After a busy summer in New York City, I was looking forward to returning to school this fall. Long commutes on the crowded New York subway got me into a routine of reading several Pocket articles and listening to podcasts each day.

I became addicted to learning.

Things are different at school. My longest commute is the ten minute walk to class and I have a lot of free time. Thus, I’ve used this semester to read books that are especially pertinent to entrepreneurship, motivation and self-awareness.

Diving into novels allows me to develop a unique relationship with the author and think so critically about a topic that my worldview and perspective changes. I’d like to share one quote that has been especially impactful from each book.

“When dealing with people, let us remember we are not dealing with creatures of logic. We are dealing with creatures of emotion, creatures bristling with prejudices and motivated by pride and vanity.”

Carnegie’s book preaches the importance of empathy when dealing with other people. I have always believed that we judge ourselves on our intent but judge the actions of others. In any relationship, it is important to consider the emotions that others may have.

Ideas to consider:

1. Don’t criticize, condemn, or complain.
2. Give honest and sincere appreciation.
3. Arouse in the other person an eager want.

“Brilliant thinking is rare, but courage is in ever shorter supply than genius.”

As a passionate entrepreneur, I am always asking myself: What’s wrong with the world and how can I make it better? I spend a lot of my time a acquiring new information about the world, analyzing personal beliefs and I’m always on the quest to find new ways to tackle problems.

I still struggle with taking action, the most important step. I’m still trying to discern if it’s because I don’t enjoy the work, am afraid of failure or lack the courage to take the required action. Taking action will be my primary focus for the rest of 2014 as I continue to develop my vision for Top Performance Golf.

“There is a huge disconnect between what science knows and what business does.”

I’ve spent a lot of time working under managers instead of leaders. Managers tell you what to do by watching over you closely and critiquing every move you make. Leaders understand that everybody make mistakes, but use their mentorship to teach you to be better.

Drive provided further clarity for me. Current business philosophy says that if we reward our employees, they will work harder. Unfortunately, this extrinsic motivation only works if there is a clear path to a solution, or clear directions for the employee to follow. This works well in industries like automobile manufacturing or more mundane tasks such as cleaning or driving.

Unfortunately, this theory of motivation does not work well for tasks that require extensive creativity. Extrinsic motivation, by its very nature narrows our focus and diminishes creativity. Extrinsic motivation, which I discuss more in this post, usually does more harm than good. By neglecting the ingredients of genuine motivation, we limit what our employees can achieve every day.

Give your employees the following:

1. Autonomy
2. Mastery
3. Purpose

Each book, each article and each podcast allows me to reconsider my core values and gain perspective about our ever-changing world.