• How to prevent fat gain while bingeing
• How to increase fat-loss 300% with a few bags of ice
• How to gain 34 pounds of muscle in 28 days, without steroids, and in four hours of total gym time
• How to sleep 2 hours per day and feel fully rested
• How to go from running 5 kilometers to 50 kilometers in 12 weeks
• How to reverse “permanent” injuries
• How to add 150+ pounds to your lifts in 6 months

Most of these appear to be tall claims, but I’m going to try a few things and see. I’ve already gone on the ‘slow-carb’, high protein diet to convert the few inches of fat into muscle. Will post the results in a few weeks.

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…Most gulls don’t bother to learn more than the simplest flight – how to get from shore to food and back again. For most gulls, it is not flying that matters, but eating. For this gull, it was not eating that mattered, but flight. More than anything else, Jonathan Livingston Seagull loved to fly.

…Jonathan Seagull discovered that boredom and fear and anger are the reasons that a gull’s life is so short, and with these gone from his thought, he lived a long fine life indeed.

…’How you manage to love a mob of birds that has just tried to kill you?’ ‘Oh, you don’t love that! You don’t love hatred and evil, of course. You have to practice and see the real gull, the good in every one of them, and to help them see it in themselves. That’s what I mean by love.’

I recommend this book very highly, regardless of your age, interests or profession. Please share what your favorite books are.

[Photo taken at the Rotorua Lake, NZ. More beautiful photos of NZ here.]

Instead of summarizing the story, the back cover of the book reads: “We don’t want to tell you what happens in this book. It is a truly special story and we don’t want to spoil it… once you have read it, you’ll want to tell your friends about it. When you do, please don’t tell them what happens either. The magic is in how it unfolds.”

Buy softcover book from Amazon.

Have you read any inspiring book lately? Please tell us through comments.

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Since writing that post, I have become a big fan of audiobooks. I often listen to them while driving (alone), taking long walks and during sleepless nights on long flights. Besides the seven advantages I listed in the earlier post, I also find it easier to preview an audio version before buying a hardcopy.

Audible has become my favorite place to download audiobooks. There are different subscription plans that offer up to 30% savings and let you download a book of your choice every month. There are thousands of books in various categories, both fiction and non-fiction. If you have a computer with iTune and an MP3 player, try it once. ‘No time to read’ is no more an excuse!

PS. Just downloaded Crush It! by Gary Vaynerchuk for the overnight flight to Dubai – in case none of my fellow passengers wants to tell me her life story Off to a bookshop now to buy a real book, just in case the battery on my iPhone runs out

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“I didn’t set out to get you to quit your job or to persuade you to become an entrepreneur or merely to change the entire world. All I wanted to do in this book was sell you on being the artist you already are. To make a difference. To stand for something. To get the respect and security you deserve. If I’ve succeeded, then you know that you have a gift to give, something you can do to change the world (or your part of it) for the better. I hope you’ll do that, because we need you.”

And I think he has done a great job of it. A linchpin is someone that is remarkable. They bring the emotional labor to their work. They pour themselves into what they do because they know it is the right thing to do, and they become better people for living and working this way. This also makes them very scarce, and that scarcity makes them valuable – indispensable. I love what Seth says about art:

“Art is a personal act of courage, something one human does that creates change in another. … I think it’s art when a great customer service person uses a conversation to convert an angry person into a raving fan. …Nobody cares how hard you worked. It’s not an effort contest, it’s an art contest. As customers, we care about ourselves, about how we feel, about whether a product or service or play or interaction changed us for the better.”

Seth also explains the lizard brain and resistance – part of the answer to my questions in the post about Contradictions. You can read more reviews here.

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I had been reading reviews and blog posts and tweets about Seth Godin’s newest book, Linchpin. Went to a couple of bookshops on my way to work/home; it wasn’t available. So I went to Amazon.com to order one. I was at Amazon after a long time, and was surprised to see the options available: Kindle (ebook download), hardcover, paperback, audio CD and audio download. Audio download looked like the fastest option so I checked it out. It took me to Audible.com – an Amazon company, where an audio download was being offered for just USD7.49 with a new membership! I signed up, paid the money, downloaded the book, and started listening to it right away! The benefits:

1. It’s fast. I was listening to the book after just a few clicks in few minutes.
2. It’s cheap. Book versions were USD13-25.
3. It’s convenient. I copied the file to my iPhone to listen during my commute to and from work.
4. It’s safe. A copy each on my computer, iPhone and backup is likely to last (damage-free) as long as I wish.
5. It takes no space. So less clutter. No worries about whether to keep, sell off, recycle or give-away.
6. It’s environment-friendly. No paper, ink, chemicals.
7. It’s comfortable. For someone who spends a lot of time in front of computers or books, this is a good break for the eyes. You can listen while standing, walking or lying down.

