this e-book is pro-sharing.

I certainly would like to be paid for this e-book, but if you know someone
who’s struggling and who would be helped the information found here, feel
free to send them a copy. You don’t have to pay me, you don’t have to ask per-
mission: just help your friend out. Share this e-book freely: my first goal is
to help as many people as possible.
day 1
 page 5

Today we’re going to be making a “dream board”,

a collection of ideas about where you want to be
in the future: your dreams brought into one place
where you can see them.
dreamers
The “WHY” Frankly, I’m not a fan of “dreamers”. When we call someone a “dreamer”
we don’t mean merely a person who dreams, or a person who has a
vision for the future, we mean someone who has huge ambitions, has
lots of ideas, and sits on his butt is whole life. He has lots of dreams, but
is too lazy, ignorant or fearful to do anything about them. The dreamer
has an elaborate idea for how he’s going to become fabulously wealthy,
but he just keeps it in his head. He dreams that someday he will travel,
that someday he will have a better relationship, that someday, magically,
the difference between everything he dreams of will be handed to him. He never takes the first
dreamers, doers, step, he never writes down a goal, he never makes plans for how he’s
and dreaming doers going to achieve the life he wants: he just dreams. No, I’m not a fan of
dreamers: what’s the point of dreaming if you never do anything?

doers
Of course, it’s far too easy to become disgusted with dreamers and
swing to the opposite side of the spectrum: it’s far too easy to become a
doer. Doers work hard and are responsible (both good things), but have
become numb. Maybe life’s kicked them one too many times and they’ve
 page 6

come to believe that there’s nothing more to life than the mundane. They
You need to learn how don’t dream because, in their minds, it’s too dangerous. When you start
to live between the deciding what you want your life to look like, it comes with risks: you
might fail, people might ridicule you, than you may end up looking like a
resigned world of the doer, fool for hoping that your life can be anything more than normal. If dream-
and the unsubstantial ers get trapped in the world of ideas and “what if’s”, then doers get
trapped in the world of the practical, the normal, and the everyday.
world of the dreamer.
You need to live somewhere in between.
dreaming doers
You dream so you know your destination, then you work so you actually
make it there. You need to be a dreaming doer: you need to focus on the
how and the why, not just one or the other. This is why you need to kick
the next 25 days off with a dream board. I know you’re ready to start do-
ing, to start taking the practical steps to your life that will end up chang-
ing your life: this dreaming thing might seem like a bit of a waste of time.
It’s not, trust me. You need a target to aim your mind towards, an end that
you can picture in your mind’s eye: it will keep you going when you don’t
feel like it, during the tough periods when dream-chasing isn’t all that
dreamy. Change is good, but it’s hard.

There are several different ways that you can

The “how” make a dream board:
 page 7

“old-school” style
The traditional way to make a dream board is to get a bulletin board and
pick up a pile of magazines from your local library (magazines they are
throwing away: don’t cut into magazines you check out. Libraries don’t
share your dreamboard like that, trust me). Leaf through the magazines and look for awesome
pictures: places you want to visit, items you want to have, images that
on twitter to inspire others. personify the life you want to have. If you’re trying to lose weight, cut out
use #ahddream so we some pictures of skinny people (If that motivates you, that is: I’ve heard
it’s worked for some, but be careful having pictures of twiggy, airbrushed
can find you. models around your house – it might not be the healthiest thing for your
mental state).
Basically, customize the board for you. Pick out things that moti-
vate you and drive you, then put them on your dream board.

digital style
Digital dream boards are in some ways easier to make then the tradi-
tional dream boards. You can use Google image search to find exactly
the pictures you need. If you have basic image editing skills, you can put
together a more comprehensive, more specific dream board then you
could otherwise. Just search for your images, copy & paste them into an
image editing program, and put them together how you like. Don’t have
photoshop? Use GIMP or Splash Up – They’re both free, awesome alter-
natives. Here’s a quick tutorial on how to put together your digital dream
board.
Another benefit of the digital dream board is that you can make it your
 page 8

desktop or screensaver. You can even set it as your Google background,

if it’s your home screen. This might be too busy for some people, but it
may be a great way to remind yourself constantly where you’re headed.

written style
Yes, you can just write your dreams down on paper. But I don’t think this
is the best option for dreams. When we talk about goals in the next few
days we will certainly want to write them down. But dreams don’t need to
be that specific: they’re there to give you an emotional boost, and I think
pictures are better at that. However, if this works for you, go for it! There’s
certainly no wrong way to do this.

A FEW IDEAS: • Don’t make this a Christmas list. Don’t just put things you want to own
on your dream board. Think of this as a more holistic view of what you
want your life to be: do you want to give more to people in need? Put
some pictures of people who don’t have enough to eat. This will drive
you on towards your dreams and remind you how much you really have.
Do you want to have a clean house? Throw a picture of a beautiful, spot-
less living space on there. The dream board is so much more versatile
then you might think – once you start, you might be surprised at what you
come up with.

•The dream board doesn’t have to stay the same for years and years:
it’s a fluid thing. Had a picture of a beach on your board and now you’ve
 page 9

finally moved to the beach? Take the picture down and replace it with
something else. Remember, this is your board. Do what you need to do
with it.

•Put your board in a very visible place: on your computer desktop, on

your front door; I’ve even heard of someone affixing it to their ceiling so it
was the first thing they saw in the morning, and the last thing they saw at
night (ok, that might be a little extreme).

RESOURCES: Here’s a tutorial for putting together a digital dream board.

GIMP – Free, open-source desktop image editor.
Splash Up – Free, browser-based image editor.
day 2
 page 11

Today we’re going to work on turning all of those

dreams you came up with into measurable goals.
You need more than dreams. Dreaming that you might be able visit Ire-
The “WHY” land someday is very different from making plans to go to Ireland. If you
never do more than dream, it’s very likely that you’ll never active any of
your dreams. You’ve got to transform your dreams into actionable goals,
and today we’re going to start doing that.
Dreams have some emotional power, goals have tangible, life-changing
power. Dreams are passive, goals are active. Dreams will get you no-
where (at least, by themselves), but when you have goals you can’t help
but move in the direction you want to go.

The “how” Now, let’s set some goals based on your dreams. There are a few rules
when setting goals:

1. goals have to be specific.

No saying “I want to make more money” or “I want to travel more”. Using
such general ideas as your goals is no better then having dreams: they
simply won’t happen if you kinda-sorta-maybe want to do them someday.
You have to be as specific as you can, or you won’t ever achieve what
you want to. So, instead of saying “I want to make more money”, state
as your goal “I want to be making x number of dollars by this time next
year”. Which leads us to our next rule:
 page 12

2. goals have to have a time limit.

When goals don’t have a time limit, they lose a lot of their power. If you
without goals, don’t have to get them done any particular time, you won’t get them
it just won’t happen. done, ever. Setting a deadline makes your mind kick into gear. Without a
deadline, you simply won’t get it done – you’ll find more pressing things
to occupy your time, and push off your goals until later…and later never
comes. So come up with a time that your goal has to be completed or
reevaluated. It might seem a little arbitrary for some goals, but choose a
time anyway.

3. goals have to be written down

They can’t just be an idea in your head. You actually have to go to the
trouble of writing them down, or you’ll forget. You’ll push them off. They
won’t seem real to you. Months later you’ll have a vague idea that you
had lofty goals of some kind, but you won’t even be able to remember
what they were. Write them down. Type them up and print off several
copies. Stick them to your refrigerator. Write them in dry erase marker
on your bathroom mirror. Tattoo them to your forehead (backwards, for
secrecy and so you can read them in the mirror). Make everyone think
you’re stark raving crazy, and you might just be crazy enough to finish
your goals.
 page 13

All right, now that you know the ground rules of setting goals, let’s get
down to actually laying your long-term goals out. The format that I use is
pretty basic: start with the goal and work your way backwards.
You’ve got to ask yourself four questions:

• What is the specific goal (and the time limit)?

• What do I need to get this to happen?
• How do I get what I need?
• What can I do right now to start on this path?

+++
Here’s an example:

•What is the specific goal (and the time limit)?

I want to go to Italy in six months.

•What do I need to get this to happen?

Time off.
$3,400

•How do I get what I need?

 page 14

Time off
– I don’t use any of my vacation days.
– I trade hours with coworkers.
$3,400
– I work extra to make $250 a month. = $1500
– We cut our household budget $150 dollars a month. = $900
– We find items to sell that amount to $1,000

•What can I do right now to start on this path?

– I can let my coworkers know that I want to pick up extra shifts.
– I can research ways to save money and eat cheaply.
– I can make the choice to sell my extra car.
– I can get an extra job a few nights a week.

+++

Of course, this system can work for more than financial goals. Here’s
another example:

• What is the specific goal (and the time limit)?

I want to do 25 awesome things for my wife in the next three
months (notice that the goal is specific, not “I want to improve our rela-
tionship”: this isn’t specific enough).
 page 15

•What do I need to get this to happen?

I need to remember.
I need a list of ideas.
I need $40 to buy a few things.

• How do I get what I need?

I need to remember
Set up e-mail reminders via Google Calendar (we’ll learn how to
do this later).
Stick a post-it to my computer
Write a reminder on a bookmark, and put it in my book.
I need a list of ideas
Brainstorming
Friend’s suggestions
Internet
•What can I do right now to start on this path?
Set up e-mail reminders
Brainstorm
Call Mitch for ideas
Do an internet search…
You get the idea.
 page 16

• Set your goals so high that you may not achieve all of them. Having to
A FEW IDEAS: stretch yourself to try and achieve all of your goals is good: running out of
things to do because you set your sights too low isn’t where you want to
find yourself. Even if you don’t hit every single goal, you’ll still be far ahead
of where you would be if you never did anything. For example, let’s say you
make $40,000 and one of your goals was to find a job making $90,000/
year within three years. You search and research and apply and interview,
but you are only able to land job making $70,000/year. Have you failed to
reach your goal? Sure. Are you still miles better off then you would have
been if you did nothing? Definitely. Set your sights high.

