"Embrace the importance of now, and refuse to allow the lull of comfort, fear, familiarity, and ego to prevent you from taking action on your ambitions...The cost of inaction is vast. Don't go to your grave with your best work inside of you. Choose to die empty." Most of us live with the stubborn idea that we'll always have tomorrow to do our most important and valuable work. We fill our days with frantic activity, bouncing from task to task, scrambling to make deadlines and chase the next promotion. But by the end of each day we're often left asking ourselves "did the work I do today really matter?" We feel the ticking of the clock, but we're stuck in first gear, unsure of the path forward and without a road map to guide us. Here's the hard truth: sooner or later all of our tomorrows will run out, so how we choose to spend today is significant. Each day that we postpone difficult tasks and succumb to the clutter that chokes creativity, discipline, and innovation results in a net deficit to the world, our organizations, and ourselves. Die Empty is a tool for people who aren't willing to put off their most important work for another day. Todd Henry explains the forces that keep us in stagnation, and introduces a process for instilling consistent practices into your life that will keep you on a true and steady course. It's not about slaving over a project or living on a whim--it's about embracing the idea that time is finite and making the unique contribution to the world that only you can make. Henry shows how to cultivate the mind-set and the methods you need to sustain your enthusiasm, push through mental barriers, and unleash your best work each day. His guiding principles and checkpoints include: • Define Your Battles: Counter aimlessness by defining your goals wisely and build your life around achieving them. • Be Fiercely Curious: Prevent boredom from dulling your senses by approaching your work with a curious mind-set. • Step Out of Your Comfort Zone: Make a valuable contribution to the world by getting uncomfortable and embracing lifelong growth and skill development. • ...and many more. Sure to bring a newfound clarity and a sense of urgency to how you approach your work every day, Die Empty will help you reach for and achieve your goals.

1. Some Impressionistic takes from the book of
Todd Henry
“Die Empty”
( Unleash Your Best Work Everyday)
by Ramki
ramaddster@gmail.com

2. About Henry Hutcheson
Henry is the founder and CEO of Accidental Creative, a consulting
firm that helps organizations generate new ideas.
His first book, The Accidental Creative (2011), offered strategies for
how to thrive in the creative marketplace and was supported by a
podcast of the same name.
The imperative of the new book to “die empty” may sound
exhausting, but it’s not about working yourself to the bone until you
have nothing left to give. Instead, it’s about reminding yourself that
your life is finite to create a sense of urgency that breaks the habit
of putting your best work off until tomorrow.
Many modern professionals are “busily bored,” cranking through a
lot of work but not engaged or meeting their larger objectives.
Henry provides a number of tactics and mental challenges to keep
you focused on short, medium, and long-range goals. Keep this one
by your bedside and read a section or two at the beginning or end
of the day to keep yourself on track.

3.  Putting off the occasional tedious job until tomorrow won’t upset
our life.
 Constantly delaying big moves – writing our book, changing
careers, and so on – can be devastating.
 The problem is that we will eventually run out of tomorrows.
 Many people succeed at the daily rush of life but never accomplish
their “most important work.”
 Author Todd Henry – who resolved to make the most of his life
after a serious childhood illness – offers worthwhile ideas on how
to reorganize our life and mind-set to accomplish everything we
can.
 Though Henry writes with passion about the moral and practical
urgency of not wasting our life, his editorial presentation is a bit
formulaic and burdened by platitudes, albeit sweet ones. Still, he
has much to teach. I recommend his insights to people seeking
the boost they need to seize their future
Prelude

4.  When author Todd Henry was 16, he underwent a frightening
medical emergency.
 He woke up during the night and found he could not move
his legs.
 Terrified and in pain, he crawled to his parents’ room and
moaned for help.
 His frantic parents called an ambulance. Henry came to in
the hospital the next morning with his worried family
gathered around him.
 The doctors couldn’t diagnose Henry’s problem, but spotted
an unknown mass in his stomach. To determine the nature of
the mass, they scheduled Henry for surgery.
 “The way that we engage in our work ultimately affects the
way that we engage in our life as a whole.”
Am I going to Die ?

