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So I use Christopher Vogler’s approach to Campbell’s structure. It broke the mythical story structure into twelve stages. Here are the stages and their definitions:The Ordinary World: We see the hero’s normal life at the start of the story before the adventure begins.Call to Adventure: The hero is faced with an event, conflict, problem, or challenge that makes them begin their adventure.Refusal of the Call: The hero initially refuses the adventure because of hesitation, fears, insecurity, or any other number of issues.Meeting the Mentor: The hero encounters a mentor that can give them advice, wisdom, information, or items that ready them for the journey ahead.Crossing the Threshold: The hero leaves their ordinary world for the first time and crosses the threshold into adventure.Tests, Allies, and Enemies: The hero learns the rules of the new world and endures tests, meets friends, and comes face-to-face with enemies.The Approach: The initial plan to take on the central conflict begins, but setbacks occur that cause the hero to try a new approach or adopt new ideas.The Ordeal: Things go wrong and added conflict is introduced. The hero experiences more difficult hurdles and obstacles, some of which may lead to a life crisis.The Reward: After surviving The Ordeal, the hero seizes the sword — a reward that they’ve earned that allows them to take on the biggest conflict. It may be a physical item or piece of knowledge or wisdom that will help them persevere.The Road Back: The hero sees the light at the end of the tunnel, but they are about to face even more tests and challenges.The Resurrection: The climax. The hero faces a final test, using everything they have learned to take on the conflict once and for all.The Return: The hero brings their knowledge or the “elixir” back to the ordinary world.Okay, onto Aliens.Note: As with any application of story structure or formula, this is just a hindsight interpretation and implementation of The Hero’s Journey to this cinematic tale. There can and will be variances.The Ordinary WorldThe Ordinary World of Aliens is unique because we’re dealing with a sequel. Ellen Ripley’s Ordinary World was initially established in the original film Alien. But the application of the Hero’s Journey still works within James Cameron’s sequel.Ripley has been suspended in hypersleep within an escape shuttle for 57 years after destroying her ship, the Nostromo, to escape a lethal alien creature that killed her crew.She is rescued, revived, and later debriefed by her employers at the Weyland-Yutani Corporation. They are skeptical of her claims that her crew found alien eggs in an alien ship on the exomoon LV-426.She’s informed that the moon is now home to a terraforming colony Hadleys Hope.Call to AdventureRipley has begun to move on with her new life. She has a job in the cargo docks of a space station running forklifts and loaders. She’s trying to settle down into a new routine, still traumatized from the events of the first film.However, the company has lost contact with the colony. Weyland-Yutani representative Carter Burke and Colonial Marine Lieutenant Gorman ask Ripley to accompany them and a platoon of Colonial Marines to investigate.Burke says that the company is willing to reinstate her as a pilot if she agrees to join the investigation.Refusal of the CallRipley is still too traumatized to relive that nightmare again. She refuses with an emotional outburst, despite Burke’s prying. She asks them to leave.Later on, Ripley awakens from another horrifying nightmare. She decides that she must face her fear and save anyone else from the fate of her deceased crew. She calls Burke and makes sure that they’re going there to exterminate any alien threat — not keep it for studying. When he ensures her that extermination is the objective, she agrees to join the expedition.Meeting the MentorRipley meets her mentor after Crossing the Threshold (see below). Aboard the spaceship USS Sulaco, she is introduced to the Colonial Marines. One, in particular, Corporal Hicks, is her mentor. Throughout the story, Hicks teaches her about military strategy and weapons. He is the ultimate soldier that gives her the knowledge and weapons she needs throughout her journey.Note: Michael Biehn was also the mentor in The Terminator;)Crossing the ThresholdRipley, Burke, and the Colonial Marines awake from their hypersleep chambers on the USS Sulaco. Ripley has left her Ordinary World and is now aboard a military ship with a platoon of Colonial Marines, the ultimate badasses of the military.Tests, Allies, and EnemiesRipley quickly learns the rules of this Special World. She has no authority, despite having survived an encounter with one of these aliens. But the Marines are all bravado. And they only work through a chain of command — one she is not part of.Many of the Marines don’t trust her. She’s not part of their