flip
side, those that read develop the mind and expand their knowledge
about the world.

7. Reading helps you age better

In a separate study by the researchers, the performance of college
students and senior citizens were analyzed based on the following
metrics: general knowledge, vocabulary, working memory,
syllogistic reasoning and several measures of reading volume.
After a series of analyses, the positive relationships between
age and vocabulary and age and declarative knowledge were
eliminated.
What this means:
The results of this study are consistent with the
conjecture thatin the domain of verbal abilitiesreading
a lot can even help to compensate for the normally

deleterious effects of aging!

8. Doesnt matter where you start, just start

I dont care who you are, where youre from, dont care
what you did, as long as you start reading, bayybayy.
The Backstreet Boys

OK, so that quote wasnt from The

Backstreet boys. Thank God. However,
it is true. It doesnt matter who you are,
where youre from, or how smart you are,
reading will give you an edge over others
that do not read.
A person who wont read has no advantage over one who
cant read. Mark Twain

Research finds that reading yields

significant benefits for everyonenot just
that prodigy who sat in front of you
in second grade and wore suspenders.
Reading has a positive effect on everyone
regardless of background or starting point.
Those who read a lot will enhance their verbal intelligence; that is,
reading will make them smarter.
Its clear that reading can make you smarter. Yet does that mean
you can read anything and expect to grow smarter than others? No
this does not. Actually, reading can hurt you.
As outlined above and further emphasized by venture capitalist,
Ho Nam, reading books develops ones mind; however, reading the
wrong things can fill the mind with half-baked ideas, and thus hurt

ones intelligence. In the next section well explore how to approach

reading blogs and reading books.

9. Blogs vs. Books

Blogs are for anoraks who couldnt get

published any other way. Janet StreetPorter
Well, there are more writers of blogs
right now than there are readers, so thats
clearly a vanity phenomenon. John
Doerr
Blogs are a great way to monitor and even participate in
the chatter about your new site. Mike Davidson
The quotes above seem to contradict one another. Yet, if you look
closer, one can observe one thing they all have in common: the
quotes above are high on opinion. And people love expressing their
own opiniona need that blogs fill.
Its interesting to think that less than 10 years ago, blogs as we
know them today, really didnt exist.
At its roots, blogs began as personal journals that were published
online. And, in turn, strangers read and commented on them. It was
new; it was cutting edge. It also possessed no sustainability because
there were more bloggers than readers. And readers only want to
read blogs that give them that dopamine fixture and never-ending
satisfaction. This gave rise to entertainment and news-driven
blogs, which has proven itself a more sustainable form of blogging.
This has also given rise to the question: Are blogs and news sites
really synonymous? TMZ breaks the news faster than CNNwe
learned that over the Michael Jackson death. News sites and blogs
arent synonymous, because there are different types of blogs;
yet, everyone is hung up on the association that blogs are online

personal journals. This is wrong, and well explore why below.

With all of the buzz surrounding blogs, people are flocking to the
internet unprepared of the time that they are about to waste. People
get sucked into reading various blogs and stories that give them a
dopamine fix; instead of reading content of actual value.
After one hears Ariana Huffington beating her chest on The Daily
Show about how important blogs are, they blindly dive into the
blogosphere without knowing their own objective. They jump into
the blog world without understanding the time-wasting traps that
many blogs become.
Weve learned that what you read is more important than how
much you read. Now, well explore guidelines for finding blogs
that allow your mind to grow. After exploring the four types of
blogs, youll know what to look for and what to avoid when reading
content online.

The Four Types of Blogs

There are four types of blogs:
1. Personal Journal Blogs
2. News and Industry Blogs
3. Wisdom Blogs
4. Online Books

1. Personal Journal Blogs

Personal Journal Blogs are blobs of content that have no objective
other than expressing oneself. These blogs are managed by one
person and typically contain entries about things theyve done. They
are essentially online journals. You can checkout these types of
blogs by visiting tumblr (www.tumblr.com), or many Blogger blogs
(www.blogger.com). Be wary of these types of blogs because theyre
high on opinion, low on statistics and often die after a couple
years. Obviously, this is not true for all of the blogs hosted on these
services, but many of them fall into this characteristic.

2. News and Industry Blogs

News and Industry Blogs are those that propose to compete with
news sites and pump out content. These are the ones that are in
the business of cramming, not crafting. Theyre usually called
content factories; however, not all are bad. The best ones have their
own culture and personality. This is typically driven by a powerwriter (like a Michael Arrington of Tech Crunch). These blogs are
moderate-high on opinion, often contain drivel (6 ways to read
gmail), sometimes contain gems and sometimes contain breaking
stories. Really, these types of blogs are a mixed bag. Some of the
blogs in this space rock, some spit out drivel. Select which ones to
read wisely.

3. Wisdom Blogs
Wisdom Blogs are those manned by one person thats
knowledgeable about a certain industry or hobby. Unlike a Personal
Journal Blog, these blogs dont spit out personal feelings; they spit
out facts, findings and ideas. These are very interesting to readthat
is, if you read the right ones. An example of a Wisdom Blog would
be Fred Wilsons, AVC (www.avc.com) or Paul Grahams Essays
(http://www.paulgraham.com/articles.html).

4. Online Books
Online Books are essentially blogs that have a purpose and an enddate. Every business and every product undergoes four stages:
embryonic stage (born), growth stage (getting traction), maturity
(growth begins to slow), and decline (product starts declining).
This phase mirrors a book, and mirrors online books. Most blogs
fail because they lack a focus and an end-date. For example, a
blogger gets an idea, writes about what theyre passionate about for
about three months. When the three months expire, theyve said
everything they needed to, and give up.
Online Books are different. They have a purpose and a timeline
with an end date. Of course, any revisions or interviews will be
added after the online books life ends. This style of writing online
is picking up; youll see this writing style surface over the next five
years. Example: 37 Signals Online Book, Getting Real (http://

gettingreal.37signals.com/), and this book was written online

(www.HowToGetFocused.com).

How to find the right blogs

So now you understand the difference between books and blogs; as
well as the different types of blogs. But how do you find the right
blogs to read? Finding a great blog is simple in theory, but it takes a
long time to truly find the gems.
Heres five steps to get you on the right track:
1. Visit AllTop (www.alltop.com) or Technorati (www.technorati.
com)
2. Review the topics youre interested in and select 10 blogs that
you really like
3. Read about five or so posts from eachalso note their date
(make sure the blog isnt dead)
4. Cut your favorites from ten down to three
5. Check their blogroll (links to other blogs typically in the sidepanel) for more interesting blogs
Those steps will get you rolling in the world of finding excellent
blogs. In a later chapter, well explore how to leverage an RSS
reader in order to become more productive, more focused and
squeeze the most knowledge out of your blog-reading time.

Finding the right types of books

Now you know how to find the right types of blogs; however, weve
learned that books are more potent than blogs. Thus, youll want to
find the right books before you find the right blogs.
There are two ways to find great books:

1. The first is through researching what strangers say online

(surfing Amazons top books and bestsellers).
2. Second, find a certain role model or person thats successful in a field that youre in. Email them and ask them
for a book recommendation. Ask them to suggest a book
that they found insightful, but one thats not getting a lot

of love. Find a way to shoot them an email or call them.

Heres a sample:
Hey xxxx
Just wanted to reach out and ask for a bit of help on
something. Ive made a commitment to becoming a more
successful person in the field of [industry that youre in]. Im
looking for a recommendation on a book that youve found
insightful. This doesnt have to be a best-seller; in fact, I prefer
it not be. Im simply looking for something that helped you out
in your journey to the top of your field.
Any recommendation is much appreciated. Thank you very
much.
- xxxxx
This has the potential to result in two things: (i) a great read that
will hopefully inspire you to action, and (ii) that leader will take
note of your commitment to hard workbecause youll be surprised
with how rare these requests are. Of course, you have to be serious
about the desire to read. The second benefit is really just that
secondary.

All of the above tips and lessons really dont matter

Talk is cheap. You must actually read to become a better reader.
The hardest part in all of the lessons above centers on developing a
Daily Foundation that espouses reading. Yet once you get into the
habit of reading, you wont turn back.
My daily foundation and routine was driven by Stephen Kings
book, On Writing. I write two hours before work; and read for about
two hours after work. I get this done even with a wife and an ADHD
dog (a dog that if he could, should probably read this book).

How you form the Daily Foundation of reading

Sitting down to actually read was one of the hardest parts in my

journey to break away from digital-driven distraction (T.V., internet

and videogames). The first stepto not watch T.V. was very difficult.

What helped me establish a Daily Foundation of

reading was three actions:
1. First, I thought of the most successful person in my field; I
then asked myself, what would that person be doing right now?
Would he be playing watching T.V.?
2. Second, I asked the additional question, where do I want to
be in five yearsand how will my actions get me there? Watching
T.V. certainly wasnt the hidden key to reaching my goals.
3. Third, I put myself in a position where my back was against
the wall. I had to read because I made a commitment to
read. How did I do this? With the little discretionary money I
accumulated from the holidays, I bought an Amazon Kindle. This
gave me a sense of, Hell, if I dont read Ive just wasted $270. It
also added a positive association to reading, though. The kindle is
a really neat and focused piece of technology; reading essentially
became pleasurable.
Those three acts above drove me to establish the daily habit of
reading. In turn, Ive become a more focused person since making
that commitment.
Next step: In the first step to getting focused, we spoke of getting to
bed earlier, and developing the Daily Foundation first thing in the
morning. Now I want you to somehow augment reading into your
daily routine (either in the morning or at night).

And with that, heres a parting quote on

reading:
I read for growth, firmly believing that what you are
today and what you will be in five years depends on two
things: the people you meet and the books you read.
Thyla Tharp
Further reading, sources and resources:
What Reading Does For The Mind

 Life Dev on Reading

IX. Exercise
Most people hold the belief that exercise will help you become more
focused throughout the day. But does science hold this as true?
Or do people simply feel more focused from exercise because they
anticipate theyll feel more focused? In this chapter well look into
exercise and its effects on the human body.

Mice and exercise

Researchers at National Cheng Kung University in Taiwan found
that if you allow laboratory mice to run as much as they like, its
brainpower improves. And if you force it to run harder than it
naturally would, its thinking and focus improves even more. Yet,
if you force them into unnaturally long periods of exercise, their
cognitive performance drops. The mice who were forced to run
harder than they naturally would displayed evidence of molecular
changes in several portions of their brains. The mice who ran
natural rate showed changes in only one area of their brains.
Regardless of the type of exercise, one thing happened when the
mice exercised: there were new developments in their brains. This
poses as evidence that exercise does change the brain of mice. But
does it change the brains of humans, and how so?

On Growing Brain Cells

Recently Scott Small, of Columbia University, and Fred Gage, of the
Salk Institute, found that exercises impact on the brain was much
more powerful than simply increasing blood flow to the brain cells.

Heres what happens when you exercise:

1. As you exercise, your muscles contract.
2. This releases chemicals, including a protein called IGF-1.
3. IGF-1 travels to the brain and stimulates the release of several
chemicals, including brain derived neurotropic factor (BDNF).
4. Regular exercise increases levels of BDNF.

5. BDNF stimulates neurons (brain cells) to branch and connect

in new ways.
6. New junctions between neurons are the basis of learning.
This release takes a couple hours to kick in. Yet something
significant happens immediately to the mind: it becomes more
focused.
The creation of new brain cells is not only critical in terms of
becoming more focused, but also preventing depression. In a
neuroscience article by Gretchen Vogel, she finds that a slowdown
in brain cell growth may be linked to depression. John J. Ratey,
MD, an associate professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School
declares, Exercise is really for the brain, not the body. It affects
mood, vitality, alertness, and feelings of well-being.
Its clear that exercise is good for focus, but what kind of exercise,
and what type? Read on below. How To Exercise in Order to

Increase Focus:

Rule #1: Do not over-train

Rule #2: Do not over-train
Rule #3: 8-12 minutes of exercise per day (as recommended by
John J. Ratey who is mentioned above)
Rule #4: Balance is key. Balance cardio, weight-training and
stretching exercises (like Yoga)
Why dont you want to over-train? I mean, come on, the mice in
the first example showed increased brain activity when they were
pushed harder in their exercise, right? Heres why: As soon as you
push yourself beyond a certain limit, your alertness will significantly
drop.

The Bottom Line

Science supports the finding that exercise helps the mind focus
So, theres really not much more to say. Exercise equals increased
brain power and focus. Not a bad way to start off the day. As a
next step, experiment with implementing exercise into your Daily
Foundation.

Further reading, sources and resources:

Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the
Brain
What sort of exercise can make you smarter?
Train Your Brain With Exercise

Daily Foundation Summary

Weve now covered the concept of the Daily Foundation, and a
variety of exercises and practices that you may wish to implement
into your Daily Foundation. By no means, though, are the exercises
and practices listed above comprehensive. Any exercise that allows
you to step into a state of flow is an adequate and recommended
exercise for the Daily Foundation. Just ensure that you practice
something every single day that allows you to step into a state of
flow. This will result in a more focused, grounded life.
In the next section of this book, well learn more about establishing
a foundation built on focus through analyzing the meaning
ingrained within ones life, as well as setting goals that give rise to
focus in ones life.

PART III: IGNITING A FOCUSDRIVEN LIFE

Part III dives specifically into the elements that build long-term
focus in ones life. This section proposes to provide you with the
solid foundation and direction to achieve sustainable success (and
not experience an epic down-fall because your success is built on a
brittle foundation).

This section is broken into the following chapters:

Vision: In this chapter, well first explore the science of goals. Well
then look at the argument thats arisen recently about goals being
ineffective. And last, well outline the organic process of painting a
picture for your subconscious, and creating a vision.
Questions to Ask Yourself: Most people try to ask others the
right questions; however, they fail to ever ask themselves the right
questions. Well explore the questions you must ask yourself in
order to help you find your path. These questions will help you gain
a glimpse into what focused goal you should set, which we cover in
the next chapter.
Focused Goals: This chapter is for those that have tried setting
goals in the past, but the goals they set fizzled out. This chapter
is for those that became overwhelmed in intense goal-setting
exercises. In this chapter, well explore what it takes to set effective
goals. Goals that inspire you, drive you and are founded on common
sense.
Finishing Projects: In this chapter, youll learn how to finish the
projects that you start. Youll find that its not necessarily about
finishing what you start. Its about starting what youll finish.
Zen Masters To-Do List: If you want to become a more
focused person, there are certain principles and characteristics you
must understand about a to-do list. In this chapter, well explore
characteristics of successful to-do lists and specific strategies that
help you throughout the day.

X. Vision
Why Goals Are Critical For Focus
Focus is becoming a lost concept. Its being drowned out by iPads,
apps, noise and buzz. Those who make a concerted effort to master
the concept of focus have a greater propensity to take action,
succeed and have a meaningful impact on the world. Becoming

focused is not simple. Its not a one-time decision, or a one-time act.

Focus is a state of mind. Its founded on a series of actions, habits
and philosophies. Its also founded on the concept of goals. In this
chapter, well explore a concept that is closely related to goals, but
vastly misunderstood: visualization.
Well first explore the science of goals. Well then look at the
argument thats arisen recently about goals being ineffective. And
last, well outline the organic process of painting a picture for your
subconscious.

The Science Behind Goals

Scientists found an astonishing reality about our brain. The brain
cannot differentiate between what we want and what we have.
Our brain is made up of chemicals that carry out brain functions.
These chemicals are called neurotransmitters. Theres a specific
neurotransmitter thats critical to ones focus: dopamine.
Dopamine is the carrot on the end of the annoying stick. Dopamine
keeps you motivated and drives pleasure in your mind. Its a
critical chemical for keeping the mind alert and focused. In fact,
dopamine is a key ingredient in diagnosing ADHD (Attention
Deficit Disorder); as some forms of ADHD are the result of irregular
dopamine levels and reactions.
When our mind perceives that weve attained something that we
want, our mind releases dopamine, which pleases us. When our
mind perceives failure, our mind is drained of dopamine, which
results in fear. Heres a simple depiction of this:

As you can see from the figure, it really is all about perception.
Perception trumps reality. Thus, its important for you to hack the
subconscious of your mind into perceiving what you want is what
you will achieve; and what you havent achieved isnt what you
necessarily want.
This also tells us that its critical to set only one goal (which will be
covered shortly), instead of failing at many goals. Why? Because if
you achieve two goals, and fail at four goals, your dopamine will be
drained, and youll feel a sense of anger, fear or like a failure. This
builds evidence for why its important to only set one small shortterm goal. Give your mind one carrot-stick at a time.

To Set Goals, Or Not To Set Goals

Recently theres been a trend that revolves around the belief that
goal-setting is becoming worthless. Growing up, we hear from
others that in order to succeed you should set explicit, written goals.
This camp is driven by Napoleon Hills infamous book, Think and
Grow Rich. After this work, self-help books all began to regurgitate
the same thing: set goals and youll succeed. Yet, recently, young
successful entrepreneurs and businesspeople are throwing this
ideology out the window. They reason that you shouldnt set goals.
Goals pigeon-hole you, and prevent you from reacting with the
times, this group proclaims.
To recap, Group A says that in order to succeed, you must set
goals. Group B declares that goals are worthless; just focus on
the present. So where does this leave us? Andrew Warners is a
successful entrepreneur and founder of Mixergy (www.mixergy.
com). After retiring in his early 20s, Andrew now spends his time
asking successful people how theyve achieved their dreams. Hes
the Napoleon Hill 2.0, of our era. He, too, is struggling with the
question of whether or not one should set goals.
In an interview with Joe Cirulli, a successful fitness-freak out of
Florida, Andrew says,
Ive been going back and forth on this whole goal setting
thing. Ive talked to entrepreneurs who dont set any goals and
they end up just feeling their way through and it never used
to work out that way. People who just felt their way through
ended up nowhere. They ended up watching TV because thats
where they felt the most comfortable. But now I see internet
entrepreneurs who just do what they love and then they find
an audience and before long they have a real business from it
and here I am interviewing them andI dont know how to fit
that in with what youre telling me. In fact if I ask them, Do
you set goals? they laugh at me and say, No of course not. I
just feel my way through.
So which Group is right? Group A, who sets goals; or Group B, who
doesnt set goals.

Before answering this question, lets listen carefully to interviews

from both groups and detect commonalities, as well as differences.
Using money as a qualifier, well do this by observing Andrews
interview with two successful people: Joe Cirulli (a millionaire
entrepreneur whos pro-goal setting) and Jason Fried (a millionaire
entrepreneur whos anti-goal setting). From listening to both
interviews, heres what we can derive:
1. We know that both sides have reached success; thus, success is
not contingent upon setting explicit goals.
2. We know that both sides work very hard and are persistent.
3. We know that both sides speak with a tone of conviction,
certainty and belief.
4. Being that they speak with a tone of conviction, we can infer
that they have a strong sense of who they are, what they stand for
and where theyre going. Theyre focused on what they stand for.

Explicitness and Conviction

After analyzing the dynamics inherent with these two camps,
my thesis is that its not a question of whether or not to set
goals; rather, I believe goal setting centers around two elements:
explicitness and conviction.
Traditional goal setting centers entirely around explicitly writing
down your goals. By doing this, one gains a stronger sense of
purpose. He or she also gains conviction.
After analyzing the two individuals above, its clear that theyre not
on the same page regarding explicitness. Jason Fried doesnt need
to write down goals to gain a sense of conviction, but Joe Cirulli
(and most people) need to explicitly outline their goals. Fried and
Cirulli are different in that area. However, they both share the same
sense of conviction in what theyre doing.

Though some successful entrepreneurs dont explicitly set goals, in

the back of their minds sits a vivid picture of where they are, what
they stand for, and where theyre going. Theyre absolutely certain
that they can achieve their dreams. Whether or not they write this
down, doesnt really matter. They have the conviction to take them
there.
Joe Cirulli clearly displays this sense of conviction. In an interview
he says,
You know, where I have a thought and Ill wake up a three
oclock in the morning and I just, I cant figure something
out. But the one thing that Ive learned about myself is I will
figure it out. So thats what I know, that it will take some time
but I will figure it out. I mean I had to make a decision about
building another club that I really didnt want to build, but I
was trying to convince myself that I did want to build it and
without going into a long story, and I thought Im going to
sleep tonight and my gut know the answer tomorrow. And

I woke up the next day and I had a stomach ache and its no
joke. I was sick to my stomach. And I said well, I guess that
told me the answer. So I have to rely on my gut feeling a lot of
times. But I trust my gut to know whether its in unison with
really what I want in my life. And so no, I go through those
too. I mean, I have those holy crap moments in the middle of
the night thinking things through and having a problem and
being concerned about something but Ive learned through
time, I can solve it. And thats the confidence that I have in
myself, that I will solve it.
Thats the secret. Its not necessarily about setting explicit goals; its
about painting a picture for your subconscious that instills a sense
of conviction, purpose and focus. In a nutshell, conviction trumps
explicitness.
So all of this leads us back to the question: should you set goals? Yes
or no? You should set goals if it helps you gain a convicting sense
of purpose. And I believe it does. When goal-setting, your goal is
not goals, your goal is conviction. Yet, I dont recommend setting
goals in the traditional sense. I recommend an exercise that centers
on painting dreams within your subconscious, not about setting a
bunch of SMART goals (which well cover shortly). As stated above,
your mind cannot differentiate between what you have and what
you dont have. Thus, its critical to paint a picture of where you
want to be in five years. Naturally, your mind will guide you to this.
After painting a picture for your subconscious, set a simple goal to
achieve in three months. Well explore the art of painting a picture
for your subconscious shortly.

The Model
After pouring through the classic success books, studying zen
principles, Eastern philosophy and reading voraciously through the
biographies of entrepreneurs, I believe that were moving towards a
model where conviction and simplicity trump belabored models. In
order to make your dreams a reality, Ive outlined five stages below,
which I feel serve as an organic process for achieving goals. Each of
these five stages will be covered in the following chapters.
1. Painting a picture for your subconscious (This chapter)

2. Auditing your ambitions through questions

3. Setting simple, focused goals
4. Carrying out the focused goals
5. To-do list strategies
Below, well cover the first element, Painting a picture for the
subconscious

Painting a picture for the subconscious

For the past five years, Ive been going back and forth on whether or
not visualization truly works. Whether its just blowing smoke, or
actually has scientific viability. What pushed me over the edge into
becoming a believer was not science (though, science does make a
strong case for visualization working). What made me take a serious
look into the viability of visualization was riding in the Ferrari of an
entrepreneur I know. I realize that sounds materialistic, but seeing
a Ferrari pull up with someone that was working in a factory five
years earlier, and through visualization achieved his dreams, was
the thing that really woke me up. And this is someone whos not
glittered all over the press. This isnt a person whos an outlier. This
was an everyday person like you and me. Yet, he did one thing that
set him apart. He painted a picture through words of his dreams on
a piece of paper. He then followed it up with a convicting sense that
hed achieve that picture one day. Whats critical, though, is that he
didnt stress out over achieving the picture he painted in his mind.
He held the picture in the back of his mind and knew that one day
he would achieve that vision.
Fulfilling your dreams doesnt center around making a huge list
of goals or even getting anything in writing (explicitly). Instead,
it revolves around triggering a vision in your mind, and then
generating the belief that you know for certain that youll achieve it
one day (certainty).

4 Steps to Paint a Picture for The Subconscious:

Below is a 4 step process for painting a picture in your subconscious
that drives purpose and focus in your life. The process below is
not stringent; its organic, free and open. Before beginning, make
sure you eliminate any distractions or objects that may divert your

attention. You may want to carry out this exercise tomorrow during
your Daily Foundation time.
1. Step 1: Clear everything off your desk and pull out a pencil and
paper
2. Step 2: At the top write out the following question, What will
my life look like in 5 years?
3. Step 3: Using your pencil, paint a picture of what you want
your life to look like in five years. Do this through words, a list,
a blue-print of your house, of your office, of your charity, your
nonprofit or anything else that comes to you.
4. Step 4: For assistance, keep the following sectors of life in
front of you. But dont feel obligated to paint a picture of each of
them: hobbies, family, career, financial, health, spiritual, mental,
social and giving.
After youre done with this exercise, peg it to the back of your mind
and recall upon this picture daily. Many entrepreneurs review such
an item before heading off to bed at night. Bottom line: review this
image daily.
The key centers on not grading yourself against this. Do not set
goals within the various sectors outlined above (hobbies, family,
career, finance, etc.); shelve this image in the back of your mind,
and look upon it as if you know for certain that youll reach this
picturebecause you know for a fact that you will.

The Next Step

If you make this a part of your life every single day, youre going
beyond goal-setting. Youre hacking your subconscious to achieve
the dreams you desire without forcing it. Now that youve developed
your vision for who youll be, youll need to be moving towards
something concrete. Or else, youll just be wandering through life.
This brings us to setting focused goals. The concept of focused
goals centers not on doing any specific activity related to the one
above; instead, it concerns itself with setting a simple actionable
goal that is achieved within three months. This is what well embark
on shortly. But first, you must audit your dreams and your gifts in
order to better understand which goal to set. This leads us to the
next chapter, Questions to Ask Yourself.http://howtogetfocused.

com/chapters/goal-questions/

XI. Questions to Ask Yourself

http://howtogetfocused.com/chapters/goal-questions/ - comments

Walking through walls

A focused person is one who walks through walls because they
know where theyre going and why. Nothing can prevent them from
reaching their destination. They secretly tell themselves, This is
what Im doing; this is where Im going. If anyone wants to join
me, fine. Of course, their attitude isnt one of disrespect; its one of
determination--as we learned above, its one of certainty. A person
that lives with this fire immediately gives off an intangible aura
when they enter a roomand they dont have to say a word. You
know theyre driven and you know theyll be going somewhere.
This, of course, begs the question, How did they get into this
state? The answer is simple; theyve found their long-term focus.
Theyve found their purpose. And theyve found it through asking
themselves questions.
So often we stray away from our purpose. We do the opposite of
what were naturally good at. We will be exploring how to become a
focused person by diving into the following chapters:
1. Vision (previous chapter)
2. Questions to Ask Yourself (this chapter)
3. Setting focused goals
4. Finishing the goals you embark on
5. Bringing goals to reality through personal productivity
systems
This chapter centers around number 2. Well explore the questions
you must ask yourself in order to help you find your path. These
questions will help you gain a glimpse into what focused goal you
should set (which is covered in the number 3 above).

Why Asking Yourself Questions Is Important

In the chapter onthe concept of flow, we find that flow is a
wonderful indicator of purpose. Flow displays what youre
passionate about. The state of flow occurs when the mind is so
entrenched in the task at hand that time stands still. One gets lost
in a task because its natural; its exhilarating. Its their purpose. In
order to find what ones purpose is, its best to think back to where
you were and what you were doing in order to fall into a state of
flow.
Through the series of questions below, youll be auditing your
past and your dreams. Youll be exploring the last time you were
in a state of flow. This prepares one to set goals that are actually
meaningful; rather than setting goals merely to set goals.

Your Challenge
Before moving forth, Id like to present you with a challenge.

Your Challenge For Tonight

First, I want you to bookmark this chapter. Next, If you have a
planner, write the following phrase in it. If you dont have a planner
(which well discuss later), I want you to write this on your hand:
1 hr bedtime htgf in morning
This serves as a reminder for tonights exercise. Tonight, I want you
to cut out the T.V. or late night net surfing and lay in bed for an
hour before you normally go to bed. Do not bring your phone or any
electronic device. If you need to bring anything, bring a fiction book
with you (note: make sure that the book is fiction--it will allow you
to relax more than reading a non-fiction book).
Tomorrow morning come back to this chapter first thing in the
morning and continue reading below. Block out at least an hour.
Ok, if youve finished the above exercise, you may continue on by
reading below. If you havent yet, please put the book down and
pick this up tomorrow morning.

