1) The Seven Whys
The author explains an exercise early in the book about discovering your true “why”, or in other words your true purpose. Without that, it becomes harder to justify to yourself why you wake up and go do the things you do. And if you do not find joy in the things you do, then it quickly leads to overall dissatisfaction and restlessness in other parts of your life. The exercise is as follows. Get another person to ask you the question “Why do you want to be successful?” and then do your best to answer the question. Most people on the first question or two have the same reply, “So I can be rich”. Have your partner ask the question “Why?”. The follow-up answers usually follow the path of “So I don’t’ need to work?”. Continue down this path for a total of 7 “Why” question. As you go, the exercise gets deeper and tougher and by the last question, you should be at a point of a truly meaningful answer of why you do what you do. I was very skeptical of the exercise and since I was alone on the plane, I did it in my notebook on my own. I found it extremely eye-opening and suggested it immediately to friends. If you complete this, I suggest writing it down and putting it on a piece of paper where you will see your replies every now and then as a reminder.

Get Book Millionaire Success Habits: The Gateway to Wealth & Prosperity Here

2) Only Do the things you are good at, and don’t waste time on the rest
I’ve always loved this advice. It touches on spending time only doing the things you truly enjoy and are passionate about. Things that bring value to your life or get you closer to your goals. If you hate mowing the lawn or doing the dishes, pay someone to do it or invest in a dishwasher. The time saved from the activity can be spent towards something more meaningful as long as yo are not spending that time watching Netflix or surfing the internet. This advice goes for work as well which personally has been a harder lesson for me. Delegating work down to free yourself up for larger needle moving tasks is critical as you grow as a leader. If you are like me, your initial thought when you get a task you know you can complete is “I can just knock this out, and it will get done faster then having to train someone” but there is a vital concept missing from this equation. How much time is saved down the road when this person has been taught how to fish. Every time a similar task comes down the road, the initial time investment of training is rewarded by not having to worry about it, and you can work on items that challenge you and help you grow.

3) Take Creative Time Daily
The brain is a muscle. It must be worked out to stay sharp and can atrophy if left unattended. The creative side of your brain is no exception. Take time to work on creative projects when free time allows. This creative time will allow your brain to not only decompress and roam in thought but sharpen your ability to focus as well. These skills will translate directly to your life and your work as it is no secret, the most successful people are those who help solve complex problems with the most creative solutions.

4) Invest in yourself
Investing in yourself can be many different things too many different people. It is taking a class, or paying for education. It can be investing time to study to learn something new or it can be paying a membership fee to an organization you value. Treat yourself like a long term investment and keep paying into that investment. The growth achieved will pay its dividends over time, not just financially but emotionally and mentally as well.

Get Book Millionaire Success Habits: The Gateway to Wealth & Prosperity Here

Wearability
These are the softest over the earpieces I have ever used. Even after a few hours, and with glasses on, there was no pain anywhere which was shocking. Other headsets I had used in the past, even if they started off comfortable, overtime would cause some discomfort from the pressure against the head. Even with the extremely light pressure, the earpieces created a nice seal providing great quality sound. As in all over the top headphones, it was hard to rest on the side of your head due to the sides but unless you are using earbuds, all headphones will have this problem.

Sound
The sound as expected from Bose headphones was really clear. I cycled through some classical, hip hop, EDM, folk and basic easy listening and the sound quality was really good across all the genres and the sounds they produced.

Noise Cancelling
Incredible. I was seated right over the back of the wing on a four-engine, two story 747. The plane is insulated very well but even the best insulation is no match for a jet engine ten feet away from your head. As soon as I flipped the switch on my headset, it was as if the engines had shut off. I could hear a soft hum of passing air but it was as if the volume on a TV had gone from a 10 to a 1 in an instant. I instantly wanted to google how this technology worked, but we were already in airplane mode so I just had to assume it was good old fashion magic.

Battery Life
The final verdict is out but I went a full 8 hours on the first flight and then another 8 on the second leg and have not replaced the battery as of yet or been notified if the battery is low. At this point, the battery life is rated somewhere between really good to excellent.

Overall and Results
I was thoroughly impressed by the Bose Quiet Comfort Noise Cancelling Headphones. I had used the cabled version which provided some annoyances, so I imagine moving up to the Bluetooth version would be a nice upgrade. Overall when I landed, I do feel like I felt a lot better rested then I do when I normally fly internationally. Some of that could be a placebo effect of knowing I was experimenting with the headphones, but I did not feel as dazed and groggy as I do getting off my flight even with all the time zone hops. The noise canceling was worth it, as listening to music or movies without having the sound fight over the jet engine made everything sound a lot better. Overall, I don’t think I will fly long haul with noise canceling headphones again.

