Resources & Tools
My Recommendations For YouJump To A Section: Programs/Training/Conferences (4) | Podcasts (5) | Books (15) | Products/Tools/Software (6) | Blogs (5)
Here is a list of resources and tools that I believe in. I only include resources and tools that I believe in. If you have a question about any of them, send me a message. I will add more recommendations soon.
Some links on this page are affiliate links, which means that if you choose to make a purchase I may earn a commission. This comes at no cost to you and doesn’t influence my recommendations in any way.
PROGRAMS, TRAINING, & CONFERENCES
The Peak Work Performance Summit
A Free Productivity And Performance Conference
The Peak Work Performance Summit is a virtual productivity and performance conference which provides videos from 50 world-class experts and speakers…for FREE!
This is a great resource for anyone looking to learn from experts and grow themselves in a wide variety of topics. The speakers have incredible ideas that will help you think bigger and bolder.
Experts include David Allen, Greg McKeown, Jay Papasan, Marshall Goldsmith, Michael Hyatt, Daniel Pink, Adam Grant, Charles Duhigg, and more revealing their best strategies for achieving peak performance in leadership, productivity, health, wealth, and happiness at work and in life.
More Details About The Summit
- The videos are typically around 25-30 minutes long and loaded with tips, information, and best practices.
- The host, Ron Friedman, Ph.D., asks great questions and is very relatable.
- After signing up, you’ll receive an email each day for 5 days with free access to 10 of the experts for 24 hours.
- You can purchase a lifetime pass for on-demand access to the videos forever, transcripts, action items, and more. I have a lifetime pass so I can watch them whenever I want…and I love the bonuses. It’s worth the investment.
- Over 80,000 attendees have participated over the years.
- I’ve participated in the conference multiple times and have loved it. The style and format has changed over the years but it’s always been great. The current format is the best yet and has the most expert speakers I’ve seen.
- When you sign up, you’ll also receive The Peak Performance Playbook, an ebook with highlights from the most respected productivity and peak performance authors in the world. The ebook contains over 50 of their most actionable insights for achieving health, happiness, and top performance at work and more generally, in life.
My Favorite Speaker Sessions
There are SO MANY great sessions but here are my favorites in case you want my opinion on which to prioritize:
Greg McKeown on Determining What is Essential and Eliminating Everything Else. You will learn:
- Why the more successful you are, the harder it becomes to remain focused
The best way of diplomatically saying “no” - How to ensure that every minute of your day is well spent
- How to fight the undisciplined pursuit of more where you are busy but not productive, where you make a millimeter of progress in a million directions
- The antidote is the disciplined pursuit of less but better
- Check out my review of his book Essentialism
David Allen on Getting the Right Things Done. You will learn:
- What martial arts experts know about concentration
- Why you shouldn’t take notes on a laptop
- How to stop stressing out about work
- Check out my review of his book Getting Things Done
Jay Papasan on The One Thing High Performers Do Differently. You will learn:
- How reducing your focus can help you achieve better results
- Why you should never rely on willpower to help you succeed
- Why we should stop chasing work-life balance, and start pursuing work-life counterbalance instead
April & Eric Perry from LearnDoBecome on The Productivity Experts’ Guide to Organizing Your Life. You will learn:
- The importance of organization systems
- How to get your family thinking about systems that save everyone time
- How to prevent clutter from overtaking your home
- How to diplomatically get rid of your kids’ “artwork,” without hurting anyone’s feelings
- Check out my review of their website programs and podcast
Charles Duhigg on How to be Smarter, Faster and Better. You will learn:
- A step-by-step plan for building new habits into your everyday life
- What the production plants of Toyota can teach you about getting home earlier every night
- What the best leaders can learn from Saturday Night Live
Susan Peirce Thompson on Eating to Achieve Top Mental Performance. You will learn:
- What foods keep us mentally sharp
- How to eat healthy at work, even when you’re busy
- What to look for the next time you go grocery shopping
Dan Martell on How to Think Like a Serial Entrepreneur. You will learn:
- Dan’s powerful personal story from struggles to success
- A formula for calculating your worth (and how you can use that information to free up your time)
- A system for improving the quality of your meetings
- What the best marriages have in common with a successful business
- What a playbook is and why they’re so valuable
Michael Hyatt on How to Have Your Best Year Ever. You will learn:
- Why the path to success starts with learning how to quit
- How to stay focused on long-term objectives when life gets in the way
- Why you should avoid setting goals alone and instead, set them with your spouse or romantic partner
- Why you want to ask yourself what you want people to say about you at your funeral
- Check out my review of his Lead To Win leadership podcast
Head to the conference website to learn more, see the full speaker line up and topics, and sign up for free.
