Click on any of these to see a page on Amazon with more information. My short comments about some of these are below this list.

1. Unlimited Power : The New Science Of Personal Achievement (book and abridged audio (1 CD)) – Tony Robbins
2. Awaken the Giant Within : How to Take Immediate Control of Your Mental, Emotional, Physical and Financial Destiny! (book and audio (2 CDs)) – Tony Robbins
3. Unleash the Power Within: Personal Coaching from Anthony Robbins That Will Transform Your Life! (6 CDs) – Tony Robbins
4. The Art of Exceptional Living (abridged audio (2 CDs)) – Jim Rohn
5. The 4-Hour Workweek: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich (Expanded and Updated) (book and unabridged audio (8 CDs)) – Timothy Ferris
6. Do the Work - (book) Steven Pressfield
7. Talent Is Overrated: What Really Separates World-Class Performers from Everybody Else (book and audio (1 CD with MP3 files)) – Geoff Colvin
8. The Genius in All of Us: New Insights into Genetics, Talent, and IQ (book and ebook) – David Shenk
9. Dreamcrafting: The Art of Dreaming Big, the Science of Making It Happen (book and ebook) - Paul Levesque, Art McNeil
10. The Idiot Factor: The 10 Ways We Sabotage Our Life, Money, and Business (book) – Larry Winget
11. Why Not?: How to Use Everyday Ingenuity to Solve Problems Big And Small (book) – Barry Nalebuff, and Ian Ayres
12. Linchpin: Are You Indispensable? (book and ebook) – Seth Godin
13. The Dip: A Little Book That Teaches You When to Quit (and When to Stick) (book and ebook) – Seth Godin
14. Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience (book and ebook) - Mihály Csíkszentmihályi
15. The Essential Marcus Aurelius (Tarcher Cornerstone Editions) (book) – Marcus Aurelius
16. Art of Living: The Classical Manual on Virtue, Happiness, and Effectiveness (book) – Epictectus
17. The Thinking Life: How to Thrive in the Age of Distraction (book and ebook) – P. M. Forni
18. Rework (book and ebook) – Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson

The Tony Robbins and Jim Rohn books and audio are extremely good at motivation and personal development and should not be missed. Read these if you don’t read anything else.

For pure motivation to become self-sufficient and leave the rat race, “The Four Hour Work Week” is an essential read and has lots of good resource links and tips.

Also for general motivation and just plain common sense delivered bluntly, “The Idiot Factor” is your best bet. Larry Winget writes several books in this style and I would recommend any of them.

The books “Talent is Overrated” and “The Genius in All of Us” are both about “deliberate practice”, a way of excelling and becoming an expert at anything you want to do. Read these and you will learn how to speed up your development process and make training programs for yourself that will boost you beyond others. They also give hope because nobody is “gifted” and it is never too late to change course and learn something new when you have these techniques in hand.

“Dreamcrafting” spells out the essential “macro-skills” that are needed by anyone to succeed and breakthrough some of the common barriers put up by themselves. I would say that this book is also an essential one because it is a backbone of many of the others. For example if you can’t master the “macro-skills” in this book, you won’t be able to implement any of the “Four Hour Work Week” items either.

“Why Not?” is a book about principled problem solving, and while not technically a development book, it does give you essential skills to use to solve common problems – and these are invaluable, so its on my list.

“Linchpin” is almost opposite of “The Four Hour Work Week” because it describes how to become invaluable at your current job. I see it as essential though because we can’t all go out a just quit our jobs right now in favor of a dream. This book will help you feel more secure in your job (if you implement the items in the book). “The Dip” is a very short book that addresses specifically the “resistance” and helps tell you when to quit and when to push on. Steven Pressfield comes at this same topic and addresses a common issue in our society of overcoming the resistance to actually go out and “Do the Work”.

“Flow” shows the reader what it takes to be happy. Who wouldn’t want that? Basically, there are some conditions to achieve the “flow” state, and in that state one can feel happy and satisfied. Very much worth reading.

The books by Marcus Aurelius and Epictectus are essential books for the person looking for some calmness and stability in life. They have stood the test of time and are the best books on advice for the common man. There are many versions of these, but I recommend the ones I have linked in my list above, as they are the most readable and relevant.

Two books about work and life that have really worked out well for me are “Rework” and “The Thinking Life.” These give some direct answers to some tough questions about work and life in general. They lay out a new way to behave that works and that I’ve put into practice in my own life.

But is this really a good thing?

In my opinion, no. Why? Because you can be “busy” but not be productive at all. I see it every single day of my life!