• Set goals in multiple areas of your life. If you only strive for excellence
in one or two areas of your life, you’re going to be pretty lopsided and
you’re definitely not going to like what happens in the sadly neglected
areas. A great guide for this is Zig Zigler’s Wheel of Life.
According to Zig, you need to set goals in these
seven areas: Career, Financial, Spiritual, Physical,
Intellectual, Family, and Social. Try for balance. Don’t
overwhelm yourself, but try to set manageable goals
for yourself in more areas then one or two.
 page 17

RESOURCES: Here’s a form that you can fill out to set your goals: Goal-setting form

If any of your personal goals involve forming new habits (which I’m sure
some of them do) here’s a guide to forming new habits without driving
yourself bonkers – Forming New Habits

Here’s an article about goal-setting which expands on a few of the ideas

that we talked about today – Live on Purpose
day 3
 page 19

Today, we’re going to define just what’s most

important to you, so you can get your head on
straight before you move foreword. We’re talking
priorities.

Just as goals are needed to make dreams effective, so proper priori-

The “WHY” ties are needed before goals can be truly effective in your life. Goals are
planning the direction of your life, but priorities govern them. Priorities let
you know when it’s OK to fudge on your goals a bit. Setting priorities after
you’ve gone through the process of writing down what you want from
life helps you stay grounded and helps you remember what’s the most
important to you.
Do you remember a time where your priorities were completely out of
whack? Maybe you sacrificed a relationship because you were too fo-
cused on work. Perhaps you watched a television show when you should
have been studying. Whatever it was, your priorities were completely
upside down, and you paid for it. Let’s take a day to ponder your life and
what’s most important.
 page 20

Here are a few ways that having this list of priorities will aid you in living
on purpose:

1. it will free up time.

It really will. We all have way too much to do in our lives: we have work
if you don’t have your obligations, social events, household chores and maintenance, dozens
priorities straight of books we want to read, dozens of friends we want to catch up with,
and enough TV shows to fill our time for the next twenty years. If we don’t
(or worse, don’t even prioritize, we will end up not doing the tasks that are most important, but
know what they are) instead the tasks that are comfortable or urgent. A prioritized list (and
your mission statement, when you develop it) will allow you to put any life
then your life will situation through a filter, and will allow you to cut out the activities that re-
be out of balance. ally don’t matter, freeing up more time for things that really do.
You’ll see symptoms.
2. it will help you make decisions.
Dilemma: you’ve devised a perfect to do list, you’ve committed to work-
ing hard for the next few hours, and you’re just about ready to jump in
to work. Sounds great, right? You’re really filling your time well, you’re
getting things done and you’re doing it on purpose. Good for you! Sud-
denly the phone rings. It’s a friend inviting you over for coffee, and you
know that with this friend, coffee will probably turn into multiple hours
of conversation. This sounds pleasant enough, but what about working
hard? What about living intentionally? You were about to get to work, but
then your friend called and threatened to mess everything up! What do
you do? This is where having your prioritized list is helpful. You can think
 page 21

about your list and remember that although getting work done is impor-
tant, it may not be as important as fostering this certain relationship.
My grandma really loves playing darts. She’s been nicknamed “The Bar-
racuda” by family because she’s so terrifyingly good at throwing those
pointy objects at the board. We play darts almost every Friday, keeping
a running tally of who won. There are some Fridays when I am working
on a project or involved in some other activity and really don’t want to be
pulled away. Remembering what was most important has really changed
my outlook: it wasn’t that important that I finish that project right this mo-
ment: it was much more important to me that I build that relationship with
my Grandparents.
Having your priorities rule your goals will help you make decisions about
how you spend your time.

3. it will help you balance your life.

Ultimately you have to strive for balance in your life (remember the seven
categories we talked about?) and knowing what’s most important is a
great step towards having balance. If you tend to binge on a certain area
of your life (that is, you focus on a certain area of your life so intensely
and for so long that other areas of your life suffer), knowing what’s more
important then the area you’re tempted to binge on is a great help. Are
you neglecting an vital area of your life?
Your prioritized list will point it out to you, so you can
make adjustments and live a more balanced life.
 page 22

+++
The “how” So, grab a paper and pencil and start writing. Make a list. Jot down every-
thing in your life that you would truly classify as “important” off the top of your
head. It’s not going to be a perfect list, but it will give you a great starting
point for prioritizing your life and intentionally living a meaningful life.
Here are a few questions to answer:

•What’s most important to you?

•What do you focus on that’s not important?

•What will make your life more balanced?

After you’ve answered these questions on paper (and jotted down any-
thing else that you need to), you’ll be able to refer to your priorities when
you are faced with a possible commitment or have to make a decision
that conflicts with your goals. From there I hope that you will take the time
to make a personal mission statement (more on this below).
 page 23

•Here’s a great formula for mission statements constructed by Dan Miller:

A FEW IDEAS: YOUR FORMULA FOR A MISSION STATEMENT
A. Your Skills & Abilities
B. Your Personality Traits
C. Your Values, Dreams & Passions
= Your Mission Statement
Use this formula if you like it, and check out the rest of Dan’s work.
It’s all amazing.

•It’s a great idea to have mission statements for your family. Work with
your spouse and your kids to define what your family is all about. Then
you can refer back to the family mission statement with your family when
you are trying to make decisions as a family.

•If “mission statement” is a little too business-oriented for your taste, you can
call it your “most important things” list or your “personal/family direction”.
 page 24

•These priorities are a moving target: don’t just write them down once.
As your life changes, you should come back to this list (or your mission
statement) and adjust them if you’re going to stay in line with your priori-
ties. It’s not a “Set it and forget it” deal: maybe set up an e-mail reminder
to let you know when it’s time to adjust your mission statement (I’ll show
you how to set up e-mail notifications on day 18). Every six months or a
year might be a good time period.

RESOURCES: If you want to go even more in depth in making your mission statements,
check out this free PDF by Dan Miller.
 4
day
 page 26

Today we’re going to learn why short-term goals

are important, and how to set them effectively.

The “WHY” As we learned back on day two, dreams are important but they just won’t
happen without long-term goals. But guess what? There’s another step.
Long-term goals won’t happen without some short term goals. Quite sim-
ply, if dreams are the destination and long-term goals are the map, then
short-term goals are the road signs. You really can’t get anywhere you
want to go without these three components. So let’s start the process of
turning your long-term goals and short term goals.
By the way, you’ve already set some short term goals without knowing
it: remember what you wrote back on day two under the “What can I do
right now to start on this path” heading? Those are short-term goals: the
road signs to help you get started on the journey.

Collect all of the tasks that you put under the “What can I do right now
The “how” to start on this path” heading. There should be quite a few, if you set
enough long-term goals. If you need to revise or expand your goals after
writing your priority list/mission statement, do so now.
You also need to decide if there are any short-term goals that you need
to set that don’t specifically relate to long-term goals.

Some examples of these might be:

 page 27

•Drink eight glasses of water a day.

•Catch up on your blog reading.
•Write 30 min. a day.
•Clean the kitchen.
•Tame your e-mail inbox.
•Clean up your yard.
•Get started on that book you want to write.

After you have a healthy collection of short-term goals, it’s time to take
them and run them through your priority filter. Here’s how.

1. compile your sort term goals

2. eliminate any that conflict with your priorities
3. set up a time budget
A time budget is simply a way for managing your free time to get the best
use out of it.

+++
 page 28

Here’s how you set up a time budget:

1. Take your short-term goals and ask yourself “If I can only complete
one of these, which one would it be?” Place a 1 next to it, then repeat
until every goal has a number. Some of your decisions might be fairly
arbitrary, but now you’ll have a prioritized order.

2. Rewrite your short-term goals in prioritized order.

3. Now, whenever you have a chunk of time, you just have to work your
way down this list. No agonizing over what to do, no forgetting, no delay:
just grab the next task and do it.

•How do you decide which short-term goal to put on the top of the list?
A FEW IDEAS: We’re going to be discussing this on day twelve. The answer may sur-
prise you.
•Resist the temptation to work on all of your short-term goals at once! If
you keep them in manageable chunks, you will be able to complete them
one at a time. Why is this important? What’s the difference between get-
ting one goal a day done for ten days and working on all ten until they’re
completed (also in ten days)? Isn’t it the same net result? Not really. You
see, if you do your goals one at a time, you’re unlocking the power of
focus and you’re giving yourself emotional milestones: you’ll feel like
your getting things done every time you cross something off that list, and
 you’ll actually get more done then if you slogged your way through all of
the goals at once.

RESOURCES: Here’s an example time budget that you can use to set up your own:
Time Budget Worksheet

Here are some ideas that you could turn into short-term goals: 25 Ideas
That Will Help You Live on Purpose.
day 5
 page 31

Today I’m going to walk you through how to create

a success log, and why it’s important.
The success log is another way that you can start building emotional
The “WHY” milestones into your work. I know, I know, you shouldn’t ever need en-
couragement: you’re a superman who just gets down to work every
single time, and don’t need any outside motivation.
The reality is, changing behavior is tough.
If you want to start living on purpose, you’ve got to be able to look
back and see that you’ve made progress. Just like we talked about
yesterday, no one lasts for very long if they just feel like they’re spin-
ning their wheels.
The success log will let you see where you’ve been, so you can see that
you are actually gaining some traction. On days when it’s really tough to
keep the commitments to yourself, you can have a glance at the suc-
cess log and fuel yourself up, gaining energy from seeing clearly how far
you’ve come.

