When Michael states that he can help you quickly get your chaos completely under control he is absolutely correct.  In my interview with Michael we discuss how he recommends his clients approach their to-do lists into urgency zones.  The first zone is referred to as the “Critical Now“.  These are items that you know are absolutely due today.  What is making you nervous and needs to get completed.

The next zone is what Michael refers to as the “Opportunity Now“.  You  list in this section of the worksheet those tasks that though not urgently due now, you would work on now if you had the opportunity.  Included things that may be due tomorrow, or later this week, even as far out as ten (10) days.

Now for the last segment of the list entitled ” Over-the-Horizon List“. On this list you will write down anything that is on your mind that can wait ten (10) days or more for you to get to it.   These are items that are obviously your slow-burn items.  These things are not troubling you right now as being at all urgent.

Michael states that we tend to overload our lists.  The first rule deals with how many tasks, and the maximum you should have in each section. The number one cause of a failed to-do list, particularly those that are automated, is that the list gets to big and overwhelming.  Michael suggest that we keep the “Critical Now” list to five (5) or fewer items, the “Opportunity Now” list should be fewer than 20 items.

If you are into automated systems Michael recommends a great program that is cloud based called “ToodleDo“.  I have provided the link to their website.  I started using is right after our interview and I have found it to be quite useful.  It is also simple, so give it a try you have nothing to lose.

I hope you enjoy my interview with Michael Linenberger about his new book ” The One Minute To-Do List”.  Michael website is loaded with resources and forms you can download, so click here to be directed to his website.  If you would like to see Michael in action, then click here to watch a great YouTube video.

A Universal Message. A subject-matter expert in business leadership and a frequent guest on news-talk shows around the country, Farber is a senior-level leadership coach and consultant who has worked with and spoken to a wide variety of public and private organizations in virtually every arena, from the tech sector to financial services, manufacturing, health care, hospitality, entertainment, retail, and even the US government.

Leading from experience. In 1989, after having run his own financial services company, Farber devoted his professional life to the field of leadership development and has been at it ever since. He was director of service programs at TMI, an international training consultancy, and then worked for 6 years as Vice President and Official Mouthpiece (that’s what it said on his business card) of The Tom Peters Company where he met several of his mentors including author/gurus Tom Peters, Jim Kouzes, and Terry Pearce. In 2000, Farber established his own company, Extreme Leadership, Inc, where he is president and CEO. He is also the co-founder of The Center for Social Profit Leadership, a non-profit organization formed to serve the leadership development needs of social entrepreneurs, and served as Vice Chairman on the Board of Directors of the world-renown, Up With People, a global leadership program for students from 18 to 29 years old.

Coaching and inspiring Extreme Leadership at all organizational levels is Steve’s passion, and he does so with a style that is part strategist, part social commentator and all energy.

I have known author Steve Farber for several years now, and this is my second podcast  with him. His new book entitled “The Radical Leap Re-Energized” is the subject of this interview The Radical Leap Re-Engerized is designed for those readers and leaders who do what they do because they love it,  and and they are in service to others.

Steve is extremely passionate about his work, and in this new book which is part non-fiction and part fiction Steve guides the reader to renew their excitement for what they do and encourage others to lead with passion.  What Steve refers to as the Radical Leap is associated with 1) cultivating love 2) generating energy 3) inspiring audacity and 4) providing proof.

Love is the ultimate motivation of the Extreme Leader: love of something or someone, love of a cause, love of a principle, love of the people you work with and the customers you serve, love of the future you and yours can create together, love of the business you conduct together ever day.  Without the calling and commitment of your heart, there’s no good reason for you to take a stand, to take a risk, or to do what it takes to change your world for the better.

Generate energy-the Extreme Leader is a generator, a powerful force for action, for progress, and an enthusiastic believer in people and in their capacity to do the awesome.    Steve asks ” what gets you out of bed and brings you to work?” If you are to be the generator, where does you juice come from?  In what well do you dip your cup to get the nourishment you need to meet the obstacles and challenges that you and your face every day.   So what generates energy–Love, Great Ideas, Noble Principles, Leaping Goals, Interesting Work, Exciting Challenges and a Compelling Vision.

