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09 Jan

Posted at 15:27h in Productivity, Self-Guided Education by

2011 life lessons

“Making a mistake once is called learning. Making it twice means you're not learning."

~ William Brett Wilson

*Important Note: If you haven't gotten your copy yet, the totally free 2012 Goal Setting and Action Workbook is available for download. It's been downloaded over 5,000 times since last week and people seem to be getting a lot from it. Here's the link to the download page. I hope it helps. Enjoy! *****

As far as I'm concerned, life is about learning and helping...

The more you can do the former, the better prepared you are to accomplish the latter. We all learn things every day. The problem is we also forget the great majority of what we learn, sometimes just moments after learning it. In order to avoid that and give today a chance at building on yesterday, you have to have a process for learning things once (and for all). After all, the first time you learn something, it's experience, but the second time it's foolish. As a part of my weekly planning (one step in my goal setting process), I write down any lessons I learned from the past week, either from my own experiences or that of others. Below is the list of the top 2011 lessons from an initial list of hundreds.

04 Jan

Posted at 05:10h in Free Guides, Productivity by

2012 Goal Setting Guide

"By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail.” ~Benjamin Franklin

The Big Announcement: The 2012 Goal Setting and Action Workbook is officially live and available for download. The best part? It is completely free. I just added it to the subscriber-only Epic Work Toolkit, so all you have to do is enter your email below and you'll get full access (as well as some other awesome exclusive free tools). *Note: if you're already subscribed, entering your email will not double subscribe you. It will just take you straight to the download page. Enjoy! In the past few weeks over 9,000 people have downloaded this, so I can't wait to see what you think! The only favor I ask is that you share it with people who need it by using the the Twitter, FB and "email this" links above and below (but only if you feel like it). Download the free workbook here:

02 Jan

Posted at 10:02h in Productivity, Stewardship & Gratitude by

Reviewing Accomplishments

"Most people overestimate what they can do in one year and underestimate what they can do in ten years."

~Bill Gates

*Important note: The below are the results of the first step of my annual goal setting process, as outlined in the totally free Goal Setting and Action Workbook that will be available for download later this week.

***** I usually try to spend the week between Christmas and New Years not doing much at all. It's mainly family time, relaxing and some pretty deep reflection. One of my favorite parts of the year is this annual pondering. I'll spend hours on end reviewing my events, goals, weekly planning documents and each month on my calendar. Just to let the past 12 months soak in. This is always the first step of my annual goal setting process and the first step of every new year. You notice the quote from Bill Gates above. Well, I like the to think of that even shorter term:

Most people overestimate what they can do in one day but underestimate what they can do in a year.

It's amazing, if not mind-blowing, what any of us are capable of accomplishing and experiencing in just a few months.

28 Dec

Posted at 11:36h in Emotions & Happiness, Life on Your Terms Interviews by

Lori Deschene Tiny Buddha

"Happiness isn't getting everything you want. It's appreciating what you have and staying open to the limitless possibilities before you."

~Lori Deschene, author of Tiny Buddha

*Important note: Be sure to read to the end to have a chance to win a free copy of Lori Deschene's newest book: Tiny Buddha - Simple Wisdom for Life's Hard Questions. Take 20 seconds to tell us one of your hardest life questions in the comments and you'll be entered to win. If you're reading this in email, I suggest you click here to read it on the site to participate. *****

Creating Happiness

A few years ago a struggling writer and someone a tad bit lost in the world, decided she was going to take to the online world to see if she could both get some help and offer what help she could to others. She first started a simple Twitter account where she posted a quote a day. Something inspiring about happiness, purpose, embracing fear, love and all else. Just a few words a day. But she did it every day. Fast forward to today and that Twitter account now has over 241,000 followers. Her Facebook page has over 72,000 fans. It turned out she wasn't the only one struggling with these big topics. A couple years ago she also created a website and blog, called Tiny Buddha, as a place to write deeper articles to further explore our biggest challenges.

When you help people, interesting things happen...