tribe. But Hicks quickly takes a liking to her.Ripley proves herself in the eyes of some as she mans an exosuit cargo-loader to help load supplies into a dropship that they’ll be taking down to the surface of LV-426.When some of the Marines joke about taking on an alien threat with ease, Ripley puts them in their place quickly, communicating how serious a threat one single alien was.She quickly meets her allies in Hicks, Apone, and others. But it’s Bishop that alarms her. When she discovers that he’s an android, she looks upon him as a potential enemy, based off of the events of the first film. Bishop tries to assure her that the previous models of androids had glitches and that he could never hurt anyone. She tells him to keep his distance.The ApproachA dropship takes the expedition to the surface of LV-426. The team exits the dropship via an armored personnel carrier (APC). The Colonial Marines exit the APC and find the colony deserted. Burke, Bishop, Gorman, and Ripley stay within the APC, tracking the progress through audio and video communications.Within the colony structures, the Marines find makeshift barricades and clear signs of a battle, but there are no bodies left behind.They find two live facehuggers in containment tanks, as well as the sole survivor of whatever happened — a traumatized young girl nicknamed Newt.Newt opens up to Ripley. Her family is dead. When Ripley suggests that everything is going to be okay for her now, especially with the soldiers protecting her, Newt states, “It won’t make any difference.”The Marines get into the colony’s computer system and find signals from implants that every colonist had implanted when they arrived. Thinking they’ve found the colony survivors, the team heads to their location.The OrdealThe Marines descend into corridors that are covered in alien secretions. The corridors and the signals from the colonists’ implants lead them to the center of the station where they find the colonists cocooned, serving as incubators for the alien offspring.The Marines kill an infant alien after it bursts from a colonist’s chest. This triggers multiple adult aliens who attack the Marines, killing or capturing many of them.The inexperienced Lt. Gorman panics and Ripley assumes command as she takes control of their APC, and rams the nest to rescue Hicks, and Hudson and Vasquez.Hicks calls in the dropship to rescue them, but a stowaway alien kills the pilots in midflight. The dropship crashes into the station, nearly killing them all. The remaining group barricades themselves inside the colony structure.The RewardRipley is introduced to all of the weapons that the Marines have, all of which will play a key role in her survival. Another piece of technology will play a vital role in the latter part of the story — the locator watch that Hicks gives her.Beyond the physical rewards she receives, Ripley earns one element that surpasses all of them — the respect of the remaining members of the team. Ripley is now in charge.The Road BackKnowing that there are no colonists to save and with the impending danger of the fallout from a damaged power plant cooling system that will soon explode and destroy the colony, Ripley and the survivors discover a way to remotely control the remaining dropship that is back on the orbiting USS Sulaco.Ripley and Newt fall asleep in the medical laboratory. When they wake up, they realize that they’ve been locked in the room with the two facehuggers that have been released from their tanks.Ripley triggers a fire alarm to alert the Marines. They’re rescued, and the facehuggers are killed.It’s believed that Burke released the facehuggers so that Ripley and Newt would be impregnated, allowing him to smuggle the embryos past Earth’s quarantine. Ripley also accuses him of planning to kill the rest of the Marines so that no one could contradict his version of events.If matters couldn’t get any worse, the power suddenly goes down and the aliens breach their perimeter through the ceiling.During the firefight, Hudson is taken by an alien, never to be seen again. Burke escapes, leaving the others for dead, but he is cornered by an alien and killed.Gorman and an injured Vasquez sacrifice themselves to stall the aliens as the others escape.Hicks is severely injured by the acid blood of an alien and Newt is captured.Ripley takes Hicks to Bishop, who has successfully flown the remaining dropship in to save them.The ResurrectionDespite there being only twenty-six minutes until the impending explosion occurs, Ripley informs Bishop that they’re not leaving yet.With Hicks out of commission, Ripley has decided that she’s going back for Newt.Bishop pilots them back to the processing station. Ripley is resurrected as the sole hero, heavily arming herself with the various weapons (rewards) that Hicks introduced her to before.Another reward — the locator watch that Ripley gave to Newt to comfort her — leads Ripley to Newt’s position. She