My method for putting together a success log is a little complicated, but

The “how” it’s set up so I never forget to put an entry in my log. I’m really bad about
remembering to do important things on a consistent basis, so I have to
set up systems to remind me. A success log could just as easily be writ-
ten down diary-style, but if you’re like me you wouldn’t ever do it: I would
intend to, but I would forget (probably for weeks at a time).
 page 32

+++
1 This is how I set up an easy progress log:

1. I go to Google Docs and (after signing in with your Google account)

click CREATE on the sidebar. Go down to “Form” and click it.
2. Then I choose the question(s) that I want to ask myself on a daily
basis. In the case of my process log, I like to keep it simple: I ask myself
three questions:

2 •What did I get done today?

•What could I have done better?
•What was I most proud of?

You can make this as simple or complex as you like it, but be sure it’s
simple enough that you can actually do it every day.
3 Click on “+Add item” then “Paragraph text” to add your personalized
questions to the form.
3. Click the link after “You can view the published form here” at the bot-
tom of the page.
4. Right click and copy the URL of your form in the top bar.
4 Anything you enter into this form will be recorded automatically into your
Google Docs, in spreadsheet form. Pretty nifty!

...now to set up the e-mail reminders.

 page 33

1 2
I use ifttt.com to set up an e-mail reminder with a link to my process log
questions. (IFTTT.com is the best thing since sliced bread, by the way).
1. Go to ifttt.com and create an account.
2. Once signed into your account, click on “tasks” in the upper right-
hand corner.

3 4 3. Click “Create Task”.

4. Click through the “This” button and choose “Date & Time” as your trig-
ger.
5. Choose a time for your e-mail to go out and proceed through.
6. Choose “E-mail” as your action.
7. Compose your E-mail to yourself, right click and paste your Google
5 6 Docs form in the body of the message. Activate the task and you’re
done! The E-mail will automatically fire to your inbox as often as you like,
and all you have to do is click on the link and fill out your form! Now, that
wasn’t so hard, was it?

Again, you can ask as many questions as you like, you can make this a
daily or weekly thing, the main point is to DO IT. A while down the road
7 when you’re not feeling so great about life, you’ll be glad you did. You’ll
be able to open up the verbal time line in Google Docs and see how far
you’ve come.
 page 34

•This process of sending yourself simple questions has a bunch of

A FEW IDEAS: potential applications. You can use it to track your eating habits, if you’re
trying to lose weight. You can use it to keep track of people you’ve
met. You can track your emotional or physical state and figure out what
causes good (or bad) days. You can use it as a quick resource log. It’s a
great way to quickly store information!

•Play around with asking yourself different questions in your process log.
Ask what people you met. Ask what you learned today. Ask about what
new ideas you came up with. This has limitless potential! Use it!

•If you’re the journaling/diarying type, by all means, keep one! There are
quite a few options for digital journals (see resources), or you can go with
the ol’ pen and paper!

RESOURCES: Free diary/journal apps:

Mac:
Journler
MacJournal

Windows:
iDailyDiary
 6
day
 page 36

Today, let’s make a list of potential podcasts and

narrow them down to make a constructive playlist.

The “WHY” Podcasts are great. Think about it – hours upon hours of free, incredibly
useful content just waiting to be found. I believe that you’ll never change
your life unless you’re constantly consuming good information, and pod-
casts are a great way to do this when you can’t be reading a book. You
can essentially “multi-task” and be consuming great material while you
drive to work, wash dishes, clean – podcasts fill in the gaps nicely and
actually improve your mind, rather then just being “chewing gum for the
brain”, like most music is. There’s nothing wrong with chewing gum, but
you need to work in some substantial food or you’ll starve (that was an
awesome metaphor, wasn’t it?).

There are three types of podcasts that you can consume:

1. instructional
This is the type of podcast that you have to have a pen and paper
around when you’re listening to it. It has great information, and listen-
ing to it gives you new ideas and teaches you in areas you want to learn
about. It can be recordings of collage classes or great online radio
programs, it doesn’t really matter: as long as the podcast is teaching you
something that you can apply to your life, it fits in this category. You want
to have a healthy sampling of instructional podcasts.
 page 37

2. Inspirational
one of the best ways to This category includes anything that inspires you. It doesn’t have to have
change your life is the word “Inspire!” in the title, superimposed over a picture of a sunset,
the one requirement is that it motivates you to get to work, to dig in when
to learn a lot, and times are tough, and to do what it takes to live on purpose.
one of the best ways 3. Entertainment
to learn a lot is There’s always a place for an entertaining podcast. Something that
to listen to podcasts. makes you laugh and relaxes you can be great a times, and you certainly
want to have one or two of these in your arsenal.

The goal here is to have a balanced collection.

Don’t go for only entertainment podcasts, but have a smattering of them
in case you just need to unwind. Have a wide variety of podcasts, and
you’ll always have one that will help you out.

The “how” I suggest that you just go to iTunes podcast listings and click around in
the podcasts section. This is a great way to find new podcasts, and it’s
very easy to subscribe and check out new podcasts.
Don’t have iTunes? It’s free here.

Once you’ve identified some podcasts you might like (10-15 might be a
good number, but you can use however many you find), download a few
 page 38

episodes of each one, and start listening! This is a great time to work on
that project you’ve been neglecting, clean house, wash dishes or perform
any other fairly mindless task that needs to get done. Your brain can work
on absorbing the new information while your body does something else.
After you’ve checked out some of your new podcasts, start trimming
them down. Cut out the ones you’re not impressed with: why waste your
time listening to sub-par material? There are plenty of high-quality pod-
casts to listen to. Be sure to keep the idea of balance in mind: you want
to have a podcast selection somewhat like the pie chart in the sidebar.

•Another great way to find new podcasts is using a service like Stitcher.
A FEW IDEAS: It’s a free, easy way to listen to lots of different podcasts so you can see if
they will improve your life.

•Want to consume even more information in the same amount of time? Lis-
ten to two podcasts at once! Not really. You can speed them up, though:
some music players have the ability to play podcasts at double speed.
Try it our for a while and see what you think! After you get used to this, the
podcasts will seem agonizingly slow if you go back to normal speed.

•If you don’t prefer to use iTunes, you can always Google “podcast
directories” and see what you come up with, and use some free podcast
application like Juice or Miro to collect your podcast feeds.
day 7
 page 40

Today we’re going to build some peace and si-

lence into your life.

Building silence and breaks into your life will keep you sane, and will actu-
The “WHY” ally give you a boost in productivity.
Silence is something that’s a rare commodity in our world today: we have
massive demands on our attention every hour of our days, and even
though we screen most of this deluge of sensory information, it still drains
us and takes up mental and emotional space. Have you ever done multiple
things at once, like watching TV while working on the laptop, and checking
your e-mail on your smartphone? Our lives are constantly connected and
overloaded, and a little bit of silence can be deafening – and extremely
relaxing. We all need a break from all the noise.
Rest isn’t the same thing as sleep, and it isn’t the same thing as plopping
down on your couch to watch TV: we rarely practice real rest in modern
society. We need to learn how to rest if we want to be more productive and
have higher levels of energy, both vital components to an intentional life.
 page 41

Here are a few ways that you can start building breaks into your life:
The “how” morning break
It’s a fairly well-know statistic that most heart attacks happen at about
9:00 am, Monday morning. This is not entirely surprising to many people
(especially if they hate their jobs). According to Daniel Lapin, author
of the incredible book about business Thou Shalt Prosper, this stems
from the abrupt, stressful change that people experience in the morn-
ing. They’ve had all weekend to sleep, but now it’s Monday morning and
they have to drag their weary bodies out of bed and fight morning traffic.
silence in one of the most Why isn’t there another peak of heart attacks at the end of the day, when
undervalued resources they all head home? Maybe because they aren’t going to their job, but it
in our world. probably also has something to do with the fact that they’re not waking
up and launching themselves immediately into a stressful situation. Take
some time in the morning after you wake up to be quiet and peaceful and
just reflect on your life. Think about what you want to accomplish during
the day, and about what you want your life to look like in the future. Think
about things you’re thankful for. Talk to God, if you believe in him. Focus
on the good in your life, not the bad. Not only will this give you a nice,
calming buffer between sleep and the drive to work, it will also give you a
different perspective on the day than if you dragged yourself out of bed
just in time to get out the door.
 page 42

consistent work breaks

Program time into your day to take breaks. Why? Because people who
take regular breaks actually end up being more productive (and hap-
pier) than people who try to push through eight hours without a break.
It’s called the Law of Diminishing Returns. (read more about this in the
resources section)
Don’t try to force yourself to work without any short breaks: take one if
you need it, than return to your work with renewed energy and passion.

distraction-free software
If you are constantly distracted, it might be a good idea to use a piece of
software that is designed to cut out all of the noise that we experience:
as an easily distracted writer, there are several apps that have been
invaluable to me, all listed in the resources.

A FEW IDEAS: •Take note of how you focus. It’s usually better to focus completely on
one task for half an hour then move on to the next task for half an hour
then it is to try to half- focus on both for an hour. With focus comes
power: you’ll get a lot more done if you learn to focus.

•Perhaps you need to find an inspiring book to read when you get up, or
maybe you can listen to one of your “Inspirational” podcasts. Don’t be
tempted to work and get things done during your restful time in the morn-
ing, though! This time should be as relaxed as possible.
 page 43

RESOURCES: Read more about the law of diminishing returns at the 99%:
How to Accomplish More By Doing Less

distraction-free software
One of my favorite tools, Write Or Die will keep you typing, no matter
what! Great for clearing up writer’s block: Write Or Die
The best distraction-free writing application I’ve found: Omm Writer
For Windows users, this is a great way to cut out distractions: Dark Room
Does just what it says it does: Do Nothing For Two Minutes
A cool website that will force you to take breaks, in the name of protect-
ing your vision: Protect Your Vision

Want to eliminate even more distractions? Use one of these apps to can-
cel out some superfluous sound:
Rainymood
Simply Noise (I suggest the brown noise)
day 8
 page 45

Today I’m going to open your eyes to how much time

you really have, and how much of it goes wasted!
There are hundreds of small scraps of time that get wasted each week,
The “WHY” and it doesn’t take much effort to examine your schedule and reclaim
some of that time! You’ll be getting lots done during times that you don’t
even view as “free time”. How great is that?