5.  The doctors identified the mass as a muscle that had swollen and
expanded due to an infection in Henry’s stomach. The enlarged muscle
put pressure on a central nerve, hampering Henry’s ability to walk and
telling his body to shut down. The doctors successfully diagnosed Henry’s
problem, but could do nothing about his horrible pain. Henry stayed in the
hospital for almost two months, wracked with pain much of that time. He
lost close to 50 pounds and had to learn to walk again.
 “The rest of us need you to act, because if you don’t, you’re robbing
yourself, your peers, your family, your organization and the world of a
contribution that only you can make.”
 While in the hospital, Henry passed his time listening to the radio. The
reception was poor and the only station the radio could pick up played
adult contemporary music. Once an hour it played the same song, “The
Living Years,” by Mike + The Mechanics. He focused on one line from the
song: “It’s too late when we die to admit we don’t see eye to eye.”
Listening to this song playing over and over, day after day, Henry thought
constantly about his near brush with death and how all his visitors were
nervous in his room. They were obviously worried about saying the wrong
thing during what might be their final conversations with him.
Am I going to Die ?

6.  “Engaging in deeply gratifying work does not require you to check out of
life, pack your bags and head off on a pilgrimage to India.”
 During this fraught period, Henry made a firm promise: “When I get out of
the hospital, I’m going to treat my life with more purpose. I’m going to act
on the things that matter.” Although he was still just a teenager, Henry
learned a valuable lesson: No one is immortal. One day, he, like everyone
else, would die. He vowed to put every remaining minute of his life to
meaningful use.
 “As we progress in our careers and accumulate more knowledge, there
are fewer experiences that instinctively spark our curiosity and challenge
us to rise to the occasion.”
 After his discharge from the hospital, Henry made his life more full and
complete. He acted more boldly and took more risks. He wrote music and
sang his songs for his friends. He threw himself into an ambitious
physical-conditioning regimen to regain strength and agility. Although he’d
been told that regaining his place on his school’s basketball team was
unlikely, Henry proved the skeptics wrong. He developed dedication to
making every moment and every decision count.
Am I going to Die ?

7.  In 2005, the late Steve Jobs, co-founder of Apple, touched on this subject
in his commencement address at Stanford University. He said: “I have
looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: ‘If today were the
last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?’ And
whenever the answer has been ‘no’ for too many days in a row, I know I
need to change something.” Jobs never accepted a life of complacency,
because that leads to mediocrity.
 “Give yourself permission to not know things. Some people see ignorance
as a point of failure, but successful people see it as an acknowledgement
of reality and an opportunity for growth.”
 In 1999, Monster.com sponsored a brilliant Super Bowl ad entitled “When
I Grow Up.” In it, little children tell each other their life goals. They say
things like, “When I grow up, I want to file all day long.” “I want to claw my
way up to middle management!” And “...be replaced on a whim.” “I want to
be a ‘yes-man’!” At the end of the ad, this question appears: “What did
you want to be?” Its message: No one ever chooses mediocrity or
ordinariness as a goal, but for many people that turns out to be the
destination.
“If Today Were the Last Day of My Life...”

8.  “The key to long-term success is a willingness to disrupt your own
comfort for the sake of continued growth.”
 At the beginning of their careers, people develop great hunches.
These could become brilliant accomplishments.
 People get excited over their ideas, but the ceaseless demands of
daily life intrude. Before long, the excitement wanes and stagnancy
sets in.
 People second-guess their hunches, which suddenly don’t seem so
great. The original exciting ideas fade away, leaving behind regret
and reminiscence.
 “Work is core to the human experience.”
 People lose their spark. Few things excite them. They don’t care
about new ideas. In short, they become mediocre. That doesn’t
necessarily mean lousy work or failed careers. People can appear
successful even if they settled for second-best. They may not even
be aware of making the choice.
“If Today Were the Last Day of My Life...”

