Chris Bailey is A Person You Should Know

Author, The Productivity Project: Accomplishing More by Managing Your Time, Attention, and Energy.

Learned 10 important lessons about productivity after spending a year conducting experiments in his own life, including that working too hard or too much shatters your productivity and that productivity is about what you accomplish, not how much you produce.

Believes there are five simple ways to get more things done every day including to start each day with a list of three main things you want to accomplish and to focus on one thing at a time. (video)

“There are three different factors that contribute to how productive you are on a daily basis: How you manage your time, how you manage your energy, and how you manage your attention and focus. Where these three things overlap, that’s how productive you are.”

Suggests 100 time, energy, and attention hacks to be more productive including to save a higher proportion of your income and to seek out conflict instead of pushing it away.

Believes there is no productivity, there are only proofs of productivity and that it often doesn’t matter how productive you are.

“Productivity without intention is kind of pointless.”

Thinks you need to learn how to tame “springy life elements,” things in your life that expand and contract to fit the amount of free time you have available.

Has 10 tips to help you eat mindfully, including to watch for the “eating pause,” feed yourself with your non-dominant hand, and eat with your eyes closed.

Connect with Chris: Website • Twitter

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Other people you should know:

• “In order to strive for a remarkable life, you have to decide you want one.”
• “It’s not who you are that holds you back, it’s who you think you’re not.”

“Productivity without intention is kind of pointless.” was originally published in A Person You Should Know on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Debbie Millman is A Person You Should Know

CMO, Sterling Brands. Host, Design Matters. Author, Brand Thinking and Other Noble Pursuits.

Urges you not to determine what’s impossible before it’s possible. (video)

Believes busy is a decision and if we say we are too busy, it’s just shorthand for “not important enough.”

“If you perceive the universe as being a universe of abundance, then it will be. If you think of the universe as one of scarcity, then it will be.”

Thinks branding is deliberate differentiation and believes design is central to that process.

Has five bits of advice for people thinking about their future including that anything worthwhile takes a long time and to imagine immensities. (video)

“Don’t compromise and don’t waste time. In order to strive for a remarkable life, you have to decide that you want one. Start now. Not thirty years from now.”

Thinks there are three key things great brands must do: Help people feel connected, inspire people to feel ok as they are, and a make a difference in people’s lives. (video)

Believes you can’t achieve anything remarkable without some risk.

Connect with Debbie: Website • Twitter

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Other people you should know:

• “Instead of focusing on the effect, perhaps it’s worth thinking more about the cause.”
• “It’s nice to remember what enough means.”

“In order to strive for a remarkable life, you have to decide you want one.” was originally published in A Person You Should Know on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Ramit Sethi is A Person You Should Know

Personal Finance Advisor. Author, I Will Teach You To Be Rich.

Believes you need to learn how to charge what you’re worth. (video)

Teaches six negotiation principles to make you a better negotiator than 99% of people including to know who you’re negotiating with and to have a toolbox.

“There is a limit to how much you can cut, but there is no limit to how much you can earn.”

Thinks you can turn your hobbies into services that make money by understanding what your prospective customers will pay for.

Has a two-step process to get your first three clients as a freelancer that includes learning how to locate and communicate with potential clients.

“Ask people what they want, don’t tell them what they need.”

Suggests the way to get your audience to give you their email address is to use a simple formula that speaks to your audience’s pain.

Has five time management tips for busy people including to make it stupid easy to say no and to realize if it’s not on your calendar, it doesn’t exist.

Connect with Ramit: Website • Twitter

Subscribe to my newsletter to get 10 helpful ideas each week.

Other people you should know:

• “If you don’t control your environment, someone else will.”
• “Your success is completely based on who trusts you.”

“Ask people what they want, don’t tell them what they need.” was originally published in A Person You Should Know on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Maria Tatar is A Person You Should Know

Fairy Tale Expert. Professor of Germanic Languages and Literature, Harvard University.