The “how” This will require a little creativity on your part. Look at your daily sched-
ule, and identify areas where you’ve got scraps of free time. Some
examples:

1. commuting
Commuting can take up a sizable chunk of your week, and it’s wonderful
if you can reclaim that time to do something productive. You can listen
to some of the podcasts that you picked out on day six, or (if you have
an especially long commute) buy yourself some amazing audio books to
feed your mind during the long periods of relative inactivity in the car.

2. waiting
No, I don’t recommend tweeting during a romantic dinner while you wait
for the food (you would be better off making conversation, trust me), but
there are a lot of situations where you can be doing something produc-
tive while you wait. Do you take public transportation? Use the time to
 page 46

brainstorm ideas. Waiting in the doctor’s office? Bring along your smart
The great thing about phone and write or reply to e-mails. Waiting in line at the bank or walking
recapturing wasted time is the dog? Listen to a podcast.
that you won’t even miss it! 3. breaks
you’ll just be getting As we talked about on day seven, it’s important to have time where you
more done in the just are not doing anything. I don’t think that working through all your
breaks is the best for your levels of creativity. Relaxing is a natural step
same amount of time. in between periods of work, don’t neglect it. However, you might reclaim
this time to do some reenergizing activities: listen to one of your “inspi-
rational” podcasts, take a power nap, read a book about something you
want to learn: again, take breaks when you need them, but you don’t
necessarily need to squander them.

The goal here is to be aware of those scraps of time

that are essentially being wasted, and creatively fill
them in with activities that will help you grow.
 page 47

A FEW IDEAS: •Having a portable device that you can check e-mail, write and organize
your life on is terribly helpful if you want to start reclaiming some of that
lost time: it might be a worthwhile investment.

•A small notebook will do in a pinch, though (especially if you’re an art-

ist). Buy a nice little notebook to keep in your pocket, or just carry around
some index cards!

•The podcasts you selected on day 6 will definitely become useful at this
point.
day 9
 page 49

Today you’re going to do something unexpectedly

kind for someone else.

The “WHY” If you want to have a better life, you have to become a better person, it’s
as simple as that.
Plus, this can be one of the most fun and rewarding activities that you
can take part in: once you sink your teeth into unexpected kindness, you
won’t want to go back, trust me.

The “how” This is going to take a little ingenuity: you have to look around you and
figure out where you can be kind. It doesn’t have to be much, but it does
have to push you out of your comfort zone: it has to be something that
you wouldn’t normally do. Here are a few things to remember:

1.the more uncomfortable,the better.

Why do you have to push yourself out of your comfort zone? Because
you’re not going anywhere sitting square in the middle of your comfort
zone. You can do good within your comfort zone, but most of the time it’s
just a barrier to living the life you want to live.
You won’t get the intentional, purposeful life you want to live if you never
do anything that makes you uncomfortable. It might be easier to give to
someone via a website, but it might be better for you (and them) to give
to someone in person. Don’t be afraid to do something you’re afraid of.
 page 50

2. the more anonymous,the better.

If you get little recognition for this kind act, you’ve succeeded. Don’t pa-
being purposely generous rade your generosity around in public! Trust me, if you need widespread
and kind is one of the acclaim for being kind, the act of kindness will seem incredibly hollow
when it’s all said and done.
most best things you Of course, this doesn’t apply to kindnesses towards people you know:
can do to change planning a fancy dinner for your girlfriend should be part of your personal
yourself for the better... goals, remember?
and before we can change 3.the more often,the better.
the world we have to Try and build small kindnesses into your life. Make tipping well a way of
life. Give a portion of your income away. Constantly be looking for ways
change ourselves, right? to help other people.
Oh, and know this: giving to other people has incredible rewards at-
tached to it. Character growth, connection, emotional rewards, and
monetary growth are a few areas where constant giving will actually help
you (really!). But wait, doesn’t it nullify the giving if you get something in
return? Not really. Work hard to make your intentions correct, but if you
wait until you are completely pure of intention, you might have a long
wait. Just give, and work on your intentions as you give. As someone
said, “The smallest good deed is better than the grandest intention.” Do
good, and your intentions will line up.
 page 51

A FEW IDEAS: •Tip your waiter well, even if they didn’t do a great job.
•Go buy a cup of coffee and leave a large tip.
•Volunteer.
•Buy a homeless guy a cheeseburger.
•Donate to the homeless shelter.
•See someone who’s hurting at work? Strike up a conversation.
•Buy a mocha for the guy behind you in the drive through.
•Strike up a conversation with the pizza delivery guy.
•The possibilities to show other people kindness are endless! Pick one or
two and intentionally start doing them.

One of the most-read posts on my blog, about tipping and the mind set
behind tipping: The Tipping Paradox

A wonderful site, where you can help struggling people start small busi-
nesses in other parts of the world through micro loans. It’s a great way
to help sustain someone for a longer term then if you just gave them
money: kiva.org
day 10
 page 53

Today we’re going to improve your memory!

How nifty is that?

The “WHY” Having a better memory will aid you in almost every area of your life: from
your work life to your social life, having a great memory will definitely
put you ahead of the pack. The good news? You aren’t born with a bad
memory that you have for the rest of your life: memory can be improved
and cultivated, and it’s fairly painless.
It’s really empowering to be able to remember things better, especially if
you are of the opinion that you have a terrible memory. Try some of these
techniques out, and I don’t think you’ll ever want to go back.
THE HOW

The “how” 1. use crazy mental images.

Crazy mental imaging takes advantage of the way our minds work: we
tend to be really good at remembering certain things, and really terrible
at remembering other things. One of the things that really sticks in our
memory is peculiar, off-beat, shocking or crazy images. Did you ever
have an experience that now is seared in your brain? It’s probably dra-
matic, odd or shocking.
Crazy mental imaging is an amazing way to turn your memory from poor
to pretty amazing overnight. Sound too good to be true? Give it a try.
 page 54

+++
Here’s how to practice crazy mental imaging:
Connect crazy images to whatever you’re trying to remember: the crazier
go crazy with your the better on this step. Spare no insane details. Trying to remember a
mental images. list of some kind? Simply link the items together in your mind with crazy
pictures.. Let’s say this is your grocery list:
the crazier they are,
the better you •Bananas
will remember. •Green Beans
•Peanut butter
•Salsa

First, link bananas and green beans in your mind using a crazy picture.
Maybe opening a banana peel and discovering it’s full of green beans?
Maybe a giant banana with razor sharp teeth devouring the helpless,
fleeing green bean citizens? Whatever it takes for you to remember the
connection between the two objects. Remember, although this seems
incredibly silly, it works, and no one is going to be looking into your head.
Next link green beans and peanut butter. Maybe delicious peanut butter
with whole green beans blended in? Maybe an amazing peanut butter
and green bean sandwich? Maybe a peanut with a top hat sitting down
to eat a green bean in a hot dog bun. Use your imagination. Finally, link
peanut butter and salsa. Yum, peanut butter on tacos. How about a pea-
nut butter superhero attacking a salsa villian?
 page 55

The key here is to link the list together with a chain of crazy images,
which will allow you to recall the images (and the list items) with ease.
After making mental images linking the list together, try going back
through them in your mind: it’s easy to remember now. The images just
“pop” into you head with ease. It also works going backwards, or with
much longer lists. Try it with this list:

•Baked Beans
•Chips
•Romaine Lettuce (can’t remember “Romaine”? Think of the lettuce with
a centurion’s helmet on: “Roman” lettuce)
•Grape juice
•Whole Wheat Bread
•Olive Oil
•Almonds
•Frozen Corn
•Avocados

See? It’s still easy to remember the whole list after you’ve formed the
mental images. It’s sort of like magic, especially for those of us who even
struggle to remember our names.

+++

it’s a wonderful feeling to
be able to remember people’s
names with ease, especially
after years of “not being good
at remembering names”
page 56
2. remember names the easy way
I know, I know, you’re just terrible at remembering people’s names.
Guess what? That’s just an excuse.
Trying to remember someone’s name? First, you have to train yourself to
snap to attention when someone’s introducing themselves. The #1 reason
that we don’t remember names is we really don’t pay attention in the first
place: 30 seconds later we’ve “forgotten” their name, but we really didn’t
know it in the first place. Still having trouble remembering? Grab on to
the first thing you think of when you hear their name, and link their face to
it. Trying to remember the name of someone named Jane? Imagine here
swinging on a vine with Tarzan. Trying to remember someone named
Arlene? Imagine her as a pink cat with Garfield. Trying to remember
someone named Jack? Imagine him as big as a car, and you’re raising
him up with a jack. Link them to something, even if it’s just someone else
you know with the same name (although, in my experience, crazy images
work better). By doing this you’ll be paying more attention, and you’ll
have a strong visual link, which you brain is much more likely to remem-
ber. Here’s part of a conversation from this interview with memory expert
Joshua Foer:
JIM GLASSMAN: Ok, that would be I think very helpful to our viewers
because people are always saying-- in fact I say-- gee you know I just
met the person at the party and now ten minutes later I can’t remember
his name.
 page 57

JOSHUA FOER:
So there is a paradox that psychologists talk about called the Baker/
baker paradox and it goes like this; if you take two people and you say to
them remember that there is a guy whose last name is Baker, capital ‘B’,
remember that word. You tell another person remember that there’s a guy
who is a baker as in that’s his profession. And you come back to them at
a later date and you say remember that word I told you? It’s strange but
the person who was told his name is less likely to remember the same
word as the person who was told his profession. Why is that? The name
Baker doesn’t mean anything to you. It has nothing to tether it to all of
the other things that you know. The word baker, the common noun baker,
we know bakers. Right? Bakers. We can picture a baker in our head and
so if you can turn capital ‘B’ Bakers into lower case ‘b’ bakers, figure out
things that you can associate with a person’s name and provide a kind
of image in your mind’s eye that will hopefully spring back to mind when
you see the person next time.