Day Two:
So its bright and early and youre likely thinking about all the
things you must do for the rest of the day. You may also be thinking
about how you can scan this material and move on. Take a deep
breath and understand that the day is going nowhere. Trust that
this exercise will be profoundly rewarding and insightful.
Heres what youll want to do: Like the exercise in the previous
chapter, pull out a pencil and a piece of paper. Well now be moving
towards an exercise that asks you two defined questions. Instead
of the organic, free-flowing question in the previous chapter, this
exercise is more defined. Below youll find two questions. Your task
is to write a half-page response to each of these questions. You
may answer in bullet-points or paragraphs. Just make sure youve
written your response down. Take your time with this exercise and
do not rush this.
Question 1: What is your purpose (long-term focus)?
For further clarification, were all betting our life on something.
Your response could center on you betting your life on there being
an after-life. And you can elaborate on how feeding the homeless,
building a family, or working 70 hour weeks will set yourself up to
achieve this goal.
Or it could be that youre betting your life on no afterlife. You dont
have anything that youre betting on. You simply work and help
others because its intrinsic to human nature. Its a choice.
Or it could be something entirely different.
Bottom line: theres no right or wrong answer. Just your answer.
Again, take your time.
Question 2: If there were absolutely no constraints in life,
if you had all the money in the world, what would your
typical average day look like for the rest of your life?
7

This question is critical because we rarely think of how wed live

life if we had everything we needed. Were so pre-occupied with

thinking about how wed be able to achieve riches that we forget

why we actually want riches. Were so distracted with trying to get
out of our current situation, or our current job, that we dont realize
what wed do with our lives if we escaped our current situation. If
the person who drifts through life, hates their job and complains
about their boss was given a million dollars tomorrow, theyd be
ecstatic... for a while. But after a certain period of time, its almost
certain that find themselves bored to tears. Theyd be miserable
because they wouldnt have anything to be miserable about. Its
scary how many people fall into this trap. Even I only recently asked
myself this difficult question. This really changed my outlook on
life.
Its critical that you get specific with your answer to this question.
Define exactly where youll live. Define what you think about when
you get up every day. Define where youll go, what youll do, and
what youll look like doing it.
For me, my typical average day looks like the following:
First Part of The Day:
I wake up earlier than the rest of my family. I have a couple kids
and my pug, Winston, is still hanging around the house happy
as can be. Its still a bit dark outside, but not completely black.
I walk over to my large, upscale walk-in closet which contains
my jogging gear neatly laid out. I have a white Under Armor
shirt, light jogging shorts, clean white comfy socks, comfortable
sneakers and a regular jogging shirt that carries a symbol that
represents a conference, event or company that Im a fan of. I
put on my jogging gear, and head downstairs. Theres beautiful
carpet laid out in the house, a curved staircase and I can grab
a peak at the ocean as I walk down the steps. My dog Winston
senses that Im up and scurries over to me looking to be petted.
I find his leash, put it on him and get ready to take him outside.
Im thinking about how lucky and blessed I am during this
period of time. Before heading out, I grab a glass of water, sip
it, and then place it down on our marble kitchen coounter. I
then step outside the back door. We have a doggy-door now;
and thus, I dont have to take Winston outside to pee or poop.
He does it automatically. I walk down to the beach and go on

a brief five minute jog with Winston. I circle back, turn around
and drop Winston back off inside the house. I then continue on
for another ten minutes. On my jog, I spend my time thinking
and contemplating my purpose and my direction in life. I
contemplate how I can help others. I also listen to some music,
and an audio book. I turn around and walk back up to the house
where our weight-room is. I lift some free weights, do some
push-ups and sit-ups and then call it a day. I head back upstairs
to our master bedroom shower which is built of marble and
I take a shower. I throw my clothes in the nearby basket, not
worrying about having to do the laundry, or stressing out my
wife with the laundry. I get out of the shower, and put on some
comfy clothes. If its the summer, it will be comfy shorts, nice
slip-ons a comfy shirt.
Second Part of the Day:
Ill head down into my study, which is a stern, rigid-yet
minimalistic room that is filled with oak, books on the wall, and
a desk with only my Mac laptop computer. The desk is placed
next to a window that overlooks the ocean. Theres a separate
area that contains more working space, a light-wood desk that
is about six feet long. On it lays white paper for plans, chords
for working together, video equipment. Across from this is a PC
computer, which contains the latest Microsoft Office and other
tools that arent available on my Mac. On another wall their
lays a massive area for a white-board. In fact, the entire wall
is a white board. This is for future plans, ideas and strategies
that will change the world. This area is partly for work, partly
for ideas, partly for meeting and brain-storming with other
entrepreneurs. The area is partitioned off from my writing area,
though. As I stroll into this study area, I sit down at my writing
station. I write for a little over an hour. I work on my own book
at the time, and I do this every day. After finishing writing, I
wake up my children and hang out with my wife. We play with
the children and I throw a couple football passes to my son.
We then head over to the school where we drop them off. After
this, I head over and grab some coffee from the local coffee
shop. I chit chat for a bit before heading to my work-office,
which is a small office with a couple other inspiring, purpose-

driven focused people. We work on a three-month focused

goal and a project that shakes the world until around 1pm. We
grab a bite to eat and sometimes brainstorm with other figures
in our industry. We then head back to the office and work for
a couple more hours. After the work day is over, its officially
over. No Blackberries, iPhones or work-related calls after 4pm
or whenever we leave the office. We have people working all
hours all over the world. Our venture is not only changing
the landscape in the given industry, but also bringing in more
money.
Third Part of The Day:
I leave my office, and meet up with my wife to pick up the kids.
If theyre in an after-school sport, I help coach the team. We
play, have fun and enjoy the rest of the day until nightfall. We
then head back to the house for a family dinner. We reflect on
the day and the good weve provided to the world. We talk about
our personal three-month goals, as well as a family project that
were all a part of. This family project centers around helping the
poor, or doing something innovative and special that hasnt been
done before. We discuss life, purpose and changing the world.
Other:
We are not stressed; we are calm, confident and happy.
We go on three week vacations twice a year, and one week
vacations twice a year.
I drive a nice car, but not one that is out-of this world
extravagant. Same with my wife. Cars are material, and the
money could go to help a struggling family in a third-world
country.
My kids will not turn into trust-fund babies. If they want
money, they need to start a business and figure it out, or work
for someone--and that someone is not myself, my wife, a friend
or a relative. Thats cheating them. If they every want to start a
business, and they need funding, Ill need a business plan, proof
of concept, a capital spending table where they plan to put the
money and at least three months of time invested in the venture.

After finishing

If you followed the exercise above, and this was before your day
has started, excellent work. You just invested some time in thought
and self-reflection before the days begun. Answering these two
questions before beginning the day will give you a more elevated
sense of purpose and focus throughout the day.
After the first day of doing this, I felt a little different. However,
after a couple days of doing this, I not only felt more focused
during the day, at the end of the day I felt as if Id just woken up.
The drowsy, tired feeling that one feels at the end of a work-day is
extinguished through focused thought at the beginning of the day.

57 Questions to Ask Yourself

Now that youve finished answering the two critical questions,
here are some more questions that you may elect to answer. These
questions do not have to be as in-depth as the two above. The
questions outlined below are for the purpose of putting you into the
proper state for the next chapter.
What is the first instance of being in the state of flow that you can
remember?
1. Did you have any friends or family there to appreciate what
you were working on?
2. In your opinion, whats the most amazing idea youve ever
had?
3. Why was this amazing?
4. Looking back, what was the dumbest idea or venture youve
ever embarked on?
5. Why was it dumb?
6. What thought-process led you to this idea in the first place?
7. Before you pass away, whats one mark you want to leave on
the world?
8. What are the barriers to achieving this right now?
9. What is the next step to achieving this?
10. What do you do every day between 6-10am?
11. What do you do every day between 10am 2pm?
12. What do you do every day between 2pm 6pm?
13. What do you do every night between 6pm 12am?
14. Describe your first undertaking or achievement that was

successful.
15. Describe another undertaking that was successful.
16. What was the difference between the two?
17. How do you feel about money?
18. Have you ever been given significant responsibility over
others? If so, how did you act?
19. How do you react to compliments?
20. Do you like to compete? How do you see rivals?
21. Do you like your day job (if you have one)?
22. Who do you look up to (past or present people)?
23. Why do you look up to them?
24. What do you and your role models share in common?
25. Where are you different?
26. Do you believe that some people are naturally geniuses, or
naturally just more talented in what youre passionate about?
27. How do you respond when you see people that claim to be
overnight successes, or simply lucky?
28. What was the last argument you had, and what was your
position?
29. How do you react when someone is hostile towards you?
30. How do you react to failure?
31. What drives you to keep pressing on after failure?
32. Which do you enjoy more: The feeling of achieving the goal,
or the process of trying to reach the goal?
33. If you never had to work, where would you spend your time,
and what would you spend your time on?
34. What do you fear most?
35. How would you react if the above happened?
36. What makes someone an expert in a specific field?
37. What is your dream?
38. Describe a complex situation in which you had a lot to learn.
How did you go about learning, and did you enjoy this process?
39. Would people say youre someone who diligently pursues
every single detail, or are you more of a big-picture person?
40. What difficult decisions have you made recently, and would
you make this same decision?
41. Describe your decision-making approach.
42. What maxims or beliefs do you live by?
43. Do you like facing concrete, short-term challenges; or do you
enjoy conceptual, abstract long-term challenges?

44. Are you more of a visionary, or more of a person that makes

stuff happen today? Why?
45. Whats the biggest risk youve taken in recent years?
46. Was the risk worth it? Why or why not.
47. Describe a situation in which the pressure to compromise
your integrity were the strongest youve ever felt.
48. Are you better at starting a lot of projects, or squeezing
results out of fewer projects?
49. Do you believe in asking for forgiveness rather than
permission?
50. What sort of mood swings do you experience? Where and
what does this usually stem from?
51. Describe your sense of humor.
52. When theres a difference of opinion, do you confront others
indirectly or directly?
53. When was the last time you put your foot in your mouth, and
what was it about?
54. Are you a natural leader? If so, cite how you are and why.
55. What drives you everyday? Why do you get out of bed?
(besides putting bread on the table)
56. What pace do you work at? Are you fast, slow or moderate
worker?

XII. Setting Focused Goals

http://howtogetfocused.com/chapters/setting-focused-goals/ comments
Weve all been in a state-of-mind where were content with life,
but want more. At the end of the day we ask ourselves what else
could there be? Weve explored exercises that show you how to get
focused, ask yourself questions and establish a Daily Foundation;
but what about goal setting? What about traditional SMART
goals? Should you set goals like, Become a leading figure in my
industry and accumulate $52 million within six years. Those are
nice, those are smart, yet are those truly meaningful? Are they
focused? Or are they just regurgitation from summer reading selfhelp books?

This chapter is for those that have tried setting goals in the past, but
the goals they set fizzled out. This chapter is for those that became
overwhelmed in intense goal-setting exercises. Its for those that
have abandoned the thought of setting goals because the exercise
proved to obtuse, vague and complex. Its for those that cant find
any inspiration in the thought of setting goalsbecause theyve lost
the belief that setting goals serves any purpose. In this chapter, well
explore what it takes to set effective goals. Goals that inspire you,
drive you and are founded on common sense.

The Third Faction:

You must understand that focused goals are unlike any goal exercise
youve done before. In todays world of goal-setting there sits two
extreme groups or factions:
Faction 1
The first faction proclaims that you should set SMART goals.
This is a clever acronym for goals that are Specific, Measurable,
Attainable, Relevant and Timely. This concept is typically
introduced in all-day seminars on goal-setting.
Faction 2
The second faction proclaims that goal setting is a worthless
exercise. This group reasons that the world changes so fast, that
you shouldnt waste your time setting goalsyou should just act and
react. One who exemplifies this would be entrepreneur, Jason Fried
from 37 Signals, who we discussed previously.
Faction 3
Focused goal setting sits in a different group.
The Third Faction isnt a meeting between these two camps. The
third faction is a meeting between common sense, simplicity and
action. This method centers on setting goals that are rather simple
in nature, and then executing these goals within a short time
period. You can explore this concept more and view productivity

applications for this third group at Faction 3s website (www.

faction3.com).

Focused goals arent smart

Before moving forward, you must understand one thing: Focused
goals arent smart.
SMART goals stands for Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant
and Timely. Courses and books are written that take you through
a whirlwind of examples, lessons and reasons for implementing
these types of goals. Yet the biggest problem with SMART goals
centers on one thing: they lack purpose. These goals are carried
out after reading about the concept in some textbook, or special
seminar. Participants tend to create goals that are more focused on
abiding by the SMART system than their own belief system. When
creating a goal, its just as important to know when to start, as it is
knowing what to start.
Thus, before setting a goal, you must make sure that youre in the
proper state to set goals. This is precisely why the last two chapters
asked you tough questions in hopes of placing you in the proper
state-of-mind.

The Proper State of Mind

The reason why most goal setting exercises fail is because they focus
more on popular concepts (like a catchy acronym), rather than the
desires of those setting the goal. Outlined below are two elements
that will assist you further in stepping into the proper state before
setting a goal. It will allow you to set a goal thats meaningful for
you; not a goal thats driven by catchy concepts or phrases.

I. Humility
Goal setting is not about you.
Naturally, goal setting is a profoundly selfish exercise. We focus
on what we dont have, what we want, how much we want and
when we want it. We think of material items like a Lexus or a
BMW or a golden toilet (one of those would be nice). We write out

proclamations like, Im going to get a Masters degree within two

years, and accumulate a net worth of $2,000,000. After this, I will
be happy and content, and work whenever I want to. We can easily
lose ourselves when thinking like this. This thought-process is
dangerous.
When setting goals, its not about you. Its about how you can
leverage your gifts for others. For assistance on getting into this
state, I find it helpful watching videos of those that are living their
purpose. Like this one: (http://bit.ly/goalsetting-htgf)
When in a state of goal setting, first start by humbling yourself and
realizing how lucky you are to be setting goals in the first place.
Your goals shouldnt focus on net worth, cars or materials; your
goals should focus meaning, purpose and your gifts. Its perfectly
fine if your vision contains material-defined images like cars, net
worth or houses; but keep your Focused Goal centered on using
your gifts to provide a special output on the world.

II. Meaning
The second element for getting into the proper state-of-mind when
setting goals centers on mining for meaning.
In order to mine meaningful goals, youll need two things: a pad of
paper and a pencil. Most goal-setting exercises tell you to get your
goals in writing as soon as possible. Whats more important than
that is putting your thoughts in writing (not necessarily the goal in
writing). As we learned, by writing by hand, your thoughts suddenly
free themselves from the confines of your mind. Youll allow
yourself to understand your desires and your dreams in a clearer
fashion. Motivate yourself by grabbing a writing pad and a pencil.
At the top of the paper, write the following question:
What am I here for, and how can this move the world?
This is a very open question, and a tough one to answer. In order
to help you understand what youre here for, think of the hobbies
that you have or the times in which youve fallen into the state of
flow. Theres no correct answer; theres only true answers. Be true
to yourself when mapping out different answers and components

of your life. After each item that you write down, move further by
constantly asking, Why is this important?
This question is very similar to the questions youve asked yourself
previously. If the previous exercise is still fresh in your mind, and
youve already defined your purpose, then elaborate on the second
part of this question, How can your purpose move the world?

The Focused Goal Formula

Now that youre in the proper state to be setting a goal, its time to
unveil the actual formula for setting a focused goal.

Focused goals contain only two elements: three words and three
months. Ill dive into these elements now, and then show you a
sample of a focused goal.

1. Three Words
Now that youve conducted an audit on who you are and your
dreams through asking questions, its now critical to cut these ideas
down into actionable bites. This doesnt mean one must make the
goals smaller; this concept centers around creating memes.
What a meme is
A meme (pronounced so that it rhymes with cream) is an idea,
a thought, or an image that drives emotion and spreadsalmost
instantly. Much like a picture speaks a thousand words, a meme
drives a thousand emotions. Your goals should be memes. My
method for creating a goal that likens itself to a meme is to
condense it into three words.
The reason the goal should be only three words is that theres so
much fat and extra fluff when youre given free reigneven 140
characters is too much room for setting a goal (Twitter gives the
user 140 characters to write their thoughts). Keeping a goal tied to
three words cuts the fat, and drives action.
Samples:
Write a book
Create a startup
Make an album
Quit smoking cigarettes
Run a marathon
Change childrens lives
After youve listed a handful of memes, select one that is aligned
with the meaning youve mined from the exercise above. Its
important to select only one.

2. Three Months
After youve selected one meme that really inspires you, its time to
chunk it. Do this by setting a time-line of three months for this
meme. In order to successfully carry out your goal, its wise to make
the goal an everyday part of your life. Make it a habit to recall upon
the goal every single day. Because your focused goal is a meme, and

doesnt contain any fluff, youll surprise yourself with how easy it
may be to recall upon this goal.
But what if your goals cant be carried out in three months? This
is where the concept of chunking comes into play. We often feel
overwhelmed because were staring in the face of a goal that is
daunting, and seemingly, impossible. Yet, youll find that when you
actually embark on the goal, and break it into smaller chunks, youll
find yourself fast on your way to accomplishing the goal.
The reason why your goals time period should be short is because
life itself is short.
Heres sample focused goal that I set for myself: Write a book.
Ive set the due date within three months for the first version. I
worked every single morning to meet this goal. I turned it into a
habit. Did I finish the goal in three months? The answer is no. It
took me three and a half months to finish the first draft. If you dont
finish the goal within three months, no big deal. Dont beat yourself
up over not meeting the deadline; beat yourself up if you never even
start.
As an alternative, I could have taken a more traditional route and
set a SMART goal. I would have written, I want to write a book in
2010 and get on Oprah before Im 30 years old. The only problem
with this centers on the fact that at that time, writing a book did
not meet the realistic requirement of SMART goals. If I followed
SMART principles, you would not be reading this right now. What
ends up happening when setting SMART goals is you set goals that
are founded on brittle purpose. The goals you set end up being too
confusing, and not action-oriented.
Simply select a meaningful three-word goal and do it in three
months. Thats an effective goal, its a meaningful goal.

Summary
As a next step, follow the action plan below:

1. Watch the video in the chapter and get into a humble state

2. Find a blank piece of paper and a pencil and write the

question, What am I here for, and how can this move the
world? Again, if you've already found a powerful purpose, simply elaborate on the second part of the question.
3. Select a three-word goal.
4. Do it in three monthsmake it a habit and a part of your
life every single day.

XIII. Finishing Projects and Goals

http://howtogetfocused.com/chapters/heres-how-to-finish-anything-you-start/ - comments
It happens all the time. You look back on a couple weeks or a couple
months of work and you realize that youve started a wealth of
innovative projects, but you havent finished any of them. A sense of
being overwhelmed creeps into your mind. You feel like youre great
at starting projects, but you need someone else to finish them.
In this chapter, youll learn how to finish the projects that you start.
Youll find that its not necessarily about finishing what you start.
Its about starting what youll finish.
Well first take a look at the nature of losing passion and focus in the
midst of a project. Well then outline various steps that show you
how to start projects that youll finish, and then finish the projects
that you start. The previous sentence is key. Read it again before
moving on.

The Story
The story is always the same. First an idea is born in your mind.
You finally build up the audacity to begin building the idea. You
pitch it to others, you tell your friends and colleagues. And you tell
your family about it over a plump-ass turkey Thanksgiving dinner.
Youre going somewhere, you tell yourself. Youre passionate. And
youre taking people with you. Yet three months down the line you

begin questioning yourself internally. Wait a minute, what am I

doing? You hear a story from a friend on another persons success
that is entirely different from your own route, and you question
if youre even being effectiveif youre even doing the right thing.
Soon after, you get down on yourself and you start losing focus.
You lose sight of the fire that got you started in the first place. By
six months into it, you decide to abandon the project, and tag it as a
learning experience. You tend to your wounds, rest up for a couple
months and then start the process all over again with a new idea
that fails.
Before we can diagnose this all-too-common cycle, we need to
understand the nature of it.

The Nature of Projects:

In business school, theres a core component that everyone
learns about. Whether youre an aspiring finance jock or the next
marketing guru, you all sit through one basic lesson: the product
life cycle. This is a four stage process that represents the life that
every product experiences. Yet, the interesting part of this cycle, is
that it represents a lot of things. Not just products. Every product,
company, idea, project and even person can be likened to this cycle:

As you can see, theres a decline at the very

end. As stated above, this diagram reflects
not just companies, products and projects,
it reflects life.
In the long-run, were all dead. John Maynard Keynes
Your goal with many of the projects you take on should be to get it
off the ground as swiftly as possible. And soon-after, move it into
the mature state, which allows you to delegate to others so that
they may maintain it until it declines. This cycle is true if youre a
Hunter; but what if youre a Farmer? Well dive into this now.

6 Sure-fire Ways to Get Projects Done

1. Sprints, Hunters and Farmers
Many people fail to finish projects because they take too long to
develop. They spend too much time in the introduction and growth
stage.
Heres the key with projects: Make the introduction and the growth
stage only three months. If you make it six months, to a year, your
passion will fizzle out. An idea can only stay in development for so
long before it dies. Yet, after youve sprinted out of the introductory
stage, people are so tired that they have to get their minds off of it.
Theyre burnt out. Theyve been sprinting too long. At this point,
you must find someone to maintain it for you.
In the startup world, people have a passionate idea; work on it
tirelessly for six months, and then get burnt out and quit. The key
centers on getting the project to the maturity stage within three
months; and then passing it along to someone else to help you
maintain it.
Gina Trapani of LifeHacker summarizes this concept nicely. She
calls herself a serial project starter (especially at 3AM, when
anything in the world seems possible) and a terrible closer (like at
8AM, wondering what the hell I got myself into).
Gina brings up a great point. Getting projects done also depends
on your personality. You must understand if youre a hunter or
a farmer. Neither one is good or bad. There are rich hunters and
rich farmers. Warren Buffet is a perfect example of a farmer. He
purchases stakes in other peoples ventures, he sits on their board,
he farms it and maintains the company. After the company grows
after a long period, he harvests his crops. Hes exceptional at this,
and hes a billionaire. Again, ones not better than the other. You
simply must figure out which one you are.
If youre a hunter, youre best at getting projects off the ground
to to the maturity stage, so that the farmer can maintain it.
If youre a farmer, youre best at taking an established cash cow
and milking it.

Figure out who you are; because it will allow you to gear up for the
stage in which youre not naturally exceptional at. If you get it to the
stage where youre not naturally gifted, and abandon it (instead of
delegating it to a farmer), youll fail at finishing the project. If you
try and farm something that hasnt even taken off yet, youll get
nowhere.
2. Horse-blinders and bunny ears
About a month after embarking on the project of writing a book, I
discovered that one of my favorite authors was beginning to write a
book that was very similar to mine. I was really bummed out. Was
it even worth moving on? I asked myself. Yet, I decided to reach
out and let him know that I thought his project was excellent, yet I
was discouraged that he was doing something so similar to me. His
reply actually encouraged me, instead of stampeding on my passion.
It was something I should have been telling myself all along. He
said that even though our book idea is very similar, our approaches
and philosophies are much different. And being that the problem
were proposing to address is significant, the more people writing
about it, the better. I learned that all too often we begin projects and
then let external variables stamp on our dreams.
Theres an important saying in the world of entrepreneurship that
You dont have any real competition until youve hit $50 million
in revenue. The point is that you should avoid focusing attention
on any external variable until youve hit that mark. Why? Because
if you focus on what others are doing too early, youll lose sight of
what you can control. Youll end up living down to the competitive
environment, instead of living up to the expectations of your
customers.
For this reason, the key when starting a project is to wear horseblinders, and cut off your bunny ears.
3. Break Brittle Reasons
Soon after graduating from college, I was living paycheck to
paycheck with a wife and a dog to support. It was a very tight time,
and we scraped by for a while. During this time, I identified the

problem as not having enough credentials to make real money. Boy,

oh boy, was I wrong. In my off-time Id visit the local public library
and browse through the career section. I found a book that showed
the average income per profession. Two jobs stuck out to me: (i) an
anesthesiologist, and (ii) an attorney. I didnt want to go to medical
school. Science wasnt my thing. I didnt want to kill anyone by
putting them asleep. Plus, I couldnt even spell anesthesiologist, so
I dropped the idea of becoming one. This, of course, left me with
the option of being an attorney. So, I reasoned, Hey, Lawyers make
money, business law isnt so bad. Id like to make money. Id like
to go into law school. Thus, for about five months I studied for the
LSAT. I took the logic games, read through the books, spent hours
and hours pouring through forums. On day 151, I woke up and
asked, Why am I doing this? I couldnt find a compelling reason
why I was pursuing what I was pursuing (other than reading about
the average income); so, I decided to ditch it. I based my pursuit on
a brittle reasonmoney.
Many times, failing at getting projects done isnt about losing
focus based on others, or based on time, its based on passion.
Your passion is founded on a compelling reason for undertaking
something. If your reason for embarking on something is brittle and
materialistic, it will fizzle out.
Before beginning any project or short-term goal, you must invest
a lot of time in answering the following question: Why am I even
doing this?
This questions sounds like an easy one, but dont fool yourself.
Were really good at B.S.ing ourselves, and telling ourselves things
we want to hear. Youll find that if your reason is founded on others,
external variables, or materials, its brittle and will break. If your
reason is founded on your purpose, youll carry out the project.
The key is not to finish the projects you start; but to start the
projects youll finish. Choosing a project founded on a brittle reason
will prevent you from ever finishing.
4. Avoid Too Many Meals

So often I meet people that have too many things on their plate.
Theyre trying to eat too many meals. These people tend to respond
that their life is chaotic. In reality, their decisions to take on projects
are chaotic.

The diagram above depicts what the process is like when you take
on too many projects.

Neil Patel, a well-respected entrepreneur,

writes that the reason most entrepreneurs
fail is that they have too many projects;
they have their hands in too many pots at
one time.

If you dont focus on one business youre bound to fail.

Hypothetically, even if all of your ideas are revolutionary and they
are bound to do well in this world, youll make them crash and
burn. Why? Well, its because if youre splitting your time between
a few businesses, you wont be able to put in the required amount of
time and energy into any of them.
You must learn to stick to one venture, respectfully turn down other
projects, and tell people what youre doing and in what direction
youre going. Stick to one thing, respectfully turn down distractions
and move boldly in that direction.
5. Crunching
Most of the time, projects really arent our choice. Unfortunately
we sometimes find ourselves in positions where a boss gives you
projects that you otherwise wouldnt have done on your own.
Obviously, you want to pay attention to detail; yet, I find that the
best way to finish these projects is to batch them (a concept well
cover in a future chapter relating to email ). Its best to outline
precisely what needs to get done, crank it out as swiftly as possible,
and tell yourself that after sifting through this project, and getting
this out of the way, you can focus on what youre good atprojects
that drove you to the job in the first place.
Crunching out projects is easier said than done, though. The simple
everyday secret to crunching out projects centers on one thing: a todo list.
The most productive and effective business leaders, artists,
programmers, developers and designers I know all have one thing
in common: they write themselves a to-do list every single day. They
crunch out that listusually by hand, and then move on to the next
item.
Whenever you feel overwhelmed with a project, its critical to break
the project into smaller, actionable pieces and add them to your
daily to-do list. Youll be surprised with how much you get done,
and how fast your outstanding projects get executed. Well cover todo list strategies and philosophies in the next chapter.

6. Shutting out the world

As stated before, you cant start focusing until youve stopped
getting distracted. Though this phrase is profoundly simple, most
people disregard this at all costs. Theyve got the T.V. blasting in
their face as they try and crank out a project.
Two things will happen when you try and finish projects in a semiconscious state:
1. You will become frustrated
2. You will fail
Its happened to me before, and its likely happened to you. Sure,
your project may turn outand it may turn out just fine; however,
that sheer genius that would have pushed your project over the edge
to greatness diminishes when other stimuli crowd out your focus.
The sad part centers on the fact that you wont even realize this.
Dont let this happen.

Conclusion:
In the end, its really about hard work and persistence when
undertaking projects. Its hard to finish projects until youve gone
through the act of failing in finishing projectsand Ive definitely
had my fair share of project failures.
To summarize, if youre a hunter, its critical to identify a deadline
to which you hand over your project to a farmer at the maturity
stage. The farmers job is to then maintain the project, and the
excellent work that youve launched.
1. Marathon of Springs
2. Horse-blinders and Bunny Ears
3. Break Brittle Reasons
4. Avoid Too Many Meals
5. Crunch out projects
6. Shut out the world
By following the above principles, and starting projects that youll
finish, instead of attempting to finish projects that you start, youll
always be able to finish the projects that you start.

XIV. The Zen Master To-do List Strategy

The Link Between Dreams and Reality
Theres one item that represents a link between your dreams and
reality. One thing that you must do every single day required to
carry out your purpose. That one thing is to take action. And the
ultimate tool for taking action is a to-do list. To-do lists arent just
for people that wish to be efficient; to-do lists are for people that
want to be effective. In order to become a more focused, driven
person, you must understand how to leverage a to-do list properly.
The wealth of productivity tools available are not only confusing
consumers, theyre hurting them. Most web to-do list applications
out there focus on features. This focus kills productivity. Such web
to-do lists include a focus on iPhone apps, syncing to-do lists across
services, tagging to-do lists, categorization, and more. Well explore
why these tools end up hurting your productivity; rather than
helping it.
If you want to become a more focused person, there are certain
principles and characteristics you must understand about a to-do
list. After exploring the characteristics of to-do lists, well look at
two to-do list strategies that will help you focus throughout the day.

A Zen Master Named Barney

At one point in my life, I had a wonderful system for getting
things done. It was simple, efficient, and most importantly, it was
profoundly effective. My system centered around an offline to-do
list planner. A basic paper and pen system. It was perfect. Yet at one
point, and I cant really remember how it started, I began looking
for more. I wanted to find new, innovative ways to get things done.
And almost instantly, I became an online to-do list junkie.
I tried every single online to-do list application. The features that I
needed at first were small. For instance, I wanted an online to-do
list that synced with my iPhone, with my desktop, and wherever
I was online. Soon after, my needs grew dramatically. I wanted to
be able to call a number and record my to-do list items by voice.