LearnDoBecome
Organize Your Life With Help From Experts
LearnDoBecome helps people who are overwhelmed by the details of their personal and professional lives create simple systems so they can do what matters most. They are organization experts with systems and tools for work and home that bring sanity to your life while also helping you architect a life of excellence.
Here are 3 programs that I recommend:
(1) The Steps to Everyday Productivity (STEP) Program - Organize Your Life
The Steps to Everyday Productivity (STEP) program teaches and helps you build an optimal, fully-functional Command Central to get organized, remove physical and digital clutter, and make the piles in your life disappear.
This is an amazing program for anyone who wants to be organized, more productive, and sane in all aspects of life.
This is a one-time membership program but it is totally worth the cost. As a member, you have lifetime access to their amazing content – videos, tutorials, trainings, checklists, and more. My wife and I are thankful to be members.
Check out their website to learn more, see member pictures that are worth a thousand words, and read the glowing customer reviews.
(2) How To Finally Stop Drowning In Piles - FREE Training To Get Out Of Overwhelm
This free training will teach you four simple steps to get you out of overwhelm right away.
Here’s what you’ll learn:
- How to narrow your list, let your mind breathe, and find your focus.
- How to change a procrastination habit and understand the real reason you procrastinate.
- How to organize your to-do list so it actually gets completed by the end of each day, instead of just getting longer.
- The step-by-step process to getting things done in the midst of a busy life, so you can make awesome progress on your home, work, and tasks while having way more energy for your family.
They promise this free training will change your life…it’s already done so for thousands of others. It’s free and only requires a small investment of your time.
(3) Emails To Zero - FREE Training To Get Your Inbox Under Control
This free training is less than 15 minutes and teaches you a repeatable process to get your inbox under control. They also provide information on multiple awesome tools and apps you can use to manage your email, unsubscribe easily, bring focus, and more.
This is another free training that is worth the investment of your time to help bring sanity to your email inbox.
LearnDoBecome also has an organization and productivity podcast. Learn about it in the Podcasts recommendation section below.
PODCASTS
The Andy Stanley Leadership Podcast
My favorite leadership podcast from a leadership expert and world-class communicator
My Podcast Review
This is a once/month leadership podcast that is loaded with leadership wisdom and learnings. Andy Stanley has shaped my leadership skills more than any person that I don’t personally know through his books, blog, and podcast.
Episodes are generally 20-30 minutes long and easy to follow along and enjoy. Each episode also has a corresponding episode guide that gives you the primary learning, key takeaways, and questions for reflection for you (or better yet to use as part of a team discussion).
At The Table With Patrick Lencioni Podcast
A leadership and work podcast that I love and eagerly await each week
My Podcast Review
A 15-30 minute weekly podcast with one of my favorite leadership experts. I love listening to this podcast and greatly respect Pat. He is a humble expert that is passionate about teaching others. He is an amazing author as well with a ton of great books you should check out.
The EntreLeadership Podcast
A leadership podcast for entrepreneurs but valuable for all leaders
My Podcast Review
A weekly leadership podcast with high energy and the best of the best guests. It’s a longer podcast at an hour (plus or minus 15 minutes) but has always loaded with valuable leadership and business content.
Lead To Win
A podcast I love that helps you win at work, succeed at life, and lead with confidence
My Podcast Review
Michael Hyatt is one of my FAVORITE leadership experts and has shaped my leadership and work style in countless ways. I love what he and his team teach through this podcast (and his blog, books, and products).
This podcast provides weekly leadership lessons that are extremely valuable for leaders at any level.
LearnDoBecome Radio
An organization and productivity podcast
My Podcast Review
LearnDoBecome Radio has over 100 episodes that provide tips and tricks to help you improve in the areas of life architecture, productivity, organization, health, family, and more. The host is very down to earth and relatable.
If you haven’t already, don’t forget to check out the 3 other awesome LearnDoBecome programs in the Programs section at the top of the page.
BOOKS
Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity
My favorite productivity book of all time
My Book Review
I use the Getting Things Done (GTD) method as the core of my personal productivity process and highly recommend it. Anyone who is looking to improve their productivity in a world of information overload and to-do list explosion should read this book!
Here are a few of my personal favorite GTD quotes:
- “If you don’t pay appropriate attention to what has your attention, it will take more of your attention than it deserves.”
- “Your mind is for having ideas, not holding them.”
- “You must use your mind to get things off your mind.”
- “You can do anything you want, but not everything you want.”
- “Appropriate engagement is the key.”