3.connect information and use spacial memory

Another way that you can remember information is using something
called the memory palace. Originally conceived of by Socrates, this
memory trick has been used by the masters to remember all sorts of
things, even the order of a deck of playing cards. Here’s how it works.
1.Imagine a place you know well. Your home is probably the best.
2. Place the things you want to remember in the rooms of your mental
house. It could be speech points, grocery items, to-do lists, place them
 page 58

in order (if need be) room by room. Then you can simply utilize the in-
credible spacial memory of our brains and walk through the house, “see-
ing” the memories on the way.
It’s a bit of a brain adjustment at first, but once you’ve gotten used to us-
ing some of these systems, you memory will be greatly improved.

A FEW IDEAS: •If you’ve just been introduced to someone, say their name – out loud – as
soon as you can in the conversation. This will help cement it in your mind.
•Try to write their name down on that notebook you have in your pocket
from day eight. Writing down will help you visualize and remember who
they are.
•If the person you’re being introduced to has a particular feature on
their face that stands out, try to link it to their name. Let’s say your new
acquaintance named Jim had a distinctive mustache: image tiny people
working out (as in a gym: gym=Jim) on that mustache. Silly? Definitely,
but Jim won’t ever see inside your head: he’ll just be very impressed that
you’re able to call him by name the next time you meet him on the street.

RESOURCES: Want to improve our memory more? Check out this book, and you’ll learn
everything you need to know – The Memory Book

Good article about Memory Mapping on the Art of Manliness

Interesting story about a memory master – Secrets of a Mind-Gamer

day 11
 page 60

Today we’re going to talk about your mind, and how

to take responsibility for your thoughts and emotions.

The “WHY” To truly live on purpose, you must take responsibility for your emotional
state. There are far too many people who allow their moods to be dictat-
ed by the people and the circumstances around them. It’s time to stomp
out any trace of this in your life.

+++
If you choose to do this, there will be tons of amazing improvements to
your life:
1. your stress levels will plummet
Imagine if you could just “turn off” stress? Wouldn’t that be great? Well,
guess what: you can. I’ll show you how.
2. you will have better relationships
If you can control your emotions, you’ll most likely get along with people
better: you’ll be more cheerful and consistent, and you’ll be much more
the type of person that people like to be around.
3. You will do better at your job
...and (most likely) move ahead faster then you would have otherwise.
You’ll be a better employee; you’ll be a better boss, you’ll appear more
trustworthy, people will begin to rely on you more then before.
 page 61

4. you’ll be more productive

Taking control of your stress will send your productivity through the roof.
Suddenly, it doesn’t matter if you don’t feel like it. You do it anyway.

5. you’ll be a much happier individual

Really and truly. We humans are amazing at torturing ourselves: when
we finally get fed up with it and stop, our lives change drastically for the
better. Let’s get started.

First, you need to get your head right: read this following line to yourself
(out loud, if possible) several times:

The “how” No matter how other people act, what other peo-
ple do to me, or what my current circumstances
are, I ALWAYS choose my reactions.

If you believe this to be true, this means a few things in your life:
•You choose stress. It’s not your boss, it’s not the traffic, it’s not the way
you were raised, it’s not the stupid people around you, it’s you: you’re
choosing to make yourself miserable. You’re choosing stress. You’re
choosing to give yourself that tension in your shoulders, you’re choosing
to wear yourself out, you’re choosing to shorten your life, you’re choosing
 page 62

it all. Over and over again every day you choose to stress yourself out.
•You choose anger. It doesn’t matter how people treat you: you don’t
have to react any certain way. You may not be able to stop an initial emo-
tion, but you can choose your response. You can choose to blow up, you
can choose to get even, you can choose to gossip behind the person’s
back, but the consequences are 100% on your shoulders, because it
wasn’t the other person’s fault: you chose to react in anger.
•You choose your character. Moment by moment you are choosing who
you are going to be. You. You choose if you’re going to live on purpose,
live the way you want to live, or if you’re going to just react to everything
and be miserable. You choose if you’re going to end up someone other
people want to be around, or if you’re going to end up bitter and alone.
Your choice. No one else is making it for you.

No matter how other people act, what other people do to me or what my

current circumstances are, I am ALWAYS in choose my reactions.
Drum this into your head. Write it on your arm. Tattoo it on your soul. Take
responsibility for your emotions, and you’ll change your life!

There are no stressful situations: only

stressful reactions.
•Get in the habit of stopping for a moment whenever you have a negative
emotional reaction. Think “I choose”, defuse the emotion and respond
rationally. If you do this for a while, it will soon become a habit.
 page 63

A FEW IDEAS: •If you start to feel stressed, pause and remember that you are choosing
to stress yourself. No one’s doing it to you: if you can, close your eyes
and consciously relax your shoulders and neck. Choose not to stress,
then go on with your day.
•This is really difficult: you might be tempted not to believe me. It’s tough,
but it’s one of the most worthwhile battles you’ll fight. It will change your
life permanently, and you’ll feel like a different person.

Learn how you can take responsibility , and how you’re the problem (and
the solution): You’re the Problem

RESOURCES: A post about normal emotions (and how you shouldn’t be anywhere
close to normal): Normal is Angry and Miserable

Really want to practice personal responsibility? Read this book: QBQ

day 12
 page 65

Today we’re going to talk about why you should

always do the worst tasks first.

The “WHY” Imagine this: you have a free day off. Nowhere you need to go, no obli-
gations, nothing. What do you do with it? Maybe as you go through your
busy week you plan the free day ahead of time, chuckling to yourself
about how much you’re going to get done. A free day! What a luxury.
You’re determined not to waste it, and you plan what you’re going to ac-
complish for the day (hour-by-hour, if you’re really ambitious). The day
arrives! You sleep in a little bit (no one can expect you to get up super
early on your day off, can they?) and you get up feeling…slightly off, re-
ally. No big deal, you think to yourself. You’ve got plenty of time to have
a slow start to the day, and get plenty done. You take a shower, you get
some breakfast, and you maybe watch a TV show (while you eat, natu-
rally. It’s not like you can do anything else while you eat, right?). After a
bit more goofing off, you check your watch: well, no sense getting deep
into a project only to break if off to get lunch. You surf around the internet
for a while, check Facebook, watch some funny videos on YouTube; then
you realize that you’re feeling pretty worn out, so you take a quick nap
before lunch. The nap doesn’t help very much, but you’re getting hungry,
so you slap together a quick lunch and get ready to get started on your
to-do list. But all of a sudden, it doesn’t seem quite as appealing as it did
the week before. Maybe you can work on it this evening…
 page 66

On it goes. You usually end up at the end of the day slightly dazed, won-
dering where all that time went. If you do get anything done, it’s late in
the day and it’s primarily motivated by guilt stemming from all of the time
you wasted. What went wrong?
If you do the worst things first, your day will have a dramatically different
outcome. I’ll show you how.

The “how” The idea here is to knock out what you least want to do. I think you’ll
know instinctively what that is, but in case you have no idea, make a list
of tasks that you can easily get done in the day. When you start your day
(right on time if it’s a work day, bright and early if it’s a free day: sleeping
in will set the wrong tone for the day!) look at your list, and judge your gut
reaction to each task. Which one seems the most doable, the most easily
accessible? Put it on the back of your list. Which is the task that you just
dread doing, the task that you want to put off more then any other? Do it
first. Don’t delay at all, or you’ll put your day into a tailspin. Do you have
to clean the kitchen, but loathe the task? Launch into it right away. You
can even subdivide the task into smaller tasks: using the kitchen ex-
ample, out of all of the kitchen-cleaning tasks, do you dread washing the
dishes most? Do it first. Grit your teeth (figuratively) and do the dishes
(figuratively and literally).
 page 67

+++
This process has several advantages:

1. you get things done

Usually we avoid the most important tasks. We spend our time doing the
easy and relatively unimportant things, because it isn’t as painful for us to
do. We waste our time, and the really difficult things that we tend to avoid
never get done.

2. it will lower guilt and stress

This is obvious, right? If the onerous task isn’t hanging about in your
head all day, you’re not going to feel nearly as stressed throughout the
day – or, if you’re taking yesterday’s teaching seriously, at least you won’t
have to fight off stress. In fact, you’re going to feel the opposite of stress:
hope! Even if you’re pretty good at ignoring things you should get done
(I know I am), they are still there in the back of your mind, niggling away.
These thoughts cause the muscles in your neck to knot up, they cause
you to feel tired and worn out, so the tasks you don’t want to do will liter-
ally sap your strength, whether you do them or not! You might as well
knock them out.

Your energy’s being sapped 3. it will unlock your energy potential

Once you’ve gotten the bigger, uglier projects knocked out, you’re not
by the tasks you’re not doing. going to feel worn out: you’re going to feel empowered! You’re going to
 page 68

feel like you’re the most disciplined person in the world, and that will give
you more emotional energy to attack more tasks. And guess what: they
only get easier from there (you’ve already done the most difficult one,
remember?). Pretty sweet!

+++
Remember that time budget you set up on day four? How about adding
this “worst first” idea to that? How does it change?