I wanted to Tweet a to-do list item; I wanted to email a to-do list

item. I wanted anything that sounded neat: things that allowed you
to take pictures of tasks; pegging items to Google maps; syncing
with Google calendar; hooking my to-do list up to my RSS feed. And
on and on these needs went.
Before I knew it, almost a year had passed and my old reliable
system was long gone. A distant thought, much like childhood. After
hearing my challenges about being productive, a good friend of
mine suggested I meet up with an acquaintance of his: a Zen Master
named Barney. Yes, he goes by Barney. Hes a master in the art of
focus, as well as various Buddhist branches (Tibetan Buddhism and
more). Hes written a handful of books that received praised from
other well-respected monks.
This could be interesting, I thought. So I met Barney on a sunny
November morning in Southern California. In Barneys office sat
waterfalls, bonsai trees and a computer with a sticky note hanging
off the screens right side. When explaining to Barney that I was
having trouble focusing and getting things done, he paused for a
moment, which felt like forever. Literally. It was about a 30 second
pause, which doesnt sound all that awkward, until you experience
it for yourself. He asked me a simple question: How do you get
things done?
I outlined my system, which was a combination of web 2.0
applications, Gmail, Google Calendar, iPhone apps, Twitter
and calling phone numbers. After five minutes of outlining my
productivity strategy (which I was actually pretty proud about at the
time), he paused and asked again: How do you get things done?
This time, his tone was glittered in curiosity and a hint of concern.
It sounded as if he was astonished that I was able to get anything
done in the first place.
He didnt really have to say anything more. The tone of his second
question opened my eyes. I was no longer focused on getting things
done; I was focused on applications that promised to get things
done. In turn, this prevented me from getting things done. Its an
irony that is more common than ever before.
He took me through a series of lessons and examples that displayed

how weve become an overextended, over-distracted society because

of our obsession with featuresnot effectiveness. He suggested
starting from scratch. Starting with the basics, and starting with a
pad and pencil. This led me back to where I am today: happily using
a paper planner to-do list.
Obviously, this wasnt new. I just needed a kick in the butt to realize
that minimalism still trumps features. Though, he did show me
something that he uses, which helps him get more done throughout
the dayeven when using the internet: he uses a three-item to-do
list that he stores on a sticky note. He stores this sticky note on the
side of his computer monitor, which keeps him focused on the task
at hand. Ill share this method with you shortly.
To summarize, Barney suggested using two tools in order to get
more focused:
1. An offline, minimalistic to-do list (pen and paper)
2. A three-item focus list that allows you to chunk your most
important items
We will explore these now.

The Two Tools For Getting Things Done Like a Zen

Master
1. The To-Do Planner
The first tool centers on combining your calendar and to-do list. I
call this combination a To-Do Planner.
Successful to-do lists systems combine a calendar and to-do list for
one reason: simplicity. If you have many tasks scattered throughout
a variety of different places, youre more likely to have tasks slip
through the cracks. Ive seen people spread out their appointments
and to-do items between Google calendar, Google tasks, Remember
the Milk, Jott, Evernote and others (I admit, I was one of them). Its
an absolute nightmare. Its profoundly inefficient. The key is to use
only one platform:
A weekly to-do planner.

Sample Picture of A Weekly Planner (above)

A weekly to-do planner allows you to keep a daily to-do list, with
enough room to write that to-do list; as well as allowing you to
book certain appointments in the future. Instead of looking at
Google Calendar for appointments, and then at your daily to-do
list; you only need to look one place to get things done. The reason
I suggest using a weekly to-do planner is because daily planners
have too much room, and monthly planners have too little room.
Get a weekly to-do planner. And focus not on how many things you
can get done in a day; instead, focus on one critical task that will
actually have an impact on your life.

Why not online to-do lists?

The reason why online to-do lists fail is because they try not only
to replicate offline to-do lists, they try to out-do offline to-do lists.
They do this by adding dozens of features, services, items and
confusion to this simple system. Additionally, online to-do lists
sit within the worst environment for your focus: the internet. And
being that you are your environment, online to-do lists end up
being distractions.
So where and how can you get a planner like the one above?
Unfortunately, these things arent the easiest to find. It usually takes
my about three trips to different stores to find one that will work for
me. If you dont want to go shopping for a to-do list planner that fits
your needs, you can design your own templates and styles of to-do
planners here: Do It Yourself Planners (www.diyplanner.com)
If you dont want to design your own, heres a weekly planner I
suggest using: Moleskine Weekly Planner (www.moleskine.com)
http://bit.ly/9SQOy1
2. Online focus list
The second item that Barney suggested was having a three-item list
used in conjunction with your computer. This list poses to keep you
focused on the task at hand.
Have you ever needed to check a quick email, or something
that should have taken you 2 minutes, but ended up taking you
45 minutes? The online world is so addicting, stimulating and
distracting that its hard not to get lost. It starts by opening your
email, but then you get a notification from Facebook. Stacy just
poked you on Facebook! Poke her back. You visit Facebook and
there goes an hour of your life.
The biggest problem with offline to-do lists is that they dont do the
best job of keeping you focused when youre using a computer. Even
the online to-do lists out there are horrible at keeping you focused
for this. They hurt the cause more than help the cause for getting
focused.

Bestselling author Tim Ferriss, has a method for countering this

process in which he has a small sticky post-it note. On it he writes
three things that hes going to do when he sits down to use the
computer. Guess what was on the right-side of Barney (the zen
masters) computer monitor? A three-item sticky note that listed
what to do.
Though Im not sure who influenced who, my guess is that its
neither. For some reason, three item to-do lists are naturally gifted
at helping you get things done.
I call this concept, a FocusList.
As stated above, online to-do lists fail because theyre trying to
replicate the wrong thing. Online to-do lists try to replicate offline
to-do lists. Online to-do lists should instead try to imitate the Zen
Masters strategy for getting focused when using the computer.
The best to do list you can get for getting focused while using the
computer is a FocusList.
A FocusList is a minimalistic to-do list that limits your wandering
mind. Instead of allowing you to add 10 items, a focus list only
allows you to enter 3 items. This keeps you focused on effectiveness,
not efficiency. If we give our mind too much room, we end up
hurting our productivity by focusing on things that dont matter.
A FocusList asks you one question, What are the three most
important things you can do right now? To which you respond with
three things that keep you focused on the task at hand.
Heres a sample picture of a FocusList:

Faction3s Focus List

So where do you get a FocusList?
Faction3 develops productivity applications that focus on you,
rather than focus on features. Faction 3 has a FocusList
application that is founded on the philosophy outlined above. Its a
downloadable application for PC (Windows), Mac OSX and Linux
operating systems. Visit www.Faction3.com to learn more.
I highly recommend the FocusList for two reasons: 1) I designed
it, and 2) I use it every day. You can get the free version of FocusList
at www.Faction3.com or upgrade to the paid version there. You
dont have to buy the FocusList in order to experience the Zen
Masters principle. You can use a sticky note, a notepad, your textedit tool, or simply a piece of paper. I personally use the FocusList
because its tailored specifically for the Zen Masters strategy.
Whatever you choose, make sure you keep the list only three-items
long.

4 Characteristics of Successful To-Do List Systems

Now that we understand the two tools you should employ
for housing a sustainable to-do list system, well explore 4
characteristics of your to-do list system.
1. Free and open
As we touched on in a previous chapter, its critical that you
design your to-do list to be successful and take into account the
distractions people bring into ones life every day. Keep your to-do
list free, open and flexible. Your to-do list shouldnt be broken down
hourly.
Here is a sample of a rigid, ineffective to-do list:
6:30am get up
6:34 am put on jogging gear
6:36am exercise
7:22am shower
7:28am shave
Dont kill yourself with micro-detailed to-do lists. Keep your to-do
list simple, focused and free.
My offline to-do list has arrows, text and items floating around all
over it. It looks like a mind-map where to do items have arrows
literally pointed across pages. Everything is spread out. To others,
this looks like chaos; to me, it looks like art. It looks organized; it
looks as if Ive creatively outlined ways to make sure I got the most
important tasks done.
Obviously, it doesnt start as chaos. This is the result of using a todo list actively throughout the day. Thats what well talk about next.
2. Making it a habit
Your to-do list isnt something you check once per day. Rather, it
serves as an all day, constant reminder tool. Successful to-do list
systems are founded on the habitual action of checking what youre
doing, and chunking your next actions into three-item steps.

Anyone can purchase a to-do list planner or the FocusList, but if

you dont make the tool an everyday habit; or something you do
without thinking, youll never benefit from it. Like anything else, its
use it, or lose it.
When using a to-do list, two things are critical: (i) you must begin
every day by looking at your to-do list; (ii) you must chunk your
actions into bite-sized achievements. I usually break these into
three steps.
Heres and example of my three-chunk to-do list:
1. Design a blog
2. Do some SEO marketing
3. Read one news story
The third step is the carrot. I make a habit of constantly doing
two critical things, and then rewarding myself with a quick
entertainment activity. Like exploring a tech news article, watching
hilarious YouTube videos or reading a certain story Ive been
wanting to read.
This is yet another reason why online to-do lists are harmful rather
than helpful: theyre overwhelming. Starting a list of 40 items is
much more intimidating than starting a list of 3 items (as in the
Focus Lists). Chunking in threes is much more effective than
trying to check off a 40 item to-do list.
3. Fire
A major part of your success with a to-do list relies on your
motivation and fire; rather than the actual application. If you have
the passion (or the fire), but dont have the correct tools (the offline
to-do list and the FocusList), then youll be inefficient; however, if
you have the tools, but not the fire, youll be completely ineffective.
If youre extremely passionate and believe that a certain online todo list will work for you; you usually can make it work (no matter
what system youre using). The fire and belief in your to-do list
system will drive you to get things done. Thus, its critical that you
believe in your to-do list system. This belief and fire, combined with
the two simple tools (offline to-do planner and a FocusList), will

allow you to start carrying out your dreams.

4. A writing device
The last characteristic that one should employ for an effective to-do
list is quite simple. Its the habit of carrying around a writing device
at all times.
Famous novelist, Paul Auster, wrote a simple, yet moving essay on
why he writes. In the story Auster retells a childhood moment in
New York where he forgot a pencil when asking for an autograph
from Willie Mays. Auster was fumbling around for a couple of
minutes as he frantically asked his family and strangers for a pencil.
Not one person had one. After a while, Mays responded, Sorry, kid.
Aint got no pencil, cant give no autograph. From that day forth,
he never left his house without a writing device. And thats how
he became a writer. He was always prepared. If youre committed
to a truly effective to-do list system, make sure you always carry a
writing device with you.

Next Step:
As a next step, I suggest two actions:
1. Pick up an offline planner in a weekly format.
2. Implement the art of the FocusList. You can do this through
sticky notes or by picking up Faction3s FocusList at (www.
Faction3.com)

PART IV: FOCUS 2.0: THE

ONLINE BATTLE
Part IV guides you through specific web applications and technology
that we use everyday. Each chapter proposes to teach you precisely
how to leverage each tool in order to get the most out of each
service, in the least amount of time.
Well cover how to leverage the following services for focus:

Facebook: We will explore exactly why Facebook is so addicting,

and why Facebooks interests are in direct conflict with your focus.
Twitter: We will explore the brief history of Twitter and how the
service has morphed into something completely different than what
the founders envisioned. Well learn how to get the most out of
Twitter without having to life a finger.
Linkedin: We will explore how to leverage your LinkedIn account
to make more money, meet new connections and get found for your
gifts.
Digg, RSS and Content Aggregation: We will explore the
nature of RSS, blog syndication and finding great content among
the internets sea of information.
Email: We will explore tools on how to leverage your email to
become a more focused, purposeful person. Instead of shooting off
emails at the dinner table, youll learn how to get more done in less
time through focused principles when using email.

XV. Facebook
Ever wondered why Facebook keeps releasing redesigns? The old
facebook layout was fine, right?
Facebook provides an atmosphere to keep up with your friends
in a neat, simple environment. This was Facebooks edge. It
was Facebooks value proposition. In part, this is why Facebook
surpassed its over-crowded competitor, Myspace. Yet one thing
remains certain: Facebook is a business. And in order for their
business to thrive, they must make money.
In this chapter, well explore the why behind Facebooks
redesigns. The goal is not to call out Facebook for being a
distraction. After all, its one of the most useful online utilities, as
it centers on cultivating relationships with friends. The goal is to
promote awareness. Its to make users more aware of Facebooks
goals. Its to outline how Facebook makes money. And through this,

youll see how Facebooks monetization strategy sits is in direct

conflict in making you a more productive person.
Facebooks re-designs centers on improving two things: (i)
Increasing search-based advertising impressions, and (ii) increasing
overall advertising impressions. Well explore why below.

I. Why is Facebook focusing on driving up search?

Facebook is driving up its search efforts for three reasons, (i) to
combat Twitter and Google, and (ii) to gain more insight into their
users in order to advertise them (theyll log which search terms
you look for), (iii) display text advertisements on the results page
related to your search query.
Think about the people behind Facebook right now. Theyre young,
theyre smart and theyve got confidence. Many employees within
Facebook think theyre the biggest thing since sliced bread (or at
least Google).
Search is a massive business model within the internet. Google is
down the street raking in ~$20 billion every year through search.
You probably recognize the thought process of Facebook. It likens
itself to a cavemans thought process.
Facebooks caveman discovery process:
Google good.
Facebook good.
Google a search company.
Google like information.
Facebook have information Google cant have.
Google make lot of money through search ads.
Facebook try to be like Google to make big-money-pow.
Facebook make search more important in redesign.
Facebook make more money from search.
Facebook happier
With Facebooks shift towards search, they are hoping that you will
spend more time searching for people, apps, groups or fan pages
on Facebook. In return, youll be spending more time on Facebook,
and seeing more advertisements. Their intentions are to suck more

time out of you on Facebook.

II. Facebooks Core Business Model: Distraction

Using RescueTime (www.RescueTime.com), one can observe where
they are spending the most of their time on the web. I observed
my time spent on Facebook. By no means am I a Facebook addict,
I thought. In fact, I rarely ever use it. I told myself that I use
Facebook for development and work purposes. I maybe use it 5-10
minutes/day. But apparently, I lied. RescueTime found that I use
Facebook an average of 35 minutes/day.
How much would you guess the average user spends on Facebook? I
mean people are seriously addicted, right? Maybe two hours, maybe
three hours?
Nope, the average user spends only 45 minutes per day surfing
Facebook; however, crunched into this 45 minute window is an
average of ~70 pageviews.
More pageviews equals more exposure to advertising impressions.
Think about that for a second. Thats an average of almost two
clicks per minute. Theres likely a wealth of people that drastically
exceed that figure. Facebook is crunching out a massive amount of
ad impressions in a very short amount of time.
This may prove why Facebook is so addicting. Youre actively
engaged immediately after logging in. Before you know it, youve
just wizzed on 45 minutes, which seemed like 5 minutes. Time flies
when youre actively engaged. And Facebook has done this better
than anyone out there.
Facebooks core U.S. business model centers on advertising.
Yes, they have virtual goods in place (in order to monetize the
areas where there are practically zero advertiserslike Indonesia,
the Philipines, Japan, etc.) Being that their business model is
contingent upon advertising, their goal is to drive up impressions,
which in turn will drive up clicks (money).
Facebook also has more pageviews than Yahoos network of sites,

and theyre fast-approaching Google. This means that Facebook has

the potential to show more ads than Yahoos content network. Yet,
Facebooks ads, unlike Yahoos, are significantly more relevant (and
also more pricey).
Heres an example of a Facebook ad:

Yahoo ads are traditional display ads (banners with picturesGif or

Swf file):

But the images above only show the look and feel of the ads. The
key parts sit within the system and algorithms powering the ads.
This is where Facebook shines. Facebook has the data advertisers

have dreamed of since the dawn of time: knowing peoples true

desires.

Facebook knows more about you than you know

about yourself
Sure, Facebook knows your demographic information. They know
where you live. They know where your friends live. They know
where your family lives. They know your interests, your goals, your
passions, your role-models. However, the true gems sit in the data.
Its more than likely that Facebook logs additional data about you.
Facebook knows how much time you spend on Facebook per day.
They know what time of day you log in.
Facebook also knows which profiles you click on most. Through this
data, they can capture your hidden desires.

Lets take a use-case example:

Ashley is an average-looking 16 year-old high school girl. She
hangs out with the nerdy crowd. Her interests include reading. Her
favorite music is the Jonas Brothers. Shes having trouble getting
over that nerd humpand the fact that she still likes the Jonas
Brothers.
Ashley has 246 friends. Not much for a teen her age. Her average
time spent on Facebook outweighs others at 2 hours/day.
Ashley clicks on Stacys profile an average of ten times a day. Ashley
knows Stacy through friends. Stacy is a popular girl and hangs with
the popular crowd. Stacy has 1,200 friends and her wall is always
flooded with funny recollections of the previous day and photos
photos in which Ashley constantly browses. In Stacys profile, it
shows that Stacy loves the band Greenday, and Stacy likes rocking
out.
Guess what types of ads Ashley (the geeky girl that loves Jonas
Brothers) will see? Take a guess: Will Ashley see Jonas Brothers ads
or Greenday ads?
Greenday ads (the band that Stacy, the popular girl, absolutely

loves)
Facebook has the potential to carry this out. Right now, Facebook
is only giving third-parties access to basic desires (Ashley would see
Jonas Brothers ads in this case).
This is the truest form of relevant advertising. Facebook essentially
knows what Ashley wants to be through the data Ashley logs in
clicking and browsing Stacys photos.
Thus, the more you do on Facebook, and the more distracted you
are, gives Facebook more data on what type of person you are; thus,
allowing them to deliver more relevant ads to you and make more
money.
The question social networks, like Facebook, ask themselves
everyday is, How can we get, (i) more people using Facebook, (ii)
more often, and (iii) get them to see our ads more frequently?
There are hundreds of ways they attempt to do this (adding features
like video, games, fan pages, etc.). However, the main way is
through four core distractions:

The Four Innate Distractions From Facebook:

1. Notifications
Those little red bubbles that display a certain number of messages
drive clicks. People love clicking those little red notification icons.
This, in part, is driven by the fact that your Facebook inbox displays
the same style. And people love feeling important. Ohhh ahh,
someone took time out of their day to message me directly through

Facebook? I must be important. Getting a direct message is more

intimate than a wall post. Theres a reason why the Facebook Inbox
notification share the same look and feel as other notifications.
Facebook wants you to click on anything with a red notification box.
And with each new Facebook redesigns comes more and more red
notifications.
2. Email alerts
Facebook sends out messages to your email when specific actions
occur (like Friend Requests). This is Facebooks way of saying, Get
the hell back over here.
3. Chat
This is Facebooks way of saying, Youre not leaving. When a
friend pings you, Hey! Hows it going? Been a long time. Hows
the family? You cant just ditch them and leave Facebook. At this
point, Facebooks got you hooked.
4. Pictures
This may possibly be the biggest source of distraction for Facebook
users. As soon as pictures pop-up in the Facebook news feed, say
goodbye to 10 minutes of your life. People love pictures. Its easy,
pictures speak a thousand words, and conveniently for Facebook,
theres ads snugged next to pictures.
In order to negate these distractions in the face of Facebooks redesign, I recommend the following steps:
1. Use RescueTime to set up alerts. These alerts will help you
identify and keep track of the time spent of Facebook.
2. Get used to the red notification buttons, and feel comfortable
in keeping them unread.
3. Before you login to Facebook I highly recommend writing
down your objective in logging in; if you try making a mental
note of your objective when logging in, youll forget when youre
hit with thousands of social stimuli (friend requests, pokes, wall
posts, etc.) For example, write down on a sticky note, Logging in

to wish my cousin a happy birthday.

4. Turn off all email alertsanything Facebook should not
appear in your email inbox
5. Go into invisible mode on Facebook Chat
6. Categorize your news feeds into groupsthose that are your
close friends, work friends, family, and randos (by Randos,
I mean random people that you felt awkward in declining their
friend request). This will help you not get distracted with photos
posted by randos, as they wont appear in your family group.
7. Also, dont forget about Facebook lite: http://lite.facebook.
com
In the end, Facebooks latest re-design centers on increasing
notifications and boosting their search usage. Facebook is definitely
moving in the right direction in terms of captivating users; however,
its critical to understand how and why time flies when surfing
Facebook. Hopefully the overview and tips above help you focus
and become more productive online. Until, the next re-design, good
luck.

XVI. Twitter
http://howtogetfocused.com/chapters/twitter-is-dead/ - comments
Today, more than ever before, were presented with new web
applications and tools that promise to help get things done. The
truth is, they do the exact opposite.
In this chapter well learn how to truly leverage Twitter for results.
This will allow you to focus more on things that matter; instead of
spending time on something that simply wastes your time.
In an age of distraction, this skill is critical to reaching the freedom
and dreams you desire.
I think its time that we again ask ourselves the question weve
always been asking, what is Twitter? Or more, what has Twitter
become?

Just like the web, twitter has undergone a profound transition.

Whereas web 1.0 was about publishing static web content, web 2.0
arose and centered on dynamic, social content. So, too, is Twitters
recent transition.
Twitter started as a nifty little experience for sharing small details
about your life (Twitter 1.0). This included people saying things
like, Im eating a hot dog right now.
Now, were seeing changes. Changes that are showing up right
in front of us. Instead of Sharing, were Tweeting. Instead of
the question, What are you doing right now? its replaced with
Whats happening?
Slowly, and perhaps painfully for the founders, Twitter has turned
into something else. Twitter has transformed into story sharing
and link-sharing with a social twist. Its transitioned from a place of
primary sharing and interacting, to place filled with brands, links
and ads. Instead of real-time conversations, were seeing a stream
of real-time affiliate links.
Twitter has transformed into a place where people primarily do
three things:
1. A place where entrepreneurs/bloggers/freelancers share links
2. A place where celebrities write when theyre drunk or bored
3. A place where brands go to prove that theyre ahead-of-thecurve

This is Twitter 2.0 welcome.

So how does one leverage this new form of Twitter to get the most
out of itin the least amount of time? Read on.

Understanding Twitter 2.0

Many get sucked into the hype machine and dive into Twitter
without understanding its purpose. After a certain period of time,
most fall into two camps: (i) either they never use it again, or (ii)
they continually use it without understanding why theyre using it.
Theres an interesting concept in psychology that is on the rise

today, more than ever before: FOMO (Fear of Missing Out). This
concept is outlined in a fantastic book on Focus, Find Your Focus
Zone, in which the the author, Lucy Jo Palladino, suggests that
people are absolutely freaked out about missing the action. People
are constantly afraid of being left out. So, too is this concept within
Twitter.
As Kathy Sierra points out, Ironically, services like Twitter are
simultaneously leaving some people with a feeling of not being
connected, by feeding the fear of not being in the loop. By elevating
the importance of being constantly updated, it amplifies the
feeling of missing something if youre not checking Twitter (or
Twittering) with enough frequency.

The Magic Bullet Secret To Getting 17 million

followers in 3 hours!(kidding)
If you glance at the top most-followed people on Twitter, youll ask
yourself, whats the secret? Howd they get there? Whats the magic
bullet for getting more followers?
Its simple: Be Shaq.
Yes, be a celebrity. Youll notice that the most-followed people on
Twitter already have a community offline. Theyre movie stars,
famous news anchors, musicians and pro athletes.
Youre not going to build a massive following by having a cool,
magic bullet twitter strategy. Such ideas are short-term solutions.
Typically followed up with massive un-follows, and in some cases,
even getting banned from Twitter.

Heres how the typical magic bullet Twitter follower

software works
Simply write a program using Twitters API (application
programing interface), and then follow a ton of people. Message
them, and have the program interact with them. Once this is done,
theyll follow you. And then after a month or so, you un-follow
them.

This is the strategy I once took on for an account, but have since
abandoned itbecause I didnt get any value out of it.
After a certain point I had to ask myself, why I was trying to game a
system. Why I wanted to get more followers. And really, the answer
never came. So I decided to purge my account, and start fresh and
new with a long-term value-driven strategy. A strategy that didnt
suck time out of my day; but instead, added value to my day.

The 7 New Dependable Ways to Use Twitter

Below are 7 new, dependable ways for leveraging Twitter in a
focused, effective manner. A way in which results in sharing
valuable information with a close set of followers.
1. Dont read any other guide to getting productive on Twitter
Challenge me. Every other guide on the net that preaches how to
use Twitter in a more productive, focused manner only adds to the
confusion. The tools that youll see within Twitter only do one thing:
they insist upon themselves. Theyll add to the confusing mess that
Twitter already is. Heres a sample of the tools youll find in these
guides:
Sample Fluff Apps:
TweeCalendar: Just sign up for TweeCalendar and you can
Tweet appointments to your Google Calendar! Youll send your
followers info they dont care about at all, and youll probably
forget the calendar!
TweeWeather: Set up weather alerts using Twitter! Youll know
when to not get out of your mothers basement, and go outside!
FlightTweets: Get tweets about your upcoming flight! The flight
youll miss because you were busy tweeting
TweeDo Lists: Write to-do lists via Twitter, annoy your
followers, and get nothing done!
By all means, avoid these guides, and avoid these tools.
2. Avoid Twitter clients

Seesmic and Tweetdeck are good for two purposes: (i) Power-users,
and (ii) Pissing on time.
I only recommend using Tweetdeck or Seesmic if youre in the PR/
Marketing field. If not, then dont use it.
3. Dont market yourself within Twitter
Dont market yourself within Twitter; market yourself outside of
Twitter. Do this by putting a link to your Twitter profile within
various communities in which you interract:
Facebook Profile
LinkedIn Profile
Your Blog
Your Portfolio Website
Your Email Signature
(and any other site where youre building a community)
4. Share valuable information without trying schedule
tweets
This is easily the most overlooked, and under-implemented tool
within Twitter. As outlined above, over the past two years, Twitter
has undergone a slow transition from a What are you doing now
service to a What news can you share?
Within the era of Twitter 2.0, the question is not, What can this
person tell me that theyre doing. Instead, its What valuable
information can this person give me?
In order to share valuable information, the key is to not try. And
more, make it a habit.
What I mean by not trying is that instead of manually blasting out
awesome news stories everyday; instead, adopt an automated tweet
scheduling tool that allows you to bookmark valuable links, and
then schedule them over a period of time.
A couple services allow you to do this:
Sharefeed

 FutureTweets
Twuffer
TwitRobot
CoTweet
HootSuite
Twaitter
The one I use personally, and the one I recommend is Sharefeed
(www.sharefeed.com). I recommend this one due to its simplicity,
and effectiveness.
5. Respond and cultivate your community
Just like the secret and critical method for building a community
on any blog, so too is the concept of building on Twitter. Twitter is
really just an extension of your community on a different service.
For this reason, it becomes critical to respond to each person that @
replies you.
6. Only follow people that provide valuable information
This is one of, if not the most, critical elements in using Twitter.
The foundation of twitter centers on what industry researchers call,
The Network Effect. This holds that the experience drawn from
Twitter is in direct correlation with who you follow. You are your
environment. If you follow spammers, then youll think of Twitter
as a place for spammers.
7. Check Twitter 2-4 times per day at most
In a later chapter well discuss the concept of email batching or
email crunching. This is the concept of chunking your emails into
short, intensive sessions only a couple times per day.
For me, I recommend starting at four times per day, then bringing
it down to three times per day, and finally getting it down to twice
per day.
An extension of this crunch period should be your Tweet checking.
Dont check Twitter constantly throughout the day; instead, chunk
it into infrequent, short sessions.

Conclusion:
The 7 steps outlined above will allow you to get the most out of
Twitter, in the least amount of time and give your community actual
valuable information.
To summarize, Twitter has undergone a shift from sharing Haikustyle details about ourselves (i.e. Im eating a hot dog right now)
to a place for brands, links and affiliates. In order to get the most
out of this era of Twitter, I recommend following six steps:
1. Be weary of tools that preach that they allow you to be more
effective
2. Dont use Seesmic or Tweedeck, or any other client
3. Market yourself outside of Twitter; not within Twitter
4. Share Valuable Information Without Trying (scheduling
tweets)
5. Respond and cultivate your community
6. Only follow people that provide valuable information
7. Implement Twitter Batching

XVII. Leveraging LinkedIn For Results

An overarching theme within this book centers on cutting out
distraction, and using services and tools that actually have a
purpose. Leveraging social tools in a focused matter, leads to one
thing: results. There are certain fallacies and specific practices that
you must employ to leverage LinekedIn in a focused, purposeful
way. In this chapter we explore specifically how to leverage
LinkedIn for results.

Think about the future

Think ten years back. Now imagine if you kept a tidy record of all
the contacts youve helped out. Think of all the people that youve
interacted with. Its hard to wrap your mind around all the people
you must have met. In fact, you cant. We meet hundreds, if not
thousands of people per year. It would be handy to leverage those
relationships again, right? I mean, it couldnt hurt.

Now imagine your LinkedIn account in 10 years. Are you actively

building your contacts for the future? The value of LinkedIn doesnt
center on the now; it centers on the will be. Its a tool that will
tremendously rise in value over the course of the next decade. In
fact, its probably the most focused social network out there on the
web. And by focused, I mean results-oriented.
Because its purpose centers on one thing: cultivating professional
relationships.
During transition, most career services tell you to get a LinkedIn
profile; however, they dont cover the most critical part in using
LinkedIn. Theres a specific ways that you can leverage LinkedIn to
help others out, stay in constant contact with your connections, and
in turn, help yourself outwhether that be clients, a job, strategic
partnerships or business partners. Below, we explore how.