And the disadvantages:

1. You need technology – computer, Internet access, applications like iTunes, and power supply
2. You need a handheld device to maximize the use of audiobooks – iPhone, iPod or any other MP3 player
3. You need a credit card for online purchase
4. You can’t share. I love giving away my books to someone who might enjoy/benefit. Most audiobooks can’t be shared on multiple computers/accounts.
5. You can’t refer as easily. I like to go back to particular passages in my favorite books for inspiration/information/sharing. In audiobooks, you can fast-forward to chapters but it’s difficult to go to the exact passage you are looking for.
6. You can lose it easily – unless you have a good backup system.
7. You become anti-social. Your chances of interesting conversations with strangers greatly diminish if you go around with headphones in your ears.

On balance, I think it depends on your lifestyle, circumstances and even the kind of book you want to read. Please take a few minutes to share your views through comments: Have you tried an audiobook? If not, will you? What other pros and cons can you think of?

[Photo credit: purplecrying.info]

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I have a list in the active pocket of my mind. A list I often refer to when thrown into the company of strangers while traveling. The list is labeled Conversation Lifeboats:

1. Did you ever have a great teacher – in school or out? Tell me.
2. What would you be learning – if you had time?
3. What would you have learned to do if you knew then what you know now?
4. What would you teach, if you were asked?
5. Teach me something. Anything.
6. Do you know any silly tricks? Coins, cards, face contortions?
7. If you could be an eyewitness to some event in history, which one?
8. If you could see anyplace in the world before human history, where would you go and why?
9. Who would you like to see naked?
10. Who do you admire? Who admires you?
11. Answer an unasked question – something you know but nobody would ever ask about and you would never volunteer.
12. Decisions of consequence – what forks in the road were on your way – and what if you had taken the other path?
13. Pick another place/time in modern history – since 1700 – to live.
14. Book, movie, you’ve read/seen more than once. Why?
15. What ability/talent do you not have but would like to have?
16. Ever thought about changing your appearance or identity? And?
17. If you were a spy, what would be your cover?
18. What was the worst/best summer job you ever had?
19. If you could know how your life will end but you still could not change it, would you want to know? Why or why not?
20. If you could live one short episode of your life over again – a day, week, month – which would it be by? And why?
21. Do you remember your first love? Tell me.
22. Have you ever experienced the kindness of a stranger? How?
23. Do you ever have any bizarre thoughts?

Everybody has a story to tell and a willingness to tell it if asked. Everybody knows things you don’t know, but wish you did. Everybody is a door into some other room in the world. Anybody is capable of inspiring you. Every situation contains opportunity.

[I am going to try and answer these first, before asking anyone else.]

Problem: Most people don’t cultivate confidence – it just lands on them due to favorable conditions.  I call this spot confidence.  Good times make for confident people.  Bad times crush them, along with their daring point of view. The secret to unbreakable confidence is a lifestyle of emotional/mental diet and exercise.

1. Feed Your Mind Good Stuff. Stop reading negative information, listening to negative people or watching cable network news. You are loading up with fear. Replace that information with studies about the future or an improved you. You’ll soon emerge as a solution provider instead of a Chicken Little.
2. Exercise Your Gratitude Muscle. Gratefulness is a muscle, not a feeling. You need to work it out daily.  Every morning, give thanks to two people that helped you yesterday and one person that will assist you today. This will focus your mind on what you have, and you’ll soon realize you are not alone.

By Tim Sanders, author of Love Is The Killer App: How To Win Business & Influence Friends.

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“How about some good news for a change? Something to consider when you are in a people-are-no-damn-good mood? Here’s a phrase we hear a lot: “You can’t trust anybody anymore.” Doctors and politicians and salesmen. They are all out to rip you off, right? It ain’t necessarily so.

Man name Steven Brill test the theory. In New York City, with taxicab drivers. Bill posed as a well-do-do foreigner with little knowledge of English. He got into several dozen taxis around New York City to see how many drivers would cheat him. His friends predicted in advance that most would take advantage of him in some way.

One driver out of thirty-seven cheated him. The rest took him directly to his destination and charged him correctly. Several refused to take him when his destination was only a block or two away, even getting out of their cabs to show him how close he already was. There greatest irony of all was that several drivers warned him that New York City was full of crooks and to be careful.

You will continue to read stories of crookedness and corruption – of policemen who lie and steal, doctors who reap where they do not sew, politicians on the take. Don’t be misled. They are news because they are the exceptions. The evidence suggest that you can trust a lot more people than you think. The evidence suggests that a lot of people believe that. A recent survey by Gallop indicates that 70 percent of the people believe that most people can be trusted most of the time. Who says people are no damn good? What kind of talk is that.”

Please share your thoughts and experiences about trusting strangers.

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Find out why majority of the anti-smoking campaigns inadvertently encourage people to smoke. Why does the scent of melons help sell electronic products? Why did so many people who took the ‘Pepsi challenge’ say they preferred Pepsi, only to carry on buying Coca-Cola? This books is a fascinating look at how people perceive logos, ads, commercials, brands and products.

Tell us about any great books you have read recently.