People around me are “busy” doing these kinds of  things, for example:

• making PowerPoint presentations that never get seen,
• taking hours to work on the perfectly-worded email when a simple phone call would be more effective,
• perfecting spreadsheet formulas when it could be worked out by hand much faster,
• looking for a grand explanation of something when there is the simple and direct one in front of them.

It makes no sense to me to be so very efficient and busy, without concern for being effective. Everyone should stop and ask themselves if what they are doing is pushing things forward or if their time should be better spent doing something else.

Timing is also a factor because the right action at the right time is far more effective than a thousand actions at the wrong times. This happens often too. “Let’s do this, then do that, then do this other thing,” instead of “let’s do this one thing at the precise moment it will matter most.” The problem, it seems to me, comes from the inability to think. I’m not saying that these people are stupid or something, but that they do not take time to think. Time just for thinking is important and hard to find. There is always a distraction or task creeping in.

It’s been said and proven that a person can only be productive for about 5-6 hours a day, and yet I see executives putting in 10-12 hours or more. My hope here is that they are taking some of that time for just plain thought. That would explain the number of hours they are in the office. But I fear that they are not – because I’ve seen it with my own eyes. They are just not good managers of their time or they have no concern for being effective. Both are bad traits, and excusable in the current work environment that rewards time-served over effectiveness.

But, apart from trying to change the entire world of work, what can be done? I think the following items can help:

1. Reduce distractions and focus.
2. Be concerned with being effective instead of efficient or busy.
3. Take time to think. Find or steal the time to do it.

I confess that I have been in that position of doing work for work’s sake, but now I am trying to change my ways. I’ve read some books that help with that and some of them are in my recommended books list, but some books specific for this are listed here:

• The 4-Hour Workweek: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich (Expanded and Updated) - Has a section about “work for work’s sake” and eliminating distractions.
• The Thinking Life: How to Thrive in the Age of Distraction - The best book for this topic, it has a lots of helpful advice throughout it.
• Rework - A book about changing how we work. Very good and direct approach to this topic of effectiveness.

Assumption #1: Work is a part of life.

• The thing everyone should come to accept is that work is a part of life. Isn’t it? No matter what kind of job you do, if you strip all the details away, you are going to have to work to live. Even if you are just doing hobbies and not working a regular job, you are still doing work to keep yourself occupied, and you are working in order to live. Accept work as a part of your life. You have no choice.

Assumption #2: You do not live to work. You work to live.

• This does not mean that you should not like what you are doing. No, you definitely should. What this means is that you do not let work run your life. You do not sacrifice your privacy or your personal time for work – there is work time and personal time, and the two should never overlap. You have to put work in its place and give it your full attention and devotion for the time allotted for it, but not more. Focus and fully concentrate on work during the time allowed for it. Focus on personal items on your personal time.

• Your work day should be 8 hours and no more. Whatever you can’t get done in those 8 hours needs to be pushed to tomorrow. Why? Because the 8 hour day forces you to focus your time and energy on getting the most important items done the most efficient way possible, making you more effective overall. There is nothing I see as more pathetic than the person who works 10-14 hours a day. It says to me that they can not manage their time and can not prioritize. More hours are not needed. “Better” hours are needed. Scientifically, nobody can be productive for 8 hours – more like 4 to 6. You don’t get paid for 8 hours – you get paid for the value you bring to the workplace in those 8 hours. Bring more value, not more hours. Accept this and it will change your life.

Assumption #3: You must like the work you are doing.

• If you don’t like the work you are doing, then find something else to do. This is fundamental. You will not do a good and inspired job and produce meaningful results if you do not like the work you are doing. If you dread the work you are doing, then you probably are not focusing on it very well and will not produce good results. Find something else or learn to love the work you are doing. Remember that if you treat work like a chore or burden, then it will feel like one. If you like what you are doing, then you will get into that state of flow and produce more and better results.

Maybe it is my upbringing as a farmer that makes these assumptions above so fundamental to me. As a farmer, you have to work in order to produce a crop. You get out more than you put in, but you have to give it all you’ve got and work when the time is right. There is a small window of time in the weather and the seasons when you can effectively work, and you’ve got to make the most of it when it is available. That means being focused on the job for the time available, and getting the priorities right in order to get the job done.

Overall, I think we have to change our assumptions about work and life, and by doing this I think it would solve the eternal question of “work-life balance.” It comes down to a matter of accepting what there is and working with what you’ve got. You’ve got 8 hours – go make the most of them!