8 Ways To Leverage LinkedIn for Results:

1. Turn off Email Notifications:
Out of the box, LinkedIn comes with constant notifications via
email. These emails are not only a distraction; theyre downright
annoying. In an otherwise sound service, this component of
LinkedIn really is distracting, and doesnt lend itself well to
producing focused results. I recommend turning off all email
notifications through LinkedIn. You can find Email Notifications
within the Settings tab.
2. Turn On Nutshell Mail:
Nutshell Mail (www.nutshellmail.com) is an application that Ive
covered before, and one I definitely recommend. Nutshell Mail
groups together the most important events, emails, followers,
tweets and wall posts from three services (Twitter, Facebook,
Linkedin). It then emails you a daily digest of what happened within
these services. Thus, enabling you to never have to check out those
services ever again.

3. Recruit your contacts:

Using LinkedIns email import tools, import all of your contacts.

From this point forward, make it a point to add all of your daily
contactswhether casual contacts or business contactsinto your
LinkedIn profile. Everyone is worth knowing. Everyone is an expert
in something. Ralph Waldo Emerson said it best, Every person I
meet is my superior in some way. In that, I learn of them.
4. Apps:
Your profile needs to stand out. For this reason, I recommend
leveraging LinkedIns application features. You can link your blog, a
Power Point presentation, Amazon book reading list and more.
5. Connect Twitter:
I recommend connecting your Twitter account to your LinkedIn
account. This can be found in the Settings tab. If you dont have a
Twitter account, I recommend picking one up. Immediately. I dont
want to hear a lame excuse that you dont have time to tweet.
A results-oriented strategy doesnt center on needing any time.
It centers on needing a good eye for great articles. It centers on
sharing interesting links that help your contacts.
The LinkedIn/Twitter Strategy:
Use a service like ShareFeed to schedule your tweets. Throughout
the day, if you find an article that you think people would like, you
can schedule that article out. All you have to do is bookmark the
article. If you have a good eye for fascinating articles and stories,
your followers and contacts will love your updates. Like most things
in life, its not about quantity, its quality.
6. Answers
Most people overlook the Answer section within LinkedIn. Within
this section, people pose questions and others answer. Theres a
massive amount of viable questions out there that you can answer.
Why would you want to answer the questions of others? How can
this help you?

As Emerson made clear above, everyone specializes in something.

Everyones passionate about something. The Answers section is
your time to unleash knowledge about your passion. By helping
enough people out, youll be recognized as an expert. Because the
Answers section is so overlooked, youll be able to leverage and
provide excellent answers with little competing answers.
7. Two critical details that everyone forgets
Make sure you fill out your Summary and Specialties section
in a calculated fashion. These sections are critical for getting
discovered. LinkedIns search engine pays specific attention to these
two sections. If youre familiar with Search Engine Optimization
(SEO), you can liken this section to the meta description and
meta keywords within your site. Make sure these two sections are
keyword rich.
For your summary section, keep it short and sweet. I suggest setting
a limit of 3 sentences. Have the summary contain specific keywords
that you want to be found; however, make it colloquial and easy to
read.
As an example, heres mine:
My activities center on monetization, analytics, business
development, product development and ping pong. In my off-time
I write about social media and productivity. Learn more at www.
scottscheper.com
For your specialties section, list 7-10 keywords separated by comma
that describe what you specialize in and what you want to be found
for.
Heres mine:
Search Engine Optimization, Blog Creation, Blog Design, SEO,
Social Media Marketing, Web Monetization, Analytics, Social
Media Strategy, Product Development, Ping Pong
Obviously, Im kidding about ping pong; however, it makes people
laugh.

8. Recommend others
This is the most critical step for leveraging LinkedIn. In fact,
the other steps are virtually worthless compared to this. All of
the success books and relationship books all say the same thing:
you can get what you want by helping other people get what they
want. Basically, focus your time on others. Just because the
internet presents a new conduit for connecting doesnt mean basic
relationship principles are obsolete. In fact, its the opposite. With
the recommendation engine within LinkedIn, youre leveraging a
powerful system of reciprocity.
Recommend all contacts that youve had an appropriate amount of
interaction with.
Two things result from recommending contacts:
1. First, your contacts appreciate it. Everyone loves a
compliment, and everyone loves being recognized for their work.
Its critical, though, that your recommendation has merit. If you
recommend someone that you barely even know, it will show.
Make sure that your recommendation comes from the heart.
2. Second, youll gain exposure. Think about it. Everyones
profile features recommendations. Recommendations get very
prominent real-estate on anothers profile. Every single day
theres at least one, if not more eyeballs, viewing someones
profile. If youve recommended someone, youll be in front of
that pair of eyeballs. Now multiply that by the network effect;
you can experience a constant healthy flow of traffic by simply
recommending your contacts.

Summary
In closing, leveraging LinkedIn is a game. And in this game,
theres only one way to score: help others. This is done through
recommendations, answering questions or posting exceptional
articles through Twitter. In the end, make sure that you are
helping others, and actually adding value. Upon doing this,
youll experience results that cannot be measured by merely
glancing at your website analytics. Your connections will increase,
introductions will increase, followers will increase and your bottom
line will increase.

Further Readings and Resources:

Guy Kawasakis LinkedIn Makeover
20 Ways to Use LinkedIn Productively

XVIII. The Three Online Wells of

Knowledge
http://howtogetfocused.com/chapters/focusing-in-the-crowds/ comments

In an age of wikis, blogs and cogs, were presented with a surge of

information. And the rate in which this information is presented
hampers our ability to sift through the noise, and uncover
knowledge.
With the internet comes noise. Yet, I argue that knowledge can
also be sifted out from the crowds and online thought-leaders. In
the chapter below, well uncover and identify critical methods for
sorting through the noise, and finding the content that contains
knowledge. This act of uncovering wisdom from the crowds requires
focused, actionable habits. Well explore how this is developed.

History
Wouldnt it be interesting to live through historys greatest
inventions?
Gary Marshall of Tech Radar writes:
Since we came out of the caves, every new technology has
been greeted with alarm and disdain.
When we invented fire, people moaned that wed forget the
art of making salads. When we invented the wheel, people
moaned that wed forget how to walk. And when we invented
the internet, people moaned that wed forget how to think.
The difference is, the internet moaners might be right.
After ground-breaking research in the realm of information and its
effects on cognitive behavior, researchers found that the internet is,
indeed, encumbering our intelligence as a whole.
The report finds that deep thought is replaced by fast-moving,
dopamine driven clicking, flicking and shifting.
I argue that this stems from the fact that the majority use
the internet without a focused, purposeful plan. Were highly
manipulable beings. Stimulation, flashes of action and fast-moving
pixels quench our dopamine-seeking minds.
Yet, in the midst of this digital Wild West and this information

revolution, sits a colossal amount of untapped valueeven

knowledge. The key centers on where to look for this value, and
what strategy you wield to sift through the noise.
In order to gain wisdom from the crowds, a focused action plan is
required. Below we look at the three different wells of knowledge
that you can draw insight from. The three wells are, (i) an RSS
reader, (ii) a large industry user generated content site and, (iii) a
niche user generated content site. After this, we explore the threestep strategy for sifting through the noise.

The Three Wells of Knowledge Online

Well 1: Really Simple Syndication (RSS)
RSS is a severely underused and misunderstood concept in the
online world. Those little orange buttons you see on websitesthats
an RSS icon.
Everyone tells you RSS is simple. It stands for Really Simple
Syndication!
The irony is that even years after the birth of RSS, nobody knows
how to use RSS.
The Use Case Scenario
Weve all had the basic email subscription experience. You find a
great site, and you want to stay updated on their articles, so you fill
in your email address. After about two weeks of receiving the posts
via email, youve had enough. It adds way too much clutter to your
inbox, and you just cant keep up with the content.
Thats where RSS comes into play.
The principles of RSS centers on aggregating all of your posts,
articles and content and housing them in a separate service than
your email.
We will do this through a syndication reader. My syndication reader
of choice is Google Reader (www.google.com/reader).

RSS vs. Email:

Email: Private messages from people
RSS: Public messages from people (articles and blogs)
To set up your Focused Syndication System, follow these 5 steps:
1. Set up Google Reader
Visit http://www.google.com/reader and sign up
2. Change the view
Once youre in, change the view to List View
3. Avoid almost everything
Google Reader is a very feature heavy service. Dont pay attention
to the home feed, the suggestions, the stars, the shared items, etc.
Those are all distractions.
The only elements you need to focus on are how to categorize and
organize your folders in a manner that enables focus.
4. Labeling for focus
Label folders based on their categories, and then a premium level.
For instance, break your stories into the following:
Finance
Career
Technology
Politics
Business
Health
Sports
Entertainment
Comedy
Premium Traffic Leaders (outlined below)
Premium Thought Leaders (outlined below)

Then add a premium category, such as Premium Traffic Leaders

these are blogs or websites that are traffic-leaders in the space. They
drive influence and are massive for the industry. They typically see
unique visitors over 100k per month.
Then add a category for the up-and-comers; or otherwise referred
to as the Premium Thought Leaders. These are blogs that arent
necessarily the traffic leaders, but their influence spreads and is
read by the traffic leaders.
5. Checking the stories
Once youve set up your RSS reader, its a matter of habitually
scanning the headlines for the best, and most compelling stories.
In my case, I rarely read anything else but the Thought-Leaders; I
scan the other ones from time-to-time, but the thought-leaders are
where youll draw a lot of your insight.
Finding the Thought-Leaders
In a prior chapter on how reading effects the mind, we uncovered
that what you read is just as important, if not more-so, than how
much you read.
In the chapter, we identified how one should go about finding the
thought-leader blogs. Here it is again, but expanded for creating an
RSS system.
1. Visit AllTop, Technorati or search a term using Digg
2. Review the topics youre interested in and select 10 blogs that
look enticing
3. Read about five or so posts from eachalso note their date
(make sure the blog isnt dead)
4. Cut your favorites from ten blogs down to three finalist blogs
5. Of the three finalist blogs, add them to their appropriate
category within your syndication reader (Google Reader)
6. After a period of time, if the blog is still valuable, check their
blogroll for additional blogs
Well 2: Leveraging Social News Communities

Defined, social news communities are websites in which users

vote and determine how interesting stories are. For instance, Digg,
is a social news site where users digg the top content on any blog,
image, video or anything online that they find newsworthy. In turn,
other users digg the story as well. If the story is dugg enough, it will
appear on the front page of the social news site.
This typically results in blogs covering you, more exposure and
more visitors to your site. The inbound links that you get from
being on the front page of these sites will boost your ranking within
the search engines.
Hours, upon hours, can be wasted within these sites. Many people
preach that you should use social news sites for your business;
yet, most wander into these sites without a focused strategy that
engenders results.
Your goal with these sites is not to get on the front page. Let me
repeat that, your goal with these sites is not to get on the front page.
Why? Because its likely not your core strength. You can have the
best content in the world, but if you submit it to Digg without a
power-user backing you up, youll rarely see it get picked up. Youll
end up wasting a wealth of time trying to get stories Dugg.
Instead, outsource this method to a power digger or PR team.
Obviously, dont try to game the system; Digg frowns upon this
and may kick you out. Simply put, be smart. Dont waste your time
on Digg all day when you could be focusing on your core giftslike
creating good content.
Notice which stories make it to the first page. Understand the
headlines and articles that make the front page. Youll see headlines
like, The 47 Most Powerful Design Tips Ever. Or stories like, Man
Catches Big Foot and Has The Caged Animal to Prove It.
The stories that get on these sites contain very powerful headlines,
or unbelievable ideas that make you stop and pause. If youre a
content creator, you want to adopt this style of thinking when
creating web content.
However, for most of us, your focused strategy when using social

sites centers on simply leveraging the social proof of others to

source good stories, and stories worth reading.
Well soon outlined the three-step method for sourcing good stories.
In the meantime, heres an article that lists 50 social news sites
(http://bit.ly/htgf-socialnews)
Well 3: A Niche Story Machine
The previous wells for gathering knowledge (your syndication
reader and the social news site) are great for gathering stories;
however, you should also find an online community that relates to
your industry in which you interact with personally.
There are many niche social news sites out there that are smaller
in nature. They appeal to a specific user or industry.
With these sites, youll want to become very active and get to know
the users outside of the social news site. In these niche sites youll
find a lot of talent. Youll find people, that like you, want to increase
their skills or knowledge about a specific realm.
Examples of these sites include answer communities like Get
Sponge, Pligg-built sites, vbulletin built sites or even blogs. They
include communities found in many members only websites. They
include communities found in message boards. Or book clubs. Or
Meetup groups.
With these niche communities, your goal should center on giving
back and interacting with members of the community on a daily
basis. Make it your goal to answer everyones questions on the
message board or answer forum. Obviously, dont just answer
questions for the sake of answering questions; provide valuable
answers. If you cant provide valuable answers, and youre really
interested in the niche, take a back-seat and dont respond until you
can actually help people.
Why invest time in this?
1. Youll meet talented individuals
2. Youll establish yourself as an expert among these individuals

3. Youll get more traffic to your site because youve established

social proof as an expert
Make this a quick habit. Not something that you get carried away
with. Log in, answer the questions, and get back to the day. Dont
spend more than 5-10 minutes during this process.

The Three Step Method For Sourcing Knowledge:

Above, we outlined the three wells of knowledge (RSS, Social News
Sites and Niche Communities). How does one actually sift through
the level of information? How do you source knowledge from the
three wells outlined above?
Well now combine this strategy with a daily activity. Below is the
three step method for sourcing knowledge:
1. Visit one of the wells outlined above and spot three valuable
links and stories
2. Apply Readability (http://lab.arc90.com/experiments/
readability/) which is a web application that allows you to format
the page of any website into book format.
3. If you find the article noteworthy, share the article on
Sharefeed, which is a tweet scheduling tool
Here is a video that shows exactly how to source knowledge using
the three step method above: http://bit.ly/htgf-sourcing
The video shows how to apply this tactic using QuickSilver (http://
docs.blacktree.com/quicksilver/what_is_quicksilver), a Mac
application that allows one to type which services they want to
open. For instance, if you type in Gmail it will open Gmail.
In the video, using Quicksilver, I open up my well of choice,
which is a social technology news site called Hacker News (news.
ycombinator.com).
I then apply the Readability widget, and then share the story on
Sharefeed. After which, you can visit Sharefeeds website and
actually schedule out when you would like the story to be Tweeted.
Repeating this focused process everyday will not only allow you to
quickly sift through the noise-driven stories, it will allow you to gain

a following for providing valuable stories.

Summary
In the chapter above we covered the three online knowledge wells:
1. Syndication Readers (using RSS)
2. Large social news sites
3. Niche social news sites
We outlined how you should source knowledge from these three
wells:
1. Visit one of the wells and find three great stories
2. Apply the readability widget and read the story
3. Schedule and share the story via sharefeed
Applying this method in a focused, purposeful way will allow you to
source the best ideas online in the least amount of time.

XIX. Email and Focus

Thousands of applications exist for email productivity. Youll
find long sales letter pages preaching the next magic bullet or
ultimate email productivity success system. Yet, most productivity
applications do a better job in confusing chaos than solving chaos.
Its clear that email is taking over a significant portion of our lives,
but what is not clear is how to actually prevent emails from taking
over our lives.
Effective email use is simple. In the chapter below, well outline the
simple philosophy and steps to getting the most out of email in the
least amount of time.

Glorified Emailers
Weve shifted from a society of artists and specialists to one that
stares at digital pixels all day.
In April 2008, the New York Times published an article which

uncovered that nearly a third of ones work day is spent on

irrelevant items and distractions such as email. Whats more, the
Radicati Group found that the average person is on track to spend
nearly half of their day staring at email.
Our innovation and information has quadrupled over the past
century. But why hasnt our value grown proportionally? If our
innovation has sky-rocketed, why hasnt our effectiveness skyrocketed? What happened to the concept of peace-of-mind?
Looking at the late nineties and early twenty-first century, our
innovation within the information realm outshines the industrial
age. Its absolutely staggering. The wealth of available information
on demand, as well as our ability to communicate anytime,
anywhere, is absolutely insane. Yet, amidst this firestorm of
information innovation, weve lost touch with what truly adds value
to the world, and what truly makes us different than computers.
Our creator didnt put us on earth to process inputs and spit out
outputs. We are here to think, to shape, to give and to create.
The way we use email endangers our purpose. It threatens our
potential to innovate and create art. Email constantly attacks your
focus. For this reason, you must learn how to make email work for
you. This chapter will show you how.

Are you an email farmer or an email hunter?

In the section on finishing projects, we introduced the concept of
being a farmer or a hunter. Now, well explore this concept within
the context of email.
Have you ever driven home from work, and wondered what you
actually did that day? You question if you even did anything
productive. You fear you were just busy with items that were good
for one thing: keeping you busy.
Dont beat yourself up. Its OK. We all go through the thoughtprocess above every once in a while. However, the key centers on
knowing when and how to correct this. A day filled with shooting
the breeze with employees, answering questions, staring at emails,
checking social networks and chatting with colleagues will make

you busy, but it wont make you rich. Theres too much information
flying at us, and in order to fulfill your purpose, you must learn to
respectfully say no, and decline distraction.
Many of the innovations within our information revolution are
valuabletheyre meaningful, and can actually add significance to
the world. Yet, we rarely work as if email is simply a maintenance
tool for creating. We use it as a substitute for creating.
Instead of using email like a farmer (maintain crops); we try and
use email like a hunter (try and get business). Your goal should be
to use email like a farmer, not a hunter. Use life as the platform to
hunt and bring in business, not email.
In order to master the art of sifting through email, and not getting
distracted by irrelevant items, well first outline the nature of email
itself. Well then outline an appropriate philosophy towards email
and then show you the process of batching email.

The Nature of Email

Email is a radically different form of communication than any
other form. It combines two elements that make it less personal
than other forms of communication: 1. lack of time, and 2. lack of
personality. Other forms of communication like meeting up with
people, mailing somebody a letter or picking up the phone to call
someone possesses at least one of those two elements. Email is
instant. And with less time spent writing an email, also comes less
meaning. Yet, this is fineif you understand the nature of email,
that is.
A person gets more meaning, and a bigger smile from a phone call
than an email. Same goes for meeting in person. Why? Because
youve invested actual time in delivering the message. Time is not
only money; time is value. As you invest time with someone, youre
also investing value in that relationship.
Email is a different beast. Here are 3 characteristics of email.
Understanding these characteristics will help you to put your
interpretation of email into perspective:

1. Emails usually arent emergencies

Emails may be emergencies in the mind of the sender; but if you
take a step back, an email message isnt going to contain life or
death information. And if it does, you should definitely have a talk
with the person sending such an emailbecause theyre nuts.

2. Bite-sized clarifications or confirmations

Email isnt an appropriate medium for negotiating, agreeing on
items or correcting term sheets. Youll be wasting a lot of time if
you try and get negotiations done over email. Not only does it take
longer to read through the others response, youll also have to wait
for him or her to get back to you. Unless theyre addicted to email,
the lag time can get long, and annoying. After a certain point within
an email thread, its wise to just pick up the phone and give the
person a call. (And by pick up the phone, I mean work or home
phone in my casebecause Ive forgone my cell phone, which youll
learn about shortly).

3. Emails arent insightful

Emails are worse than reading a childrens book because at least
childrens books contain words, and are proof-read. If youre
spending half your day staring at digital jargon, guess what youll
end up spewing out to others throughout the day? Digital jargon.
Well dive into how exactly you should counter this mass of emails,
and filter out the good from the bad, but first, you must have a solid
philosophy and mindset towards email.

Your Philosophy Towards Email

Your philosophy and attitude towards email determines how
productive you are using email.
Theres hundreds of applications out there that confuse things.
Youll find tools that suggest setting up advanced filters, having
email sync with certain applications, through setting emails up
through an army of assistants, or all of them combined.

Heres the thing: no piece of software can improve your email

productivity. Only your attitude can.
Mastering email isnt complex, and doesnt warrant thousands of
applications and books written about it. Some email guides are
excellent; yet, some are filled with noise and applications that
add zero value to your life. They actually end up hurting your
productivity. The key with leveraging email for productivity is first
founded on your philosophy and attitude towards email itself. If you
hate email, youll become more productive in using email.
There are many famous authors, bloggers and celebrities that
proudly declare that they answer every one of their emails. The only
problem with this centers on their response. Its usually watered
down. And more, they tend to wear themselves out. Youll find that
these people are constantly tied to their Blackberries. They check
email every five minutes. Heres the irony: the people that check
their email throughout the day end up being less productive; yet
they reason that they do so in the first place because it makes them
more productive.
If they looked at the data, theyd see that the antithesis was
true. Research cites that multitasking actually slows down your
productivity.
Then why do they check email throughout the day?
Typically, when you have something that is proven to harm
your productivity, yet people still swear by it, theres one thing
involved: entertainment. And guess what people are addicted to?
Entertainment. Believe it or not, some people find checking email
entertaining. I did at one point in my life. Research shows that
you get a dopamine kick when your mind is entertainedand you
can become entertained through email. People love getting email
notifications because they love getting noticed. A private message
that is aimed directly at them excites them; and this excitement
leads them to constantly check email.
For this reason, your philosophy towards email shouldnt be based
on pleasure. Email should equal pain. It should be seen as spring
cleaning. You let the dirt build, and then crank it out and clean it up

within a day.

The Three Types of Emailers

Theres three types of emailers in the world:
Person One: Billy Blackberry
Checking email hundreds of times per day. Leaving the
unimportant ones unread; and then after about a month or so,
clearing every email out.
Person Two: Casual Cassandra
Checking email casually about a dozen times per day, and leaving
some items unread so that you can do it later (many of us are in this
stage)
Person Three: Betty Batcher
This centers on checking email only 2-4 times per day. It involves
clearing out hundreds of messages within 5-10 minutes. After
which, your inbox will read zero.
For the purpose of becoming more effective, its best to adopt
strategy three. We all need to become a Betty Batcher. Well now
learn how.

3 Steps to Mastering Email Productivity for Your

Entire Life
As stated above, the concept of developing productive email habits
is simple. So, well jump straight to it now:
1. Set a schedule
When I first set out to make email as productive as possible, I
made the mistake of simply telling myself to check email less than
five times per day. I didnt define a schedule. I ended up checking
email less frequently than I normally did, but I didnt develop the

productivity that I could have developed. Thus, in order to actually

make this process work, youll need to clearly define two times per
day when youll check email.
Heres my schedule:
Monday through Friday: 10am and 3pm
Weekends: Check personal email once per day, and dont check
work email at all
2. If youve left an item unread, you fail
Before outlining the principles of effective email use below, please
understand that the key with avoiding procrastination centers on
processing every single email, and taking a specific action with it.
Choosing to not do anything will hurt your productivity. There are
four actions that you must take when processing email:
1. Delete
2. Delegate
3. Add to your to-do list
4. Do it now
The action you must avoid is leaving item marked unread. If youve
left an item unread, you fail. Youve procrastinated.
3. The three questions
Below is the process that will allow you to conquer email, and make
email a productive, swift time for getting things done.

Thats it. Its simple, yet takes some practice to implement

effectively.

Advanced Email Tools

You may find these tips obvious or common sense. They are. The
philosophy above reassures the simplicity you thought email was
all about. As I said above, you should avoid guides like, 47 Gmail
Hacks from Google Labs. However, if you have a problem thats
a bit more complicated, or an email system thats already a mess,
I suggest reading some guides that share the philosophy outlined
above, yet they also provide you with advanced tips in the case
that your email system is out of control. You may want to check

out Jared Goralnicks Guide to Not Checking Email. (http://

notcheckingemail.technotheory.com/). Youll find that many of
the philosophies outlined above are very similar in nature. In
fact, whether youre reading The Four Hour Work Week, Inbox
Zero or Getting Things Done, youll find they all outline a similar
philosophy. Why? Because it works.

Conclusion
Best of luck in your journey in conquering email. Though the idea
is simple, its easier said than done. As always, please tell me your
thoughts and share your experiences through the comments below.
Additional advanced resources and Links:
Nutshell Mail
AwayFinds Guide for Not Checking Email
4hww
Merlin Mann Inbox Zero Presentation
Getting Things Done
Zen Habits Power of Less
Filtering Emails from Technotheory
Email Filter Guides by Service (for advanced use of emailwhen
you want to filter messages):
Microsoft Office
Gmail
Mozilla
Apple Mail

PART V: THE SAGE

The Sage is occupied with the unspoken

..and acts without effort.
Teaching without verbosity,
producing without possessing,

creating without regard to result,

claiming nothing,
the Sage has nothing to lose.
- Tao Te Ching by Priya Hemenway, Chapter II

As we outlined in the chapter on flow, your goal should center

around practicing focus like the sage described in the passage
above.
In Part V, well explore characteristics of the sage as applied to
living in todays world.
The Characteristics of the Sage: In this chapter, well outline
specific characteristics of the sage and apply them to living in our
world today.
Outsourcing: Well explore the concept of outsourcing projects
to others; thus allowing you to focus on your purpose, and further
allowing you to step into a state of flow.
Focus at Work: Well explore how the sage lifestyle interracts
within the workplace.
Focused Networking: Well explore the concept of networking
and meeting with people on a consistent basis, which results in a
more rounded, pupose-filled life.
Handling Emotions: Well explore how the sage operates in the
face of the many emotions in life.
Constant Learning: Well explore how the sage lifestyle makes it
a point to involve his or herself in constant learning.

The Characteristics of The Sage

Entrepreneur
There are two types of characteristics one should seek to model

themselves after. Both types of characteristics are the same: The

Focused Entrepreneur and The Sage. The Focused Entrepreneur
possesses characteristics of The Sage. We will be using both terms
interchangeably in the following chapters.

Entrepreneurs Today
The old belief regarding entrepreneurs is over. The Rock Star
entrepreneurs dont seem like Rock Stars; in fact, theyre not Rock
Stars. Theyre silently dominating in our down economy. Theyre
driving average cars. Theyre unassuming. And theyre confident
and calm. This stems from the fact that theyre focused. In our age
of distraction, its critical that you keep a level head and cut out
the latest apps or innovations that really arent innovative at all.
The apps you should stay away from are the newsworthy ones (on
blogs), ones that contain buzz words and ones that add to already
distracting services (like Twitter). The person who dominates
tomorrow is the one who can differentiate between features and
effectiveness. This person possesses characteristics of The Sage.
Below youll learn what types of entrepreneurs there are and the
habits of the sage entrepreneur.
There are two types of web entrepreneurs:
1. Those that make money
2. Those that lose money
The irony of the second type of entrepreneur stems from the
fact that its their decision to lose money. Some people are too
squeamish about making money. Their revenue model always
sits within future plans. We need to scale build users first, before
monetizing them.
I cant tell you how many entrepreneurs I come across that have
decent technology; yet, they have absolutely no idea how to
monetize. If they say their monetization plan is through serving
relevant ads, I ask about what type of CPM theyll generate based on
the ad position. Are they going to use a set of 160s, 300s, or 728s?
(Ad sizes)or custom build advertisements leveraging an xml feed?

They have absolutely have no idea what Im speaking of. In fact,

they get offended anytime someone brings up advertising.

Dont be bashful
Making money online isnt selling out. The online realm has a
certain entitlement to be free. Everythings open, free and fun.
This is fine if you have balance. Balanced open-source and balanced
freemium revenue models are fantastic; however, problems arise
when people believe everything should be free online. People shy
away from making money online because they dont want the opensource warriors that hang out on Reddit all day to think less of
them.
The fear of money can come from a variety of factors, but two I see
most often sits in their environment.

I. Location, Location, Location:

Many web 2.0 startups in the Silicon Valley are horrible at making
money. They dont feel like its cool, or trendy to make money. Their
business models center on raising capital, burning cash flow and
flipping their companies to Googleand if theyre unsuccessful, to
Microsoft, eBay or Yahoo.
News flash: if this is in your business plan, you will fail.

II. Power Users:

The second are the entrepreneurs that focus on features, not
actual value. They focus on enhancing a certain app component
of twitter; they focus on new visualizations of rss-realtime social
graphs (whatever that means). Their focus is on the wrong place:
themselves. Social media power-users are the worst market to go
after if you want to make serious money online. The customers in
this realm are overly critical, overly-needy, overly vocal and overly
broke. Thats right, broke.

The Seven Habits of Sage Entrepreneurs:

1. Focus on People, not Personas
The entrepreneurs that dominate the online world are those that
dont live on Twitter. Many of them usually cut internet access
most of the time like Paul Graham, founder of YCombinator (www.
PaulGraham.com). Theyre not tied to their blackberry. In fact, they
dominate the online world without lifting a finger. How? Because
they dominate the offline world.
Sage entrepreneurs focus on people. They meet and interract with
people at networking events, dinners, charity events and whenever
they feel like grabbing a beer. Theyre not hermits that focus on
online personas. They dont tremble at the feet of a well-known
bloggers. They dont live in the sewers of tech blog comments;
instead, these entrepreneurs build relationships offline. They
understand that people are people. And even though technology has
taken hold in this decade, people still drive technology. There are
real people behind Twitters avatars.

