Die Empty by focusing on your passion.

• Getting everything done today
• Living like there is no tomorrow
• Following whims

• Don't do things just to be busy; operate by design, not by default

• Ask yourself "Are you proud of your body of work?"

• Mapping - plan and strategize based on the value you want to create
• Making - do the work and complete tangible tasks
• Meshing - work between work; build knowledge and relationships

1. Aimlessness - the fix is to know your purpose; define the battle you want to fight to get meaningful gain; what is the change you want to see in the world; create a through line for your life - stand on principle;
   • Ask "what can I add" vs "what can I get"
   • Passion doesn't mean you just follow your whims - it's what you decide is worth suffering for;
     • Productive passion: motivates you and is productive to others
     • You can find hints concerning your passion by thinking about what gives you compassionate anger or an urgency to act; what problems are you obsessed with solving even if it comes at your own expense ***
       • What will you stand for today?
       • What do you know you should be doing but ignoring?
       • Where are your open loops? For open projects and commitments; use values and mission to decide which ones to keep and which ones to ignore
2. Boredom - the cure is disciplined curiosity; Embrace mystery - ask why, how, what if?
   • Don't be the busily bored - reclaim curiosity by targeting engagement mindset vs entertainment mindset
   • Best ideas come during lulls; remove sources of frivolous entertainment; and seek to ask new and better questions, gain new perspectives**
   • Curse of familiarity; awareness gives illusion of knowledge and understanding; deep dive, don't jet ski; take time to test ideas against your experiences
   • Establish hunting trails by creating systems:
     • Before any interaction or activity, create a list of questions you want to be answered ***
     • Create list of must-read books and experiences; keep resources of interesting materials
     • Prototype relentlessly; helps you make progress with low risk
     • Find your bliss station: find place to do life's work; hour and place to bring forth who you are and could be ***
     • Develop possibility thinking and find clear boundaries by redefining problem:
   • For your project, ask yourself:
     • Aspirations - What is the ultimate end if all problems were solved? What is this project aspiring to become?
     • Affinities - What similarities are there between current project and past projects? What is this like? Where have I seen something similar?
     • Assumptions - What are the perceived limits? What assumptions might I be making?
     • Attributes - What are the key characteristics of the problem? What does it look, sound, feel like?
   • When you're blocked:
     • Conceptual (hard to see the big picture) - ask different questions: What am I really trying to accomplish? What is this problem like? What inspires me now?
     • Executional - Where do I feel most constraint? Where do I feel out of control? what do I not understand?
     • Converse with other on ideas that are interesting to yo
3. Comfort - the fix is not to make comfort your goal; Commit to continual growth and achievement
   • Constantly reinventing and stretching yourself is uncomfortable;
   • Imagine a biographer following you around for the full day and taking copious notes of your actions and underlying motivations and will then write a definitive biography about you that you can't dispute - how will you act? Actions define us not intentions ***
   • Say "yes" - take risk at critical juncture - don't default to comfortable choice; ok if you're not ready
   • You don't grow by doing what is expected of you - ignore "Who do you think you are?"
     • What would you think about your decision when you look back at age 80?
   • Waiting is a less risky form of "no" - give yourself permission. People make maps by moving - when you stand still, hard to know what to do
   • Be personally responsible for your growth
   • When stepping out of your comfort zone, consider the following timeframes:
     • Step - short daily goal (what will I do no matter what)
     • Sprint - one to two weeks
     • Stretch - long-term goal that is outside of your comfort zone;
       • Develop business and work skills
       • Hone mental processes
       • Cultivate relationships
       • Personal/spiritual
     • Step should help you sprint should help you stretch
       • What skills should you develop to add more value to others?
       • Define what you will give up to accomplish it.
       • What are you not doing because of fear, ego, safety, etc?
4. Delusion - the fix is to cultivate self-awareness, be honest with yourself and understand your skills
   • Common narratives that lead to delusion and affects judgment
     • You should be rewarded for your work
     • Recognition for your work is all important; leads you to lose touch with your own meaning of excellence
     • You are worth only what you create
     • I have to win everything
     • The person who dies with most stuff wins
   • Helpful narratives:
     • Emulate your superheroes and take on positive attributes
     • List 5 qualities of people you admire and cultivate qualities that intimidate you
