Each and every Friday — I outline a few of the articles and/or books that I have read over the last week or two that are worth taking a look at.
Hidden Potential: The Science of Achieving Greater Things By Adam Grant
The #1 New York Times bestselling author of Think Again illuminates how we can elevate ourselves and others to unexpected heights.
We live in a world that’s obsessed with talent. We celebrate gifted students in school, natural athletes in sports, and child prodigies in music. But admiring people who start out with innate advantages leads us to overlook the distance we ourselves can travel. We underestimate the range of skills that we can learn and how good we can become. We can all improve at improving. And when opportunity doesn’t knock, there are ways to build a door.
Hidden Potential offers a new framework for raising aspirations and exceeding expectations. Adam Grant weaves together groundbreaking evidence, surprising insights, and vivid storytelling that takes us from the classroom to the boardroom, the playground to the Olympics, and underground to outer space. He shows that progress depends less on how hard you work than how well you learn. Growth is not about the genius you possess—it’s about the character you develop. Grant explores how to build the character skills and motivational structures to realize our own potential, and how to design systems that create opportunities for those who have been underrated and overlooked.
Many writers have chronicled the habits of superstars who accomplish great things. This book reveals how anyone can rise to achieve greater things. The true measure of your potential is not the height of the peak you’ve reached, but how far you’ve climbed to get there.
Go here to get a copy of this great book: https://a.co/d/ctgfFPR
How To Deal With Regret ( 3 Stoic Strategies to Live Free)
What Is Regret?
“Two elements must therefore be rooted out once for all, – the fear of future suffering, and the recollection of past suffering; since the latter no longer concerns me, and the former concerns me not yet.” – Seneca, from Letters from a Stoic
After a long day at work and terrible traffic, you finally make it home. The stress has taken its toll, and you’re exhausted, bored, and frustrated with the day’s events all at once. You walk into your kitchen to find a heaping pile of dishes–something you asked your spouse to take care of this morning! Yet, they’re relaxing in front of the TV as if nothing’s wrong.
You feel the anger rising up, and unable to control yourself, you yell at your spouse. You don’t hold back. You’re out to make a point, to prove that what happened is a really big deal.
Your spouse is frightened and embarrassed. They’re worried–you’ve never yelled at them like this before. They were going to do the dishes later, but you never gave them that opportunity.
The day’s been long for them too, yet you didn’t care. They just wanted to have a nice night with you, but now that’s ruined.
Later that night, you finally start to understand what losing your temper has cost you. You know you shouldn’t have said what you said. You should have been more considerate. You should have acted differently–you regret your choices.
Maybe for you it wasn’t a pile of dishes that set you off. Maybe it was your kids using markers on the wall. Or your boss dumping that report on you before your vacation. Regardless of the scenario, we’ve all lost it at some point, and we’ve all felt the pang of regret.
The Stoics would define regret as the moment when past events consume our present lives. When we dwell over things we have no control over. When we resist our fate. Marcus Aurelius argued that we must be “satisfied with what [we] have, and accept the present–all of it.” Regret is the contrary–when we’re not satisfied with what we have, when we reject what we’ve been given.
Go here to finish reading this post: https://dailystoic.com/how-to-deal-with-regret-3-stoic-strategies-to-live-free/
Use These Weekly And Monthly Review Templates To Build The Life You Want
There’s no point running faster if you’re headed in the wrong direction.
When I built my business, I put in twelve-hour days because it made me feel like I made progress. But no matter how hard I worked, many of my efforts didn’t get me where I wanted to be.
This can happen in any area of your life.
- You want a great relationship but don’t connect deeply with your partner
- You want a successful career but get stuck in a dead-end job
- You want a sexy body but stay plus-sized
The problem often isn’t a lack of determination. You put one foot in front of the other, determined to reach your goal. But sometimes, you’re missing a map — and end up on the wrong track.
It’s easy to think we have it all figured out, all planned, and all set up in our heads. But when push comes to shove, we often lose our direction. Our ego drives us to do what feels good, not what feels right.
“An hour of planning can save you 10 hours of doing.”
— Dale Carnegie
When I realized how much of my time, money, and energy I often wasted, I knew I needed a way to stay on track instead of taking detour after detour. I didn’t want to deal with the guesswork anymore and pour my resources down the drain. I wanted to know the exact next steps to live the life I wanted.
That’s why I created weekly and monthly review templates.
I’ve been using them for years and without them, I’d be nowhere near where I am today. Feel free to steal them.
This Weekly Review Will Keep You On Track Towards What Matters
Your weekends are much more than just days off work.
They’re valuable time to reflect, plan, and adjust. You can set small and easily achievable goals for the week. Instead of getting off track, you can make small corrections in your course.
Every Saturday, I take ten minutes to fill out my weekly review. It’s split into four sub-categories to help you make the most out of your experiences and move forward in the most efficient way.
This is what it looks like:
Reflection
- What were last week’s wins?
- What were some key lessons learned?
- What can I do differently from last week to raise my average performance, success, and happiness?
Go here to finish reading: https://medium.com/curious/use-these-weekly-and-monthly-review-templates-to-build-the-life-you-want-ce46aa67d256
How to Burnout in 3 Easy Steps (This might save you)
2018 was the first time it happened.
Burnout.
I didn’t know what was happening except that I was on edge, exhausted, and burned down a 7 figure business because of it.
I recouped but didn’t really learn the lessons I needed to.
Fast forward to the end of 2021, burnout again, except the stakes were higher this time.
Much higher!
– Huge team
– A lot of financial responsibilities
– High expectations
– Tons of pressure
– More notoriety
I crawled into 2022, and finally, in June, I had to step back. I had to stop.
That step back started with a 30-day sabbatical and became a year+ of not doing much.
It was so bad, and I was so exhausted I could barely function.
The bill came due, as it were.
That started the process of me doing a lot of inner work. I asked a lot of questions, and now I feel better, lighter, and more accessible than I’ve ever felt in my life.
Those businesses? Gone.
Partnership? Gone.
A lot… Gone.
I’m grateful for what I’ve experienced, even though it’s been tough.
My mission now is to help other crazy-beautiful-insane-talented entrepreneurs (like you) build from a place of peace and joy at a healthy PACE for you and your family.
For those of us who want burnout like I did, I don’t want to hold back on the tips and tricks to get you there, so here are the three easy steps…
Let’s gooo!
Step 1. Don’t practice awareness
If you want to burn out, you don’t want to practice awareness.
Awareness is being well-informed about your life.
Go here to finish reading: https://chrisaevans.beehiiv.com/p/burnout-3-easy-steps
Hope you enjoy these articles and books. Have a great rest of your Friday an amazing weekend!