1. More Deep work and Less Shallow Work. Setting up blocks of time for when to work and when not to work.
   Set a very strict schedule for yourself for when you will be working and when you will be checking emails. While you are working be deliberate on the item you are working on. During this block of time, that one task is all you do. No stopping to check an email, or social media and no jumping to another task. The goal is to hit a state of flow and do good deep work.
   Set up 15-minute blocks of time for shallow work. Checking and responding to emails, or other housekeeping items. If you need a mental break, do it during this time as well. The key take away is that when you are working, you are working. For the brain to switch gears, there is valuable time lost as you shift back into a state of flow.
2. Kill the alerts
   Every ping from your phone, or pop up on your computer screen will scream and beg for your valuable attention. Go into each setting and shut every notification off. You will learn most responses can wait until you are ready for your designated block of time to respond. I’ve only half tacked these issues by shutting off my notifications and still find myself responding to instant message requests but over time I hope to avoid the temptation and set better expectations with my teams in the future.
3. Do not be a human router
   Checking and responding to emails less then 3 sentences for the most part just turns you into an old school phone operator, just moving information around from one party to another. Not much of value is created during this effort which you may think is a valuable exercise of coordination. Think through batching efforts and emails in your designated email time slots.
4. Set up a daily work schedule
   Either the night before or first thing in the morning, plan your day and your goals. Break this down by the hour if possible but at a minimum, shoot for a pre-lunch and post-lunch block to get started. An extraordinary amount of time is lost sitting thinking about what you are supposed to be working on next and then sprinkling in a few random Google or Reddit searches.
5. Productive meditation (walking)
   Get up from your desk from time to time and go for a walk over 5 minutes. If you can walk or bike ride to work, this also works well. Use this time to think about and meditate on the big problem for the day. Similar to those brilliant shower thoughts you get, your brain will be better able to crack problems you are stuck on when you free it and let it run wild in a stress-free environment. A nice added benefit will be getting your 10K steps in which equates to about ~350 calories burned on average!
6. Learn to focus
   The author discusses a technique to memorize a full deck of cards but the overall goal is not to learn a neat party trick but rather sharpen your brain to focus. This can be achieved through other methods as well. I’ve begun a meditation practice, as well as created homemade memory flash cards which I will try to play every few days. As a personal experiment in improving my focus, I recently bought a 10th-grade Algebra book and try to work through a few problems every few days. No verdict on if this has helped but I have gotten better at 10th-grade Algebra again.
7. Shut down routine
   When you are done with work…you are done with work. When the day ends, try to make a routine for your self that trains your brain that it is time to take a break. Make notes of what items you will work on tomorrow, close Excel document and save them. Shut the computer down, do not put it to sleep! This has been a hard one for me as I usually have items to work on in the evening due to the nature of consulting, but I do make sure from when I leave the office and I head to the gym and have dinner, work is on complete pause and not dominating my thoughts.
8. Quit Social Media
   This is going to be hard for a lot of people. It took me a long time to wean myself off of social media but now due to the requirement of marketing my book and blog, I had to reengage the platforms. I have set aside three blocks of time in the evenings a week that I have marked as “Marketing” which I allow myself to really engage in social media. Although I have cheated a lot on this self-discipline tactic, the goal has been set and I hope to improve in 2019, hopefully, you can do the same!

If you have not already ready Deep Work I highly recommend it. I also talk a little bit about a healthy work life balance in my book Jack of All Trades Master of Some – An Introduction to Consulting.

My Experience with the Bag
It is safe to say I have really liked the bag, as I continue to use it to this day. The bag is extremely sturdy and well sewn at the straps. The back of the bag is also cushioned so it feels great to wear and it softens any impacts when walking or running in an airport to catch a flight. The inside of the bag is great size as I’ve comfortable fit a 15.5-inch laptop in there with plenty of space to spare.

It is safe to say I have really liked the bag, as I continue to use it to this day. The bag is extremely sturdy and well sewn at the straps. The back of the bag is also cushioned so it feels great to wear and it softens any impacts when walking or running in an airport to catch a flight. The inside of the bag is great size as I’ve comfortable fit a 15.5-inch laptop in there with plenty of space to spare.

The big test came at the airports. Out of all my trips, I think only twice did I come across security that was unfamiliar with the bag and still make me take the laptop out. Security will also not allow you to stack electronics, so if you have more then one laptop or tablet, you will need to take that one out. For most trips where I had a single laptop, just unzipping the bag and passing it through was significantly easier saving me some time and headache.

My biggest complaint about the bag, however, is the lack of expansion from a width perspective. With one laptop, note book, charger and other small electronics, you have taken up most of the capacity of the bag. It would be great if there was a bit more room for two changes of clothes for the single night of travel kind of trips.

I was originally skeptical of the lifetime warranty when I purchased the bag but when the straps wore down at the 4-year mark, I reached out to customer support and was surprised how easy it was to get a replacement. There was no way after that amount of time I would still have the receipt, but all I had to do was send them my existing bag and a few weeks later I had a brand new one. The new one I have has held up significantly better with no signs of wear or tear on the straps this time.

Overall, I highly recommend this bag. For the days TSA Precheck is closed or too far of a walk, this will make your airport security experience a little easier. 

Check out the bag below if interested or my book with a lot more consulting travel tips!