One last-minute warning: People whom you work with or for, who have not figured this out, will resent you. While they are working 12+ hours per day, you are going home in 8 and getting just as much of the important stuff done. Beware. In some companies (I think most), working 12+ hours per day is seen as a badge of honor. Your boss and co-workers will take their frustrations out on you, make your life difficult, and hate you for not working more hours. I don’t have an answer for this yet and am just figuring this out for myself right now, but don’t say I didn’t warn you.

Suggested Reading List:

1. The Thinking Life: How to Thrive in the Age of Distraction
2. Rework
3. The Art of Exceptional Living

These are a few publications relevant to this post from my reading list.

A book summary is exactly what is says it is – a summary of a book. So you do have to read a little, but just a little. And it won’t take much time – certainly not as much time as it would to read a whole book!

Where can you read these summaries I speak of?

1. Actionable Books – business books summarized online at ActionableBooks.com . FREE!
2. Free Book Notes – list of sites with literary books summarized at FreeBookNotes.com . Mostly free.

I recommend Actionable Books over all others, because they have the types of books that I like to read, and their summaries are short, with the essential nuggets of information that are needed. They have summarized some of the books that I recommend.

Try them and you’ll see for yourself that the book summary is the way to go!

If I see success in someone or something, I want it too! The best and fastest way to achieve success is to model myself or my product after something that is already successful.

Here’s what I did.

For my photography website, Lars Lentz Photography, I looked at several other photographers and their websites. Peter Lik is known worldwide right now for photography. He has fantastic photos, successful books, galleries, and even a television show. Who better to model my photography website after?

I went online to my photography site provider (Smugmug), and proceeded to learn CSS, HTML, and JAVA in order to change my site and make it look just like Peter Lik’s site. I got it to where it looked about the same and now I really like it. It is professional-looking and modeled after one of the greatest photographers out there today. Some of the photography sites out there that look like mine are those of Matt Lauder, Richard Thompson, Michael Anderson, and Paul Marcellini.

Peter Lik has since changed the look of his site so if you go there it is going to look different than mine, but mine looks exactly like his old one, and I’m more than satisfied with it. Besides, I don’t like Peter Lik’s new site as well as I did his old one. His site looks like some of the other photographers that I admire such as Adam Barker. Compare his site to Peter Lik’s. Adam’s was around first with that format.

For my photography logo, I did the same. Scott Kelby is one of the greatest photography instructors for both in-camera and post-processing techniques. I noticed in one of his books that in Lightroom, his logo appeared in the upper left (Lightroom lets you put your logo in) of the screen. It was his name in red followed by the word “photography” in black (or was it white?). I made my logo in the same style as his and I like it!

For pricing of my photos, I used the same technique. I looked at what successful photographers were charging for their prints, and I set my prices accordingly. I also learned what size of prints they were selling and on what type of materials. I made a spreadsheet with dozens of photographers names on it along with their print sizes and pricing. I put my pricing just below the middle of the bell curve of price, so I can have slightly lower prices but not too cheap. I like my pricing now and learned a lot about the business by just modeling my print sizes and prices after what others have done. I not only learned what price to sell at, but also what products sizes and media to sell!

The “look” of my photos is important to me. I found that I like a certain “look” — vibrant, full of color, sharp detail, and rich, vivid landscape-nature shots. I looked at other photographer’s photos online and found the ones (photographers) that I liked the most. I then searched with Google to find any time they mentioned what techniques or equipment they used to get their shots. For each photographer, I made a folder and put in it the copies of the photos of theirs that I liked, along with my notes about what I found about their processing or shooting techniques. I saved any articles that mentioned their styles, and then I started learning how they did what they did to get their fantastic photos. When I was able to take similar shots and process them in similar ways, I was able to achieve similar results to their most successful photos. I had modeled my style after theirs! Now I take shots that are on par or better than those photographers whom I first modeled myself after! I have achieved success! I now admire these photographers and aspire to be as good as them: Matt Lauder, Richard Thompson, Michael Anderson, Paul Marcellini, Adam Barker, Peter Lik, Ian Plant, and Marc Adamus.

These are just a few of my examples of what I have done to model success. You can do this in your field too! It doesn’t have to be photography, that is just one example of mine. I do the same thing in engineering, and farming, as these are my other professions at the moment.

Starting a new project or profession can seem like an insurmountable task, but by modeling what is already successful, you can often shortcut several years of work!

¹ Modeling can also be known as “benchmarking” although benchmarking is only one part of modeling. While benchmarking finds what is out there, modeling goes the extra step of taking action and making something very similar to the benchmark activity or product.

Note: Modeling is often best followed by deliberate practice and other disciplines that are described in several books on my suggested reading list.