2. Downsize and automatize

Downsize the tools you use (both online and offline). Sage
entrepreneurs only use a handful of core apps that all have one
thing in common: they assist in generating revenue.
In addition to this, there are certain actions that require habitual,
routine maintenance. For example, social media marketing
centers on targeting specific keywords that are aligned with ones
product, and getting in front of every individual that tweets those
words. This is a 24-7, 365 task that must be automated. Focused
entrepreneurs make it their job to outline the goal, or objective of
this and have others carry this out for them.
There are two ways to automatize your applications:
I. Through Technology
First, you can have technology automatize your applications. Here

are three pragmatic applications that get this done (two of which
weve touched on previously):
1. Sharefeed: Allows you to schedule tweets. This allows you to
schedule and send out important articles that youve discovered
over periods of time. Instead of tweeting great articles back-toback, which can annoy your followers, use ShareFeed to spread
your tweets out throughout the day.
2. Nutshell Mail: This services takes LinkedIn, Twitter and
Facebook and sends you a daily digest email of anything
important thats gone on within your social networks. Its
excellent for keeping in touch with friends and sending them a
quick note on their birthdaywithout getting sucked into hours of
Facebook stalking.
3. AwayFind (www.AwayFind.com): This services acts as your
own personal assistant. It alerts you whenever an important
contact emails youotherwise, it allows you to go on with life.
II. Through coaching
Second, if youre generating enough revenue to support it, I suggest
hiring and training a team of social media marketers. Spread the
love, and share the wealth. Have them to carry out your work by
teaching them. I suggest long checklists. Writing a checklist of very
specific steps and actions will help you understand your overall
goals. Mentor and train people and show them the overall goals
of focused social media. Well explore this method more in the
upcoming chapter on outsourcing.

3. People lie
People lie, data does not. Or does it? It depends on how you
interpret the data.

How to test an idea in the marketplace:

In order to test an idea in the marketplace, theres some folks
out there that suggest running a Google Adwords campaign and
measuring the number of clicks on certain keywords:

For instance, if youre advertising California Hotels, you can test

specific titles and call-to-actions through Google.

Google Ads in Top Right

1. You set up the keywords and different ads within Adwords:
Book a Hotel Now or Beautiful California Hotels
2. You then let the campaign run for a specified amount of time
3. You measure the click-through rate, which is calculated by
taking the number of clicks divided by the number of impressions
((clicks) / (impressions) = Click Through Rate)) So if the ad
touches the eyeballs of 100 people and 1 person clicks on the ad,
youve got a Click Through Rate (CTR) of 1%. If you have an ad
that has 50 impressions and has 1 click, you have a CTR of 2%.
In this example 100 impressions isnt enoughquantity matters at a
certain point. However, it gives you a better sense of measuring and
testing ideas in a marketplace.
This is fine; however, theres a better method. In the above method,
data can lie. It doesnt capture the whole story.

4. Disconnect for Nowness

Within Tibetan Buddhism, theres a branch

known as Shambalah. This is not so much
a religion as it is a lifestyle. Shambalah is
a vision. The actual term Shambalah refers
to an ancient, mystical city that people
believed espoused enlightened ways of
living. The recent pioneer of Shambalah
was Chogyam Trungpa, who outlined a
critical component of this ancient way of
living: nowness.
Nowness, or the magic of the present moment, is what joins the
wisdom of the past with the present. When you appreciate a
painting or a piece of music or a work of literature, no matter when
it was created, you appreciate it now. You experience the same
nowness in which it was created. It is always now. Chogyam
Trungpa
You cant experience nowness while staring into the abyss of your
smartphone. We live two lives: a virtual life and real life. Which one
matters more?
Unfortunately, a lot of people spend time in opposite proportions of
which one matters. Virtual life is easier; if you lack confidence, you
can hide behind your keyboard. Focused entrepreneurs are those
that live life in order of importance: (i) real-life first, and then (ii)
virtual life.
In order to promote nowness, Ive been undergoing an experiment
ever since writing this book: freeing myself of technology when Im
on the move.
I carried this out by digitally detoxing my gadgets. In my practice, I
got rid of my cell phone, which youll learn about in a later section
of the book.
Disconnecting promotes awareness. Try unplugging the talk radio

on your way to work today. Youll notice things around you that
you never noticed before. Ive had people go through this exercise
and report that theyve commuted to work five years, and once they
disconnected, they were amazed with how much they were missing.
Disconnect, promote awareness and practice nowness.

5. Persistence
Sage entrepreneurs are persistent. Theyre persistent because they
understand their goals. Their goals drive their long-term focus
which leads to persistence. The entrepreneur that fails at a handful
of startups in his familys basement isnt a fairy tail. I interact
with entrepreneurs like this everyday. Theyve tried, failed, tried,
failed, tried, failed and then succeeded. This really requires three
elements: (i) Persistence, (ii) Focus, and (iii) a wife that doesnt go
insane.

6. Polymaths arent dead

The age of the polymath isnt over. In fact, its what will separate
you from other cogs that specialize in specific functions within your
organization. A polymath is one thats well-versed in a variety of
subjects. For instance, Leonardo Da Vinci and Benjamin Franklin
were polymaths. They excelled in mathematics, physics, art,
politics and more. Today, however, our education institutions and
corporations are herding us to adopt more specialized practices.
Why? Because if you look through history, generalists manage
specialists. And unless youre an entrepreneur, youre expected
to take orders and specialize in a specific function. Academic
institutions train students as if they have already chosen not to be
entrepreneurs.
As they say, a Jack of all trades, master of none. However, your
goal is to be a Leonardo of all trades. And this isnt impossible. This
can be done through simple hard work and focus. The best part: it
can be done for free. In a future chapter, Ill be showing you how to
hack education and learn the secrets of the polymath, which will put
you above and beyond any specialized cog.

7. Break away and back to the basics

When it comes down to crunch time, sage entrepreneurs dont mess

around. Suddenly the vocal, warm entrepreneur turns serious. He
or she immediately gets in the zone.
Shaun White, pro snowboarder and skateboarder illustrates this
perfectly. When training for the Winter Olympics, Shaun knew he
needed an edge. Every single year everyone unleashes something
new. Something thats never been done beforesomething that until
then, was impossible. And snowboarders unveil near-impossible
tricks every single year. The only issue is that theres a lot of buzz
and talk within the snowboarding realm. The best snowboarders
know one another. They hang out, theyre friends. As the Winter
Olympics approached, Shaun knew he needed to get away. He
needed to cut out distraction, cut out the noise, and even cut out the
cell phone. If he trained as normalwith friendshe knew theyd be
feeding off one another and his focus might suffer at the expense of
looking at what everyone else is doing.
So what did Shaun do? He got away. Literally. He built his own
half-pipe in an obscure part of the Colorado Rocky Mountains. He
was the only snowboarder with access. It was just him, his board
and the half-pipe tucked into the beautiful Rockies. You can view a
video of this here: http://bit.ly/htgf-shaunwhite
We think of Twitter and our online social networks as distractions,
too. Ironically, so does its founder, Ev Williams. Though theres
routinely controversy and attacks on Twitter, theres also much
praise. Even I am critical of some components of Twitter. Many
get carried away with social media and it ends up distracting them
rather than helping them. However, at its core, Twitter still allows
users to share bite-sized information. The key is deciphering the
important buzz vs. the wasteful noise.
As Ev puts it, Try not to get caught up in the echo chamber. That
is probably the toughest thing when you are trying to break out and
do something original. Ev doesnt listen to the noise of others; he
moves back to the basics. When hes had success, he got there by
thinking, Back to the basics. What do I want? What do I want to
see in the world?

Whats next
So now its your turn. What do you want? What do you see out there
thats not in the tech blogs, but in the world? Whats out there thats
missing, and how can you change this? Once mastered, these 6
habits will allow you to sit with the bestthe focused entrepreneurs

The Beginners Guide to Outsourcing

Effectively
http://howtogetfocused.com/lessons/the-beginners-guide-to-outsourcing-effectively/ - comments
My journey with outsourcing began in college. I wish I could say
that I accomplished something. I wish I could say that my decision
to outsource made me money, or even just saved me time. Yet, I
cant. I did everything wrong. I saved up $800 for outsourcing tasks
(which was also my net worth at the time). I decided to invest
this into my first business. Six weeks later, I had nothing. Actually,
I take that back. I did have something. I now possessed irrelevant
and error-ridden work product from the people I outsourced
to (Irrelevant research reports, spreadsheets, and a half-done
website). And it was my fault.
Looking back, I really didnt have the right reasons to outsource in
the first place. What started it all was listening to a friend brag that
he was outsourcing everything. He said he was building a business
and didnt have to do anything. This sounded neat, I thought. But
what pushed me over the edge was hearing the media talk about
outsourcing. Thomas Friedman in The World is Flat, wrote about
how miraculous outsourcing is, and how the world is changing
forever. The message from him gave me the sense that if I didnt
outsource, Ill miss the boat. So with my brains FMO decision
making process (Fear of Missing Out), I decided to jump into the
outsourcing game head-first.
When I was outsourcing my tasks, I walked around campus

arrogantly. I felt innovative. I felt cutting-edge. I remember

listening to my professors lecture on some theoretical concept, and
then getting distracted by an IM on my phone from a worker in
India. I bragged to family and friends that I was working smart, not
hard. I told others around family gatherings that academia was out
of touch with reality. Im listening to pedantic professors with an
army of workers in India building my business. But the bragging
would be cut short by the reality that I was failing to outsource
effectively.
In those days, I outsourced tasks like, Determine the market size
of Israel-based startups by writing a 30-page paper supporting your
findings. You see, my first business idea was strategy consulting.
This was genius because I had absolutely zero business experience
(sarcasm). I reasoned that because I had put hundreds of hours
into studying strategic models and theoretical business concepts, I
could create my own business that taught this to others. Turns out,
business school is different from the real-world. It took me about
six months of denial, and living paycheck-to-paycheck before it set
in that I wasnt creating much value. Actually, this really set in when
I discovered that my younger sister, who was working at Golden
Spoon, was pulling in more cash than me. That was a hilariously
painful reality.
Theres two lessons in the story above: First, fail fast and move
on. Second, dont outsource for the sake of outsourcing. Well
concentrate on number two: how to outsource effectively.

Why Outsourcing is Important

The thesis of this book doesnt center around getting organized and
concentrating better. It doesnt even concentrate on getting things
done. It centers on getting the right things done. It revolves around
integrating a specific set of habits and actions that allow you to
focus on important items in life, and outsource, delegate and not get
distracted by the rest.
If you want to become a more focused person, the answer doesnt

arrive through doing uninteresting tasks in a half-assed manner.

It centers on defining what youre good at, what your purpose is,
and carrying that out in the most effective way. For all the other
items that arise in life, you must find a way to rid yourself of them
through outsourcing them, or getting them done through others
that are passionate or proficient at carrying out the task.
In this chapter well first explore when its appropriate to outsource
(so that youre not outsourcing for the sake of outsourcing like I did
above), and then Ill take you through a series of steps and practices
that helped me outsource effectively.

When should you outsource?

The first step in outsourcing effectively concerns itself with the
question of, Should you even outsource this? This is the most
important step, and the most critical piece when beginning the
journey of outsourcing. It doesnt matter how well you define and
communicate the task. If youre outsourcing something that really
isnt that important, youre wasting your time.
For this reason, I created the diagram above, which should help
you decide when, where and with whom you should outsource your
tasks. And yes, I outsourced this:
Special thank to Nicolas Franz and Italo Oliveira (rock stars who I
outsourced this to) for getting this done.
In the end, if you decide to outsource, youre left with three options
of where to outsource your tasks:
1. Outsourcing to a rock star: I feel that this is the best-case
scenario, because you know what you want and that you can rely
on this person.
2. Outsourcing globally: Outsourcing globally is a good
option if you know exactly what you want, and how a person
should likely carry it out. Outsourcing globally enables the
scenario where youre sleeping and work is getting done. And
thats a really good feeling.

3. Outsourcing locally: If youre a beginner, or youre fairly

new to outsourcing, I suggest using Craigslist for one reason: If
you cant really explain what you want, or how you want it carried
out, you can meet for a cup of coffee face-to-face and iron out
your confusion.
Before beginning the journey of outsourcing, make sure you review
the diagram above. Otherwise you could be wasting time in the
steps below.
Just ensure that they dont make the same mistake I, as well as
many others make: outsourcing irrelevant tasks.

Critical Steps of Outsourcing Effectively

At the very core of outsourcing, we all know one thing: If youre
outsourcing, you have a problem. Dont freak out. Thats not
a bad thing. When outsourcing, you have an important problem
that youre willing to pay someone else to solve. And getting this
problem solved effectively centers on two things: communication
and people. You must ensure that youve effectively communicated
what you want done, and you must ensure that you have the right
person attempting to carry it out.
People that you outsource to are usually smarter than you think;
however, for your own sake, you must write as if youre speaking
to someone who has no idea what youre doing, why youre doing it
and what youre looking for. In order to get this message across, Ive
outlined a 5-Step formula for outsourcing.

The 5 Steps to Effective Outsourcing:

When signing up for an outsourcing service like Odesk, or
speaking with someone you found on Craigslist, youll want to
get the following five elements communicated to them. Whether
through Odesks messaging service, email or chat, make sure you
communicate these five elements:

1. Background
The first step when outsourcing centers on giving the person some
context as to who you are and what you do.
Example: Hello, my name is John Smith. I live in Northern
California and I have been in the real estate industry for 25 years.
Basically, I help people sell their homes.

2. Your Goal
The second step gives the person a sense of what youd like to
accomplish.
Example: My goal is to break into the social media space by
releasing 10 videos and having them appear on YouTube.

3. My Problem
The third step centers on defining the problem. Usually the problem
is implied by your goal (i.e. you dont have the know-how to reach
your goal); however, you must make sure that you clearly state your
problem for yourself, as well as for the provider.
Example: Im having a tough time achieving this because I dont
know how to do any of the following items: 1) Edit the video, 2)
Add music, 3) Add text introductions, 4) Upload it to YouTube. I do
know how to record the video because I have a camera, though.

4. Scenario
The fourth step is where you outline how you envision the
outsourcing relationship to carry out.
Example: Correct me if Im wrong, but I believe the following
scenario would work: 1) I will record the video and send it to you
via email, 2) You will carry out the items I outlined above, and then
upload the YouTube video, 3) You will then send me the link to the
video.

5. Next step

The last step is essentially a call to action for those reading your
job description. Its critical in this step that you cater towards those
that have done similar work in the past. You dont want people
who think they can solve your problem. You dont want someone
learning on your dime. Thus, ask them for their portfolio and past
work.
Example: If you feel you are suitable for this position, please
email me with your portfolio and sample videos that you created.
Last, heres an important tip: Select the candidate with work
product that fits your needs at a fair rate. Do not simply search for
those that are the cheapest. Quality may suffer by employing this
habit and youll end up wasting time. The goal is not to brag to your
friends that you paid someone in the Philippines $3/hour for work.
Thats not only immature, its ineffective. Your goal is to solve your
problem with solid workers in an effective manner.

Ongoing services
The 5-step process above works great for projects; however, when
theres an ongoing task, youll need to employ another method to
make it work. For instance, if youre a small business looking to
hire a social media manager that does all your tweeting, you dont
want to subject yourself with moving through the 5-steps above,
and training many providers over and over again. You want to hire
one provider, and have them execute your plan on an ongoing basis.
For these type of tasks, the 5-step process above is necessary, but
theres an additional component: a checklist.
If youre a checklist fanatic, or even if youre not, a book I highly
recommend picking up is Checklist Manifesto. Its a book about
the effectiveness of checklists. Its astonishing how organizations
can drastically improve, and lives can be saved by merely employing
a checklist in your organization.
If I had to work off a checklist all day, Id go nuts; yet there are
certain people who prefer checklists. It gives them a sense of
consistency and comfort. I find that those who seek out process-

based tasks, really enjoy and value checklists. And thats why I
recommend it. Ive been using this technique for about a year, and
find that the people I outsource to absolutely love it. It enables them
to not be micromanaged. I dont constantly have to check in with
themI can just glance at their checklist.
Youll want your checklist to be simple and separated as follows
(usually in an excel or Google docs spreadsheet):
1. Checklist Item: Column where you outline that item you
need done
2. Date: Within the date box, have them put in their initials (it
somewhat bars against any b.s. taking place)
Youll be surprised with how effective this simple tactic can be.

Final tips
In closing, its critical that you outsource for the purpose of getting
important items done, not for the sake of outsourcing. In order
to become a more focused person, its critical to understand your
strengths, and master the art of outsourcing your weaknesses. If
your strength is in development, and you lack design skills, its
important that you understand design, but even more important
that you know how to effectively outsource design.
By now, its clear that outsourcing is here to say. Its no longer the
future, but the present. But its not going anywhere. If you dont
outsource right now, dont think that youre missing out. You likely
dont need to because youre not faced with a task so critical that
it needs to be outsourced immediately. Yet, when you do find an
appropriate item that needs to be outsourced, make sure that you
follow the steps above. It will hopefully make your first outsourcing
experience a lot more effective and enjoyable than mine.

Resources:
Ive used Elance, Asksunday and Getafreelancer, but Ive found
the best service to be ODesk. For some reason, I just find the
service, the organization, the website and the providers to provide

a better experience than the other ones. Admittedly, I havent

tried the other ones for over a year, so maybe theyve improved
things. But barring any unforeseen scenario, Ill continue using
Odesk and continue recommending them.
Ive used 99designs for logos, blog headers and other items
and found their model to be excellent for myself. Im not sure
how much designers like it, but Ive been a satisfied customer
whenever Ive used their services.
Last, but not least, Craigslist is a great tool for beginners
because you can meet up with the person youre outsourcing work
to. Just make sure going into it that you understand the spammy
nature of Craigslist. Tread lightly when looking for somone
on craigslist because you may receive a hefty amount of spam.
Additionally, make it clear that youre only looking for a local
provider. Otherwise, youre better off simply going with Odesk.

Focus in the Workplace

http://howtogetfocused.com/chapters/7-practical-ways-to-createa-productive-work-environment/ - comments
The dot-com bubble and burst taught us a lot about what one
should look for in successful companies. Ever since the burst, two
trends have arisen when venture capitalists and entrepreneurs
speak about their success.

1) People
The first trend revolves around people.
Silicon Valley is known as the hotbed for entrepreneurship and
innovation. At the center of this ecosystem sits Ron Conway.
Conway has been referred to as the most important man in the
silicon valley by more than just a handful of entrepreneurs and
celebrities. He invests in a variety of startups, many of which end
up changing the technology space forever. His investments include:
Google, Ask Jeeves, Paypal and Brightmail. Ron has spent time
advising the following companies: Twitter, Digg, Bright Mail, Ask
Jeeves, Facebook, RockYou, Zappos, Trulia, StumbleUpon, Plaxo

(acquired by Comcast), Photobucket (acquired by Fox), and many

more.
When asked by the LA Times what he looks for in a startup, Conway
responded, We invest in people. We dont invest in ideas. Ideas
can morph. But great people end up building great companies.

2) Focus
Investors and venture capitalists tout that people are the most
critical component to startup success; yet, when you talk to the
actual people that were successful in the space, they claim that
Focus was their key to success.
In a series of interviews about success and failures, the following
entrepreneurs discussed what went wrong.

The founder of whitepages.com, Alex

Algard, writes that his focus was in the
wrong place:
We focused too much on specific skills,
and too little on fundamental abilities,
raw talent, and passion for our business.
A couple of years thereafter, we went thru
some gut-wrenching people changes as a
result of that. In retrospect, hiring rapidly
was too easy and it should have been a
giant red flag to me. Ive learned that in
good or bad times, hiring should always be
difficult.
Alex Algard, successful entrepreneur and founder of
whitepages.com

The lesson I learned was to keep laser focused on your core

service until your core service does not provide for enough growth.
If your core service is still growing at a good pace, keep focused on
it. All the other partnerships, new verticals, new products, etc are
meaningless if you dont build a very solid foundation of your core
first. Brian Lee; Founder of Legalzoom
To summarize, their focus was off.

Critical Characteristics
If you ask venture capitalists what they look for in successful
startups, they say, great people. If you ask the great people within
successful startups what their key for success is, they say, focus.
The right people, combined with focus, determines the success of
an organization. In this chapter were going to concentrate on the
specifics ingrained within the concept of focus and the workplace.
Well outline how you can get more productive at work, get more
done, and in turn, work less.
The lessons that I outline in this chapter will gear itself towards
startups and entrepreneurial organizations. Im not going to
pretend that all of these lessons will translate smoothly into any
organization. You can only do so much in an environment that
frowns upon innovation, and smiles upon process. Becoming
an intrapreneur (an entrepreneur within a large corporate or
government organization) will only take you so far. Yet I am
absolutely convinced that at least one of these ideas can be applied
to your organization no matter what the environment is like.

7 Characteristics of a Productive Work

Environment:
Below, well cover seven characteristics of focused companies. Well
identify how to adopt focused principles within your organization.

Implementing these principles will allow you to get more done in

less time; thus, allowing you to work less.

1. Whiteboards
Successful project management systems revolve around people, not
Gantt charts. Ive tried almost every project management system,
customer relationship management system and planning system.
Even the ones that claim to be unique have failed when put to the
test of actual use. Most of them touted features as their competitive
edge. Youll see a long chart with check-boxes next to features like
RSS Feeds, iPhone Synching and dashboards. Every organization
Ive been a part of progresses through the same stage. We try a
new, innovative project management tool (usually one that I find
and get all excited about), we try it out for three months, and then
ditch it for the old, reliable white-board. Im a fan of whiteboards
because theyre open, free and are usually used with a group. Its
the ultimate collaborative tool. Its a tool that relies on people,
not on features. For one to create a focused work environment,
you must adopt tools that are simple, people-centered and invite
collaboration. In my experience, nothing beats the whiteboard.
Yet, theres a sad occurrence that takes place in many organizations.
After a certain period, sophisticated project management tools
replace whiteboards. Whiteboards dont scale, someone will say.
It is within these transitions that the focus of your organization
may deteriorate. Yet, after a certain period of testing out the latest,
greatest feature-rich project software, theyll likely go back to the
old reliable whiteboard, or hopefully find a way to simplify the
software.
The whiteboard drives focus and collaboration due to three primary
characteristics:
1. Face-to-face: When youre setting tasks and to-do items on
a whiteboard, youre in the presence of people. Getting an item
assigned to you while talking about items on a whiteboard is
much better than opening up your email and seeing that youve
been assigned an item.
2. Natural: The whiteboard conforms to the person; the person
doesnt conform to the whiteboard. Theres no learning curve.

The whiteboard is a natural project management tool.

3. Batching: Depending on the whiteboard you use, there will
be limited space. This is a good thing. The whiteboard has limits,
meaning you cant write down 100 items that need to be done
and then forecast them. When you see a sheet that has 100 to-do
items on it, its both overwhelming and daunting. This usually
results in nothing getting done, or half-assed work getting done.
You forget that theres a starting point. The whiteboard allows
you to batch your projects into chunks. I highly recommend
pruning your projects so that theres only 10-15 items total (for
a group of up to 5 people). This encourages small victories, not a
long, drawn out war. That not only gets old, it becomes tiresome
for your team.
In brief, I highly suggest using a whiteboard for your team. It
encourages focus, collaboration and effectiveness due to the
constraints it presents (limited space).

2. Open Space Is Overrated

Openness is overrated. I know what youre thinking. You just
preached openness in the section above on whiteboards, now youre
saying its overrated? Yes.... well, sort of. Open office environments
are overrated (i.e. those environments where everyones sitting next
to one another and theres no personal offices). In our era of opensource technology and transparency, startups have shifted towards
office spaces that espouse openness. Youll find desks stacked
immediately next to one another, and a proud CEO will proclaim
that this drives collaboration and innovation. However if you look
closer, or if youve worked in such an environment, you know what
this really engenders: distraction.
Im not a proponent of work environments where people work
immediately next to one another in a cramped space. I believe that
you should plan with people, and execute without them. A focused
environment provides each employee with their own desk and
own personal space. In the middle of your entire office floor, its
excellent to have open space and places for people to collaborate
on white-boards, pool tables or whatever. But its critical to have at
least some space that allows you to shut the door and get work done
in an environment that rids itself of noise, distraction and people.

My belief in private, distraction-free workspace is not just driven

by personal experience. In Scott Belskys book on productivity,
Making Ideas Happen, he outlines the findings of a study by
8
Joan Meyers-Levy, a professor of marketing at the University of
Minnesota. She discovered that the nature of your workspace has
a direct effect on the end result of your work-product. Working in
small-ceiling, confined spaces allows you to focus more on critical
details; whereas working in open, high-ceiling spaces fosters a bigpicture, collaborative style of thinking.
Bottom line: collaborate with people, work without people.

3. Shake-up Your Workspace

The section on focused goals revolves around setting one threeword goal and carrying it out within three months. In order to avoid
a slump, Ive found it helpful to rearrange your workspace every
three months, as well. Likely, its been a while since youve carried
out some office-space spring cleaning. One day, on a late Friday
afternoon or whenever theres down-time, stop everything, shut
your door, and rearrange your workspace. If you have an insanelyheavy desk, just rearrange easy-to move items like your monitor or
some other easy-to-arrange objects. Ive found that this simple act
re-energizes me. It acts almost like a reset button in how you work.
Ill cover what types of personal work-environments you should
strive for next.

4. Seek Rags, Not Riches

The success stories we see on Oprah have a very similar storyline. A
person is poor, starting from nothing, then hits it big, and becomes
rich. The world loves rags to riches stories. It feels right, it feels
natural and it feels fair. Were so accustomed to seeing riches
emanate from rags that its actually beneficial to put yourself in
rags to reach success. What I mean is that you should strive for
constraints in your work environment. You must put yourself in a
position of hunger. If youre a startup, this means being lean, and
not fat with venture capital. If youre a government organization, it
means doing something incredible with a small budget.
The projects that always fail are those with an endless budget and

an undefined date. The successful undertakings, the ones that hit

it out of the park, are those that have constraints. For instance,
We need to reach 40,000 people on a $10,000 budget within
three weeks. Those projects tend to do better than, Lets reach as
many people as possible, in however long it takes us, on an endless
budget.
Within your personal workspace, seeking constraints means
creating a simple, minimalistic environment to get work done.
So often I see pictures of work-spaces that have plants, bonsai
trees, comfy chairs, food, snacks, couches and televisions. What
theyve done is transformed workspace into a bedroom. This is
dangerous and hurts ones ability to focus. Instead, put yourself in
an uncomfortable, small, windowless environment. Knock out your
work in a couple hours, and then get out and collaborate!
Bottom line: Seek constraints. Seek rags, not riches. This
philosophy will lead you to riches.

5. Ditch Roberts Rules

Meetings can be cancerous to your organization. Not only that,
they can kill morale. Yet even those that proclaim that they hate
meetings, too, end up holding them. Why? There are a number
of reasons: insecurity (is everything OK, lets hold a meeting to
find out), boredom (what else am I going to do with my time?)
or simply because they think they should hold meetings because
other companies do. If youre heading to a meeting without a clear
agenda, and a clear goal, boycott the meeting or bring a book
because nothing important will get done.
In order to maintain focus and effectiveness, always set an agenda
and a time limit if youre holding a meeting. Do this by meeting
thirty minutes before you have a phone call. Give yourself a reason
to keep things swift, quick and action-oriented. Additionally, keep
the meeting small (3 people or less), and have only one problem to
solve. Ive also found it helpful to not hold any regular meetings.
Make meetings impromptu. Meet because something needs to get
done, not for the sake of meeting.
Roberts Rules is a book that tells you how you should meet. This

is fine, and actually effective for government-run organizations.

But if youre trying to implement it within a startup, or innovative
environment, youve just let out a toxic bomb. Put the fire out
immediately and throw Roberts Rules out the window. Dont
talk about Old business forever. Dont assign a Corresponding
Secretary to take notes about the meeting. Nobody reads them
anyways. Decide on something that needs to be solved. Bring your
planner, and write down the next action of how to solve it.
Adopting flexible, action-oriented meeting principles will allow your
organization to not get distracted and maintain focus on its main
goal. Speaking of which, well cover organizational goals next.

6. Building an Organization Built on Meaning

The worst thing you can do to your startup, team or organization
is be secretive. Obviously, theres details that not everyone should
know. However, if youve got people at the top making plans, and
having others carry out those plans without understanding why
theyre carrying out their daily activities, youre shooting yourself in
the foot. And more, youre killing your organizations culture.
Focus-driven organizations are those that are working towards
something. Theyre organizations that have a clear-cut goal that is
not only communicated, the goal is understood. Just asyou should
set focused goals for yourself personally to carry out in three
months, so too should your company.
Set one company-wide goal every three months and communicate it
with your employees. Make sure everyone understands exactly why
theyre working towards this goal. This is critical, as understanding
why youre working towards something translates to meaning,
which converts to purpose (and, of course, focus). If someone
interviews your companys CEO and an employee in a separate
room, their answers should be completely the same. If asked the
question, Whats your purpose, whats your plan and what are
you guys working towards? Their answers should literally mirror
one another. If youve got a mission statement, and nobody can
recall or recite it, ditch it. Replace it by setting a focused goal every
quarter, and communicating the meaning behind the goal to each
employee. This simple practice will lead to a focused organization.