Her site now serves as a virtual lighthouse for those of us (all of us, really) who need a little direction. There are hundreds of contributors (I've even been fortunate enough to write a few articles for her). And it's a damn bright lighthouse at that. Since the day Tiny Buddha went live, the site as received 8.5 million visits and 16 million page views. To put that into perspective, that is in the absolute top tier of all websites on the planet. People from every country in the world routinely visit the site, and her following is now over 300,000 people strong. The amazing thing is that none of this existed a few years ago. Before then no one had heard of Lori Deschene or Tiny Buddha.

21 Dec

Posted at 13:28h in Communication & Rapport, Love & Relationships by
[caption id="attachment_5450" align="aligncenter" width="532" caption="The Dinsmore Family"]The Dinsmore Family[/caption]

"If you were going to die soon and had only one phone call you could make, who would you call and what would you say? And why are you waiting?"

-Stephen Levine

Sometime last night our community here at Live Your Legend tipped over 10,000 subscribers. This has always been a dream but I knew better than to set it as a specific goal since I had very little control over it. You all are the ones with the control. You're why this site exists. You're why I'm able to spend as much time as I do writing and building things for the community. You're why I get to do work I truly LOVE.

Thank you for that.

This somewhat arbitrary milestone also got me thinking… Anyone who's been around this world for more than a decade or two has probably realized one very real and powerful fact.

Relationships rule the world.

Think back for a second to one or two of your most proud accomplishments. Think about where you were and what was going on. Really feel what you felt. Do you remember who was there? Now think of your most recent accomplishment - big or small. Anything you're super proud of will do. What was the first urge you had immediately after the accomplishment?

14 Dec

Posted at 09:25h in Popular Posts, Self-Guided Education, Timeless by

“I have never let my schooling interfere with my education.” —Mark Twain

Note: This post is intentionally long. It's meant to be our compass for learning the skills that matter in the world and throwing theory out the window. Read it. Save it. Bookmark it. Come back to it. Print it and post it on your wall for you and the world to see and experience. At the end of this post I've even provided two free PDF downloads to further guide you towards learning what matters (one is a list of over 30 of the best online resources for creating your own passion-filled curriculum). (Update:  As a result of subscriber demand, we created the wildly popular Should I Quit Test.  Be careful taking it though, your life my change real quick!  We've also put together life-transforming courses that we are extremely proud of.  They have helped thousands make the difficult transition of quitting their job, being laid off or fired. Finding work you love can make life outstanding and these products help you do that if you put them to use.  Check out our 21 Days to Discover Your Passion and Live Off Your Passion if you are not happy with your career or not making a living off your passion.  Both are risk-free and come with a money back guarantee, that's how confidant we are in our courses.) *****

Enter the Unofficial Self-Guided Education Manifesto...

Last week's article on The Birth of Self-Guided Education caught like wildfire. This topic has always been a passion of mine but I had no idea how much it would resonate with the rest of the Live Your Legend community. Over 4,500 of you read it, shared it or commented on it in a matter of a few days. When that happens, I know a topic deserves some respect. Many of last week's comments blew my mind. As it turns out (and this should not surprise me much), many of you have already made amazing progress constructing your own experiences and success stories with Self-Guided Education. I was inspired to say the least. My realization was simple:

07 Dec

Posted at 14:40h in Career & Purpose, Entrepreneurship by

self guided education

“There is no graduation from education.”

~Rachel Denning, a loyal LYL reader

Warning: From time to time I go on a small rant about the importance of taking control of your education, what you learn and how you use it. Today is one of those posts. This is one of the most crucial topics I have on my mind right now and I would really like your thoughts on it. Share in the comments below your ideas for creating your own eduction, what tools you use (online and off) and your experience so far. Now more than ever, it's on us. If you're reading this in email, click here to contribute your ideas. Your responses will have a lot to do with the next big thing I build. Simply put, this post is a call to arms. And I need all your help. *Update: The week after writing this post, I put together to Unofficial Self-Guided Education Manifesto (aka: the 27 principles to teach yourself anything) complete with a free PDF download and info-graphic to keep us inspired. You can access the manifesto here. *****