9. Definition - Work
 Work is Core to the human experience
 Any value we create that requires us to invest our
time, focus, energy, and effort – whether in the
context of occupation, relationship or parenting – is
work.
 Work is a reinforcement of that sense of being- of
our sense of belonging- and a way to discover
ourselves as we interact with the world around us
 Meaningful to individual, Value to others

10.  We contribute value to the World using our available
resources.
 Every task we do & assignment we engage in with
passion.
 Every instant/effort to grow our skill/ capabilities
& develop our mind
 Every time we go to the extra mile even though we
are exhausted
Our Work- Not Occupation/ Designation

11. Our Body of Work
Comprises the sum total of where we choose to place
our limited focus, assets, time, energy and effort
Work:
Any instance where we make an effort to create
value where it didn’t previously exists.
Our Work is the most visible expression of our Priorities

13.  Work sometimes feels like one massive, melded
blend of tasks, conversations and meetings
 To truly unleash your full capacity/potential and to
ultimately find your sewet spot of contribution, you
must engage in all three kinds of work
M a p p i n g , M a k in g a n d M e s h i n g
Three Kinds of Work

14.  ‘Work before the Work ” - individually or with
others
 Planning
 Strategy meeting
 Setting priorities
 Less tangible aspects of work, such as values,
sense of why you do what you do
 Fail to account for these, lose your focus and land
in wrong direction
Three Kinds of Work- Mapping

15.  Actually doing work ……..we did that
 Making is what typically comes to mind when we
think of work
 Executing tasks, Tackling objectives
 Creating value of any kind
 Engaging with reports
 Deliver tangible values
Three Kinds of Work- Making

16. Easy to gravitate toward Making at the expense
of other two kinds of work
Most tactical of the three kinds of
work, where it’s easiest to get
distracted
More moving parts,
decisions with
immediate impact,
more opportunities
for things to go awry.
Must have some guiding
principles to stay aligned
and on task.
Three Kinds of Work- Making

17.  Work between the ‘work ’ makes more
effective
 Rarely tied directly to results
 Don’t get paid for it
 Doesn’t show up in anyone’s organizations priority
 Most important of long term success
 Getting best work out of individuals and team
Three Kinds of Work- Meshing

18.  Composed of activities that stretch and grow
 Acquiring and developing new skills
 Reinforcing and enhancing knowledge
 Cultivating curiosity
 Generating better understanding of the context
for work
 Paying attention to the adjacent spaces in
industries
Three Kinds of Work- Meshing

19. All of us have a tendency to gravitate toward
one of the three kinds of work at the expense
of other two and while the negative effects of
neglect may not be evident in the short term,
they can be disastrous in the long term

20. Four types of Worker
Developer
Mapping+Making+Meshing
Driver
Mapping+Making-Meshing
Dreamer
Meshing+Mapping-Making
Dreamer
Making+Meshing-Mapping

21.  Weaving resources &
opportunities to create
value
 Works with urgency and
diligence Does not work
frantically
 Making plan and execute
them
Learning from his actions
and then redirecting as
needed
 Recognizes uncertainty is
not enemy
 Takes advantage from
opportunities
 Constantly developing
skills to move to next level
Developer = Mapping + Making + Meshing

22. Persistent focus,
willingness to
constantly disrupt and
question not only what
your doing , but how
you are doing matters
Actively engaging in
all three kinds of work will
be better positioned to
Build a Body of work
that you will be proud at
later
D e v e l o p e r
Cultivating
the
Developer
mind-set
takes time

23. The Degree to which your
contribution reflects your True
Potential will be largely
determined by how disciplined you
are about improving your self-
awareness and skills
every day

24. Driver = Mapping + Making - Meshing
 Extremely focus on results
 Invests most of the time in planning & checking the tasks
 Obsessed with today’s results
 Becomes narrowly effective
 Unable to spot opportunities
 Wane in performance over time due to doing the more of
the same
 Neglecting to grow skills and develop the intangibles
helps to tackle new challenges
 Sheer will and determination is only one element of
success
 Fail to unleash full potential

25. Drifter = Meshing + Making - Mapping
 Enjoys the process of making
 Loves to develop skills and engage curiosity
 Poor Planner, wasted opportunity
 Good work ethic and quite successful in short
bursts
 Frequently bounces from work to work
 Lacks the conviction of long term plan
 Fails to follow through on many ideas
 Have spotty success, never seems to sustain

26.  Obsessed with ideas, personal growth, &
strategic plan
 Lacks conviction, courage or ethic to put his plan
in motion
 Talker, rarely accomplish tasks Effective when
they want, quickly lose interest
 Always moving to the next thing
Dreamer = Meshing + Mapping - Making

27. M e d i o c r i t y : D e f i n i t i o n
Negotiation between
the drive to excel and
the biological urge to
settle for the most
comfortable option
Doesn’t always
mean
underperforming
Sliding scale and a state of mindCompromise of abilities & potential