rescues her.As they escape, the two encounter the alien queen in her egg chamber. Ripley uses her flamethrower to destroy the eggs and the queen’s ovipositor.Ripley and Newt flee towards the elevator, pursued by the enraged queen. They manage to escape the station and reunite with Bishop and Hicks on the dropship.They successfully escape moments before the station explodes. The colony is consumed by a nuclear blast.Back on the USS Sulaco, they are ambushed by the queen, who stowed away in the ship’s landing gear. Bishop is torn in half by the queen, who advances towards Newt. Ripley appears — manning an exosuit cargo-loader — and battles the queen until she expels it through an airlock into space.The ReturnRipley, Newt, Hicks, and a damaged Bishop enter hypersleep for their return trip to Earth.Please follow The Tao of Screenwriting for more fun Movie/TV discussions, as well as screenwriting and film industry insights. Ask me questions. Come visit this “dojo” for screenwriting, movie, television, film/TV industry insights, inspiration, writing exercises & best practices, tips, advice, and industry hacks. This answer was adapted from an upcoming article I wrote (under a pseudonym) for The Script Lab. Check them out!

The questioner asks us Where will they go? And this is the angle I want to explore, because I think the patient portal is taking us down the road to a personal-controlled electronic medical record and this, more generally, to a veritable explosion of personal health care data. This will be, I believe, one of the most important and far-reaching trends in the 21st century.A Closer LookTo illustrate let me begin with an unlikely source, namely, Simon Cowell. This is from his Rolling Stone interview, April 6, 2006:INTERVIEWER: What do you want more than anything else in the world?COWELL: Money. As much money as I can get my hands on. It’s as simple as that.INTERVIEWER: I read that you’re worth something like $90 million. Not enough?COWELL: No.INTERVIEWER: If you could perform one miracle, what would that miracle be?COWELL: That tricky. Do I suit others or do I suit myself? If I’m being honest with you, I’d probably be to have 1 billion pounds put in my bank account, and then I’d ask the bank statement to magically appear on my desk so I could stare at it from all angles.INTERVIEWER: Do you think you’re shallow?COWELL: Yes, I do.The thing that captures my fascination with this conversation is the evocation of Simon’s gaze, intently focusing on bank balance “from all angles.” Because, really, what’s more interesting than information about ourselves? Maybe financial information now, but one day—very soon—it will be personal health data.Finance as AnalogyThe patient portal is roughly analogous to the electronic financial portal we have into our primary financial institution. You interested at all in that? Check it often? From different devices? Maybe even from all angles?Of course this financial portal is convenient, and now with more capabilities being introduced (e.g., paying bills, cashing checks, moving money) it’s becoming increasingly useful. But as a full picture of, say, our financial health, it’s incomplete, a myopic or one-dimensional view. Maybe we relate to other financial institution, maybe we have a brokerage account, a retirement fund, credit cards, loans, assets, etc.Enter a data integration application like Mint or one of its competitors and you start to get a fuller picture: a view of you assets and liabilities, your overall cash position, maybe a summary of your spending and your budget variances. But wait, there’s more: Mint will alert you to upcoming bills, maybe advise you to consider a financial product suited to your lifestyle and its corresponding habit. Maybe it will suggest you consider re-financing your house or a college fund for the kids. You get the picture. Data are aggregated, presented in an accessible and pleasing UI/UX; these same data are analyzed and interpreted and then delivered in the form of financial prescriptions that could, quite possibly, improve your economic well-being.This integration layer and the overall information sophistication of financial services are pretty decent. The healthcare industry, by contrast, is a much earlier stage of evolution. The patient portal is an important, albeit partial, step.Patient Portals Are Not all the SameAt present, patient portals are essentially online applications that allow patient to interact, transact and communicate with their healthcare providers. Thus the core functionality (potential benefit) delivered by the patient portal is to enable patients to interact with their medical information via electronic means. Additionally, as functionality gets established and use cases extend, these patient portals will potentially yield an impressive array of services, but we’re nowhere close to that now.In fact, there is a great deal of variation among patient portal at