PhilosophersNotes (78)

• 

  The War of Art

  by Steven Pressfield

  This book is amazing. If you’ve ever struggled with rockin’ your creativity it’s pretty much a must-read. Written in an intense, no-nonsense style, Pressfield gets to the heart of the “Resistance” that stands in our way to fully expressing ourselves as he challenges us to become true “Professionals.” In the Note, we’ll check out some of my Favorite Big Ideas—from letting the results be by-products to the importance of simply sitting down and trying day after day after day.

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• 

  The Way of the Bodhisattva

  by Shantideva

  The Way of the Bodhisattva is one of the classics of Buddhism that teaches us the key elements of the Bodhisattva—one who has dedicated his or her life to serving the world and releasing all sentient beings from suffering. In this Note, we’ll check out the importance of cultivating bodhichitta (an “awakened mind”) and how we can do it. (Hint: It’s all about “diligence in virtuous ways”! :)

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• 

  The Willpower Instinct

  How Self-Control Works, Why It Matters, and What You Can Do to Get More of It

  by Kelly McGonigal

  Willpower. It’s huge. The Willpower Instinct by award-winning Stanford Professor Kelly McGonigal, Ph.D., is a GREAT book based on “The Science of Willpower” class Kelly teaches through Stanford University’s Continuing Studies program. It’s *packed* with super practical Big Ideas on the newest scientific insights about self-control to explain how we can “break old habits and create healthy habits, conquer procrastination, find our focus, and manage stress.” In this Note, we’ll check out the #1 way to build willpower (it’s not what you’d guess), how to give ourselves willpower boosts throughout the day and other stress-relief strategies that rock.

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• 

  Today We Are Rich

  Harnessing the Power of Total Confidence

  by Tim Sanders

  Tim Sanders is awesome. He was the Chief Solutions Officer for Yahoo! back in the day and wrote the uber-cool book Love Is the Killer App—which was one of the books that planted the seed for these PhilosophersNotes. In this great book, Tim shares the wisdom of his beloved Grandma, Billye, who taught him the power of total confidence. The key? As Tim says: “The secret to renewal and true confidence is simple: Get back to the basics.” In this Note, we’ll learn how to be truly rich via powerful daily practices as we become healthy-thought nuts and POETs who practice persistence. Fun!

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• 

  Toward a Psychology of Being

  by Abraham Maslow

  Abraham Maslow sits in the great-grandfather slot in my spiritual family tree and is kinda the great-grandfather of the modern Positive Psychology movement. We profiled the 19 characteristics of his self-actualizing individual in our Note on Motivation & Personality in Volume I and in this Note we take a look at the essence of creativity and the fact that we all have capacities that’re clamoring to be used!

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• 

  True Success

  by Tom Morris

  This is the second Note on a Tom Morris book in Volume II. As I said, he’s my favorite living philosopher. In this Note, we check out Big Ideas on the importance of embracing failure, asking the question: “How can I make my contribution?” and the fact that fame, wealth and power aren’t where it’s at. Noperz. We wanna go for Greatness of Spirit and let the rest of it flow as by-products to that noble end.

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• 

  When Things Fall Apart

  Heart Advice for Difficult Times

  by Pema Chodron

  Pema Chödrön is a Buddhist teacher and prolific author with an incredibly strong, yet compassionate and grounded perspective. This book is all about facing challenging times with courage as we lean into our fears and grow. We'll explore a bunch of Big Ideas on everything from why we should meditate to how long the process of actualizing takes (roughly the rest of our lives :)!

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• 

  Wherever You Go, There You Are

  by Jon Kabat-Zinn

  Jon Kabat-Zinn is a Professor of Medicine at the University of Massachusetts and one of the world’s leading advocates for mindfulness training. He’s demonstrated the phenomenal health benefits of integrating meditation into our daily lives and in this Note we’ll learn about meditation—what it is, how we can rock it and what we can gain from doing so.

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• 

  Why Meditate?

  Working with Thoughts and Emotions

  by Matthieu Ricard

  Why Meditate? According to Ricard, the ultimate reason is to transform ourselves so we can transform our world. That works for me! In this Note, we check out my favorite Big Ideas on working out our mindfulness muscles, looking at the power of neuroplasticity and highlighting the fact that it’s *all* about the consistent practice, working on our consciousness thought after thought and emotion by emotion.

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• 

  Why We Do What We Do

  Understanding Self-Motivation

  by Edward L. Deci

  Edward L. Deci is one of the world’s leading researchers on human motivation and this book is *packed* with scientific wisdom—exploring what we know about the power of intrinsic motivation (vs. extrinsic motivation), the importance of autonomy (vs. being controlled) and the need for authenticity (vs. alienation). Hint: If you want happiness, focus on relationships, personal growth and making a contribution; don’t go after fame, wealth and beauty.