And according to successful startups, focusing on the right things is

critical to success.

7. Dont Get Fat at Work

The last element that you should consider when at work is not to get
fat. In brief, dont eat a massive lunch. When I say, seek rags, not
riches, I mean it. Youll find that theres two types of organizations:
fat ones, and lean ones. You can tell which one is which by their
cafeteria (if they even have one).
I know of two organizations that exemplify fat vs. lean quite clearly.
One organization has raised millions in venture capital and they
have lunch catered to their offices everyday. These arent just
lunches. These are Thanksgiving dinner-style lunches. At 2pm, its
game-over. Everyones in a food coma. They hit that point where no
more work gets done.
The other office has a personal cook that arrives everyday and cooks
them lean, light, healthy lunches.
After 365 days of this, which work environment do you think gets
more done? Which one do you think is more productive?
Bottom line: Dont get fat at work.

Conclusion
In conclusion, venture capitalists look for great people. Great
people create an environment that is filled with focus.
Creating a focused environment can be embodied within seven characteristics and practices:
1. Implementing natural, people-centered tools (whiteboard)
2. Creating a focused work environment (one that prevents
distraction)
3. Shaking-up your workspace every three months
4. Seeking rags, not riches (constraints)
5. Holding focused meetings (brief and to the point)
6. Setting focused goals (make sure everyone at your
organization understands the why behind their actions)

7. Dont eat a lot at work

Focused Networking
Youve heard it before that business is all about relationshipsits
all about people. This is only half truth. Researchers have found
that success in business is 50% is about relationships; whereas, the
other 50% is actually bringing something valuable to the tableits
smarts.
Too often, we focus on one or the other. In order to reach the green
fields of success, people must know what youre doing. You could
have the next biggest search engine algorithm and live in a siloh in
Montana. But guess what, if nobody knows about it, you wont make
a dimeand more importantly, you wont add value to anyones
life.Theres no better medium than being in-person. This is why
networking is critical. Now this isnt networking in its traditional
senseits focused networking. Below well explore this art.

Background
When you think of networking, memories may resurface that are
filled with awkward situations containing salesy people and knowit-alls. Depending on which networking event you choose, youre
bound to encounter different types of people, and different types of
personalities. The trick centers on selecting the right conferences
and gatherings. In this chapter, well explore how this is done
through Focused Networking.

What is meant by focused networking

Focused networking is nothing more than having a plan to
habitually meet great people. Focused networking centers on
meeting people that you can help, and in turn, they can help you.
This doesnt revolve around hitting up every conference in
sight and handing out your business cards. Instead, the idea
of focused networking concerns itself with mapping out events
where people that you want to be around congregate. If youre

into books, join a book club. If youre into wine, go wine tasting.
If youre into football, join a local touch football league. You are
your environment, and the raw materials of your environment are
formed at networking events.
Youll find that meeting people keeps you sane in times where the
economy is bad. Networking allows you to get out, and remember
why youre here and what youre doing. How? Because youre
constantly explaining to people why youre here, and what your
purpose is. At networking events you meet people. And people
ask you questions about yourself. Thus, youre put in a position to
answer questions you should have been asking yourself all along,
yet youve been too busy.
I run into some of the wealthiest and most successful entrepreneurs
weekly. Most successful online entrepreneurs are successful
because of their offline activities. Theyre constantly making
introductions, helping people out, meeting with people in person
and making deals happen. They have employees and all-stars
around them that specialize in dominating online; meanwhile
theyre establishing relationships offline.
This type of entrepreneur characterizes focused networking. Below
well outline specific principles involved in focused networking, and
the action plan to begin networking in a focused manner.

Proven Principles of Focused Networking

Below, well explore eleven principles that form the basis of focused
networking.

1. Free Is Not Free

At free networking events, youll find people in transitionwhich
is perfectly fine. In fact, I was this person many times. However,
youll also find snake oil salesmen. People selling you multi-level
marketing services and debt relief packages. And by debt relief, I
mean people that will try and con your employer on the employees
behalf. Its dirty business. And if you go to any networking event

unguarded, youre bound to dislike networkingor even worseget

ripped off. Thus, make sure that when you attend a free networking
event that youre more susceptible to salespeople or service
businesses (like attorneys, accountants and human resources
services).

2. Finding the right events

Finding the right events takes time initially. Yet, once you get the
ball rolling, finding the right event becomes almost too easy. To get
started, there are three steps:
1. Do not follow the traditional ways in finding events (like
newspapers, Meetup.com groups or Google). Instead, source
events by making a list of the ten top people in your industry.
Visit their website (or better, visit their blog). Some of these
people have events that are on their radar to attend. If they dont,
contact them directly if they have a contact page, and ask them
what conferences or events they recommend. Hopefully at least
one of them, will give you the first lead. All it takes is one event
recommendation to get you started.
2. After attending the event, find people that fit your niche and
your industry, and then ask them what events they recommend.
3. Repeat the above step over and over, and youll soon get a
pulse of all events that relate to your industry.

3. Get a networking partner

Ive got a close buddy that is my networking partner. Attending
networking events alone is tough for two reasons: (i) If youre alone,
and havent engaged anyone in conversation, its awkward, and (ii)
if the event sucks, at least youve got a friend to hang out with.
In my case, the hardest part in attending a networking event was
actually getting myself to go. Once Im there, I usually enjoy it.
Having a friend to attend events with makes the barrier to entry of
attending less severe.
Your networking partner doesnt have to be with the same
company; he or she is someone you can go to bat for, and
recommend to your colleagues and friends. Going to an event with
someone that has your back allows you to meet the right people

people you might have missed if you went to networking events

alone.

4. Make it a routine
Focused networking should not feel like networking. Networking, in
its traditional sense, leaves people feeling awkward. Relationships
feel forced. In order to prevent this feeling from arising, focused
networking must be a regular routine--same as eating. Its nothing
special, focused networking is just part of your everyday life.

5. Leverage LinkedIn
As we learned, Linkedin is an excellent source for maintaining
relationships. With your networking system, dont worry about
pinging everyone constantly and asking, How can I help you?
Youll come off as a multi-level-marketer. Instead, add them to
linkedin, and if theres a potential way to work together in the
future, contact them. Naturally, theyll be updated by you routinely
(if youve connected Twitter to your LinkedIn account, as outlined
in the previous chapter).

6. Reach out to people everywhere

Youll find great people at networking events, and great people that
stay the hell away from networking events. In order to not miss
out on meeting great people, youll want to meet people both at
networking events, and away from networking events.

7. Birthdays
After meeting a contact, add them to LinkedIn. Using services
like NutshellMail (www.nutshellmail.com), keep a pulse on any
upcoming birthdays. Upcoming birthdays are fantastic for reaching
out to your contacts. Many people brush birthdays off as if they
dont care; however, deep down people do care, and they do take
note whenever you reach out to them on their birthday.

8. Prepare to learn
Most people I speak with hate networking events because the

situation feels awkward. If feels forced according to them.

Obviously, your first time at a networking event does feel a bit odd;
however, when you start making it a habitual activity, it will quickly
feel natural. Each time you attend a networking event, prepare
yourself to learn. When you learn how to effectively communicate at
networking events, youll become more comfortable at networking
events. After a certain point, people will sense your comfort level,
and thus theyll be attracted to speaking with you. In turn, this
makes networking less awkward.

9. Extend a hand
Lets face it. Its always awkward when youre standing next to
someone at a networking event and its quiet. You both know why
youre there, but youre tired from the workday and choose to zone
out or watch a nearby T.V. Heres a trick that will always work:
reach your hand out and say, Hi, Im [state your name]. That
small action will immediately kill any uncomfortable feeling at
networking events.
When attending any event with people, dont focus on anything
else. Just focus on making contact and saying, Hi, Im [state your
name].

10. Establishing a sensational story

After youve extended your hand and introduced yourself, you dont
just sit there and stare at the person. Youve got to have a story.
Heres the three part process to establishing a sensational story.
1. Outline who you are in one sentence
This centers on capturing a title that can define who you are, as well
as three three specific characteristics that you would like to project
when introducing yourself to others.
For instance:
[1-3 word title] Web entrepreneur.
[3 specifics] Specialize in social media, SEO and monetization.

2. Establish seasoned proof

This part proposes to separate you from the rest of the folks
networking in the room. This is a one sentence pop statement
that projects specific numbers, a big name firm or any other type
of proof in establishing your credibility.
For instance:
[One sentence proof] For example, Ive helped companies like
TMZ increase their revenue by over 417% to $113 million within
three months.
3. Outline your goal with networking.
Before embarking on the networking journey, you need to
understand why youre even at an event in the first place. And you
need to project that. Otherwise, youll look lost. Your goal could be
something simple like: to meet local people in my community,
or something direct, to set up one appointment with a potential
client.
If you have two goals, narrow it down to one simple sentence.
For instance:
[Your goal] Im here to meet great tech entrepreneurs in my
community.

Now combine them all:

Im a web entrepreneur, and I specialize in social media, SEO
and monetization. For example, Ive helped companies like
TMZ increase their revenue by over 417% to $113 million within
three months. Im here to meet great tech entrepreneurs in my
community.
Thats your story when networking.

11. Choose who to follow-up with carefully

Only when youve found a connection that you truly can help out,
and they can truly help you out, should you actually meet up in

person. Otherwise, youll just waste each others time. And that
doesnt do either of you any good.
Some people recommend you to follow-up with everyone. I say,
dont. Instead, add the majority as LinkedIn connections for future
opportunities. And for the ones that youd rather not be connected
with, burn their cards. Just kidding, but seriously, throw them
away.
You should legitimately follow up with 1-2 people after an event,
and meet up with them. Shoot them a quick email like below:
Hey [Name]
Great meeting up last night at [the event]. We should grab
coffee or a drink some time and figure out specifically how we
can help each other out.
I run into a variety of clients that could definitely benefit from
your services. Would like to learn more about your business.
Let me know a time that works for you.

Conclusion
In the end, focused networking is taking the art of networking, and
turning it into a routine. Through this style of thinking networking
wont be an unbearable activitylike it traditionally is. Networking
turns into something natural, something unforced.
Focused networking is nothing more than networking with a plan.
And this becomes an art.
As an action step, follow the principles above, outline specific events
and begin implementing the principles. Not all of the principles
above will stick initially, but over time, youll pick all of them up,
and it will come naturally.

Focusing in The Face of Emotions

Life is filled with people. And with people come one thing: emotion.

We are emotional beings. And emotions constantly drive our

actions. This is both wonderful, and horrific. We possess both
empowering emotions, and draining emotions. And if you dont
approach emotions in a focused, logical manner, you risk becoming
a reactive, irrational being.
In order to sustain long-term focus, one must think logically in the
face of emotions. One must learn to reason with focus when faced
with towering levels of emotions. In the chapter below, Ill outline
10 emotions, and how a focused person should react when faced
with these feelings:

Why You Must Focus Your Emotions

We all have an idea of the negative consequences distraction has on
us. We get less done in more time; rather than getting more done in
less time. Yet, most people overlook the most dangerous component
of distractions: the weakening of cognitive pathways within the
pre-frontal lobe of our brains. Many dont realize that as one grows
more distracted, ones mind deteriorates.
The good news is that this can be countered. In fact, you can grow
your mind to a point where its never been before.
By facing emotions in a focused manner, you create synapses
between your limbic system and your prefrontal lobe. Your limbic
system is an older part of your brain that specializes in feeling.
When leveraged correctly, the prefrontal lobe results in mindfulness
and focus. As you create synapses, your mind grows and matures
allowing you to become a more reasonable and focused person.
In ancient Buddhism, there sits a principle known as abhidhamma,
which teaches that emotions are impermanent. By reflecting on
emotion, and experiencing their rise and fall, one can strengthen
their cognitive abilities. This is not detaching yourself from
emotion, its taking in emotion, and reflecting on emotion to the
point where you become more mindful of your emotion. This results
in a more alert, and focused state.

How To Counter The 10 Emotions of Life

Through Focus:
One summer, I sat and read through dozens, if not hundreds of
success books. After a while, they all grew stale; yet, I found one
section within Anthony Robbins Awaken the Giant Within that
really hit home. He displayed how one should react to emotions.
Ive decided to create my own version and guide for facing emotions
below. My version centers on countering these emotions in a more
focused manner, which will allow you to expand your cognitive
pathways, and become more focused.

Discomfort:
When something just doesnt feel right, its an odd feeling.
Sometimes you cant put your finger on what it is, but you feel
uncomfortable. And you know it. This feeling nags you throughout
the day and the discomfort can really drag on.

How to reflect on discomfort

Discomfort sends a message that something isnt quite right. This
stems from the lens in which you view life. You may be thinking
simply about yourself. You may be using a lot of Shoulds. For
instance, I should be getting this, and Im not. You may be
frequently focusing on yourself, and using Is and comparisons.

Focused action steps:

1. Using a notepad, write down a focused goal and your
objectives that you feel will fix this discomfort.
2. List out your daily actions that enable you to reach the focused
goal.
3. Audit these actions and make sure that they will lead to the
end result; consider honing and changing some of your actions.
If not countered right away, discomfort can really stress you out.
Little-by-little, discomfort can drain you. Just as Phil says in the
profoundly classic film, The Hangover, as he references marriage,
Youll die just a little bit every day. Thats what discomfort will do

to you.
This is further increased by ones ability to visualize things in our
minds. Its critical to logically outline your objectives and your
actions that lead to this discomfort. Its important to map out
in hand-writing exactly what actions are leading to this level of
discomfort. If not handled correctly, discomfort can lead to the next
emotion: fear.

Fear
Everyone experiences different levels of fear throughout their
life. This can be characterized as either apprehension or slight
uneasiness to intense fright and even terror. The key with fear
centers on facing the fear in a logical, focused fashion.

How to reflect on fear:

Fear sends a message that youre anticipating something that is
about to happen, or at least should be prepared for. In order to
counter this fear, one must look at fear from a logical perspective,
or simply out-prepare their fear. What do I mean by out-prepare
your fear? I mean, prepare so much for the action at hand, that you
no longer fear it.

Focused Action Steps:

1. Define precisely what you fear.
2. Outline the steps you need to take in order to extinguish that
fear.
3. Act. Through action, fear is killed. Action cures fear, inaction
creates terror. -Doug Horton
4. Have faith that youll be able to accomplish those activities.
5. Look at the big picture; realize that if you continue to
visualize the situation, and experience failure; youre really just
experiencing failure before you experience failure.

Hurt

This emotion stems from human relationshipsboth personally and

professionally. This usually is driven by a sense of loss. After being
hurt, one often lashes out at those around them. The key with hurt
is to understand the emotion, and put it into perspective.

How to reflect on hurt

Hurts serves as a signal that some expectation has not been met.
An expectation that you visualized in your mind suddenly finds
itself stamped on, and results in loss. This is painful to experience.
Put simply, it hurts.
This can come in the form of expecting someone to keep their word,
and they didnt; or they just did something that feels as if youve
lost trust in them. Something in which you expected them to do, but
they didnt.

Focused Action Steps

1. Make sure youre not being irrational. Immediately after
experiencing a feeling of loss, or feelings misconstrued from your
expectations, its easy to act harshly, or immediately. Take a step
back and calm down. Go to a coffee shop with a pad and a pencil,
or a book, and get your mind off of it.
2. Understand the situation by asking yourself if you really lost
anything. Likely, what happens is that your expectations are the
only things that are misconstrued. In order to prevent this from
happening again, adjust your expectations.
3. Communicate this to the person involved. Make sure you
dont use the word you, and instead use the terms, I feel as if
Ive been let down because I expected x to occur. Am I wrong to
expect this?
4. Hedge your emotional risk. The feeling of hurt can really be
detrimental to ones life. Just as your financial assets shouldnt
be tied to one investment vehicle; all of your emotions shouldnt
be tied to your expectations of one person. Now Im not talking
about becoming a polygamist. This isnt sexual at all. Im
speaking about the work-place. About the ventures you pursue.
About the clients you count on for revenue. Every great football
team has one thing that other teams dont have: depth. If their
star quarterback goes down, their season isnt over if they have

depth. Aim to have this type of depth and diversification in your

lifewhether it be a business, a client or whatever. Hedge your
emotional risk by diversifying your emotions. If your emotional
expectations are contingent upon yourself, instead of others,
youll feel empoweredand less likely to feel hurt if things dont
pan out.
5. Hurt usually re-awakens a sense of vulnerability, too. It almost
feels as if a carpets been pulled out from right underneath where
youre standing. If you dont have a solid foundation by the time
you experience hurt, you can fall really hard. The vulnerability
and lack of experience one feels from hurt can actually be shifted
to an empowering emotion. Instead of dragging your head after a
feeling of hurt, you can instead re-convene with your core values,
and what youre actually in charge of.

Anger
When anger takes hold, your adrenaline kicks in; you can become
resentful, furious, or simply downright pissed. This stems
from a chemical in the primitive, survival part of your brain
norephinephrine. This chemical is a type of adrenaline that drives a
fight-or-flight response in your mind.

How to reflect on anger:

Anger sends a trigger that an action has taken place in your
environment which violates a rule or belief that you hold dear. It
can be a rule someone else violated; or you yourself violated.

Focused Action Steps:

1. Before reacting in anger, ask yourself a simple question, What
other possibilities could have driven this rule to be broken?
Make sure you explore reasons and rationale for how a person
could have misinterpreted a pre-set rule you hold dear.
2. Realize that just because you hold certain beliefs and rules
dear, that doesnt mean the world holds them dear, as well.
Everyone has their own beliefs in which they interpret the world.
The key is to constantly communicate these beliefs and rules that

you hold true to others.

3. Instead of letting the anger drive you into an irrational,
reactive state, ask yourself two questions: First, Going forward,
what can I learn from this experience? And second, In the longrun, does this person have my best interest in mindthey just
merely slipped up through lack of understanding?
Its critical to reflect in the time of anger. Adrenaline and dopamine
fuel anger. When reflecting, serotonin is released into the mind,
which calms the senses, promotes rationale thoughtand helps the
mind grow.

Frustration
Frustration is an emotion that stems from a feeling of being
overwhelmed. If youre exhausting yourself through a certain
practice, or certain set of actions, and yet they fail to translate into
success, you may get frustrated.

How to reflect on frustration:

Frustration sends a very positive signal. It tells you that your
expectations arent being met for yourself. Its a signal that
you expect more of yourself than you currently are producing.
Frustration tells you that youre not meeting a certain goal you have
for yourself.

Focused Action Steps:

1. First, you must explore your thoughts and explicitly define
what goal isnt being achieved.
2. Understand that you must leverage frustration to map out new
actions and strategies to meet your goals.
3. In order to meet these goals, get some input from someone
thats experienced the goal youre pursuing. Find a mentor and
leverage their knowledge and insight to achieve that goal.
4. Pursue the goal. Remeasure your results. If you have yet
to gain progress in reaching the goal, redraft the strategy, and
pursue the goal gain.

Disappointment
This emotion is dangerous if not dealt with quickly. Disappointment
sends a signal that youve been let down. Unlike hurt,
disappointment usually stems from letting yourself down.

How to reflect on disappointment:

Disappointment sends you a message that your anticipated goal
probably isnt going to happen. And, even though its painful to
admit, you know it. Thus, you must re-calibrate your goals, and look
at them in a new perspective. Perhaps even scratching out the goal
completely and shifting focus towards a different goal.

Focused Action Steps:

1. Its critical that you map out what youve learned from this
experience. What critical lessons did you learn? What skills did
you develop? What can you take with you to your next venture or
goal?
2. Understand that disappointment is sometimes very temporary
in nature. Its a critical skill to know when to pull the plug
on a goal. Yet, sometimes goals take longer to develop than
anticipated. Make sure that you know for certain whether to
kick-it or stick-it. Ultimately, this is on you to decide. Yet by
mapping out your rationale behind your decision, you can make
a more focused decision. Benjamin Franklin had a process where
he listed out the pros and cons of each decision he made. I
recommend mapping out your decision to stick with a goal much
like this. Weight not only the costs of sticking with a goal, but the
opportunity costs of sticking with a goal.
3. Now that youve reflected on what youve learned, its time to
create a new goal. Make this goal agile, lean and something you
can accomplish within three months. Let this goal drive you.

Guilt
We all try to avoid guilt, remorse and regret. The pain we expect to

feel from these emotions drive us to make sound decisions. If guilt

did not exist, many of our actions would cause pain to others, as
well as ourselves.

How to reflect on guilt:

Guilt tells you that you have standards set for yourself. It tells you
that some or all of these standards have been violated. And because
of this, you feel guilt.

Focused Action Steps:

1. If guilt is a constant feelingsomething that stems up on a
daily basisthen consider re-drafting your standards. Perhaps
theyre too high. The slogan for another profound movie, Tommy
Boy, is, If at first you dont succeed, lower your standards. This
is humorous; yet its true in many aspects of life. If you dont meet
your standards every once in a while, thats one thing. But if its a
weekly, or daily feeling of guilt, consider lowering your standards.
2. Come to the realization that you have, in fact, not met a
standard set for yourself. Write out that standard and define it
clearly so that you can better understand it.
3. Outline what action you took that violated this standard.
4. Write out what you would do in the future now that you
understand your standard more clearly.
5. Commit that you will not violate this standard.

Inadequacy
Inadequacy sends the signal that youre feeling unworthy. This is
usually driven by an irrational standarda standard that makes you
feel as if youre inadequate.

How to reflect on inadequacy:

Inadequacy sends you a signal that you may not have the skill or
talent to accomplish a goal. It sends a message that you need more
information, experience, help from others, talent or strategies to
accomplish your goal. Sometimes this feeling may be appropriate;

sometimes, its irrational and driven by lack of confidence.

Focused Action Steps

1. First, you must determine if your feeling of inadequacy has
merit, or if youre being pessimistic about your abilities. Write
down exactly what skills, experience, knowledge, talent or
strategies that youre missing, which prevent you from reaching
your goal. If theres nothing there, get tough on yourself, realize
that you do have what it takes to achieve the goal, and press forth.
If theres sound reason behind your feeling of inadequacy, map
out what youre missing, and structure how you plan to fill the
gap. If theres certain skills you need, consider outsourcing the
skills using the lessons we covered previously.
2. Inadequacy sends you a positive signal that you have room
to improve. If you never feel inadequate, that sends a signal that
youre not challenging yourself. We all need to start somewhere
and end up somewhere. Its better to feel inadequate at the
beginning of your journey, rather than at the end.
3. If youre feeling inadequate, find a person that feels adequate.
Find a mentor, industry leader or person thats been in your
shoes before. Leverage their knowledge and skills in order to get
to the next level.

Overwhelmed
I once went through a stage of profound motivation. I was
passionate and driven. Overtime, though, the passion grew a bit
stale, and I began living down to sociectys expectationsthat is,
being normal, climbing the latter and going the route society deems
normal. There were many distractions and set-backs that hit me.
Eventually, I gained a feeling of helplessness, being overloaded and
feeling overwhelmed. This gave me an indifferent approach to a
lot of things. I was still positive at the core, but I was sarcastic and
cynical. I felt as if I was in quick sand. The harder I tried, the more
I was hit by setbacks. I feel this is a trap a lot of people fall into at
some point in their life. They go through a very driven period, and
then soon feel overwhelmed, causing them to fall into a state of
indifference.

How to reflect on this feeling

Being so overwhelmed that youre driven to indifference tells you

that you need to reevaluate whats critical at this point in time.
Get in touch with your purpose, and with what drives you. Too
often the distractions of life throws us away from our true purpose.
When feeling overwhelmed, its critical to sift through the noise and
identify whats truly important.

Focused Action Steps

1. Identify one thing that you want to focus on in your life.
Outline a critical goal in the field of your career, your personal life
and an overall goal.
2. Now identify which one is critical for you to not feel
overwhelmed; set it up so that it can be accomplished in three
months or less.
3. Outline the action steps that are needed to achieve this goal,
and list them in priority.
4. Immediately tackle the first item sometime today, or if its at
night, then tomorrow.
5. Focus on the elements that you can actually control in life; if
you cant control the elements that lead to feeling overwhelmed,
dont focus on them. Just as with any economic market,
theres two types of risk: systematic risk and firm specific risk.
Systematic risk is driven by the environment of business (legal,
economics, society, politics). You cant control systematic risk,
you just have to bear it and not focus on it. With firm-specific
risk, however, you can diversify and control this risk. With the
feeling of overwhelming, you usually are side-swiped and stressed
out about systematic risk. Dont fall into this trap. Only focus on
elements that you can control.

Loneliness
Life is about people. When we are disconnected from people, we
are disconnected from life. Everyones felt alone. How you act
determines how alone you feel.

How to reflect on loneliness

Loneliness sends you a message that you need to connect with
people. Its an excellent signal because it tells you that you really

value people, and you feel the need to connect. Many fall into the
belief that this means sexual intimacy; however, the feeling of
loneliness doesnt center on that. It centers on connecting with
peoplewhether with a group of friends, with leaders in your field
or colleagues.

Focused Action Steps:

1. First, outline what type of connection you needbusiness
connection, friend connection or intimate relationship.
2. Realize that life is about people; life is about connecting with
people. Instead of sitting couped up in your office or home, make
a commitment to get out and meet people. This can be done
through the following actions or activities:
Classes or groups at a church
Apply the focused networking techniques we covered previously
Get a dog (warningtheyre a lot of workor at least mine is). A
dog is an excellent excuse to get out and meet people. Like kids,
they demand attention. Theyre selfish. This will allow you stop
focusing on yourself, and instead get in the habit of focusing on
others.
Go to some wine-tastings in your community
Grab a newspaper or book and head over to a coffee shop
Reach out to industry experts and meet up with them for lunch

Summary:
Weve learned that life is about emotions; and if you react
emotionally to emotions, things can get ugly. Fast. The emotions
above and their action steps will help you gain a focused mindset
when approaching your life, your career and your goals.

Becoming an Autodidact
If you were in my shoes, and you were hiring an individual for a
specific role in a technology company, would you take an Ivy League
grad or a high school grad?
Right now, without question youre leaning towards the Ivy

League grad; however, by the end of this chapter, youll see things
differently. Youll be given more insight in order to answer this
question, and you wont make the same mistake I did when faced
with a real-life scenario involving this question.

Autodidacts
We live in a world where the common belief held towards education
is disenchantmentespecially if youre an entrepreneur. School
or college is worthless, people reason. Indeed, many components
within the education system is broken. However, just because some
pedantic teacher dropped the ball, doesnt mean your education
has to suffer. Youll find that many wealthy entrepreneurs are
autodidactsmeaning, theyre self taught in various disciplines.
This doesnt apply to the one-hit-wonder entrepreneurs; this
principle exists through the billionaire entrepreneurs youve never
heard of. The sage entrepreneurs that absolutely dominate without
kicking up dust in the media. These entrepreneurs leverage and
hack education in order to squeeze out knowledge and expand the
mind. This practice not only expands their mind, it enhances their
focus. In the chapter below well discuss the nature of education,
whats good, whats bad and how you can hack education to acquire
an Ivy League education for free.

People who argue against education have it all wrong.

To give you some background, I absolutely detested teachers
growing up. I reasoned that many were lazy. They lacked critical
thought. And a lot of them simply went through the motions. I, too,
went through the motionsthe motions of goofing off. And I did
this better than anyone. Seriously. I wasnt a class clownthat had
too much class in it. I was simply a clown. Yet when I attended
college, I took a glance around and suddenly the goofing off didnt
matterit was all about results. Goofing didnt matter, as long as
you delivered come test day. And I thrived in this environment.
I took classes I wanted to take, I studied because I wanted to
study (and I studied an insane amount of hours); and last, I took
advantage of every mind-expanding opportunity I couldbecause I
was fortunate enough to be there in the first place.
Then the real world hits, and its much different than academia.

As if this is unexpected, youll find that many students grow angry

at this reality. They exclaim, You mean, the four years I spent
studying didnt set me up for automatic success in the real-world?!
You hear business authors preach how education is off and its all
academias fault. They say, Education only teaches standards.
Education only shows you how to get good grades. Dont follow the
rules.
I argue that there are definitely good things within the education
system, there are bad things within academia and there are
exceptionally ugly things. Yet, the good elements of education teach
one the habits in order to become a more focused person.