present (2013). Some patient portal applications exist as stand-alone websites. Some of these stand-alone websites may be linked to or otherwise affiliated with a sponsor, for example, an employer or a wellness program.Further distinctions get made about the connectedness or control of these portals. Some may be entirely or largely under the patient or individual’s direct control and considered, therefore, to be untethered. Other patient portals are integrated into the existing website of a healthcare provider, say, a physician or practice group or hospital. These are typically considered tethered.In a similar vein, some patient portals exist as an add-on module to an existing electronic medical record. And some vendors, like Epic, will offer both a patient portal module to its EHR (MyChart) as well as a personal health record (Lucy).Though patient portals are frequently conceived of as a module to the EHR (as illustrated in the previous example with Epic), it is just as valid and useful to conceptualize patient portals along the dimension of functionality. Some have this function, some have that; some have more, some have less.Patient Portals and Healthcare AppsThese facts on the grounds would seem to auger the rapid development and widespread availability of health care apps (available on the Web and on mobile devices) that focus on a specific use or on a more narrow range of uses.Development strategies may, therefore, bifurcate between organizations (e.g., hospital systems, medical practices, pop-up clinics, employers, wellness programs, insurers) that offers a range of what it anticipates will be popular or useful functions and use cases and the development community that focuses of very specific and targeted applications that the health care providers and consumers qua patients would select from an app store.With all these distinctions to be made, it is not surprisingly that the meaningful differences among portals, applications, electronic medical records, personal health records and even health information exchanges are starting to blur or otherwise cause confusion.At same time, each stakeholder in the healthcare system (e.g., patients, physicians, practices, hospitals, insurers) relies on the portal effectively serving the needs of other stakeholders. Better health outcomes—sought by insurers and healthcare providers—are unlikely to be forthcoming without patient engagement and utilization of the portal. Personal control sought by patients similarly depends on access to relevant data (and data originating from a variety of sources) and participation by those in the larger health ecosystem if the locus of control is to be sufficiently broad and meaningful.Whither Patient Portals?So these musing provide the basis for some preliminary conclusions about the patient portal and its future:Data richness is a key driver of the ultimate utility derived from of a patient portal. So, too, is access to the data and the capacity to add or write appropriately to it.Context counts. Utility of patient portals will also be shaped by their functionality and the context in which they are used. This utility can be captured in different ways by different stakeholders at different stages in the healthcare delivery process.User interface and user experience will separate the winners from the losers. Delivery of best experience yields a host of advantages, including patient engagement, utilization rates and improved outcomes,The Big PictureSo the patient portal really opens the door to a world in which personal health data gets big, gets shared and applied and then, ultimately, gets results.More specifically, I think we will see a proliferation of medical devices—most of them miniature or otherwise unobtrusive—and these will start to contribute or write to our medical records. Just think how much more utility this personalized health data will have as we start to get real-time data instead of the static measures that get taken at the doctor’s office or at the patient’s bedside. Devices like FitBit and Nike’s Fuelband are now getting dramatic uptake in the fitness market. I wouldn’t be surprised to see these devices or ones like them starting to attach or to write to personalized health records—perhaps through the patient portal.So personal health data will get big and get big fast. As it does it will get tapped in valuable ways. Build these data, make them accessible and the developers will come. Patients—maybe we should just call them consumers—will become empowered as they capture the data and find novel ways to apply it. Data will be shared more widely. Privacy concerns notwithstanding, personal healthcare data will get exchanged much faster, more productively within the healthcare system and beyond. The fitness and personal training market will gain deeper insights and greater relevance as they assume more data-driven approaches. Social media will similarly have its role