28. Growth cycle is steep and rapid
in career, when we constantly
facing unfamiliar challenges
and in need of developing
new skills to deal with them.
We grow stagnant, relying
on existing skills , earn
respect in the industry, but
deep down NOT doing best
work
Startingofthecareer,everything
new,workwithfullvigour,putour
bestfootforwardtowinrespect,
recognitionandtoprovethen
becomeautopilot

29. M e d i o c r i t y
Doesn’t mean doing poor work
Doesn’t mean failing to achieve
success Appear very successful to
others
Outwardly unimpressive to others yet to
be maximizing your abilities
Deep down you are settling
Mediocrity is thoroughly subjective & relative

30. Satisficing (Satisfy + Sufficing)
 Don’t get the same level of satisfaction once did
 Progress but NOT important progress
 Invisible force holding and feel trapped
 Begin to experience a fear of choosing poorly
 Become paralyzed with inaction
 Exchange aspiration for practical ones
 Fit better with expectations of others
 Settle for the best available option to meet most of
our expectations

31. 7 Deadly Sins of Mediocrity

32. Aimlessness
 You have no strategy, central theme, overall design or
grand motif in life.
 This robs you of joy and gratification. Establish a “through
line,” a basic theme for your one and only life.
 Focus your passion and efforts on this theme.
 Following this theme will make it easier to decide when and
where to act.
 Pick your battles and do everything possible to win them.
 Try to achieve “productive passion” – a focus on others.
Working “on behalf of” someone else is much more
inspiring than leading life for just yourself.

33. Aimlessness
 The fix is to know your Sense of purpose.
 Define the battle you want to fight to get meaningful gain.
 What is the transformation 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.

34. Boredom
 This sin steals your passion and creativity. Boredom is the
curse of professionals – “the busily bored” – who
accomplish a great deal at work without true mental
engagement.
 They tread water, don’t stretch themselves and rarely try
anything new.
 To counteract boredom, become more structurally curious
about everything around you.
 Give yourself time to engage mentally with the world. Keep
a notebook for writing down your questions about life and
set aside the time to find the answers.
Problem finding is increasingly more critical than problem solving

35. Boredom
 The cure is disciplined curiosity; Embrace mystery - ask why, how, what if?
 Don't be the busily bored - reclaim curiosity by targeting engagement
mind-set vs entertainment mind-set
 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:

36. Boredom
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 you

37. Comfort
 People who select comfort as their primary goal forgo real
progress toward the future.
 Operating routines – maintaining the status quo – take
precedence over possible innovations.
 To counteract the consuming quest for comfort, don’t
automatically run away from being uncomfortable.
 Commit yourself to future growth. Learn to take a risk. Be
willing to “walk into dark rooms.”
 Develop a “say yes” attitude about everything. Don’t shirk.
Assume “ownership” of your life.
Love of Comfort is Frequently Enemy of Greatness

38. Comfort
 The fix is not to make comfort your goal; Commit to continual growth &
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

39. Comfort
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.?

40. Delusion
 People are great at fooling themselves about all sorts of
things, including their own capabilities and talents.
 They tell themselves stories about the world – and
themselves – that have either positive or negative
consequences.
 To counter self-delusion, develop self-awareness. Know
who you are and what you can achieve.
 Set high goals for yourself. Emulate the people you respect.
 Select attributes from their lives that enable you to “become
more of who you are, not more of who they are.”
 Create a code of ethics for yourself and stick to it.

41. 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, instil confidence and trust
 Be authentic and move forward in face of uncertainty
 Know yourself first and then go out on your own

42. Fear
 Being frightened has more to do with what people imagine
than what actually exists.
 Nevertheless, fear generates genuine, painful feelings.
 Many people fear trying to do what they want most in life,
for example, pursuing a career as an artist.
 Instead, people engage in “shadow pursuits by doing work
in fields that relate only indirectly to their primary desires.
 To counter leading a “shortchanged” life, start taking
chances and accepting risk.

43. 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.