The widening theory gap

Lately I've been wondering if it makes sense to drop out of school. Whether one should really stick it through four years of college or another couple years for an MBA or other advanced degree. I went to college at UC Santa Barbara. I loved it. I studied Business Economics, Accounting and Spanish. I worked my ass off and actually did pretty well. I even graduated with high honors in the top 5% of my peers. I tell you this to better set the scene for what happened next. Fast forward 8 years later and now a large portion of my business time is spent running an investment fund, Cumbre Capital (that and Live Your Legend are my two babies), with a good friend of mine. You might think that was the logical step after studying accounting, economics and finance. The thing is, by the time we launched our fund, I had remembered precisely zero applicable skills from my studies. Everything I apply in my investing work today, I had to relearn from scratch.

28 Nov

Posted at 10:08h in Announcements, Entrepreneurship by

Never stop learning

"You are 100% in control of what you learn and how good you become at something. No one can take that from you."

~Anonymous

Recently I had dinner with Tim Ferriss and a few other entrepreneurs in San Francisco. One of them was Michael Ellsberg, who just published a new book The Education of Millionaires. He also recently wrote a killer article article on Tim's blog, 8 Steps to Getting What You Want… Without Formal Credentials, that's very worth the read. I absolutely love these nights. They get me shaking with ideas and possibility. At a table like that, nothing is impossible. Spending time with these guys got me thinking. There is one thing that, above all others, ensures that you are able to find and do work you love everyday. And it's something quite easy and totally within your control (p.s. that combo is incredibly rare, so listen up). Whether it's Tim, Michael, Tony Robbins or any of the other Living Legends I've spent time with over the years, there is one thing they do every day without fail. One single thing guarantees their success and makes passionate work the only option.

They Learn.

They learn everything they freaking can.

23 Nov

Posted at 14:53h in Stewardship & Gratitude by
Thank You

Silent gratitude isn't much use to anyone.

~G.B. Stern

A few thoughts on gratitude...

Every year my wife makes a calendar on iPhoto of all the prior year's experiences for us to keep up in the kitchen. This month she came up with something a little different. For every day of the month we'd write in a few things we're thankful for. For the most part I'm a pretty appreciative guy and try to take very little for granted. But an exercise like this is incredibly eye-opening. So often we don't realize all the mind-blowing things, big and small, that we take as given.

This past two weeks of launching Live Off Your Passion was one of those times.

The experience of putting my first major paid project up for sale (and scrutiny), is enough to make a guy lose some major sleep (which I did). But it also turned out to be one of the most rewarding, proud, exciting and overall fun experiences I've ever had.

15 Nov

Posted at 06:55h in Announcements, Career & Purpose by

Live Off Your Passion Cover

Today is a huge day. I've literally been waiting for this for months (actually, probably longer). Because today we're introducing...

The first eCourse of its kind to combine the Art of discovering your PASSION with the Science of Making Money from it.

The Live Off Your Passion eCourse officially launched today at 7am PST. Visit the launch page and let me know what you think! *Update: Hundreds of people have already purchased the course. I've received dozens upon dozens of really amazing emails from buyers and some of them have been awesome enough to leave their thoughts in the comments at the bottom of this post. Check them out. It's humbling to see how much this is already starting to help people. It's the kind of thing I used to dream of and I'm so excited to finally have it for all you to experience.

Also, I've added brand new bonus content since last week:

After last week's pre-launch I got some awesome feedback. Since I build what you tell me to, I love hearing from you guys. One consistent suggestion after seeing the course last week, was to include more content directly geared towards people in the corporate world who don't plan to quit and spin off on their own. Well I have more exciting news! Not only do we now have an Expert Interview from Pam Slim of Escape from Cubicle Nation, but I also wrote an additional mini eBook totally free to those who purchase the course, that's dedicated to finding passion in the corporate world. It covers everything from finding passion in your current role (no matter how brutal it is) to the most effective ways to approach a passion-driven job hunt. Read more about it here. Consider that a little bonus from me ;)