Inspire Audacity- for the Extreme Leader, audacity is the bold and blatant disregard for normal constraints in order to change the world for the better.  Love-inspired audacity is courageous and fille with valor.  The Extreme Leader is audacious not to serve his or her own ego, but to serve the common good.  And to do so boldly and blatantly and let the naysayers be damned.

If you are a leader, and I am not just don’t referring to  someone in business.  Leaders are all around us, Mom’s, Dad’s, Sisters, Brothers we are all leaders.  Steve’s book will provide you the inspiration to lead with principle and integrity and to take the leap forward into a new way of perceiving your role as a leader.

I hope you enjoy my interview with author Steve Farber and for more information please visit his website by clicking here or you can watch some great video’s of him on YouTube by clicking here.

I always have a great time interviewing Guy Finley.  He is one of my favorite authors with a heart of gold, and a love for humanity.

I had the pleasure of actually being involved in the making of “Being Extraordinary-The New Model for Success“.  This new book is what is referred to as an enhanced book for the Apple iPad.  I am a partner in an organization called Wiseologie Media Group, and we develop enhanced books for authors and publish them in the various forms of digital media for tablets such as the iPad, Nook, Amazon Kindle Fire etc.

Guy’s new book ” Being Extraordinary” is  a question and answer format allowing the reader to easily extract the words of wisdom from Guy Finley without having to read every page of the book–although you should its a wonderful book.  I personally interviewed Guy for over five hours, and our interviews are the foundational material included in “Being Extraordinary”  For Guy Finley this book is a leap into addressing many issues facing business leaders from a spiritual perspective.

A very important topic that is covered is the shift that Guy would like to see business leaders make, from one of “what can I take” to “what can I give or contribute to the world“.  This concept might seem simple, but imagine a world where our business leaders make a shift in their thinking from “taking” to “giving”.  Not only would our business world be transformed, all businesses and the stakeholders–employees, vendors, stockholders would become part of a global transformation in the exchange of good and services benefiting humanity–social responsibility would be the focus.

Guy says that the ordinary is created to serve the extraordinary, and that we realize this relationship within ourselves by learning what it means to come “awake” and be “present” to ourselves at all times.  In becoming extraordinary, one of the most valuable lessons is to awaken to our own personal relationship with our “higher-self” the self that transcends aspects of our self that are not awake to what and who we are becoming in each and every moment.  At this point we experience our own personal revelation, we realize that their are not failures only learning lessons and opportunities to progress in our own awakening to who and what we are becoming.

Guy states that the “I” must be willing to die for the “We” if we are to become fearless.  In “Being Extraordinary” the reader will learn that to transcend the ego’s dominion and realize our connection to the “One”.  You learn that you are  not separate, you are One with the Source and Being Extraordinary is part of our divine right.

If you want to learn more about “Being Extraordinary” please click here to be directed to the iTunes store where you can download the first two chapters for review on your iPad.  You can also learn more by clicking here to be directed to a You Tube video with an introduction to the book.  I hope you enjoy this wonderful interview with author Guy Finley about “Being Extraordinary“.

I’m a 29-year-old entrepreneur, coach and value investor obsessed with adventure, life experiments and learning. I also have a small problem listening to authority.

For the past 8 years I’ve run experiments on myself and others to better understand what lights us on fire. I noticed a process for making these discoveries and started helping others find the same through coaching, writing, documenting folks living their legends all over the world, and doing all kinds of wild adventures. It turns out to be pretty fulfilling work and pretty damn important.

now help people discover passion & purpose, explore dreams and do work they love. I do this here at Live Your Legend and through my value investment fund, Cumbre Capital Partners, modeled after the Buffett Partnership’s of the 50′s and 60′s.

I’ve had my share of soul-crushing jobs and believe me, there’s a better way.