Believes fairy tales are often underestimated because of the misleading name given to the genre and points out the abstract concepts in the stories are reinvigorated by new generations of tellers.

Thinks trying to understand why things go wrong is more productive than focusing on what is right.

“This savagery we offer children today is more unforgiving than it once was. And the shadows are rarely banished by comic relief. Instead of stories about children who struggle to grow up, we have stories about children who struggle to survive.”

Suggests bedtime reading with children is a wonderful opportunity to go back to your own childhood.

Believes fairy tales are all about the hyper-dysfunctional family and as we process what goes on in them, we learn to manage our own anxieties and desires.

“It’s no accident that many children’s books begin with bored children, like Alice on the riverbank reading a book and nodding off. How do you move from boredom to curiosity — how do you animate the child? My answer is: by using the shock value of beauty and horror, administering jolts and shimmers that flip a switch in the mind.”

Thinks fairy tales and myths help us navigate cultural contradictions and figure out who is the predator and who is the prey, who is innocent and who is seductive. (video)

Recommends 10 lesser-known fairy tales that deserve more attention including The Juniper Tree and The Enchanted Quill.

Connect with Maria: Website • Twitter

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Other people you should know:

• “You drown not by falling into a river, but by staying submerged in it.”
• “Whatever you intensely believe becomes your reality.”

“It’s no accident many children’s books begin with bored children.” was originally published in A Person You Should Know on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Grant Cardone is A Person You Should Know

Sales Trainer. Author, The 10x Rule: The Only Difference Between Success and Failure.

Believes your biggest mistake is thinking it’s impossible to become a millionaire and points out that 80% of millionaires are self-made.

Thinks people buy based on value, not price, and has five tips to enhance the value of what you sell including to demonstrate how your product will solve problems and why it’s worth more than your asking price.

“Your greatness is limited only by the investments you make in yourself.”

Has three tips to become a better prospector including to start thinking about how you can SERVE everyone around you.

“If you don’t control your environment, someone else will.”

Believes you should repackage your products to increase your profits.

Has 7 tips to help introverts sell including to keep busy and to help others make sales.

Connect with Grant: Website • Twitter

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Other people you should know:

• “Your success is completely based on who trusts you.”
• “It’s not who you are that holds you back, it’s who you think you’re not.”
• “You can’t have a dream for the world if you don’t have a dream for yourself.”

“If you don’t control your environment, someone else will.” was originally published in A Person You Should Know on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

danah boyd is A Person You Should Know.

Principal Researcher, Microsoft Research. Founder, Data & Society. Author, It’s Complicated: The Social Lives of Networked Teens.

Suggests teachers must help teens think critically about social media, just as they help them understand other aspects of life that happen outside the classroom.

Believes teens’ use of social media is significantly shaped by race and class, geography and cultural background.

“In a world where information is easily available, strong personal networks and access to helpful people often matter more than access to the information itself.”

Thinks we need those who are thinking about social justice to understand technology and those who understand technology to commit to social justice.

Believes there’s a cost to fame and that cost is not evenly borne.

“Today’s youth aren’t lazy. They want to socialize and they want to interact. They are just given too few opportunities to do so.”

Warns that parental anxieties about technology are dangerous because they create walls between kids and parents.

Thinks Pokemon Go is an example of how technology can bring people together in the real world.

Connect with danah: Website • Twitter

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Other people you should know:

• “Failures are cheap if you do them first…and expensive if you do them at the end.”
• “Connecting broadly is meaningless unless you connect deeply.”
• “Everything you have achieved…is a reflection of how much your audiences remember you.”

“We need those who understand technology to commit to social justice.” was originally published in A Person You Should Know on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Preston Smiles is A Person You Should Know

Motivational Messenger. Author, Love Louder: 33 Ways to Amplify Your Life.