- “You can only feel good about what you’re not doing when you know what it is you’re not doing.”
- “How much does it take to have a good idea? Zero. You don’t need time. You need room in your head.”
Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less
Don’t get more done, get the right things done
My Book Review
In a world where the assumption is that more is better, Greg McKeown argues that getting more done is NOT better. Instead, getting less done is better when the things done are the right things.
In this book, Greg teaches how to fight the undisciplined pursuit of more, where you are busy but not productive, and where you make a millimeter of progress in a million directions. Instead, learn the disciplined pursuit of less but better.
Here are some of the best quotes from the book:
- “Essentialism is not about how to get more things done; it’s about how to get the right things done. It doesn’t mean just doing less for the sake of less either. It is about making the wisest possible investment of your time and energy in order to operate at our highest point of contribution by doing only what is essential.”
- “What if we stopped celebrating being busy as a measurement of importance? What if instead we celebrated how much time we had spent listening, pondering, meditating, and enjoying time with the most important people in our lives?”
- “Essentialists see trade-offs as an inherent part of life, not as an inherently negative part of life. Instead of asking, ‘What do I have to give up?’ they ask, ‘What do I want to go big on?’
- “Sometimes what you don’t do is just as important as what you do.”
Other Books
A list of books with reviews to come
(In no particular order)
- EntreLeadership: 20 Years of Practical Business Wisdom from the Trenches by Dave Ramsey
- Great by Choice: Uncertainty, Chaos, and Luck–Why Some Thrive Despite Them All by Jim Collins
- The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business by Charles Duhigg
- The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership: Follow Them and People Will Follow You by John Maxwell
- The 15 Invaluable Laws of Growth (Live Them and Reach Your Potential) by John Maxwell
- Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us by Daniel Pink
- Swim!: How a Shark, a Suckerfish, and a Parasite Teach You Leadership, Mentoring, and Next Level Success by Walter Bond
- The Motive: Why So Many Leaders Abdicate Their Most Important Responsibilities by Patrick Lencioni
- Extreme Ownership (How U.S. Navy SEALs Lead and Win) by Jocko Willink
- The Vision Driven Leader: 10 Questions to Focus Your Efforts, Energize Your Team, and Scale Your Business by Michael Hyatt
- The Ideal Team Player: How to Recognize and Cultivate The Three Essential Virtues by Patrick Lencioni
- The Advantage: Why Organizational Health Trumps Everything Else In Business by Patrick Lencioni
PRODUCTS, TOOLS, & SOFTWARE
Full Focus Planner
The ultimate planner that helps you plan your year, design your days, and achieve your goals
My Full Focus Planner Review
This planner is the most intentionally designed and feature packed planner I’ve ever seen. It has really cool features to help you be thoughtful, strategic, and organized with your work:
- Identify and detail out your annual, quarterly, and daily goals
- Plan your year, quarters, months, weeks, and days
- Identify your daily big 3 items
- Define your ideal week and daily rituals
- They have a variety of sizes and designs
- They have a student and kids version
- They provide a lot of supporting resources to help you maximize your use of the planner, including a productivity podcast – www.focusonthispodcast.com/
Levenger
The notebook system that brings me joy and unmatched efficiency
Circa - My Favorite Notebook
Circa notebooks are by far my favorite notebooks! The amazing page design allows me to add, remove, and rearrange pages as I see fit. I can just pull a page out and then add it back in. This design allows a notebook to be as dynamic as I’ve ever seen! There are tons of unique designs, page variations, sizes, features, and more. If you like to write, make lists, get organized, or plan, you’ll love the capabilities this notebook provides.
Other Products & Tools
A variety of other products and tools I use and believe in
Evernote – Evernote truly is my digital brain. I store literally everything I know there.
Toodledo – I use Toodledo for my work to-do list. It’s not the fanciest design but is extremely customizable and gives me a power at work that I’ve found unmatched by other task/to-do apps. At work, I value power over sleekness and Toodledo rocks there.
Todoist – I use Todoist for my personal to-do list. It’s really easy to use and helps me stay organized.
Gapingvoid Art – This company produces amazing, funny, and true art related to leadership and business art. Great products for inspiration in your office or to give out as gifts.
BLOGS
Blogs
Places where I find small chunks of inspiration
Seth Godin – Not a leadership blog but a constant source of daily inspiration and fresh thinking.
Gapingvoid – A great blog about leadership with a focus on culture (and including amazing business art).
John Maxwell – The top leadership expert in blog form.
Simon Sinek – Shares leadership inspiration if you sign up on his page.
LeadAsAService – and definitely don’t miss this one lol