44. Ego
 Puffed up, proud people can never accept failure. If the ship
is going down, they go with it rather than admit defeat.
 Clearly, this is not a formula for success.
 To counter egotistical traps, embrace humility. Accept that
you do not know everything.
 Go learn more.
 Become more adaptable.
 Correct mistakes instead of glossing over them.
 Avoid a sense of entitlement, because it can interfere with
your ability to engage with the world..
Fa i l u re s h o u l d b e a l e a r n i n g e x p e r i e n c e N OT a s h a m i n g e x p e r i e n c e

45. 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)

46. Ego
 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 mind-set: 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?

47. Guardedness
 People isolate themselves when they become too busy or feel
mounting pressure.
 This restricts their personal growth and renders collaboration
impossible.
 To counteract guardedness, become sensitive to your relationships.
 Don’t curtail them; expand them. Go out of your way to connect with
others.
 Try to have meaningful “clarity” conversations that help you
eliminate dissonance.
 Engaging in an “expectation conversation” can enable you to avoid
operating with “false assumptions.”
 An “engagement conversation” helps you gauge the enthusiasm of
those around you.
T h e b e s t d e f e n s e i s a l m o st a l w ay s a n a t - t h e – r e a d y o f fe n s e

48. 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?

49. Self-awareness: Belief & Assumptions
 Deeply held beliefs that hold about the work place, your
abilities and the motivations of your peers can affect your
behaviour
 We become coded with assumptions about the world works,
our place in it and what we are and w are not capable of.
 Over time these beliefs become solidified and we act
reflexively.
 These assumptions can rule our behaviour, career choices,
relationships and capacity for effectiveness
Self-awareness is a willingness to explore whether
your beliefs about wrk place line up with the reality of
your situation

50. Values & Code of Ethics
 Identifying the things that you hold dear-values
 They are passive, not active imperatives
 Code of ethicsis a series of words that concretely
defines how you will engage in work.
 Defines ahead of time how you will make decisions,
interact with others, and make choices when
things get difficult

51.  Willing to take a stand on behalf of
the work and what they believe is right
 I can get this right
 Acts, observes & redirects
 I valuable
 Willing to subvert their own interest
for the sake of the work
 Potentially compromise when there is
a strategic advantage
 See past failures as learning
 My track record demonstrate
competence.
 I am not explaining it well
 Willing to work through
communication
 More concerned with what they will be
perceived and how much credit they will
receive
 I can do no wrong
 Create blind spots that prevents to see the
obvious areas of vulnerability
 Do not calculate the risk because they don’t
really want to know the answer
 I am invaluable
 They believe they add value by their
presence
 Willing to compromise the overall
effectiveness of a project for the sake of
getting the credit
 Rationalize past failure or rewrite history in
order to protect their self-worth
 My track record demonstrates invulnerability
 You don’t get me
 Shifts the blame for communication issues
to the other party
C o n f i d e n t P e r s o n Over inflated Ego P e r s o n

52. Great work results when you stop
doing only what you know you can
do and
instead begin pursuing what you
believe you might be able to do
with a little focussed effort

53. Intention and Theory do not Change
the World; Decisive Action Does
Measure you’re your work by daily
progress on what matters to you.
Don’t worry about being Great
in the eyes of others;
Focus on Excelling at your work

55.  Many people cope with life’s rush but never complete their
“most important work.”
 Keep in mind that you will run out of tomorrows.
 Long-range goals depend on the steady completion of daily
tasks.
 Mediocrity springs from seven deadly sins: “aimlessness,
boredom, comfort, delusion, ego, fear and guardedness.”
 Engage in three specific types of work: “mapping,” “making”
and “meshing.”
 Mapping is planning; making is doing; meshing is preparing
for the future.
 Be a “developer” who plans, works and prepares, and not a
“driver” who works hard but never prepares for the future.

56.  Don’t be a “drifter,” going from project to project, or a “dreamer,”
who only plans and never executes.
 Follow the EMPTY acronym to make your life full:
 Focus on
 “Ethics, Mission, People, Tasks and yourself.”
 How would you evaluate your achievements and priorities if today
were the last day of your life?

57.  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?
Scan your life for action points - daily checkpoint EMPTY

58.  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.
Tips

59. You have a finite amount of focus, time,
and energy to offer the world, and it can
never be reclaimed once it’s spent.
Focus on What’s Next.
Your Life will be measured by
What you gave ,
NOT
What you Receive.

60. Mail your comments to ramaddster@gmail.com