The Good:
Education gives you context for life.
Diversifying ones knowledge of religions, histories, cultures and
philosophies doesnt necessarily pave the way for a successful
career. It does, however, give one better context to view the world.
You wouldnt believe how many times youll find yourself in the
presence of someone that shares a cultural background that youre
familiar with. For instance, at business functions, Ill routinely run
into people that have cultural roots from Tibet. In those moments,
awkward situations are transformed immediately into conversation,
and rapport is established. This is definitely valuable, as these
situations have a higher likelihood of turning into business deals.
Obviously, one could study the culture of Tibet on their own; yet
most never would. Most would be too concerned with their desired
occupation to learn something almost entirely unrelated to their
intended field. Thats the value of college. If I didnt have to learn
about different religions, cultures and philosophies, Id have read
business books insteadbecause thats what I was interested in. If
a university didnt require me to learn about such fields, I would
have never studied the subject. This academics structure provides
context for different areas of life.

College puts the burden of learning on you.

Your educational experience is directly aligned with your effort.
If you drank yourself through college, you wont learn anything.
Sometimes, the people that do this blame their negative experience
on school as a whole. Many argue against the school system because
they dont understand its purpose. Its purpose is to put you in an
environment to compete, to challenge yourself, to develop critical
thought and to acquire context for life. Its not to prepare you to
get rich. Only work will prepare you to do exceptional at work; not
school.
A lot of the pedantic professors you come across in college are
very focused. Their focus is not on succeeding in life; rather, their
focus is on what history reveals about certain questions that give
insight into life. Its your job to read and interpret that, and then
act on it within life. The school system can give one tremendous
ability to focus, but only when you graduate will you have the actual
opportunity to focus. Its your burden to learn this and apply this to
life.

Eat the food, not the vomit

Education often puts you in an environment with very bright
individuals. Universities are filled with professors that love
research. Most of these professors conduct sound research. The
scrutiny of their colleagues, peers and the academic community
as a whole, drive professors to conduct sound research. The end
product they churn out is quite raw; however, its in its truest form.
Many authors make a killing off of reading this research, and then
packaging it for the average person. Eat the food (source of data),
rather than the vomit (authors regurgitation of data). Education
is an excellent conduit for the interpreting the source of data and
research.

Promotes critical thought

Last, education promotes critical thought through structuring
an environment that requires writing papers on a wide-array of
subjects. Of course, the burden of forming this critical though rests
on you; however, the structure is there, and its there for one to take

advantage of.

The Bad:
Your degree does not dictate worth
When I interview candidates that are fresh out of college, theres
one red flag I always look for: their interpretation of their degree.
When you ask them, What salary do you think is fair, and why?
Many respond with an answer like, Well, I have a college degree, so
that makes me worth more in the market-place. So I think I should
at least make 60 grand a year. I have to hold myself back from
laughing. Its really not their fault that an answer like this is given;
its a habit thats ingrained in our society, and theyve accepted it.
At least in my worldthe world of entrepreneurship and fastmoving technologyIve found that your degree doesnt correlate
with your worth. Is your degree worthless? No, its an indication
that you were given the material to acquire knowledge; however,
thats all its worth. Your worth is directly correlated with your
value. Your value stems from your ability to apply the knowledge
youve accumulated. Unfortunately, many employers and
corporations dont have the insight, audacity and time to manually
gauge value, so instead they use the college degree as an indicator.
An answer that would make more sense would be something along
the lines of: Well at my last position, I outlined seventeen areas
that we were inneficient, and I implemented various revenue
streams that resulted in $80,000 in four months. Thus, taking an
average of that $80,000 and dividing it by four, gives you a figure of
$20,000 per month. Im not sure of our margins at this company,
however I think at least 25% of that value per month would be fair.
What, in turn does that get you? $5,000 per month, which equates
to $60,000 per year.

Education gives you potential knowledge, not kinetic

knowledge

In the example above, youll notice that I wrote Your worth is

directly correlated with your value. Your value stems from the
ability to apply the knowledge youve accumulated. Education
merely gives you potential knowledge, once youve applied the
knowledge, it becomes kinetic knowledgeor value.

The Ugly:
Elementary schools and high schools
Our elementary and high school system. Yes, our elementary and
high school system, at least in California, renders itself broken.
Its filled with teachers that punch in the time clock, sit you down
for hours, and make you do work. Its much like Family Guys
interpretation of a math student. Peter Griffin, the thick-headed
father of the family, adopts a Chinese immigrant, puts him in the
corner, pokes him with a pencil and says, Do math. Believe it
or not, Ive seen teachers teach in a manner that relates to this.
Obviously, not all are bad. And not all is broken; but the fact that
there are so many broken pieces in such an important area is plain
ugly.

We are creating factory workers

The traditional education system hasnt grown proportionally
with societys innovation. The curricula, structure and style of our
education system centers on training the industrial-age worker,
not the information-age worker. They teach one to specialize in a
specific area and do repetitive work, instead of growing the mind
through a wide-range of material and then applying the material to
different problems that matter in the world.

The Bottom line:

Dont fall into the group that blindly blasts education. It has its
pros, cons and ugly cons. Just make sure you understand the

nature, and goals of the education system so that you dont feel
scammed upon graduating into the real world.
So how can you take advantage of education, and allow it to help
your mind focus? Thats what well cover next.

How to Get an Ivy League Education For

Free
You dont need money to get an educationeven an Ivy League
education. As outlined above, the biggest advantages of education
center on its ability to unroll a road-map of courses that you
otherwise would never take. Education, if employed correctly, gives
one context for life, critical thought and raw knowledge. In addition,
at least in college, its all on you to succeed. Its on you to learn. Its
all about results.
So how can you acquire an Ivy league education for free, and
become a more focused person? Theres only three steps.

First, find the roadmap

Create a your own course of study. Your course-load is on you to
decide. Figure out your time period: 4-week, 8-week, 16-week or
some other time period.
You can find curriculum and credit requirements for specific
degrees and programs just by visiting university websites. They
literally give you the road-map to acquire any degree you wish. For
instance, for Stanfords Business School, they have the following
course-loadd for first year students:

Autumn Quarter:
1. Critical Analytical Thinking
2. Ethics and Management
3. Global Context of Management
4. Managerial Finance
5. Managing Groups and Teams

6. Organizational Behavior
7. Strategic Leadership

Spring Quarter:
1. Data Analysis and Decision Making
2. Finance
3. Financial Accounting
4. Human Resource Management
5. Information Management
6. Managerial Accounting
7. Marketing
8. Micro-economics
9. Modeling for Optimization & Decision Support (MODS)
10. Non-market Strategy
11. Operations
Pretty straightforward materialand pretty expensive material (this
can cost you about $100,000 for two years). So how do you find the
classes and take them for free? Read on.

Second, gather the material through open-courseware

Universities have made a recent push towards open-sourcing their
courses. Theyve opened up lectures, notes, presentations and tests
that are free to the public.
Why did they do this? With the rise of the internet, knowledge
quickly became readily available and free to anyone that wanted to
learn. The internet put more power into the hands of the student,
instead of the institution. What these academic institutions
found, however, is that most people didnt need to learn courses
of interests because they already have universities that spoon
feed them material. If you give away the material without the
spoon, most people dont know what to do. This is where the sage
entrepreneur excels. It doesnt hurt, it only helps the brand of the
university if they open-source their course-ware because its free
advertising and mind-share for them.
Theres a variety of sources from which you can gather
material; however, here are some of the places that Ive
used:

1. MITs Open Courseware Library: MIT has been spearheading

the open-course movement since 1999. They offer a wonderful
array of curricula and material for taking a variety of course in
many academic disciplines. They have a wide-range of humanity
courses, computer science courses, literary courses, film,
cognitive sciences, mathematics, physics, marketing and more.
MIT is only one of many world-class universities that offer open
courseware.
2. iTunes Open University: iTunes has a wide-array of courses, as
well. In both audio and visual format, the open university frees
the knowledge that was once housed in the silos of Stanford.

Third, Make it happen

As a daily foundation exercise, I suggest taking courses in a
variety of subjects. You may want to combine the following into
your course-load: Mathematics, Philosophy, Literature, Cognitive
Sciences and Religious Studies. The age of the polymath isnt dead;
in fact, its what will separate you from the specialized machines
that are now present in our workplace. Learn and apply a variety of
disciplines to your educational experience.
Take special note that the above steps will allow you to acquire
an Ivy League education, but not an Ivy League experience. The
experience is founded on the relationships you meet while at school.
Essentially, this is the main, if not only, value that universities offer
today.

Lets circle back

Lets move back to the beginning with the question of hiring an
Ivy League grad or high school grad. Now, Ill give you some more
background and insight into this question.
If you were in my shoes, within the entrepreneurship realm, which
candidate would you rather hire:
Candidate #1:
1. St. Peters Prepatory Academy

2. Harvard University
3. Harvard Business School
4. No real work experience
5. Wanting $120k per year
Candidate #2:
1. Managed twenty people
2. Failed at two startups
3. Succeeded at one startup, and succeeded big. She, herself,
generated $400k annually for startup
4. Autodidact in cross-disciplinary subjects including
mathematics, marketing, literature, computer science and
architecture from MIT, Stanford and eight other schools while
working.
Dont make the same mistake I made; if youre a sage entrepreneur,
you know which one youd pick: Candidate #2.

Further Resources:
Startl makes it their job to identify and enhance the future of
learning
Fred Wilson, a visionary venture capitalist on Hacking
Education
Sir Ken Robinson on how school kills creativity

PART VI: DIGITAL DETOXING

This section of the book revolves around the mind and body of
focus. In the first section, we explore the concept of digital detoxing.
This concept centers on ridding oneself of devices in order to gain
a fresh perspective on the world. Its important that we balance our
gadgets with life.
Part VI is broken up into the following chapters:

Giving Up Your Cell Phone: This chapter outlines the story of

my first digital detoxing experiment: giving up my cell phone.
Auditing Gadgets: In this chapter, well explore a four step
process for auditing your gadgets. The purpose of this audit is to
evaluate whether the tools you use hurt you more than they help
you. After which, well outline how to snip off the tools that impede
on your focus.
The Guide to Giving Up Your Cell Phone: By ditching an item
that serves as a constant form of distraction, you train your mind to
become more focused and more productive. If you decide to give up
your cell phone as a digital detoxing experiment, this will show you
specifically how to give up your cell phone.
Practicing Focused Thought: In this chapter, well cover
different types of thought (meditation, contemplation or simply
quieting your environment to think). By practicing Focused
Thought and contemplation everyday, one can improve their
concentration, productivity and happiness.
Focus and Food: This chapter was written by one of my readers,
and explores different foods that help one become a more focused,
balanced person.

Giving Up Your Cell Phone

What? You are insane.
Those were the words my wife spoke to me when I told her I didnt
want a cell phone.
Actually, Ill be completely honest, Im one of those d-bags that
had their iPhone drown in a pool. But it was for a good reason. I
had to rescue my drowning puppy (just acting as the typical hero,
as usual). To my credit, after I lost the phone, I didnt create a
Facebook group for it (i.e. I lost my cell phone please write your
number on my wall!!!)
My wife was shocked when I told her I no longer even wanted
a phone. And, who could blame her? A cell phone is something

everyoneseriouslyeveryone uses in this day and age. Youve

got to be a whack job to ditch your cell phone, right? Heck yes (in
Napoleon Dynamite voice).
And thats what I did.
How are people going to get a hold of you? she asked.
Thats the whole point. I dont want people to get a hold of me.
[Pause]
I want to get a hold of you.
Thats fine, I compromised. You and family will be the only ones
that will be able to reach me. The rest of the calls will go straight to
voice-mail and email. Ill call people back on a house phone, or send
them a thought-out response via email.
Its been months since Ive had a cell phone. The difference isnt
as astonishing as you may think. The day definitely seems calmer
and more focused; but more than anything, the best part about not
having a cell phone centers on the reliance on ones own self.
When I had an iPhone in my pocket, I never had to prepare for
anything. That thing was my escapeand, oh, what a beautiful
escape it was. When I would travel, Id simply use the iPhones
GPS for mapping out directions. Id use Yelp in order to find great
restaurants around me. Id take a wizz while reading tech buzz
through Google Reader. Id avoid talking to people standing in line
at a starbucks by checking email.
It was a great device. It was a horrible device.
In the next five years, youll see a major shift in our society where
everyone is connected everywhere at all times. In fact, its already
begun. Its almost like a movie if you stop to think about it. Big
brands are feeding us devices that are constantly monitoring us;
constantly distracting us, and constantly allowing people to stare
into the abyss of the internet wherever they may be.
Really, people will be living two-lives: one real; one virtual. We are

moving towards a half-life society. Theres a virtual, moving cloud

that syncs your online life with your mobile life and disguises itself
in beautiful hardware.
At the end of the day, theres no point in fighting the surge of
mobile technology. We are all going to be connected. Were going to
be watched, monitored and served ads depending on our location.
Were going to be tweeting our lives away until were six feet under.
In my mind, theres three options you can take regarding mobile
devices:
I. Go all in
Get an iPhone, download a ton of apps, tack on a $100 phone bill
and escape into the world of constant connectivity in the cloud.With
the rise of android phones, you can obviously go that route, as well.
II. The balance act
Get a phone that does one thing: acts like a phone and doesnt
connect to the internet. A phone that simply makes phone calls.
III. Ditch the phone
This ones simple: ditch your phone.
Ive ditched my phone; however, in the case of emergency, I have a
phone that I can break open like a fire extinguisher. I never turn it
on. Its essentially an emergency phone.

People
Why have I elected to do this? Because of one thing: people. Life
revolves around people. However, it does not revolve around one
getting interrupted or distracted by peopleor more importantly,
by the internet and applications. One gets distracted by the internet
already on the computer; why bring this distraction with you
everywhere? My objective in giving up the cell phone centered on
moving closer to people and reality.

Different tools, for different fools

If I told my mom to ditch her phone in order to get more
productive, shed laugh at me. How will I be able to chat with my
friends and take clothes back at Nordstroms? shed say.
Sorry mom, youre right. And a lot of people dont have a problem
using their cell phone as a cell phone.
Some people use the phone and achieve its core purpose: to speak
with people.
In my specific case, giving up the phone was geared towards
disconnecting from the internet. I wanted to extinguish constant
email checking, tweet checking, new app downloads and finding
ridiculous blog posts to kill time.

The future is less

Now, were seeing a rise in the tablet marketplace (iPad, and
more competitors in the future). These devices accomplish many
objectives and have an amazing set of features. Yet theyre
outdated. Why? Because as a society, were moving towards an
age of constant connectivity. Its only a matter of time until one
discovers that being constantly connected isnt healthy for focus
for getting things done. It prevents focus.

Paul Graham, a modern day polymath,

is the founder of Y-Combinator. Hes an
investor, entrepreneur, programmer
and artist. On the subject of devices and
distractions, he writes:
I now leave wifi turned off on my main computer except when I
need to transfer a file or edit a web page, and I have a separate
laptop on the other side of the room that I use to check mail or
browse the web. (Irony of ironies, its the computer Steve Huffman
wrote Reddit on. When Steve and Alexis auctioned off their old
laptops for charity, I bought them for the Y Combinator museum.)

My rule is that I can spend as much time online as I want, as long

as I do it on that computer. And this turns out to be enough. When
I have to sit on the other side of the room to check email or browse
the web, I become much more aware of it. Sufficiently aware, in my
case at least, that its hard to spend more than about an hour a day
online.
And my main computer is now freed for work. If you try this
trick, youll probably be struck by how different it feels when your
computer is disconnected from the Internet. It was alarming to me
how foreign it felt to sit in front of a computer that could only be
used for work, because that showed how much time I must have
been wasting.
The concept of disconnecting from internet devices is becoming
a common theme for successful developers, designers and
programmers. After experiencing the iPhones multi-use power, I
also came face-to-face with the innate ability it wields to distract
one from getting work done. Its my thesis and my belief that the
future of success rests on devices that have one functionnot many.
The future is less.
In the next chapter, well be exploring how to audit your devices and
prune those gadgets that hurt you more than they help you.

How to Audit Your Gadgets For Focus

Ever had a meal with someone that was constantly checking email
on their phone? It comes off as annoying and rude to the other
person.
I was that guy.
I was the guy that checked email when someone was in midsentence. I constantly checked email in front of people. At the time,
I didnt realize how rude it must have been. Probably because I
didnt care. I reasoned, Im busyif I dont check my email now,
Im being rude to those relying on a response from me.

This was before I understood two things:

1. The quality of time you spend with someone outweighs the
quantity of time you spend emailing the masses.
2. Your degree of focus is directly correlated with the degree of
focus within your gadgets.
In this chapter, Ill be sharing a four step process for auditing your
gadgets. The purpose of this audit is to evaluate whether the tools
you use hurt you more than they help you. After which, well snip
off the tools that impede on your focus.

The Fox and The Hedgehog

In the bestselling book, Good To Great, Jim Collins uses an example
of the Fox and the Hedgehog. The fox, he explains, is good at many
things; however, the hedgehog is good at one thing: defending
himself. And in the end, the hedgehog wins every time.
The devices that destroy focus are the devices that propose to do
many things like the fox. Instead of choosing devices that do many
things (like the fox), one should use gadgets that do one thing very
well (like the hedgehog).
In order to eliminate your fox devices, one must follow five steps:
Step One: Make a list of your gadgets
For example:
Gadgets
iPhone
Macbook
Kindle
iPod
Playstation 3
Vizio
Rolex (no, I dont have one)
Garmin GPS

Sony Digital Camera

Flip Video
iPad

Step Two: Categorize your gadgets

For example:
Gadgets

Category

iPhone

Phone

Macbook

Computer

Kindle

e-Reader

iPod

MP3 Player

Playstation 3

Video game console

Vizio

T.V.

Rolex (no, I dont have one)

Watch

Garmin GPS

Navigator

Sony Digital Camera

Photo camera

Flip Video

Video camera

iPad

Computer

Step Three: List out their capabilities

For example:
Gadgets

List of Capabilities

Number of
Capabilities

iPhone

Make phone calls, surf the internet, play

music, get directions via GPS, watch
videos, tell time, alarm clock, as of early
2010, theres well over 50,000 apps for
the iPhone

60,000

Macbook

Computer, phone calls (via skype), play

music, get directions, watch videos, tell
time; in short, theres easily a million
capabilities that the computer wields

1,000,000

Kindle

Read books and magazines, eventually

apps

iPod

Mp3 player, take video footage, take

photographs, alarm clock, apps,
podcasts

60,000

Playstation 3

Video game console, music, photos,

movies

Vizio

Watch television

Rolex (no, I
dont have
one)

Tell what time it is

Garmin GPS

Get directions

Sony Digital
Camera

Take photographs

Flip Video

Shoot video footage

iPad

Comparable to the iPhone: make phone

calls (via skype), surf the internet, play
music, get directions via GPS, watch
videos, tell time, alarm clock, as of
January 2010, theres well over 50,000
apps for the iPhone

60,000

Step Four: Calculate the number of distractions

In this step, youre going to tally up the number of capabilities (in
step two) and subtract the categories (in step three). This gives you
the number of distractions present within that device.
Obviously, this is an artnot accounting. Dont worry about GAAP
reporting methods. Just try and outline a ball-park figure.
For example:
Gadgets

Number of
Capabilities

Number of
Categories

Number of Distractions
((Capabilities) (Categories))

iPhone

60,000

59,999 Distractions

Macbook

1,000,000

999,999 Distractions

Kindle

1 Distraction

iPod

60,000

59,999 Distractions

Playstation 3

3 Distractions

Vizio

0 Distractions*

Rolex (no, I
dont have one)

0 Distractions

Garmin GPS

0 Distractions

Sony Digital
Camera

0 Distractions

Flip Video

0 Distractions

iPad

60,000

59,999 Distractions

In total, the devices above wield 1,180,000 distractions

Our goal is to get this down to zero. Well be able to do this with
everything besides the computer. One cant snip out a computer
they must instead learn how to manage it down to zero. Heres how
well turn 1,180,000 into zero:
Step Five: Snip
Snipping is covered in another chapter in order to cut out
distraction. The concept surfaces itself in our society over and over.
Simply cut out distractions:
Gadgets

How to Snip

New Number of
Distractions

iPhone

Ditch the iPhone and buy a regular

phone

Macbook

Learn to manage your computer

this will be covered in a future
chapter

Kindle

Do not download any Kindle game

applications

iPod

Sell your iPod touch and replace

it with an iPod shuffleor simply
remove all apps besides music

Playstation 3

Sell all video games, dont download

any photos; use it strictly as a blueray player

Vizio

This one is a deceiving onein our

audit, it masks itself as having no
distractions; however, its entire
capability is a distraction; for this,
you may want to make the decision
to completely cut out this gadget

Rolex (no, I
dont have
one)

The Rolex possesses no distractions;

it may be a distraction for other
people around you; but maybe thats
your thing. You need the attention
;-)

Garmin GPS

Requires no snipping

Sony Digital
Camera

Requires no snipping

Flip Video

Requires no snipping

iPad

Dont purchase one; but if you do

(for travel, butsiness, or whatever),
follow the methods outlined in the
future chapter about managing focus
when using a computer

After snipping, we have zero distractions.

Of course, this doesnt address the computer, which is the biggest
distraction of allcutting out distraction from a computer is its own
chapter. And youll find out why once you read it.
So how did we eliminate our distractions? Simple. We either
snipped the whole gadget or snipped its additional capabilities.
You may be resistant to cutting out an entire gadgetespecially
if you love it and its new. Seriously, though, ask yourself if the
benefits of which you derive from using the gadget actually
contribute to your career or life goals. If it does, then how so, and
can you back it up with analytics? For instance, if you reason that
you need your iPhone because your job is social media; do you have
actual analytics that show you how many of your mobile tweets
convert to sales, or paying customers? If you do, more power to you.

If you dont, find the analytics on your mobile browsing behavior.

The results may surprise youand shock you into ditching the habit
all together.

Your next action

Go through this five step audit right now and either snip out the
distraction-filled devices altogether, or snip out its unnecessary
capabilities.
Trust me, and many others, this simple act will give you the tools
required for you to get focused. As soon as you complete this focus
audit, youll free yourself to make massive strides in achieving
focus.

The Guide to Giving Up Your Cell Phone

By learning about different methodologies of getting work done,
and becoming more productive, you will learn how the act of giving
up your cell phone allows you to focus on the most critical elements
of your life. By ditching an item that serves as a constant form of
distraction, you train your mind to become more focused and more
productive.
Whether or not you decide to ditch your cell phone is your own
prerogative. Any act or How to, is different for different people;
however, the principles that underlie the act of giving up your
cell phone are immutable. By digitally detoxing, you will come
to understand the concept of nowness. Embracing this principle
will allow you to accomplish your goals and gain the freedom you
deserve.

Why would anyone ditch their cell phone?

As we learned at the beginning of this book, we see more
advertisements in one year than people of fifty years ago
encountered in their entire lifetime.
With distraction, and multitasking, ones pre-frontal lobe falls into

a sleepy, deteriorating state. As your distractions increase, your

intelligence, focus and mood decreases.
In an effort to extricate myself from this growing trend (as well as
rescuing my dog), I decided to give up my cell phone.

What living without a cell phone feels like

Whenever you go on a relaxing vacation to a tropical destination,
the first couple of days are a strugglea struggle because theres
typically no cell phone service or internet. Its odd, and almost
unbearable. You feel fidgety and restless. Yet, after the initial
withdrawal from the digital world, life feels great. Life feels
peaceful. Theres no phone, or distraction that enables you to stop
what youre doing and shift your focus.When youre waiting in line,
youre not burying yourself into the digital cesspool or app store,
youre forced to interact with your surrounding environment. You
suddenly become aware of everything around you.
This is how I live my life every single day. I duplicate the
environment one typically experiences when on vacation. I do this
in order to become a more focused, action-oriented person. I also
do this in order to better enjoy life.
You can travel the world and live a nomad lifestyle; however, if
youve still got an iPhone or clients buzzing at you constantly,
youve escaped nothing. Youre just asking for attention.
You can live in New York City without a cell phone and gain more
peace-of-mind than you could if you were in Argentina with an
iPhone and needy clients barking at you.

My experience thus far

When one ditches their cell phone, they must learn to react
differently in simple situations. Its like writing with your left hand.
At first it feels weird, but over time it expands your mind and
increases focus. As discussed in the concept of flow, this type of
activity significantly stretches your mind.
If you want to add both peace and challenge back to your life, ditch

your cell phone.

Pros to a cell phone-free life:

Freedom
More productive
Better peace of mind
Allows you to focus on whats really important; not get
distracted with tweets and noise
Sense of humor (when in a stressful situation, you laugh
because of the path youve decided to take. You take a joyous
approach to life)

Cons to a cell phone-free life:

Prevents simple fixes (like the quick communication above)
Can be dangerous if you dont have it with you all the time
Can be ineffective if not leveraged right

10 Tips for Giving Up Your Cell Phone

1. Have a replaceable object
For a year and a half an iPhone always sat in my left pocket.
After ditching my phone, it felt weird. It felt as if I was missing
something. Obviously, I was. So instead of simply abandoning
a device in my left pocket, I rotate different objects in there as
needed: business cards, an iPod Shuffle (for audiobooks), notepad,
note-cards or whatevers needed at that time. Even though
the feeling of forgetting something is all in my mind, having a
replaceable object allows me to act as if Im not missing a cell
phone.

2. Have an emergency phone

Much like a fire extinguisher sits in a case, and is cracked open only
upon emergency, so too is the nature of your emergency phone.
Its dangerous to not have a way of contacting anyone in case of
emergency (i.e. car accident, car breakdown, etc.) For this reason, I
recommend purchasing an a la cart phone plan from Virgin Mobile

or Boost Mobile. Activate it, and leave it in your car turned off. If
theres an emergency, call with it.

3. Brace yourself
Youre going to encounter situations where you really need your cell
phone to the point where it pisses you off. After a while, though,
stressful situations will become humorous. Stressful situations
without a cell phone teaches you to have a profound level of
patience and trust. For instance, if youre meeting someone at a
restaurant, and theyre late, you just have to trust that theyre on
their way. With my wife, weve established an unspoken trust that
well show up. And whenever we meet up, we meet up. We stick to
our word of where well meet, and trust that the other shows up. Its
a lot more peaceful this way.

4. Have a system in place.

If youre really going to ditch your cell phone, dont go into it
blindly. Map out a system that actually worksa system that allows
you to free yourself from the cell phones distractions.
My system:
When at work, I use my work phone for work related items
When on the road, I have an emergency cell phone (that sits in
my car)
When at home, I use Skype or the house phone
Most people use their cell phones throughout all of those stages
outlined above. Theyre constantly racking up bills. Most people
now reason that theres no need for a house phone, or work phone.
When youve got your cell phone, you can use it anytime, anywhere
and now, for anything.
When you ditch your cell phone, you make a decision to
compartmentalize your life. Additionally, you can leverage Google
voice to catch your messages, transcribe them, and allow you to
determine what needs to get done with that. Google voice (get a
google voice account that emails you who called you, so that you can
call them back on a work phone or a house phone whenever youre
ready to make the call). Use google voice to send text messages from

your computer to their phones.

5. What about your friends?

Its hilarious watching peoples reactions when you tell them you
dont have a cell phoneespecially when youre in the tech industry
like myself. People exclaim, What? How? Why?
Weve grown so reliant on cell phones that its somehow
unthinkable to not have a cell phone.
They ask, What about your friends? Do you just abandon your
relationships?
Obviously, ditching your cell phone bars your friends from having
constant, immediate and never-ending access to you. However,
when you ditch your cell phone, youre not ditching your friends.
Youre simply compartmentalizing your life and setting boundaries.
Youre setting yourself up for a time where you can pay the
attention that friends deservefocused attention; not attention
while multitasking.
When transitioning to a cell phone-free lifestyle, I recommend
getting an account with Google Voice. Heres the process I
underwent:
1. Set up an account with Google Voice
2. Set up a cell phone message that explains your recent decision
to ditch your cell phone. Heres mine: In order to become a
more focused and productive person, Ive decided to forego all
inbound calls; however, leave your name, number, and a sweet
little message, and Ill get back to you at the appropriate time.
(Obviously, you can term it however you want).
3. Google Voice then transcribes your cell phone and emails you
their message
4. Email your contact or call them back via your house or work
phone when you have the time that your friend deserves
5. Even better, set up a time for you guys to meet up in person
This will ensure a transition that isnt ineffective and one that
doesnt simply block calls. Plus it prevents you from needing to
create a Facebook group explaining your transition. That annoys

everyone, anyways.

6. Call everyone back

Just because youve ditched your cell phone doesnt mean you forgo
the responsibility of calling people back. Because Google Voice
allows you to receive voice mails via email, I recommend chunking
your phone calls into one-time windows scattered throughout the
day. This likens itself to email batching (email batching is a topic Ill
be covering later).

7. The secretary syndrome

If you have a wife, tread carefully when ditching your cell phone.
Try not to make her feel like a secretary. Dont do what I did. I was
selling something on Craigslist and I gave them my wifes phone
number. She was pissed. She felt like a secretary. Additionally, my
parents called her to get a hold of me; thats not a very sustainable
system.
For your parents or people that will actually call your significant
other to get to you, make sure they understand your new system.