in this data-enriched environment, connecting people to valuable resources, keeping them on track with their respective health agenda and gamifying efforts to get fit and stay well. Personal health will be less a medical monopoly as a wider network gets applied. Algorithms and artificial intelligence will have a role in screening populations, alerting people at risk and preventing potential health crises.The patient portal is a catalyst for much of this, an organizing principle for both the collection of data and the dissemination of information services and, most certainly, behavioral modification. At present, patient portals are fairly sterile conduits of limited medical information and thus probably not attracting many eyeballs, but as the data are enriched, as the UI/UX experience gets elevated, and as the data get shared and applied in engaging and helpful ways they will draw users seeking a host of benefits and, who knows, wanting to stare at it from all angles.

Throughout the year, I talk with people that I admire to learn about their life experiences so that I can share their lessons with the world.Recently I was lucky enough to sit down with Alex Cotraviwat, the Founder of Jaback Group, a holding company that owns and operates 20 subsidiaries in consumer goods, natural products, fashion, and entertainment.In his 35 years of living, Alex has experienced:Going from $67 in his pocket to becoming a multi millionaireBuilding 20 companies from scratchSelling multiple businessesAnd today, I’m excited to say that I’ll be sharing with you his top 100 insights on life and business to help you make 2019 a huge success.To make it easier to read, I’ve broken down his tips into the following sections:Business Lessons: #1-60Productivity Hacks: #61-74Life Lessons: #75-100Each of the lessons below are in his own words. My hope is that his lessons help you live an amazing life!Business Tips:Embrace the champions in your life - Years ago, when I had lost nearly everything and only had $67 left in my bank account, I remember sitting on the curb feeling like I hit rock bottom. Yuna, my wife, and Michael, my business partner, sat down next to me and told me, “If anyone can make it back, you can. Everything is going to be ok.” I lit up when they said that and replied, “You’re right. We’re going to do this again.” Two years later I bounced back and am now operating 20 companies.Use your first win to build momentum - When we first launched our clothing line, it was so incredibly hard to find a buyer for the product. After all, no one knew our brand! And our style was incredibly edgy (think hip hop combined with flashy graphic designs). However, one day, we were at a convention pitching our products and eventually found our first buyer called Sera’s Surf Shop in Hawaii. That gave us the confidence we needed. Shortly after that we began cold calling and messaging other stores and the momentum got us going!Make that call - When we did outbound sales for our clothing company, we kept reaching out to stores and eventually got into Fred Segal through a cold call. They offered to do a deal on consignment which basically means that they would only pay us if the product sold. We did the deal. Every single store said the clothing sold out in a week. Eventually other stores started to hear about this and wanted to buy the product too. Things began to turn around for our business at that moment. What would have happened if we didn’t make that cold call? We wouldn’t have built the business up, that’s for sure. Maybe for your situation it’s a LinkedIn message, an email or asking a connection to refer you. Whatever the method, make it happen!Prepare as if it’s the biggest meeting of your life - Because it could be. During one sales pitch at Metropark (a retail store company), I was sitting outside on a bench in front of their corporate office with an assistant buyer and showed her our fashion line and portfolio. I said “Our brand is perfect for your store. You’re not going to just like it. You’re going to love it.” The buyer looked at me and said, “We are not going to buy your stuff.” My heart sank for a second. Luckily at that moment, the head buyer came walking out of the office. The good news is that I had done my research and had memorized the name and face of the head buyer. Doing my homework ahead of time paid off. I ran up to the head buyer, introduced myself and asked, “I’m so sorry to bother you, but can you give me just one opportunity to show you why our products are great?” And guess what? It worked. She took me into a conference room. The CEO was sitting there. She said, “You have 15 minutes.” I replied, “I only need 5.” We ended up talking for an hour. At the end of the meeting, the CEO exclaimed, “It’s going to be a home run. Let’s get this in all 78 stores immediately. We’re not buying this just because of the product, we’re making a bet on you.” And that’s how our clothing