A FEW IDEAS: •Don’t be tempted to put everything into this list: otherwise you’ll get
completely overwhelmed. The first time I tried this, I completely over
thought it: I started beating the tasks that were the least appealing, and it
felt great! But them I thought “There’s no end to this! I have thousands of
things that I don’t want to do around the house. I’ll never get it all done,
and I’ll never be able to work on something that I want to work on!” Don’t
over think it. Make a doable list for the day, with some of your short-term
goals, some hard tasks and some tasks that you want to do. Focus on
those, don’t worry about the rest.
•Brian Tracy calls this “eating a frog”, based on Mark Twain’s quote “Eat
a live frog first thing in the morning and nothing worse will happen to you
the rest of the day.” This is a great visual to keep in your mind: choose
the biggest, nastiest frog to eat, and once that one’s down, pick the next
frog, and the next. When I’m faced with something tough that I don’t want
to do, I square my shoulders and tell myself “Eat That Frog!”. It helps.
 page 69

•Pat yourself on the back! You’re getting so much more done in a day
then you used to, and you’re feeling less stressed! Way to go.

RESOURCES: This is how we usually work when we don’t employ worst-first:

An Artist’s Mental Conversation

Eat That Frog! by Brain Tracy

day 13
 page 71

Today we’re going to be reflecting a little bit on mor-

tality. Aww, lighten up, right? This slightly morbid ex-
ercise really is going to help you out, I promise.

The “WHY” One of the biggest reasons that people don’t live intentionally is they
lack perspective. They get caught in a cycle of doing things that are just
urgent but really not that meaningful, or they get stuck doing things that
feel good at the moment, instead of doing things that matter. Why do so
many people fall for this trap? One reason is because they really haven’t
examined their lives.
Today you’re going to examine your own life using a little imagination.

The “how” Paint a quick mental picture with me: you’ve contracted some fast-mov-
ing illness, and you’ve only got 24 hours to live. Imagine this for a sec-
ond. Try to at least partially wrap your mind around what that would feel
like. Close your eyes and ponder this for 30 seconds (or as long as you
like, just don’t make yourself really depressed, ok?).
…
…
 page 72

Now, answer these questions:

1. What really mattered in your life?

2. What do you regret? What was a waste of your

(now) precious hours on earth?

3. What do you want people to say about you at

your funeral?

4. What are you most proud of?

5. If you could live it again, what would you do dif-

ferently?

Think about this for a while. Write down your answers. Try your hardest to
mentally place yourself in this situation. Spend some time in silence.
…
Wait, the phone rings: it’s your doctor! They mixed up a couple of files
 page 73

at the hospital, and it turns out that you’re completely healthy! You could
(and probably will) live for decades! You’ve been given your life back.

What will you do differently?

What will you change?

Don’t spend your life trying to fulfill someone else’s expectations. Don’t
live someone else’s life: live yours.

A FEW IDEAS: •Did you gain some perspective today? Use it to make some changes in
your life. What have you been to afraid to do? Do it. See where you end
up. Take some risks.
•Go eat some ice cream or something. Not too much, but just enough to
perk back up again. Keep smiling.

RESOURCES: Watch this video about living on purpose, with the end in mind by Steve
Jobs: Steve Jobs’ 2005 Stanford Commencement Address
day 14
 page 75

Today we’re going to look at why setting up a bud-

get is vital to your intentional future.

The “WHY” Money is kinda important. If you’re going to live the life you want to live,
you need to take control of your money in a serious way. You need to
start spending intentionally if you’re going to be living intentionally.
•Your money is a reflection of your priorities.
Whatever you spend your money on clearly shows what’s important
in your life. Do you spend all of your money on useless junk you don’t
need? What does that say about your priorities? What does that say
about your life?
•A budget will make you feel like you have more money (and will actually
make you wealthy).
As Dave Ramsey says, a budget is simply telling your money what to
do, instead of wondering where it went. You’ll feel like you get a raise
when you start doing a budget! You’ll have more control and more peace
in your life, your marriage will be better, and you’ll actually start to have
some money around instead of watching it disappear every month.

You simply have to start saying no to yourself. Right now you’re spend-
The “how” ing everything you make, and then buying more stuff on credit. Bad idea.
You need to cut yourself off, and start spending less.
 page 76

+++
Here’s how to set up a simple budget:

1. tell your money what to do

Write down where every dollar is going to go before you spend it. Once
getting in control of you start paying attention, you’ll be shocked at how much you are spend-
ing on some categories. What percentage of your income are you spend-
your finances is ing on entertainment? How much every month goes out to fast food
something that isn’t companies? Start paying attention to this stuff! You don’t need to become
a complete math geek to do this, you just have to care. It’s not going to
for the faint of heart. be easy at first, but it will get better over time.
You have to really
want the peace, control, 2. prioritize!
Depending on your level of debt, you may not have enough money to
and freedom it brings. pay for everything. Don’t put the excess on credit cards (chop the darn
things up). Prioritize your spending: don’t pay the credit card payment
above your house payment. Buy food before you pay the car payment.
The creditors may call you and scream at you, but ultimately they just
don’t matter very much.

3. cut back, sell your junk and pay off debt

This is where it gets really hard: you have to say no to yourself. You have
to adhere to the budget completely. You have to start cutting back on
your lifestyle, selling the things you don’t need, and paying off debt. This
 page 77

is going to be rough going for a while, but I promise you that it’s more
then worth it! Once you’ve been budgeting for a while, have paid off all
of your debts and have a substantial amount of money in the bank, do
you know how peaceful your life is going to be? Do you know how many
problems you’re going to avoid? It’s all going to be worth it in the long
run. Are you tired of being controlled by your lack of discipline? Take
control of your money.

•Go to DaveRamsey.com and check his podcast/radio show out. It’s in-
A FEW IDEAS: credible. Dave Ramsey changed my life with his financial teachings, and
outlines specifically in his books how to set up a budget, how to pay off
all of your debt, and how to achieve financial peace. It’s wonderful!

•Cut up the darn credit cards! You don’t need to build credit, you need to
stop sending all of your hard-earned cash to the credit card companies.

RESOURCES: Man vs Debt is a great blog for learning how to “Sell your crap. Pay off
your debt. Do what you love.”

How to get started budgeting, ala Dave Ramsey: Getting Started Guide
 15
day
 page 79

Today you’re going to give up something you love.

Sorry, friend: it’s not gonna be fun.

The “WHY” This is an exercise in self-discipline. You need quite a bit of self-disci-
pline to live an intentional life, so exercising that muscle every once in a
while is a good thing. Don’t worry, this doesn’t have to be a permanent
sacrifice, but you need to know you can give it up.

The “how” This is fairly self-explanatory, but picking out the thing you need to give
up is a little tougher. Here are some questions to ask yourself when
choosing something to sacrifice:

what do i need to “get through the day”?

what would be hardest to give up?

 page 80

what would change my life for the better if i

gave it up?

what would change my health for the better if

i gave it up?

what’s controlling me?

Ask yourself some of these questions, and come up with a short list of
ideas. Although you can take all the time you need to ponder these, you
probably have a pretty good idea which one you should give up. Choose
a time period (a week, month, six months, even a year), commit and stick
to it! It’s going to be a tough commitment to make, though. You’re really
going to have to stick to it.
 page 81

+++
Here are a few ways that you can make sure to keep your commitment:

1. tell all of your friends

Boast a little bit. Tell people you know what you’re doing, and why. Let
If there’s them know that they are welcome to join you in your quest for self-disci-
pline. Post daily on Facebook how you’re doing and what it’s like going
someone watching, without. Make other people a part of the process, and you will be a lot
you’ll get it done. more motivated to finish!
It’s not as easy to 2. run the heck away from temptation
Rationalise why Don’t go into situations that tempt you! If you’re giving up coffee, don’t
you failed hang out with your friends in a Starbucks. If you’re giving up TV, unplug the
darn thing and send it to a friend’s house for a week: you don’t need it star-
to them. ing you down while you’re wrestling with your commitment. If you’re trying
to give up chocolate, you might want to put off your visit to Switzerland.

3. focus on the positive

It will make it 200% harder to resist temptation if you are agonizing over
how hard it is to go without. Don’t focus on what you’re missing out on,
focus on what an amazing job you’re doing: going without peanut butter
cups for a whole month? Who knew you were so strong? Way to go, you!
Positivity like this will give you emotional boosts, instead of the drag you
will experience when you focus on the negative.
 page 82

And who knows? You might find that your life is better without this “guilty
pleasure”, and you never would have known if you didn’t try.

A FEW IDEAS: •Coffee

•Soda
(on what to give up)... •Fast Food
•Television
•Chocolate
•Video Games
•Twinkies
•Facebook
•The Internet
•Kicking puppies

RESOURCES: A post about learning what’s controlling you: You’re being controlled.

...and more about temptation.

Here’s a cool site for staying accountable to friends: Commitie

day 16
 page 84

Today you’re going to find time you didn’t know

you had, and you’re going to use it in one of the
best ways possible: reading!

The “WHY” Reading is one of the single most important things that you can do to live
on purpose, and change your life. Reading will take you where you want
to go; if you need to become stronger in a certain area of your life, there
are certainly multiple great books on the subject. You’ve already proved
by reading this far that you can read, and that you care enough to
change your life: these are the two ingredients you need to allow books
to drastically alter who you are for the better. Reading good books is so
vital, yet many people don’t have time to do it. Well, let’s find time, dog-
gone it.

The “how” No one has lack of time. They just choose to spend their time in certain
ways, so they choose to not give time to some activities. If you “don’t
have time” to read, you need to look closely at what you spend your
time doing: sure, there are a lot of activities that can’t be cut, but there
are also a lot of activities in your life that are superfluous. Here are a few
ways to free up some reading time:
 page 85

1. cut out tv one night of the week

horrors! This isn’t too hard, is it? Just designate one night “reading night”, and
refuse to turn on the tube. Even if you do nothing else, this small action
will start you on a path to where you want to go.