8. Meet up with people in person

If youre making a business deal, or meeting someone and theyre
local, dont half ass it through an email or even a cell phone call. Ive
gotten about four deals done in the past month because we met up
in person, it allows you describe ideas, map out ideas in person and
get things done. If you want to be more efficient, as well as effective,
I recommend meeting up in person. Tweeting and IM chatting will
only get you so far in business. Even if you work in the web realm
like myself.

9. Offline activities
Replace cell phone activities with mind-expanding activities. If your
habit centered on making calls on your commute to work, replace
this with a book on tape or audio CD.

10. Baby steps

Obviously this chapter is going to humor some, but most arent

going to take action and actually ditch their cell phone. Its still
ingrained in our minds that its unthinkableand for some, due
to their work nature, it is unthinkable. What I suggest is at least
experimenting by giving up their cell phone for a day or two. Or,
if you have an iPhone, ditch the dataplan and try your hardest
to use it as simply a phone. Try some experiments with your
communication devices in order to become aware of how ditching
your cell phone can result in nowness and awareness.

Conclusion
In this chapter we learned about the increase in distractions and
advertisements over the past fifty years. We learned that we are
constantly distracted, constantly asking for interruption. And we
learned that through the practice of unplugging, one can discover
how distractions have really driven their lives.
Theres also ten tips for giving up your cell phone:
1. Have a replaceable object
2. Have an emergency phone
3. Brace yourself
4. Have a system in place
5. About friends
6. Call everyone back
7. Avoid the secretary syndrome
8. Meet up with people in person
9. Offline activities
10. Take baby steps

Practicing Focused Thought

On March 3, 1993, Jimmy Valvano, a well-respected basketball
coach, gave a moving speech shortly before losing his life to
cancer. His speech didnt center around winning basketball games,
championships or money. He outlined three things, which he
believed defines a full day: laughter, being moved to tears and
thought.

This chapter will revolve around Jimmys third element: thought.

Well cover different types of thought (meditation, contemplation or
simply quieting your environment to think). By practicing Focused
Thought and contemplation everyday, one can improve their
concentration, productivity and happiness. Well explore how.

The Concept of Focused Thought

Focused Thought isnt new. Youve heard principles of focused
thought emanate from the concept of meditation. Yet, when you
think of meditation, an image may arise in your mind of some
eccentric relative thats constantly preaching about seeking
enlightenment through meditation. Carry Barbor writes, The
romantic notion of quitting everything and joining Tibetan monks
on a mountaintop is not the only way to meditate. You dont need
to quit your job, give up your possessions and spend 30 years
chanting. In this sense, youre confusing meditation with one
branch of meditation: Eastern Meditation, which is a more mystical
and religious-based branch of meditation.

Eastern Meditation vs. Western Meditation

In brief, Eastern Meditation revolves around focusing on nothing.
Whereas, Western Meditation concerns itself with focusing on
something.
Eastern Meditation centers around eloquently moving thoughts out
of your mind and only concentrating on a small act (like breathing).
Whereas Western Meditation revolves around contemplation, and
getting lost in thinking about something.
The branch of meditation that likens itself most to Focused Thought
is Western Meditation.

The Roots of Focused Thought

Defined, Focused Thought is the act of contemplating a specific

problem, and in turn, falling into a state of flow. Time slows as you
contemplate a specific problem.
The roots of Focused Thought arose from a group of hermits
in the Egyptian desert around 400 AD. These hermits were
actually Christian monks who practiced repetitive and focused
contemplation of the scriptures. Their practices centered around
contemplating verses, ideas, phrases and prayer on a daily basis. It
is suspected that these methods were influenced by the East. [1]
Researches have found that such acts increase activity in the left
prefrontal cortexthe part of your brain that drives concentration,
meta-cognition and decision-making. Essentially, these desert
monks were increasing their brain-power every single day through
Focused Thought. The same researchers found that such acts may
even decrease anxiety and depression. The simple act of focused
thought not only increases the minds ability to concentrate, it
reduces the likelihood of depression. Focused Thought enhances
attention-span and makes the mind more flexible. This increases
awareness of your environment, as well as the ability to be objective
in emotionally-charged situations. This sense of awareness doesnt
just apply to your environment. It also applies to the creative
component within your mind. Essentially, youll find it easier to
fall into the state of flow when you practice Focused Thought on a
habitual basis. [2]
In summary, the concept of focused thought isnt a qualitative act
(i.e. practiced in order to seek spiritual enlightenment). Focused
Thought is a quantitative, and calculated way to exercise your
prefrtontal cortex; thus, improving your creativity, decision-making
and general sense of happiness.
So now the question is, How do I get started and practice focused
thought? Well now cover three ways that will help you practice
focused thought:

3 Ways to Practice Focused Thought

Practicing Focused Thought isnt complex. It doesnt warrant books,

lessons or drawn-out instruction. Focused Thought is merely
setting a specific time to think. Though theres limitless ways
you can practice Focused Thought, here are three applications of
this principle that will get you started:

1) Get Lost Before Work

I find that its best to practice Focused Thought before starting the
day. Some practice Focused Thought while exercising; others find
themselves in Focused Thought while praying or reading. Right
now, my favorite way to practice Focused Thought is through
writing before I start the day. As Jimmy Valvano outlined above,
thought is a critical component of a full day. Because our world is
filled with so much noise, movement and distraction, I find that its
best to practice Focused Thought when theres no noise, movement
or distraction.
By practicing focused thought before starting the day, you will feel
less rushed, less stressed and less anxious. You know that daily
thought where a voice tells you, I need to do something important.
I need to prove my worth or others are going to wonder if Im really
good at what I do. That feeling is mitigated or even extinguished
when youve practiced Focused Thought. For some reason, you feel
confidant in yourself and your abilities throughout the day after
practicing Focused Thought. You feel a greater sense of awareness
of who you are and what you stand for. And this sense of awareness
results in more confidence when stress, noise and distraction attack
your mind throughout the day.
Bottom line: Get lost in Focused Thought before work.

2) Dead Silent Car

I drive an hour to work and an hour home every single day. Yes,
its quite a commute. When I first began this commute, I listened
to a mix of music and sports-talk radio. This lasted for about three
months until I grew tired of music and annoyed with the radio. I
then shifted to some books on tape and marketing lessons. This
again lasted around three months. I grew tired of listening to
people. Id listen to people on the car-ride (through books on tape),

Id listen to people at work and then Id come home and listen to my

wife (though, my wife would argue that I hardly do that!) For this
reason, I stopped listening to books on-tape. I was sick of listening.
Instead, I did one simple thingand this method has stuck ever
sinceI turned off the noise. My car-ride is dead silent. For two
hours every single day, I surround myself in complete silence. I find
this gives me an opportunity to quiet my mind and practice Focused
Thought.
I typically start the trip by contemplating a problem that Im trying
to solve. This method can be broken into five steps:
1. Define your goal
2. Ask yourself how others have achieved that goal (or a similar
goal)
3. Contemplate specific methods that could solve the problem
4. List out the pros and cons of each specific method
5. Select the best method to solve that problem
When I say problem, I dont actually mean a problem in the sense
of conflict. Im referring to a problem that likens itself to a typical
math problem. For instance, Our goal is to create a product that
allows people to learn and have fun. How can we create a product
that is fun, educational and results in profit?

3) Clear Away Distractions

The final practical way to practice Focused Thought is to create an
environment that enables one to think clearly. We cover the concept
of clearing distractions over and over again in this book, but its
necessary and critical to both becoming a focused person and
practicing Focused Thought.
You cant practice Focused Thought if you cant think. And one
usually cant think when theres email notifications popping up
while getting text-messages from friends. Ive heard people say
that music helps them focus, but Ive never heard anyone say email
notifications helps them focus. In brief, create an environment that
is minimal and distraction free. If youre unable to do this where
you live, search out a local libraryyoull be shocked by how much
your environment drives your ability to concentrate. In college, I
never studied once in my room. I only did work at the library. This

environment allowed me to practice focused thought batched into

a two-hour period, which could have easily been stretched into 8
hours if I worked at home.
Bottom line: Clear your working environment of any distractions
that may arise.

Summary
Eastern Meditation revolves around focusing on nothing;
whereas Western Meditation centers on focusing on something.
Focused Thought likens itself to the Western Meditation
practice of contemplating something.
Focused thought is the act of focusing or contemplating
something to the point in which you get losti.e. you fall into a
state of flow.

There are three practical ways to practice

focused thought:
1. Get lost before work: Fall into the state of flow first thing in
the morning through, reading, exercising, writing or some other
exercise.
2. Seek silence in your car ride: Turn off the radio and music and
contemplate a problem
3. Remove distractions from your environment

Focus and Food

As youre aware, Ive embarked on writing a book in real-time
online. As one writes and publishes their content, some listen,
some dont, and some really enjoy your work. Thats the beauty of
the format in which Im writing this book. This method, which Ive
termed for now as Writing 2.0, results in interacting with readers
that are passionate about specific areas of focusareas in which
I, admittedly, am not as knowledgeable about. For this reason,
I decided to invite Ashley Marie Smith write this chapter on the

subject of Focus Foods.

About the Guest Author:

Ashley Marie Smith is an alumna of UC Berkley where she studied
economics. She spent a summer as a research assistant in an
endocrinology lab at the University of Pennsylvanias School of
Medicine. In her own words, she says, I had the crackpot dream
that I could be strong enough to withstand sleep deprivation
to go to medical school. Though, shes still very interested and
passionate about healthy living and public health issues. To learn
more, you can follow Ashley on Twitter here: http://twitter.com/
amarie_s

Your Focus
Its 3pm in the afternoon. Your co-worker barges in for the zillionth
time while your phone incessantly rings. You being the ordinary,
upstanding citizen are now beginning to harbor unsavory thoughts
towards humanity. Or if youre the typical college student, imagine
its 3am in the morning. Youve got one night to bang out that
paper assigned only mere months ago. Alas, youre beset by serious
munchies and urges to check your brothers girlfriends neighbors
Farmville updates on Facebook.
Do you reach for a Snickers? Coffee? Red Bull? Maybe something
natural and healthy, like a banana? Dial for a pizza?
No matter what the old GRE Verbal section may have me believe,
my best analogy for food is likening it to fuel for car engines. Our
motor shuts down when we run on empty. Regarding gingko
biloba and other herbal supplements, there really are no miracle
concentration cures. Anyone who says so will also probably sell you
natural hair solutions from Donald Trump and other sorts of oil
from slithery, coldblooded creatures. Yet some food combinations
are indeed better than others when it comes to fighting slumps.
Nothing, however, will rescue you from the food coma that results
from overeating any combination of food, healthy or not. How does

this all work? Why does such a fine line exist between not enough
food and the all-you-can-eat buffet that disturbs our focus? And
how does this knowledge help you make better food choices for
optimal concentration?

Crash course through basics of

metabolism and your brain function
Remember the kid from Jerry Maguire who says, Did ya know
the human heads weighs 8 pounds? It actually comprises 2-3% of
an adults body mass. Thus for the average person of 150 lbs, the
brain would indeed weigh about 8 lbs. Despite its relatively small
percentage of mass, it consumes about 10% of the bodys entire
metabolic energy due to the constant firing of the neurons. The
primary fuel to run the brain is glucose, which the neurons cannot
store.
When you eat, your pancreas releases the hormone insulin into
the blood stream. The insulin scoops up excess glucose and starts
a chain reaction where the glucose is added to glycogen molecules
for storage in the liver. At the lowest point, i.e. your fasting blood
glucose level, you have about the equivalent of one teaspoon of
sugar floating in your blood. Simple carbohydrates easily enter
the blood stream via the stomach, which is why you feel the surge
from simple sugars so quickly. Another hormone from the pancreas
called glucagon breaks down the glycogen back to glucose when
your body needs to increase the blood sugar level.
While used in by most cells, glucose has been observed to increase
activity in certain hippocampus cells of rats, as well as inc. The
hippocampus is one of the major areas of the brain associated with
short-term memory and learning. Previously, it had been believed
that the brain was able to maintain stable glucose levels. In the
early 2000s, Ewan McNay of Yale School of Medicine observed that
for rats learning new mazes, their glucose levels were depleted in
the hippocampus, and the older rats faced a faster rate of depletion.
Other studies have examined the effects of glucose on acetylcholine
formation, a key neurotransmitter involved in sustaining attention

and in controlling the motor movements of muscles.

So more is better, when it comes to glucose? Depends. Marathon
runners can get away with pasta and other simple carb loading
for speedy pick-me-ups. But unless you swing a night job as a lab
rat hooked to a wheel or as a professional marathon runner, that
amount of carbs will usually lead to nothing more than a crash
later. Too many carbohydrates can trigger insulin overload, thereby
pulling too much glucose from the blood stream.

The Golden Rule of Focus and Food

So the golden rule of food for focus is to keep your blood sugar
stabilized. Stay hydrated, get caffeine in moderation, and eat small
meals combining complex carbohydrates, lean protein, and a little
fat at regular intervals throughout the day. Eating every 3-5 hours
should be sufficient, if the meals are small enough.
Be reasonable, though. If you cannot bring yourself to drink 8-10
cups of water a day, drink seltzer mixed with a little juice and bask
in your European chic with their standard way of drinking juice. Or
if you do reach for a candy bar, find one that has nuts and/or dark
chocolate. Digestion rates can be slowed in the presence of protein
and small amounts of fat. Dark chocolate merely has less fat than
milk chocolate. If your sweet tooth can be appeased with nonrefined
sugars, try a a bit of honey mixed with cinnamon and peanut butter
on a rice cake. Tasty and rice cake might not be words normally
uttered in the same sentence, but the honey, cinnamon, and peanut
butter just nails that perfect salty-sweet combo.
If coffee is your fix, try smaller cups or alternative caffeine sources
like teas and chocolate. All contain some level of caffeine, although
the levels of metabolized caffeine derivatives like theobromine
also may influence how an individual reacts to the caffeine. White,
green, and black teas come from the leaves of the Camellia sinensis
plant. They differ by the length and process of fermentation. Yerba
mat is another type of leaf that is brewed and purportedly has a
gentler post-caffeine crash than coffee. If youre really in a focus

jam, maybe then an energy drink. Remember moderation, despite

what the scantily clad energy drink salesmodels may say.
Try not to eat or drink while youre working. Take an actual break.
Get up, walk, stretch, breathe, and use that 5-10 minutes to enjoy
your food or drink. Whether one can truly multitask is under
scrutiny; mindless eating, even of focus-friendly foods, can be
counterproductive to focus. The world will not end if you take 5
minutes to eat. The world might end momentarily, or at least a
small island economy might sink, if you do put a b instead of m
in front of illion due to fuzzy thinking from dehydration or while
juggling a sandwich and your keyboard. While I exaggerate here, at
the University of Geneva Faculty of Economics and Social Sciences,
the 10-minute water break for every class that met for more than
an hour is no laughing matter. Students in my econometrics class
practically threatened mutiny when a professor once asked if the
water break could be skipped, and a compromise was reached that
the class would end 10 minutes earlier.

Turbocharging Your Focus for The Long

Haul
Perhaps youre still thinking about all the good stuff youve read
about gingko biloba for memory. That indicates that you might
have a better functioning cognitive state than that of the target
population who actually demonstrated measurable benefits from
gingko biloba. Of gingkos mixed reviews, the studies who find
slightly positive results often are examining laboratory animals
under large doses or persons suffering from cognitive decline due to
factors like age-related dementia. Gotu kola is another East Asian
leaf occasionally declared a new remedy.
Peppermint has also been touted as a aid to wake up the senses, and
a recent study in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry
found positive memory effects of blueberry juice on elderly
subjects at risk of dementia versus the control group. Blueberries,
pomegranates, and green tea already have enjoy reputations as
superfoods due to their antioxidant concentrations; B vitamins

from sources such as whole wheat, vitamin E in sources like

avocados or olive oil, and Omega-3 fatty acids found in salmon and
other cold-water fatty fish also may prevent cognitive decline.
The media tends to report on one breakthrough study that finds
x-y-z result, but often it is better to look at meta-studies which
review a large portion of studies to see overall trends in findings.
Individual studies may achieve results that are very specific to
a population under study or certain laboratory control settings.
Researchers also may report positive correlations but fail to
adequately measure size of effect or control for variables that are
inherently linked to the supplement under study. Or the study
might have been published, but in the world of academia there
exists a hierarchy and broad range of certain journals that are more
selective in the quality of the studies published.
These supplements probably will not hurt in moderation under
careful supervision, but theyre a bit like fancy shoes and
performance gear for runners. They are not going to help the person
who has not been consistently training their bodies. Generally,
the best way to get your vitamins and nutrients is through whole
foods. Taking some supplements, like fish oil or vitamin D, might be
worthwhile though. Talk to your physician so he or she can monitor
possible signs of drug interactions with your current prescriptions.
And caveat emptor: be aware of the source.
The quality of herbal supplements are not regulated by the Federal
Drug Administration in the United States, so look for the United
States Pharmacopeia (USP) stamp for some measure of assurance.
If you are reaching for the energy drinks for an extended period of
time because you are really unable to focus at certain parts of the
day, go see a medical professional. All sorts of health issues, often
arising from unbalanced diets and sleep affected by said diets, can
express symptoms of fatigue or inability to focus.

Conclusion
The advice in this article may seem like common sense and obvious:
stabilizing blood sugar levels through moderation, drinking water,
and eating balanced, small meals. Eating foods for focus might be
hard if no particular list of foods was actually mentioned.

Sharpening focus is a process in which one pares away the

nonessential, and let this rule extend even to your eating habits.

Just The Beginning:

Through the previous six sections, weve explored the specific
principles and actions required to get focus back in your life.
In Part I we learned about the composition of focus and flow
through leveraging short-term focus and long-term focus. In Part
II, we learned about the concept of establishing a daily foundation
built on exercises such as: flashcards, reading, exercise, writing
and proper sleep. In Part III we learned about how to go about
setting focused goals, and carrying out those goals through todo list strategies. In Part IV we learned how to leverage web and
technology to become a more focused, productive person when
using the internet. Part V we learned about the Sage Lifestyle
(Focused Entrepreneur) through focused networking, outsourcing
and handling emotions. In Part VI we learned about Digital
Detoxing, and using focused thought, gadget auditing, and healthy
food to become a more focused person.
It is my sincerest hope that you view the principles as only the
beginning of your journey back to a life built on focus.
Ive included an appendix of material that includes the story of
coffee, the concept of caffeine, experiences from my readers and
interviews with famous entrepreneurs and writers on the impact of
focus in their lives.
You will find a wealth of other material at the website where this
book was conceived: wwwHowToGetFocused.com
Youll find applications, the interactive community, lessons, updates
and products that will assist you in your journey to becoming a
more focused person.
Make sure you stop by the website and introduce yourself to the
community. If you have any feedback or stories of your own to

share, please feel free to email me at: me@scottscheper.com

Thank you for joining me on this journey, and best of luck.

Special Thanks:
Thank you to the following people who pre-ordered my book
without the book even being complete. They put their faith in my
hands, and I am forever grateful for their trust and support:
Shera, Matthew Maranell, Calum, Dave Saslavsky, Joan
Schlichting, Matthew Duder, Tony Sparkz, Wojtek, Maria,
Juan, Judas Omar, Jeremy Gaines, Sunil Krishna, Dirceu,
Antje, David of ActionComputerSupport, Angelika, Stephen of
EnchantedPortraits, Richard Alpert, Andres Santana, Larry of
In2Mentoring and Elkan.
Last, thank you to my friends and family for their support during
the writing of this book. Specifically to those who believed in me
and believed in this book: Grandmere Jacqueline Le Put and
Nathaniel Broughton.
Appendix A: Extra Material

The Fascinating History of Coffee

The story of coffee is one filled with twists, turns, politics,
adventures, ancient rituals and religious baptism (yes, baptisms).
It is believed that coffees true roots point to Caffa Ethiopia. The
discovery came from a sheep herder named Kaldi. On one early
evening while rounding up his flock Kaldi noticed that something
was wrong with one of his sheep. The odd part centered around the
fact that this was Kaldis most well-behaved sheep. Yet, the sheep
wouldnt follow Kaldis orders. It was energetic and focused on
continuing to graze the grass.

After investigating, Kaldi was stunned. Theres blood all over you.
But the sheep didnt appear to be injured at all. Wait, thats not
blood, but what is it? Nearby, he had the answer, red cherries.
Intrigued, Kaldi tasted a small portion of these red cherries. As
a result, he became hyper. Hyper enough to try and sell the idea of
coffee to all the people in his village. Some met him with uneasy
smiles, most met him with indifference and the village monks
met him with strong disapprovalthat isuntil they tried some
themselves. After experiencing the coffee kick, the monks were
literally up all night praying. Why wouldnt God want one to enjoy
coffee?
After years of consumption, the natives of Kaldis village quickly
learned the ins-and-outs of preparation. Villagers recognized the
powerful effects of coffee and used it for war. Before leaving on long
battles, men would wrap coffee beans in animal fat. In a battles
most crucial moment, the coffee bean would be consumed. Back
then, it was baseballs equivalent to performance enhancing drugs.
This secret boost was kept sacred until commercialization reared
its ugly head. The Arabians took the coffee plant from such villages
and proceeded to establish a coffee monopoly. With more exposure
also came more ways in which cofee was prepared. In 1453, the
Turks discovered that when brewed, coffee gives off a nice aroma.
Not only that, it tastes good, too. After peoples tastes for coffee
were established, the first coffee shop was opened: Kiva Han.
Humorously, this also gave rise to a law in which a man must
provide his wife with enough coffee to last her throughout the day.
Around 20 years later, amidst the growing surge of coffee, the
governor of Mecca, Khair Beg, campaigned to banish coffee due
to its influence. He felt it may give rise to anarchy within his rule.
The Sultan of Arabia didnt share his view. At all. In fact, he had
the governor killed because he felt coffee was not only a core
component of their economy, he felt coffee was sacredsent by
the gods. For years, the coffee plant was Arabias core product.
However, this monopoly could only last so long. In an amazing tale
of adventure and espionage, a man named Baba Budan infilitrated
Arabias cash cow and smuggled coffee been seeds to his homeland:
Mysore, India. Even to this day, coffee is grown in Mysore, and

Baba is still highly revered.

After nearly a hundred years, word of coffee trickled its way down
to The Catholic Church. It was now time for The Vatican to address
coffee and whether it was good, or if it was the devil! Pope Vincent
III took on this task of evaluating coffee. In fact, thats pretty much
all we know about Pope Vincent III. His entire legacy was founded
on his evaluation of coffee. Drink only a small amount, your grace,
warned Pope Vincents servant. Coffee is the devils drink. Upon
sipping the coffee, Pope Vincent exclaimed that it was so delicious,
not only would he declare the Christians should drink coffee, he
baptized the coffee on the spot.
Soon after that, the first coffeehouse opened in Italy. This then
filtered throughout Europewith coffeehouses opening up quite
frequently. The popularity of coffee sky-rocketed. In New York City,
coffee quickly became a favorite drink upon everyone.
This brings us to the tale of Lloyds of London, the most acclaimed
and profitable insurance company in history. Lloyds of London
started as a coffee shop. Edward Lloyds coffeehouse was so
popular, it attracted so many regulars that it was the epicenter of
the town, and over time, it took on the business of selling insurance.
Why? Because through gathering for coffee, it understood the needs
of the local peoplethe need for quality insurance.
When the power and profit of coffee suddenly became clear, the
Dutch smuggled coffee out of Arabia and duplicated the cash cow
established by Arabia. After observing this craze, French naval
officer Gabriel Mathieu do Clieu saw his opportunity, stole a coffee
plant and shipped it to Martinique. This plant would turn out to
compose the most sought after coffee crop, serving 90% of the
worlds coffee.
In Brazil, Colonel Francisco de Melo Palheta went on a voyage to
mitigate a border dispute between the French and Dutch colonies
in Guyana. While there, he had an affair with the wife of the French
Guyana. Upon departure, he was secretly given bouquet by his
mistress. In the bouquet sat hidden coffee seedsthese seeds drove
the Brazilian coffee farms for years to come.

Meanwhile the Americans were throwing coffee and tea overboard

afoot a revolution. You may know this as The Boston Tea Party.
Moving forward a hundred years, coffees biggest moment came
during the roaring 1920s in the U.S. during prohibition. Coffee
sales went through the roof. When World War II arose, soldiers
were issued rations of coffee to keep them alert. In fact, 70% of
the worlds coffee was imported for the United States citizens and
soldiers.
In Italy, they were nurturing the power of coffee, as well. An Italian
named Achilles Gaggia invented the espresso machine. In turn
he named the Cappuccino after realizing that it mirrored robes of
monks in the Capuchin order.
The love of coffee continued with niche coffee shops opening and
doing very well. That is, until Starbucks hit a home run in 1971 with
their first coffeehouse in Seattles Pike Place public market. In less
than thirty years, coffee became the power that you know today.

More reading, sources and resources

Wikipedia
Coffee Research
Talk About Coffee

What Everybody Ought to Know About Caffeine

Before diving into specific focus foods, drinks and supplements,
its critical to first understand details of the most widely used focus
supplement: caffeine.
In North America, 90% of us consume caffeine on a daily basis.
Defined, caffeine is a central nervous system stimulant that causes
one to become more alert, and less drowsy.

History:
Caffeine isnt new. Humans have consumed the substance since the
Stone Age. First, this came in the form of bark, seeds and leaves.

Humans would consume them in order to ease the effects of fatigue.

It also promoted alertness, which was critical to survival in that
ageespecially in battle. Surprisingly, the form of consumption that
we know today, coffee and tea, was a much later discovery, and its
roots can be attributed to ancient tribes and rituals.
The first time the term caffeine was coined came in 1819 from
German chemist, Friedrich Ferdinand Runge. He used the phrase
kaffein, a chemical compound in coffee, which in English became
caffeine.

The 5 Myths of Caffeine:

Myth 1: Caffeine Causes Dehydration: Ever heard that
caffeine causes dehydration? As of today, thats a hypothesis not
a fact. In a New York Times article, Anahad OConnorwrites,
Caffeine may not be as powerful a diuretic as its often said to be.
In other words, caffeine does not cause the dehydration claimed by
many.
Myth 2: Coffee Contains More Caffeine Than Tea: Tea
leaves contain more caffeine than coffee beans; however, once its
prepared, coffee contains more caffeine than tea (yea, thats a cheap
mythstill, its a myth).
Myth 3: Caffeine is Inherently Bad For You: The most
extensive research study on caffeine was conducted by Harvard
University. They studied 126,000 people over an 18-year period.
They found that people who drink one to three cups of coffee per
day are up to 9 percent less likely to contract diabetes. Whats
interesting is what happened to those who drank six or more
cups of coffee per day men slashed their chances of contracting
diabetes by 54 percent, and women by 30 percent.
Myth 4: Caffeine is Safe. Caffeine can actually kill you if you go
overboard with intake. Youll need to go really overboard. For me at
my weight of 170, it would take 107 cups of brewed coffee to kill me.
Heres a site that allows you to calculate how much caffeine will kill
you: energy fiend (http://www.energyfiend.com/death-by-caffeine)
Myth 5: Caffeine Makes You Pee: Ceffeine does not help you

pee. It helps you poo (this suddenly feels like preschool). In all
seriousness, caffeine is a good reset button for the first thing in the
morning. This helps you focus, right?

What forms caffeine comes in:

When people think of caffeine, they think of coffee; some think
of tea. In reality, caffeine finds itself spread through a variety of
foods and plants: beans, leaves, herbs and in fruit, where it acts as
a natural pesticide. Different cultures use caffeine in different ways.
Theres the Yaupon Holly, which ancient tribes made Asi, with
(commonly referred to as The Black Drink.) Theres also the Kola
nut (coca colasound familiar?), guarana berries, yerba mate and
more.

5 Other Health Benefits of Caffeine:

1. Regular coffee drinkers are 80 percent less likely to develop
Parkinsons disease.
2. Two cups a day gives you 20 percent less risk of colon cancer.
3. Two cups a day causes an 80 percent drop in cirrhosis.
4. Two cups a day prevents gallstone development by 50 percent.
5. It has also shown to be beneficial in asthma, stopping
headaches, boosting mood and even preventing cavities

The Bottom Line:

Doctors and researchers are beginning to find that caffeine is only a
temporary solution for focusing. The more one takes in caffeine, the
more he or she will become immune to caffeine. Because of this, you
may want to rotate different Focus Foods, or simply take in caffeine
when you feel the need to get focused. In other words, for caffeine
to work, one should use it as a solution; not out of habit.

More readings, sources and resources:

1. How Stuff Works on Caffeine
2. Actions of Caffeine in the Brain with Special Reference to
Factors That Contribute to Its Widespread Use
3. Coffee The New Health Food?
4. Wikipedia on Caffeine

End Notes
1

[Source: Nathaniel Broughton]

Nathaniel Broughton assisted me with the rewording of this

section.
[Source: Nathaniel Broughton]
2

(Source: John Medina, Brain Rules)

The Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs (Location 257 in Kindle)

Idea from The Presentation Secrets of Steve (Location Kindle 284)

Stephen Furlani - Get permission to publish in book (a reader)

This question was inspired by Frank Kern in his List Control

program.
7

[1] Pg 102-103 Making Ideas Happen, by Scott Belsky