ended up in 78 Metropark Stores. And a big part of this was because I came to that meeting prepared. #DoYourHomeworkLearn by diving in - When I started my first business (a clothing company), I wasn’t an expert in the fashion industry. Did that stop me? Absolutely not. I figured it out by diving straight into the work and learning along the way. I tapped into other experts for help and constantly pushed myself to learn as quickly as possible. The result? I was able to get my clothing line in Fred Segal and every single Metropark store. Don’t wait. Dive in and start learning on the go.Don’t let anyone tell you what you can or can’t do - Nearly everyone you meet will have an opinion on what you’re working on. Many will doubt your abilities. Don’t let that sway you. Stay focused on your big picture and work hard to achieve your dreams. This is your life. Take charge and make it happen.Don’t just aspire to make a living, aspire to make a difference - This is one of my favorite quotes from Denzel Washington. Whenever I consider launching a product or service, I ask myself, “How will this make a difference in the lives of others?” It’s a fantastic north star that helps guide me through tough business terrains.Selling is an education process - When you sell, you’re actually educating the client on what your product or service does, what benefits it’ll drive for them and then it’s up to the client to make an informed decision to buy. A great salesperson is someone who is fantastic at educating people and helping them understand what product or service will serve their company best.Selling is one of the best skills you’ll ever learn - Want to raise capital from a VC? Want to hire amazing people? Want to land that big client? Guess what? All of those involve selling. Learn to sell.Set the bar high - If you lead by example and do mediocre work, guess what happens with the rest of your team? They will think it’s okay to do mediocre work. Lead by example and set the bar high - have excellence as a part of your DNA.Happiness leads to success in the workplace - Have you heard the story about Metlife? They screened their sales job applicants with two tests, one of which was an optimism test created by Martin Seligman of UPenn. Surprisingly, the results showed that those that passed the optimism test outperformed the applicants that had only passed the aptitude test by 8%! In the second year, they outperformed in sales by 31%! Think about how you can create a happy environment to generate more success.Resilience is critical to success - There are so many hardships in building a business and in life. The key to success is being resilient enough to manage your way through each of them. One of my friends had to do over 130 meetings that were up to an hour each just to close his first 15 clients. Learn to persevere like him.Embrace the doubters in your life too - When I was a kid, one of my uncles thought I wasn’t smart enough to be successful. I heard him, but I’m glad I didn’t listen to him. I used his doubt (along with many others) to fuel my fire to become the entrepreneur that I am today.Health is your top priority - I used to work endless hours and would burn both ends of the candle. Some days I would only sleep a few hours because I was so intensely focused on building my business. This seemed to work out fine until I fainted one day and ended up in the hospital. That’s when it hit me: No matter how successful my businesses were, none of it mattered if I wasn’t healthy enough to sustain and enjoy it. Make sure your health is your #1 priority.Learn to handle financial and emotional variance - In both life and business, you will run into a ton of ups and downs like a roller coaster. It’s easy to handle when things are going great and up and to the right, but when things start to go downhill, that’s when your resolve will be tested. One of the most important things you can learn is how to handle the financial and emotional variance that will occur in your life. One of the best ways to do this is to use a technique I called “perspective framing.” Everytime you run into what seems like a major issue, try to frame the concern you have with a new perspective and ask, “Will this issue matter in the long term and what can I do to recover from this?”Take pride in your work - One of the best ways to stress test whether or not your product is ready to ship and go live is to ask, “Is this something you’re proud of creating?” When the answer is yes, that’s when you know you’re ready to go! When I first started making t-shirts for my clothing line, I would always make sure that the designs were so beautiful and cool that I would want to personally wear it myself in public.Be an “owner” in the business - One of my first jobs was as a salesperson at Mervyn’s. I realized that being a great employee was about owning the process and really being an “owner” in the business. I made sure I was