My Favorite Podcasts — Tim Ferriss.

If you know me, I am an avid podcast listener. At any one time, I have between 15-20 podcasts on my iPhone and I listen to them in the car when I commute to my office on the water. I've been a fan of Tim Ferriss ever since he published his first book "The Four Hour Workweek". Unfortunately, many people, to this day, still chide him for his egregious title - "No one can fit 40 hours of work into four hours!".

They're missing the point. Tim sets the stage not to curtail your workweek into four hours, but to constantly look at all the things you do and use tools, techniques, tips, gear, and habits to streamline your behavior.

His new podcast (he just started over a year ago) is PHENOMENAL. Well thought out, interesting, insightful and most of all, Tim procures the BEST people to interview.

Here are some of my favorites:

• Matt Mullenweg (he started Wordpress) has been named one of PC World’s Top 50 People on the Web, Inc.com’s 30 under 30, and Business Week’s 25 Most Influential People on the Web.
• Arnold Schwarzenegger… at his kitchen table. Tim and Arnold cover how he started, how he excels and what he does to this day to stay at the top of his game.
• Marc Goodman has been a Resident Futurist for the FBI and a senior adviser to Interpol. In this episode, Tim and Marc go deep into the digital underground to expose the alarming ways criminals, corporations, and even countries are using emerging technologies against you…and some simple steps you can take to decrease your vulnerability.
• Ryan Holiday, author of The Obstacle Is The Way, started as a Director of Marketing at American Apparel at age 21 (!). He gets more heat, makes more high-stakes decisions, and take more risks in a given week than most people experience in any given quarter. He also happens to be a die-hard Stoic and incredible at putting the principles into practice.

Sit back, load them on your iPhone, put your headphones on, and enjoy. Each one has changed my life and thinking.

Work Smarter, Not Harder.

I really didn't mean that. To be honest, to be successful, one needs certain things to happen:

1. You have to hustle. Move faster than your competition and get things done. Take action.
2. You have to be smart. Not only intelligence, but knowledge and street smarts.
3. You have to be lucky. Sometimes it comes from nowhere, but most of the time it presents itself from opportunities you developed.

But there are times when you need to be nimble, agile, and frankly, work smarter. How? Here goes:

Think of all the things you do during the day. The email, the meetings, the people, the stop-bys, the phone calls, the traveling, the commute . . . everything.

Now I want you to take each element and figure out how you can STREAMLINE it. Make it take less time but deliver the same (or increased) result. Let's try each one:

• Email - do you have to read EVERY email? Develop a system to read the important messages and toss the rest.
• Meetings - do you have to go to EVERY meeting? Eliminate one meeting per week - you don't really need to be there.
• People - who are the most important people to your career? Who wastes your time? Start spending more time with the important people.
• Stop-bys - it's nice to have an open-door policy but you have to have time for yourself. Close your door at certain times to get working.
• Phone calls - all calls should be five minutes or less. If it is more complex, you need to meet.
• Traveling - do you really need to go there? Can you video conference in? A conference call?
• Commute - sitting in the car for an hour a day is tiring. Can you listen to motivational CD's? Can you telecommute?

Think outside of the box — you want to work smarter — get the work done in less time without killing yourself.

Over the next few weeks, I will be focusing in on each of these areas - STAY TUNED!

Image provided by H Sterling Cross at Flickr.

"What would you think if I sang out of tune?"

"What would you think if I sang out of tune,Would you stand up and walk out on me? Lend me your ears and I'll sing you a song, And I'll try not to sing out of key. Oh I get by with a little help from my friends." - With a Little Help from My Friends - Lennon/McCartney

Yesterday was a powerful day for me. Thursday is my networking day and I met over 100 people starting at 6:00 AM all the way to 8:00 PM. A long day.

But I was energized when I got home.

Here's a quick synopsis:

5-6 AM - Commute (beat the traffic!) 6-7 AM - Blog at Starbucks, meet new people. 7-9 AM - BNI Networking Meeting - My Sales Force. 9-11 AM - Catchup Meeting with an influential force in Finance. 11-2 PM - Lunch and Brainstorming meeting with a future partner. 2-4 PM - Meeting with a new colleague - helping with his job situation. 4-6 PM - Mastermind/Networking Group - a great time was had by all. 6-8 PM - Client's Grand Re-Opening Celebration - lots of networking. 8-9 PM - Commute home (listen to motivational audiobooks).

I made a lot of new friends and deepened relationships with many current ones.

Bottom line — this is the life-blood of my business and career.

An esteemed colleague quoted Michael Gerber last night, "Most entrepreneurs fail because you are working IN your business rather than ON your business." He couldn't be more correct.

I came home last night with a pile of new business cards, a bunch of referral slips, and a small list of to-do's to get out by the end of the day today.

I made new friends. I deepened relationships with current friends. And I hope I helped a few people along the way.

That's the profession I've chosen — and I love it every single day.

What do you do to make new friends during the work-week?