     • What resonates with you? Note these when they come and be specific about what you admire
     • What complicates your life? Challenge your assumptions
       • Reflect on your day - what went well? Note patterns
   • Establish a code of ethics
     • Exude excellence, add value, be curious, learn, instill confidence and trust
     • Be authentic and move forward in face of uncertainty
     • Know yourself first and then go out on your own
5. Ego - overcome your fear of failure; adopt adaptability to learn
   • When things go wrong, the first instinct is to establish a rule to ensure it doesn't happen again; when you make rules, people remove needs for personal accountability and creates unnecessary complexity;
     • Don't strive for control - strive for influence!! *
   • Playing victim relinquishes control; don't knowingly withhold your best work
   • Cynicism forfeits your sense of wonder and makes you discount the obvious
   • Expecting to be accommodated might cause you to withhold your best; your need for recognition should not stop your best work; take a stand for your work
   • Confident vs overinflated ego
     • I can get this right vs I can do no wrong
     • I'm valuable vs I'm invaluable (value because of presence)
     • Strategic compromise is essential vs bend to me always
     • Track record shows competence vs. track record shows invulnerability (rewrites history to protect self-worth)
     • I'm not explaining well vs you don't get me
     • Progression vs protection (Failure not an option)
   • Prevent ego inflation
     • Where am I putting myself ahead of my work?
     • Where do I feel slighted or entitled?
     • Where do I assume success? ***
     • Cultivate service mindset: what can I offer vs what can I get (entitlement)
     • Encourage and recognize others: write note, make call, mark a moment
     • Get real with SWOT
       • Strengths: what unique value can I offer consistently
       • Weaknesses: where am I failing consistently? What skills do I need?
       • Opportunities: where can I add value in coming weeks and months?
       • Threats: where am I most vulnerable with a chance of failing? How can I mitigate failure?
6. Fear - the fix is to experiment and practice strategic and intentional risk-taking
   • Don't wait to be given permission to do great work
     • Actively seek opportunities to do great work and overcome the risk
     • Don't be afraid to take yourself seriously
   • Walk towards your dreams - be intentional about what you're doing by observing and reflecting
   • Be willing to face rejection; pursue what you MIGHT be able to do
     • Plan for experimentation and play with ideas
     • Apply peripheral aptitudes to work; what other skills do you have
     • Open your eyes and follow inspiration
     • Do the obvious; brilliant work doesn't need to be complex
     • Don't rely on imitation alone
7. Guardedness - easy to isolate from other people; the fix is to find times and ways to connect with others
   • Don't defer important conversations and discuss differences in opinions
   • Identify people who can be mirrors for you who are honest and trustworthy;
   • Conversations to start at work:
     • Clarity conversation: get info you need to do your work;
       • How does what I'm doing tie into why our company exists?
       • Is there anything we are doing that seems out of character for us?
       • Do I know what is expected of me?
       • What do you expect from me? Am I falling short?
     • Fear conversation:
       • What are you afraid might happen and why?
       • What risks should I take at work?
       • What's inspiring you?
       • How do you feel about the work we are doing?
       • What is the best thing we are doing and why?
       • What is something I'm doing that doesn't make sense?
       • What are the positive things I'm doing?
       • What's something obvious that I'm not doing?

• E - focus on your code of ethics; review everything and how you will apply your ethics, what are potential pitfalls
• M - focus on mission; how will you know you have succeeded? What do you want to do that you're not doing; what needs to go away?
• P - focus on people. Look at people you interact with and how you will enhance the relationship
• T - focus on tasks; what absolutely must get done and schedule on calendars
• Y - focus on you.  How are you developing yourself?

Tips:

• Get started
• Be grateful
• Dream a little
• Nurture your process - only thing you can control
• Don't follow other people's maps; no lasting success without failure
• Regularly scan for 7 sins
• Remember that decisive action is necessary
• Doesn't matter what we expect from life but rather what does life expects from us; stop trying to be great and just be great ***
• Don't focus on being great to others, just focus on delivering great work
• Remember there is a lag between cause and effect. Hard to hustle in the lag. Always a delay between planting and sowing. To fight lag, have a clear vision and don't get distracted by other activities; make daily diligent urgent progress ***
• Choose to quit - it's a strategic choice; don't quit to run away from fear or discomfort
• Be optimistic - expect best through effort;
• Ask - What did you fail at this week?  This is your driver of growth
• Find ways to add value to the market and to the lives of others.
• When you stop challenging yourself, you stop growing.