Read The Five Second Rule, Watch The Prank Panel, Start Leveraging More Productivity Tools

Read, watch, start:

• In The 5 Second Rule, Mel Robbins shares how to stop procrastinating, eliminate worrying, and make dreams a reality. 

• If you like practical jokes, you’d enjoy The Prank Panel on Hulu.

• Start leveraging more productivity tools to manage business and personal life.  Here’s a list of my favorite productivity tools.

Read Unique Ability, Watch Chappelle, Stop Interrupting

Read, watch, stop:

• Unique Ability:  Creating the Life You Want by Dan Sullivan helps determine the one thing you do better than others, then create teams and systems to allow you to focus on your unique ability.

• Dave Chappelle is the G.O.A.T.  See where it started with the Chappelle Show on Netflix.

• Stop interrupting team members during the day but stay in touch and on track with daily huddles.  Here’s a cheat sheet from my book on huddles.

Read Mauldin, Watch The Bear, Stop Trying to Remember

Read, watch, stop:

• From macroeconomics to geo-political, subscribe to the Thoughts from the Frontline by John Mauldin.

• The Bear on Hulu is an enjoyable watch of a chef running a restaurant.  It stars Jeremy Allen White, who was in Shameless.

• Stop trying to remember and use Evernote.  Evernote stores notes, pictures, and files.  It has add-ins for popular programs and an email alias to make it simple to forward anything you want to store and find later.

Read Dirt Nap, Watch Who is America, Stop Touching Things More Than Once

Read, watch, stop:

• If you want a contrarian view of your investment advisor’s thoughts, check out Jared Dillian’s Daily Dirtnap.

• A follow-on for comedian Sacha Baron Cohen spoofs is “Who is America.”

• Stop “touching” anything more than one time.  For example, when getting a call or email for a customer meeting, I will make the decision once.  I include if/then/else logic in my response to any of these.  For example, if working with an admin looking to book a date with a customer, “If they can’t meet Monday at lunch, then try for a happy hour on Thursday.  If neither of those works, ask for two alternatives.

Read Play Nice but Win, Watch Ali G, Stop Phone Interruptions

Read, watch, stop:

• Play Nice but Win: A CEO’s Journey from Founder to Leader by Michael Dell is an interesting story of the highs and lows running Dell Corporation.

• Ali G, created and played by comedian Sacha Baron Cohen spoofs, delivers hilarious interviews like this science roundtable.

• Stop letting others access your phone when you want no interruptions.  Use the “Focus” setting to define when you receive calls with an iPhone.  Here’s a tip, for family members or those on your short-list, create exceptions so they can reach you at all hours of the day.