The video is messed up, but the audio message is definitely worth listening to. Brendon exudes energy in a way that is electric. I can’t think of another person like him.  Some day I hope I meet him in Portland, OR.

Brendon is not a fan of SMART goals and that caught my attention because for the longest time I’ve heard that is the best way to set goals.

From around minute 34

A meaningful challenge that does stretch you. It’s not a smart goal. Smart goal being specific and measurable and attainable and realistic. I think those have done more harm than good for people. You know why it’s taught? You know why it’s done Marie? It’s taught to play small. It’s taught the world to be more realistic. And I don’t think that… right now we need the dreamers and the activators and the people who are gonna challenge themselves and push themselves so hard to contribute and make a difference.

I also liked how he talks about how business has grown so efficient that we hand each part to each expert to do their “thing” but we rarely get to do the start to finish part any more and that is where REAL satisfaction is.  So even though it is less cost effective to do start to end it might actually be where we want to live.

Other quotes and ideas that struck me:

  • ambition is always unrealistic
  • creative expression is currency
  • if you are miserable creative expression is not there.
  • the act of seeing projects from beginning to end is a needle-mover for some people”
  • In the day and age of outsourcing and each person being an expert… we get it done faster, but it’s less satisfying. we are dissatisfied because we never finish anything–we have lots of open projects that we never complete anything.
  • One of the reasons to master productivity is not just to get so that you get can things done, it’s so you actually get the benefit of feeling satisfied and fulfilled again.
  • He chips away at things in “months.” (completely done in a month).
  • There has to be time blocked for creativity.
  • On average people watch TV 4 hours a day–over their adult life that’s 13 years of lost time. Even if you don’t watch TV, it’s probably a fair bet that you are distracted and not focused that amount of time every day.
  • Browser blackout–you look something up and 3 hours later come up for air and wonder where the time went.
  • Distraction is one of the key drivers of being unsuccessful
  • How many hours a day are we distracted?
  • Email inbox is someone else’s agenda for your day
  • “Where shall I focus my thoughts now?”
  • Self-awareness vs. self-direction
  • If you want to really get somewhere set a really significant challenge for yourself and then do everything in your power to meet it.
  • Why are you really doing this?