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• 

  Why Your Life Sucks

  by Alan Cohen

  Why Your Life Sucks. That has to win the award for best title ever. Cohen is a very funny man. He’s also super wise and a great story teller and this book is packed with goodness on how we can unsuck our lives. My favorite Big Ideas (that we cover in the Note) include everything from tuning in to radio station “KNOW,” hiring your own thought bouncer and remembering to nourish your spirit.

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• 

  The Self Health Revolution

  by J. Michael Zenn

  J. Michael Zenn’s The Self Health Revolution is a great little book written in a super down-to-earth and funny style by a guy who describes himself as just “an ordinary guy who discovered an extraordinary secret” that he now feels compelled to share with the average, ordinary people everywhere. In this Note, we’ll see that we are what we eat (your butt doesn’t lie!), learn why we should eat like a poor person and how to stomp our ANTs as we get our self health on!

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• 

  Willpower

  Rediscovering the Greatest Human Strength

  by Roy Baumeister, John Tierney

  Willpower. It’s ESSENTIAL to optimizing our lives. In fact, in their *great* book, Willpower, Roy Baumeister (one of the world’s leading scientific researchers on self-control) and John Tierney (science writer for the New York Times) tell us that “Improving willpower is the surest way to a better life.” In this Note, we’ll learn how to eat our way to willpower (seriously), how to exercise our self-control muscles, why “precommitment” is so important and how to win the willpower game with bright lines and a great offense. :)

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• 

  The Seven Spiritual Laws of Superheroes

  by Deepak Chopra, Gotham Chopra

  What do you get when you mashup Deepak Chopra’s The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success with his son Gotham’s passion for comic books and superheroes? This great little book. In this Note, we’ll have fun looking at what makes a superhero so super and how we can rock it as well. Big Ideas include learning how to rise to the occasion as we live our ideals and commit ourselves to service. Will *you* be a superhero?

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• 

  Wooden

  A Lifetime of Observations and Reflections On and Off the Court

  by John Wooden

  John Wooden. He’s arguably the greatest coach EV-ER and this book is essentially one Big Idea after another. Wooden is all about the fundamentals and in this Note we’ll explore a few of my favorite Big Ideas on his old-school wisdom—from the fact that full effort = full success to the importance of becoming a realistic optimist.

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• 

  The Talent Code

  Greatness Isn't Born. It's Grown.

  by Daniel Coyle

  Whatever you want to learn, know this: It’s ALL about the myelin. Myelin? Yep. Myelin. In this Note we’ll learn what myelin is and why it’s so cool along with some other Big Ideas—ranging from the importance of “Deep Practice,” to the importance of baby steps as the royal road to skill and the fact that greatness isn’t about not magic, it’s about hard work.

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• 

  You Are the Leader You’ve Been Waiting For

  by Eric Klein

  You are the leader you’ve been waiting for. And, this great little book by Eric Klein provides some valuable insights on how to step into that role and rock it. If you’d like to enjoy high performance and high fulfillment at work, I think you’ll dig it. Big Ideas in the Note include understanding what Authentic Leadership is and how to have it, the importance of values + gifts + calling and how to quit being a Lotus Eater or Burnout as we become a blessing to the world.

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  The Total Money Makeover

  by Dave Ramsey

  Dave Ramsey is a seriously funny guy and this book is packed with goodness. If you’re tired of being in debt and looking for a real solution to your challenges, this book is for you. In the Note, we’ll have fun exploring the importance of having what Ramsey calls “Gazelle-like Intensity” as we get out the scissors to perform a “Plastectomy” on your credit cards and start living more like the millionaire next door rather than a wannabe rich goober.

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  The Untethered Soul

  by Michael Singer

  Michael Singer is a great writer, storyteller and spiritual teacher who has a profound ability to communicate complex spiritual ideas in a simple, easy-to-grasp manner. The book is packed with wisdom. In the Note, we explore Big Ideas on how we can best relate to that voice in our heads as we develop our witness perspective and create real transformation in our lives.

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  The Engine 2 Diet

  by Rip Esselstyn

  Rip Esselstyn is a great guy. A former professional triathlete turned firefighter who transformed the health of his fire station with a plant-based diet, he shares his passion for life and nutrition in this great book. In the Note, we take a quick peek at the Engine II diet, challenge some crazy myths about food and learn how to deal with the root causes of many of our health issues.

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