The longer story…

Ten years ago my dad gave me a copy of What Color Is Your Parachute. After reading it two epiphanies hit:

1. Everyone deserves to do meaningful work that they’re actually good at.

2. In order to have a chance at finding it you have to dedicate yourself to learning, improving and experimenting with all kinds of stuff.

So my adventure began…

After university, I was rejected from my dream job, so I took the road less traveled to Spain to run with the bulls. My 7-week trip turned into a year, where I co-founded an English teaching company for businessmen, and lead tours through Morocco and Portugal on the weekends. Spaniards prioritized enjoyment over money and I realized life did not have to be lived the way it was in the States. Exploring, seeking meaningful adventure and limit testing quickly became a huge part of life.

I sold the business only to move back and fall into corporate hell, which I couldn’t stand a day over 7 months. I fired myself in search of something I could actually screw up.

I launched my first blog, ReadingForYourSuccess (which has since been replaced by LiveYourLegend) to document my experiences as I sought out work that mattered to me. I then stumbled on a preventive health care startup, BioIQ, with a product I actually cared about, and spent two years running their Market Validation team and learning what made a business tick.

Now I wanted something of my own that better leveraged my time, gave me balance, helped others and lit a fire in my belly. So I launched an investment partnershipthat recreated the way Warren Buffett managed investments for families in Omaha, Nebraska when he was 30 years old (I’m a life-time Warren Buffett fanatic).

We launched in the heart of the 2008/2009 economic meltdown. Good thing my fire was lit, because it was a terrifying start. But looking back the timing couldn’t have been better. Working for someone else in the space never crossed my mind because the lack of balance, ethics and wide-spread greed disgusted me (they probably wouldn’t have hired me anyway).

Meanwhile my desire to learn and help people on a more personal level kept me up at night. I began teaching speed reading and writing and coaching on helping people find their freedom and do work they love. After 8 years of running experiments on myself and others to better understand what lights us on fire, I noticed a process for making these discoveries.

I soon became the go-to guy among friends and colleagues when they were tired of dreading waking up each morning. If they were in search of something more meaningful, I got a call.

I was pretty much the guy people grabbed when they wanted to quit and just needed a push. I loved it so I started helping others find the same through coaching, writing, documenting folks living their legends all over the world, and doing all kinds of wild adventures.

I began measuring success on whether I could help even one person. So far so good.

Things started to catch on and my blog reached the top 1% of websites. Turns out other people cared about this stuff too. I’ve since written for some pretty big blogs and websites and surrounded myself with uber passionate people (including a kettlebell workout with Tim Ferriss, some exchanges with Tony Robins & Seth Godin, long-distance running with Leo Babauta and tequila tasting with Keith Ferrazzi). It’s been an amazing ride.

Along the journey I also bought an engagement ring from Warren Buffett after receiving a personal letter from him (he owns a sweet jewelry store in Omaha) and married my college love of seven years. This is my greatest success to date. For those interested, our Croatian honeymoon was the best education I’ve had in years.

I now own my calendar and spend my time doing things I enjoy with people I love and respect. I couldn’t ask for more.

And in case that wasn’t enough detail…

I am fascinated with pushing physical and mental limits and sharing it with others. I especially love fitness challenges. Some of my recent experiments include swimming from Alcatraz to San Francisco and then the length of the Golden Gate, trying out a vegan diet for a month (I’m now about 90% plants), gaining 10 lbs of muscle in 90 days with no supplements or meat, a few years of competitive Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, Summiting Mt. Shasta and Finishing an Ultra Marathonin my Vibram barefoot running shoes. I learn something new with every adventure – turns out to be the best way to learn who you are. There’s plenty more to come.

I love to learn and have completed multi-day courses in Karrass Effective Negotiating, Iris Speed Reading, Spirit Rock Meditation, Toastmasters Public Speaking, Strengths Finder 2.0, Social Media Marketing, A-List Blogging Bootcamps and Tony Robbins Unleash the Power Within (UPW), Get the Edge, Relationship Mastery and Mastering Influence. I devote a couple weeks a year to this stuff and spend the rest of the year making it a part of my life. So far the biggest life impact has been Tony’s UPW.