2. recapture lost time

Remember when we talked about this on day eight? How about reading
over your lunch break? How about listening to audio books in the car?
How about carrying a small book in your pocket (or getting Kindle on
your smart phone) and reading a bit whenever you have the time: on the
elevator, waiting in line: whatever scraps of time you have. You have so
much more time than you think, you just have to start using it a little more
effectively. Using your time intentionally will allow you to fit so much more
into it.

3. first or last
Make reading the first thing you do every day, or the last: you can cer-
tainly stay awake for 15-20 more minutes to read a good book, can’t you?
What about setting your alarm a little earlier? You’ve got to make the time
to read, or you simply won’t do it.
Go, jot down a list of books that might change your life. Need some
suggestions? Here’s my reading list. Go, find the time to read, and start
tearing through those pages.
 page 86

4. examine your free time

We’re going to be doing this tomorrow in an in-depth way. We’ll find your
free time, don’t worry.

A FEW IDEAS: •Get audio books! Use them on your commute.

•If you cut out TV as a part of yesterday’s exercise, now is a great time to
fill in that freed up time with some great books. You’ll be improving your
mind – and your life – instead of just passively entertaining yourself.
•Subscribe to some great blogs check out my blogroll on andhedrew.
com for a few good ideas (it’s at the bottom of the site), and go out and
find a few of your own!
•FINISH THE BOOKS. Refuse to start a new book (no matter how excit-
ing the book is) unless you have finished a book. Don’t get into the habit
of never finishing books. Knock them out and you’ll feel more accom-
plished, and those 18 books that you never finished won’t be knocking
around in your head anymore.

RESOURCES: My reading list

day 17
 page 88

Today we’re going to examine your entertainment

and (maybe) make some changes.

The “WHY” Out of anything else, entertainment takes the most time from your life.
I’m certainly not advocating that you give up all entertainment, but I think
most of us will agree that we probably spend a little too much time doing
it. Try this experiment: it will open your eyes to how much time you de-
vote to entertainment.

The “how” Get yourself a notebook and a portable clock (watch, phone, etc). Carry
the notebook around the house with you for the day, and “clock in” to all
of your activities. In the end, your list should look something like this (as-
suming you have work all day):

Cooking, dinner: 5:00

Clean up: 6:15
Facebook: 6:27
E-mail: 6:45
Reading: 7:12
TV: 7:30
Bed: 10:03
 page 89

Now put times beside the list:

Cooking, dinner: 5:00 =1hr,15min

Clean up: 6:15 =12min
Facebook: 6:27 =18min
E-mail: 6:45 =27min
Reading: 7:12 =18min
TV: 7:30 =2hrs,33min
Bed: 10:03
Does this put your evening activities in perspective? Are you willing to
devote a majority of every evening to entertainment? Do you want your
life to look roughly like the pie chart on the sidebar?

Decision time. What do you want your pie chart to look like? Draw you
desired pie chart out on a piece of paper, and start trying to reach it. You
can even carry a stop watch around with you, if it’ll help you spend your
is this really what you want? time better.
 page 90

A FEW IDEAS: •Consider doing this for a few days, or a week. It might be a little bit of a
pain, but it will give you a great picture of where your time’s going.
•Try laying out beforehand how you think your time’s going to be spent.
It might be surprising how different your perspective on where you think
your time’s going and reality are.

RESOURCES: Do you want to track your time spent on the computer down to the min-
ute? Try RescueTime. It’s scary accurate.
day 18
 page 92

Today I’m going to help you set up a calendar to

lay out your life visually.

The “WHY” To-do lists and progress logs and goals are all find and dandy, but a
calendar gives you a completely different perspective then all of them: a
calendar allows you to lay out your life as many days in the future as you
want, and is still one of the most powerful and flexible task management
tools out there.

The “how” I suggest setting up a Google Calendar. Google Calendars are really
easy to use, and they can be customized in a wide variety of ways. Plus,
they have cool colors.
Here’s what you can put on your calendar:

1. goals
You short term, mid-term and long-term goals can all be put on your
calendar! Load it up with what you want to get done, and you’ll be that
much closer to achieving your goals!

2. daily tasks
Align your daily tasks with whichever one you want to do least as the first
task (remember day twelve? Worst first!). If you’re memory-challenged
like me, this will be a big help in remembering what you firmly resolved to
get done. Way to go!
 page 93

3. repeating tasks
Anything that you do over and over again can be programmed into the
calendar, and you never have to think about it again! You’ll simply be
reminded when it’s time.

4. distant tasks
Oh, you have that one really important thing in three months? Set up a
tasks on the very day, and have Google email you a reminder. It’s like a
crock pot: set it and forget it (which is a wonderful thing to an overtaxed,
forgetful mind).

A FEW IDEAS: •Set your calendar as your home page on your internet browser: then it
will constantly be there to remind you what you want your life to look like.
•It’s easy to set up e-mail reminders with Google calendars: what a great
way to make sure that you get the important stuff done. When you’re add-
ing the event to your calendar, just check that you want Google Calendar
to e-mail you when it’s time – you can also set up pop-up reminders for
your calendar, in case e-mails aren’t intrusive enough.
•Sync your calendar with a mobile phone calendar, and have your tasks
everywhere you go!
•Give the woman in your life the password for your calendar! Welcome to
never getting in trouble again for forgetting a “honey-do”!
day 19
 page 95

Today (or tomorrow, if you’ve already slept in)

you’re going to get up early to get more done, and
feel better! Don’t believe me?

The “WHY” This is another exercise in self-discipline (remember day 15? self-disci-
pline will take you where you want to go), but it’s not only that: it’s also
a surefire way to GET STUFF DONE. If you can force yourself to get up
earlier then you want to, it’s the ultimate boost of self-satisfaction: I hope
you’ll feel proud of yourself, and feeling good about yourself boosts your
energy and spurs you on to greater things. I know you don’t want to do
this, but prepare yourself to get up early.

Oh, and why shouldn’t you just stay up late to work? You almost certainly
have the most energy in the morning, a little bit after you wake up. And
because I said so.

Set your alarm clock. Get up an start your worst task ala day 12.
The “how” No, really, that’s all there is too it, mechanically. But we both know that it’s
much harder then that. Here are a few ways that you can make it easier:

1. get the heck out of bed

Once your alarm goes off, get out of bed as quickly as you possibly can.
To force yourself to do this, get a really annoying alarm clock and set
 page 96

it across the room. Or build a bed that dumps you out of it. Or simply
have your spouse promise to kick you repeatedly until you leave (I don’t
suggest using this method if you married a soccer player). Getting out of
bed is the first half of the battle. The other is

2. stay the heck out of bed

Don’t hit the snooze. Don’t think about how warm the covers must be. Get
dressed as completely and as warmly as you can, and launch into your
day (after a little quiet time, ala day seven). Don’t look back, not even for a
second, or you will most certainly head back to the haven of rest.

3. do it consistently
Don’t just get out of bed once or twice a week: it will always be difficult to
is important.
consistency
get up if you do it that way. Commit to doing it for a month, every single day.
If you are able to do this, no only will you get lots done, you will actually get
used to getting up early: your body will accept it as the norm. But you don’t
skip a day, or you’re making it much harder on yourself! It takes roughly 21
days to form a habit. Do it at least that long, and see how you feel.

4. plan your morning the night before

Just run over what you want your morning to look like in your mind. And
be detailed: don’t just imagine getting up – go through the whole pro-
cess in your mind. Imagine yourself jumping out of bed feeling refreshed,
throwing on your clothes, filling your water bottle, spending some time
in peace and quiet, and getting to work. You can even imagine what
 page 97

clothes you’re going to wear, or how great it will feel to get a lot of things
done. The more detail the better: it’s been my experience that if you
imagine that it’s going to be painful and difficult to wake up, it will be, but
if you focus on the positive feeling and plan out your morning in detail in
your mind, it probably will unfold pretty much how you planned it.

5. get to work!
You’re going through the pain and the discomfort of getting up and stay-
ing up so you can have more time; use it! Maybe use it to start reading
more, if you didn’t find quite enough time on day 16. Don’t just waste the
time, or you might as well just sleep in.

A FEW IDEAS: •Remember IFTTT? you can set it up to make a phone call at a certain
time in the morning, every morning. Sweet.
•If you have trouble waking up to your cell phone ring, buy the cheapest
alarm clock you can find. They never stop beeping, and they emit one of
the most annoying sounds ever conceived of. Great of getting you out of
bed and waking you up!
•Turn on the lights right away! This will help you wake up quickly and
completely.

RESOURCES: 7 more tips on how to get up early.

day 20
 page 99

Today we’re going to plan your future by reflecting

on your past.

The “WHY” Making future plans? You have to look backwards first. We did some of
this on day thirteen when you reflected on your death, but now we’re go-
ing to reprogram your mind to help you make decisions.

The “how” I heard a preacher use a question like this a few years back, and it stuck
with me so well that I would like to pass it on to you: it’s a life-changing,
mind-altering question. Really try to internalize it, and ponder it for a few
moments. It’s something that you can ask yourself multiple times a day,
and you can use it to make choices and determine where you want to go
in life. Here it is:

In light of my past decisions, my present circum-

stances and my future hopes and dreams, is this
a wise thing for me to do?
Look at it for a moment. Think about a difficult decision that you had to
make recently, and run it though the filter that this sentence provides:
does it make it any easier to make the decision? If you’ve completed
 page 100

the previous days in the course you have a pretty good handle of your
past decisions, present circumstances and future hopes and dreams.
This one sentence will help you apply all of your newly acquired self-
knowlege to your life. Try it out a few times. Stick it to your fridge. It will
help you say no! Does something not fit in with where you want your life
to go? Just say no. Ask yourself this question, and if the potential obliga-
tion doesn’t hold muster, say no! It’s ok. Don’t overcommit: just select the
activities that are going to make you who you want to be, and bring you
where you want to go.