Thinks whatever you intensely believe becomes your reality and that you must remember you teach others how to treat you by how you treat you.

Believes life honors the live-er and that too many people are sitting on the fence of life. (video)

“Love will find a way. Everything else will find an excuse.”

Warns that you shouldn’t put your hopes and dreams into one person because nobody can handle that kind of pressure.

Thinks vulnerability is the key to your personal freedom and it’s the way to turn your wounds into wisdom. (video)

“Take responsibility for something that happens 10 thousand miles away. It’s super empowering.”

Believes the need to prove you’re right is the downfall of all great things and that you must let go of being right to hold on to love.

Recommends you do what you have to do no matter how obscure and not what you think society wants you to do.

Connect with Preston: Website • Twitter

Sign up here to get 10 more ideas worth sharing this week.

Other people you should know:

• “It’s not who you are that holds you back, it’s who you think you’re not.”
• “Instead of focusing on the effect, perhaps it’s worth thinking more about the cause.”
• “You drown not by falling into a river, but by staying submerged in it.”

“Whatever you intensely believe becomes your reality.” was originally published in A Person You Should Know on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Tiffany Shlain is A Person You Should Know

Filmmaker. Founder, The Webby Awards.

Thinks there are 10 stages to the creative process, ranging from the hunch to knowing when you’re done. (video)

Believes the most important thing about technology is that it has an off switch and recommends you use it at least once a week.

“Nothing vast enters the life of mortals without a curse.”

Suggests we need to rethink our human potential and consider all the things that make us unique as humans — the things machines will never be able to do. (video)

Makes a case for optimism and thinks optimism with a healthy dose of skepticism can push our future where we want it to go. (video)

“Connecting broadly is meaningless unless you connect deeply.”

Believes we’re in the middle of a participatory revolution that will change art and creativity forever. (video)

Thinks conversations have a powerful ability to ripple outward and make change.

Connect with Tiffany: Website • Twitter

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“Connecting broadly is meaningless unless you connect deeply.” was originally published in A Person You Should Know on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Eric Thomas is A Person You Should Know

Motivational Speaker.

Believes you need to stop making excuses for losing because winners win and losers lose. (video)

Warns you not to disrespect the people who try to look out for you. (video)

“Don’t make a habit out of choosing what feels good over what’s actually good for you.”

Thinks you have to learn to become comfortable with being uncomfortable and be prepared to give up things to get things. (video)

Believes you’ll be successful when you want to succeed as bad as you want to breathe. (video)

“It’s not who you are that holds you back, it’s who you think you’re not.”

Suggests you stop lying about your grind and become a lifetime grinder instead of just a goal grinder. (video)

Thinks if you’re not happy with where you’re at in life, you need to change your blueprint. (video)

Connect with Eric: Website • Twitter

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“It’s not who you are that holds you back, it’s who you think you’re not.” was originally published in A Person You Should Know on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Diana Kander is A Person You Should Know

Entrepreneur. Author, All In Startup: Launching a New Idea When Everything Is on the Line.

Believes our approach to innovation is dead wrong because we are teaching startups the wrong way to allocate their time. (video)

Suggests there are three reasons your customers will lie to you when you try to understand them and that you have to trick them into telling the truth.

“Your success is completely based on who trusts you. Don’t just hustle, work on building trust.”

Thinks customers have all the power and the only way to attract and keep customers is to stop selling them products and start solving their problems.

Recommends five ways to get your first customer including to use every relationship you have and to create partnerships for credibility.

“The way to start a successful company, is to solve problems that your customers are already experiencing rather than try to convince them that a problem exists.”

Has three tips to stay focused when every idea is a good idea including to create evaluation criteria and to create a “no zone.”

Thinks writing a business plan by yourself is just a creative writing exercise because it doesn’t mean anything until you test it out in the real world.

Connect with Diana: Website • Twitter

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“Your success is completely based on who trusts you.” was originally published in A Person You Should Know on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.