I have attended university at the London School of Economics, Universidad de Sevilla

and University of California Santa Barbara (UCSB). My Spanish is not as sharp as it used to be but I can still get by and I love the language! Usually the cab ride from the airport into town is all I need to get back into it…

I am fascinated with all that makes for a well-lived life including nutrition, health, fitness, relationship building, psychology, motivation, negotiating, rapport building, influence, time management, communication, speaking, stewardship, gratitude and lifelong education.

I spend my time between San Francisco, Santa Barbara and the rest of the world. My most recent journies took me to Chile, Argentina, Peru, Machu Picchu, Dubai and the beaches of Oman.

I love learning from new people, making connections, traveling, teaching and building things.

I’m dedicated to the road less traveled. If you’re here, I’m guessing you are too…

I was recently introduced to author Scott Dinsmore’s work through Leo Babauta who is the founder of “Zen Habits“.  I spoke with Scott and his enthusiasm for the work in the personal mastery and human potential movement and it is amazing.  He has an ebook entitled “Live Off Your Passion–A Guide to Finding Passion and Getting Paid to do What You Love”

In my interview with Scott we discuss this guide book that he has developed, and his passion for helping other finding meaningful vocations and to living  fuller and more engaged lifestyles.  Scott has distilled some of the greatest teaching of all time into a very easy to use guidebook that if followed will help one explore their values, vision, mission and align with their greater calling.

Scott likes to refer to life as an experiment, and try things until we find what really excites us.  It is not important if it is a lot of little experiments or one big experiment, but the key here is to experiment try new things, explore and enliven yourself in the wonderment of what is available to you.  Take risks and go for it!!!

Scott encourages his followers to try new things and realize that nothing is impossible.  In his guidebook he encourages his students to attempt to do physical things that they maybe never thought possible.  He says that you will be surprised with what you really can do.   It all starts with the first step, and Scott’s guidebook ” Live Off Of Your Passion” is a wonderful resource and starting place.

Our author Scott Dinsmore truly believes at his core in what his is doing.  He believes that if we can get enough people doing what they love that our world would have an amazing transformative shift.  People would be happier, more productive, innovative and compassionate.  I don’t know about you, but this sounds like a great opportunity for all of us…and all from having people do what they love and believing in what they do.

If you would like more information about “Live Off Your Passion” please click here to be directed to Scott’s website.

Also Scott is offering an opportunity to obtain a 24% discount or $30 off the regular price.  To obtain your discount just  enter the discount code personalgrowth when you check out.   Please check out Scott’s work, I know you will glad you did.

Tom’s client list represents a diverse group including: the New Otani Hotels of Japan, Union Bank, Isuzu North America, Giant Food Stores, the University of California, General Motors of Canada, the Alliance of American Insurers, Boston Public Schools, the U.S. Army, the U.S. Navy, Minnesota Multi-Housing Association, Wells Fargo Bank, Employers Reinsurance Inc., Banklink, Group 4 Software, Sysco, Preferred Hotels, Blue Shield of California, the Social Security Administration, the U.S. Department of Labor, the California Department of Parks, INC. Magazine, MPI, ASAE, PCMA, and Bank of America.

Tom is the author of The Spirit of Service and Leadership Lessons I Learned on the Links: 72 Ways to Par the Course of Business and Life. He is the co-author of Customer-Focused Quality: What To Do on Monday Morning. His new book, 10,000 Days: The Rest of Your Life, The Best of Your Life is available on Amazon. Tom has written over forty articles for publications such as the San Diego Business Journal, The Los Angeles Business Journal, Quality Digest, and California Excellence.

Also, Tom is a recognized expert in the field of Self-Help and Personal Growth. He serves on the Board of Directors of The 10,000 Days Foundation and the American Consumer Council.

Tom is a graduate of the University of Maryland and completed the Fundraising Management certificate program at the University of San Diego. He resides near San Diego, CA.

BJ’s international best-seller, A Peacock in the Land of Penguins (Berrett-Koehler; third edition 2001), has sold over 300,000 copies in 21 languages. Her new books include: It’s Never Too Late to Be What You Might Have Been (Viva Editions; 2009) and Why Don’t I Do the Things I Know Are Good For Me? (Berkley; 2009).