A FEW IDEAS: •It’s important to review your past, present and future every once in a while.
You don’t have to do a full-on audit, but just mentally lining up everything will
help you be balanced. Put a mental review on your calendar, maybe.
•Share you decision-making process with your friends and loved ones:
they could benefit greatly from it, and they will understand if you have to
say no to them every once in a while.

RESOURCES: Here’s a business-sized card that you can print out with the question on
it: “Great Question” card.
day 21
 page 102

Today we’re going to go over to-do lists, and why

they’re still important.

The “WHY” Wait, wait – we set up a calendar, we set goals, we figured out that we
needed to attack the worst stuff first – now we have to set up a to-do list?
Isn’t that a bit of overkill?
I don’t think so. A to-do list has some unique properties that we need to
cover: it has powers that calendars and goals are lacking in:

1. immediacy
Having a to-do list on the desk beside you has a certain now-ness about
it. You have to get it done, or dire things will happen. When you’re in the
heat of distraction, you can easily “forget” things that aren’t in your direct
line of sight. Forget the paper stapled to your shirt? Not likely. Forget
the to-do list tattooed on your hand? Impossible. Make your to-do list as
engaging and attention-grabbing as possible, and it will help you focus
on what you need to do.

2. emotional accomplishments
You can cross stuff out. You can burn the list when you’re done. You
can yell and scream and stomp on the scrap of paper if you like. Try
doing that with your digital calendar, and bad things will happen to
your computer.
 page 103

The “how” I think you need to have your to-do list on tree jerky. That’s right, good
old-fashioned pen-and-paper time. Write down the things you want to
accomplish the night before you do them (prioritized worst-first, remem-
ber?), and pin the list to your forehead. When you wake up, there’s no
excuses! You can’t pretend to ignore a paper list with the same effective-
ness that you pretend to ignore a digital list. Write your list on a white-
board and nail it to your wall; fold your list into origami and set it on your
desk: whatever it takes, make your to-do list noticeable and in the way.
Then buckle down and get to work on it!
Ok, so you can do whatever works for you: your to-do lists don’t have to
be on paper. Ultimately you need to find what works best for you. Make
your to-do list for the next week, and make sure you see it often.

Remember our rules:

1. Worst First.
2. Budget your time.
3. Complete one task at a time to get an emotional boost.
 page 104

A FEW IDEAS: •Cut your tasks into the smallest possible chunks that they can be in,
and you’ll feel like you’re getting more done. Don’t write “Clean house”,
split it up into specific rooms and cleaning tasks. Then every time you
complete a task, you can cross it off you list and celebrate!
•If you have lots of different errands or your to-do list takes you all around
the house, arrange your to-do list by location, so you save travel time.
•Use a whiteboard! They’re big and impossible to ignore. They make
amazing to-do lists, and you can use lots of pretty colors.
•Write your to-do list on your wall. In permanent marker.

RESOURCES: An article about different types of to-do lists (and why you need to find
the right way for you): Creative to-doing
day 22
 page 106

Today we’re going to talk about one of the best

ways that you can get the most out of your time,
using a simple household object.

The “WHY” You want to get more done, right? I think we all have that aspiration. Un-
fortunately, even when you prioritize you life and realize that there’s never
going to be enough time to do everything, you still find yourself needing
a little more time here and there. Setting a timer every time you want to
get something done is a way to focus your mind and zero in on the task
at hand, giving you the ability to knock it out in record time.

Get yourself a small kitchen timer. Other kinds of timers will do (I some-
The “how” times use the built-in timer on my Ipod), but nothing beats the kitchen
timer. It won’t be ignored, it won’t distract you with other features, and
you can have several running at once.

+++
There are several ways that you can use this timer to be more productive:

1. five-minute method
Try cutting your to-to list into five minute tasks. If you tend to dawdle
and waste time, this might be the method for you: set the timer, and off
you go! You must complete the task that should take five minutes be-
 page 107

fore your timer goes off. There’s no wasting time and getting distracted
and letting a five-minute task become a twenty minute chore. Try it out
– it’s very liberating.

2. one hour block method

Try this if you are constantly getting sidetracked and distracted by other
things: decide ahead of time that you are going to work on only one thing
an hour. That means you have to wait until the “e-mail and social media”
hour to check your messages. You have to wait until the “writing hour”
to work on the project of yours. This method takes some flexibility and
planning ahead, but it can be a powerful way to really focus on the task
at hand.

3. race the timer

Set a timer, and try to get your task done ahead of the timer. It’s a rush
to be competing with the little thing: you stop focusing on how much you
hate the task you’re doing (or how hard it is to do) and instead focus on
getting it done as fast as you can. If you struggle with delaying things
you have to do, try this out: it may just force you into getting that first
(worst) task done.

RESOURCES: Promodoro is a popular time-management system that includes a timer.

Check it out to see if it’s right for you.
day 23
 page 109

You’ve made it this far. Today you’re going to

share what you’ve learned about intentional living
with someone.

The “WHY” This will help you understand and review what you’ve learned through
this course, and you might just help someone else while you do it. Com-
municating concepts that you’ve acquired is still one of the best ways to
learn them well: go find someone to share your new knowledge with.

The “how” Here are some great ways that you can share:

1. tweet the best tips that you’ve learned

Be sure to use the hashtag #ahd25days so we can meet up! We all can
share our experiences and the things we’ve learned through twitter.

2. e-mail this PDF

As you read in the beginning, this is a pro-sharing product. I certainly
would prefer to be paid for it sometimes, but if you know someone who
needs it or would be helped by it, go ahead and e-mail it to them. Share
away. Help the people you love move towards more intentional lives.
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3. write your own tips

Gotten inspired by this course? Start your own blog. Work on your own
PDF. Compose some brilliant tweets. Now’s your time to produce. Share
your thoughts with the world!

4. talk
It’s an old-fashioned practice. It’s kind of like texting, only you’re emitting
sounds out of your mouth. It’s surprisingly effective.

5. feedback
I would live to hear what you thought of 25 Intentional Days. Please send
me an e-mail with your thoughts! It can be a few sentences or a few
paragraphs, depending on how much you have to say. I would love to
hear your thoughts on how I can improve 25 Intentional Days, as well as
what you liked about it. E-mail me.
day 24
 page 112

Pull out a sheet of paper and start answering

some questions. There are no wrong answers,
and the questions are all about you, so they
should be easy.
This “life quiz” is to help you think about your life after you’ve finished this
25 days. You see, I don’t want you to stop working towards a better life, a
life of intention, generosity, and peace. If you finish this 25 days and stop
striving for intentional living, I’ve failed in my job to spur you on to greater
things. Take this quiz and think about your life in the future.

• If you had unlimited time and unlimited money,

what would you do?

• If you could have any job in the world, what

would it be?

• Where do you want to be in five years?

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• Where do you want to be in ten years?

• If you knew that you would succeed in anything

that you did, what would you do?

•...why aren’t you doing it now?

• How can you live intentionally today?

• How can you help other people live their lives

more intentionally?

•Who do you want to be?

• What are you going to do to change your life?

Save the results: use them to motivate yourself and push yourself on to
greater personal successes in your life than you’ve ever known.
day 25
 page 115

This is my final advice to you: fake it ‘till you make it.

Sort of. That’s honestly not too far off: you see, you don’t wake up one
morning suddenly filled with a desire to work hard and live intentionally.
You don’t. You don’t wake up an feel like being a better person. You don’t
suddenly want to be the person you’ve avoided being for most of your
life; every change takes time to implement, and the transition is tough.
Do you want to change your life? You’re going to have to commit to push-
ing through the pain. See, if change were easy, everyone would do it. As
it is, it’s hard, and if you really want to change you have to accept this.
You have a deep desire to be someone more then who you are right now,
but when you’re in the mud, fighting to achieve your goals, doing the
hard stuff, it’s easy to lose sight of the prize. Do you want to be a more
intentional person, more intentional in your relationships, more intentional
in your work, more intentional in your life? You need to learn how to be a
better person. Doing is always proceeded by being.
...but what, how do you become a better person? I’m sure you’re not
always a fan of yourself: I’m sure you can clearly pick out all of the flaws
in your life. Here’s the final piece of advice:
Act like you want to be. Do you want to be a better spouse? Start act-
ing like you’re the best spouse in the world. Do you want to be a great
employee? Start acting like you’re the star performer of the company. I’m
not saying that you should boast about yourself: I’m saying that the time
is now. You won’t ever feel like changing: you’ll change when you make a
 page 116

decision to act. Act like you want to be, regardless of your feelings, and
you’ll eventually be who you want to be, and succeed where you want to
succeed. You’ll be living an intentional life.
Good luck, and if I can ever be of any help, as always, let me know.

Peace –

AndHeDrew

“This I do know beyond any reasonable doubt.

Regardless of what you are doing,
if you pump long enough, hard enough
and enthusiastically enough,
sooner or later the effort will
bring forth the reward.”
– Zig Ziglar
Hey, thanks for checking out “25 Intentional
Days”. I hope that my writing has helped you
learn how to take your life into your own hands
and live intentionally. But remember – this is not
the end. You have to keep on working, keep on
growing, and keep on living on purpose. If I can
ever help you along the way, let me know. I do my
very best to reply to every e-mail, and I’m always
open to new ideas for blog posts and writings.
Just send me an e-mail and introduce yourself!
–AndHeDrew

Image attribution: over the years I’ve collected quite a few public-
domain photos and textures and it’s sometimes difficult to find
who the original artist is. If you recognize your image, please
shoot me a message and I’ll gladly credit you.
AndHeDrew.com