Her first children’s book, What’s the Matter with Henry? The True Tale of a Three-legged Cat, has won two awards: Best Gift Book of 2006 from the Cat Writers Association, and Best Humane Communication from the ASPCA.

BJ and her books have been featured on CBS Evening News with Bob Schieffer, the Today Show with Matt Lauer, Fox News, PBS, CNN, and other television and radio programs. She is quoted almost weekly in various newspapers, women’s magazines, and websites, including: O the Oprah magazine, Redbook, Ladies Home Journal, First for Women, Woman’s World, New York Times, Chicago Tribune, the Wall Street Journal, Christian Science Monitor, Orlando Sentinel, Financial Times (U.K.), the Guardian (U.K.), Stars and Stripes, CareerBuilder.com, MSNBC.com, ClubMom.com, SavvyMiss.com, among others.

In addition to writing books, BJ also conducts seminars and delivers keynotes at conferences and professional meetings across the country. Her corporate clients include: IBM, Chevron, U.S. Department of Veterans Administration, John Deere Credit Canada, Volkswagen, Farm Credit Services of America, Raytheon, US Department of Interior, Phoenix Newspapers Inc., the American Press Institute, Infiniti, Nissan, Atlanta Journal Constitution, among others.

BJ is the former manager of training and development for the Los Angeles Times, where she was responsible for management development, sales training, customer service seminars, diversity training, specialized programs for women, and the development of high potential managers.

BJ is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of the University of Southern California, earning summa cum laude honors with her BA in Sociology. She has completed the coursework for a PhD in Social Ethics, also at USC.

If you are like most people in life, we have all attempted to change a habit or behavior.  Some of us have succeeded and others have not succeeded nor have we been able to sustain the new habit or behavior we are attempted to supplant the old one with.

I can personally tell you that you have hit pay dirt with the ” Change Anything” .  In my interview with social scientist Ron McMillan we speak about the new and exciting research that his company Vital Smarts did around this very subject in the new book entitled ” Change Anything-The New Science of Personal Success“.  In my estimation the finding in the research conducted on nearly 5,000 people is truly breakthrough.

I have been studying personal growth and mastery for over 20 years, and the research finding revealed in ” Change Anything” will have a positive impact on anyone attempting to create positive change in their lives.  In the Change Anything Labs the people who applied the science of personal success are more than 1,000 percent more successful at producing change that those who tried other means.

So what is the secret–the truth is that willpower is not our problem.  As a matter of fact the scientists at the Change Anything Labs found out that our ability it change and maintain change is not a matter of willpower.   The fact is that we are blind and outnumbered by the outside factors that are effecting our ability to change and sustain our change.

What was found is that there are six sources of influence that effected our ability to change. 1) Personal Motivation 2) Personal Ability 3) Social Motivation 4) Social Ability 5) Structural Motivation 6) Structural Ability.

To learn more about these factors I encourage you to click here to be directed to a video experiment that the scientists did at the Change Anything Labs( click on the blind and outnumbered video).  This will provide you with a short explanation of the factors effecting our abilities to change any thing.

The bottom line is that willpower is not the answer.  The key to change is in understanding all of the subtle put powerful influences that shape your choices. Once you have an understanding of how you are being influenced you will no longer be outnumbered and blinded to these factors, thus making change easier and hopefully more sustainable.

I highly recommend this book to anyone who is attempting to change .  It does not matter if it is a weight problem or your trying to get your debt under control. This book and the strategies outlined can be followed by anyone and most importantly successfully and they can be sustained.

If you want more information about Change Anything, please click here to be directed to the Change Anything website. Or  click here to be directed to a YouTube Video. You can also learn more by going to the Change Anything Book page.

I hope you enjoy my interview with Ron McMillan one of the founder of Vital Smarts.  This truly is enlightening and will shift how you look at change forever.

You can learn more about Mark and his many interests by visiting his website by clicking the link here.