always on time, everything was folded correctly, the store was pristine and the team was happy and felt heard. Because I took it so seriously, I quickly became the #1 salesperson in new accounts opened in the nation. Even when you’re first starting out, act like an owner in the business. It’ll elevate you to the next level.Batch your work - Have you ever been inundated with incoming emails and found yourself responding to each of those as they come in? It’s incredibly painful and very unproductive. One great way to overcome this issue of being too reactive is to batch your work. For example, you could check your email only every 4 hours so that you respond to all the new emails then. And just in case you get an urgent message, you can set your auto reply email to tell people to text you in case of emergencies. Batching your work can be incredibly helpful in lifting productivity.Genuinely care about others - One of reasons I’ve been able to build an incredible team that stays together for so long is because they know how much I genuinely care about them. I’ll make sure to tell them how grateful I am for their work and how incredible they are at what they do. I’ll also take the time to listen to any issues they could be running into. Remember that building deep and meaningful relationships are absolutely critical in building a great business.Dream big - We only live once, so why not dream big? And I mean “big” based on your own definition. It’ll be great to look back on your life one day and to say “I really gave it my all and went after the dream life I’ve always wanted.”Identify market transitions early - One incredibly important aspect of business is to recognize when market trends are occurring. For example, I noticed recently that healthy, plant based eating was becoming incredibly popular. So what did I do? I started companies that had a tremendous focus on delivering the best plant based food products to the market. As Wayne Gretzky would say, “Skate to where the puck is going, not where it has been.”Failure can teach valuable lessons - Don’t dwell on your failures. Instead think about what you can learn from those failures. Failures are not a complete roadblock. They’re just speed bumps in your journey of life.Inspiration can come from any moment - One day, my trainer Wendi walked in and showed me one of her new food ideas. I tasted it and absolutely loved it. Soon after, we became business partners and that food idea is one of our most successful plant based products. That’s when I realized that inspiration can truly come from any moment!Trust your team - As your team or company grows, you need to learn to truly trust your teammates and staff and to delegate key responsibilities to them. That’s the only way you’ll be able to scale effectively. Train and empower people to make the right decisions for the business.If it at first you don’t succeed, iterate - Sometimes you’ll get it wrong. That’s okay. Iterate and make it better. There’s a reason they call it a minimum viable product.Use a data driven methodology - Everyone has an opinion. The question is, which one is right? Lean on data to help you make the right decision. #AnalyticsAreYourBestFriendEvery day is an opportunity to learn - Read a book on leadership. Watch an informational Youtube video on content marketing. Listen to a podcast on engineering. Sit down with a mentor over coffee. Push yourself to be genuinely curious about the world and learn skills that can take you to the next level.Learn to say no to things - You have a finite amount of resources, time and energy. You’re not going to be able to do it all. Focus on what really matters and learn to say no to things that don’t. You’ll be better for it.Focus on what’s best for the customer - When you run into a tough question, a great way to find the answer is to think about what’s going to be best for the customer.Prioritize for impact first - You’re always going to have a huge “to-do” list. I know I do. Instead of trying to do every single thing on that list, ask yourself - which are the the most critical items to handle first? Which ones will have the most impact on the business? Force yourself to prioritize that list so that you optimize for impact.Remember the importance of building a brand - Whether it’s your business brand or your personal brand, ask yourself, “what does your brand stand for?” If you don’t know, one great way to find out is to ask your network of friends or your clients in a survey or email.Surround yourself with those that lift you up and inspire you - My mom worked two jobs most of her life so that she could provide for our family. Her sacrifice constantly inspires me to be the absolute best that I can be. Whenever the going gets rough, I think back to all the sacrifices she made and it keeps me going.Understand that time is the most valuable currency you have - Once you spend it, it’s truly gone. Be very thoughtful and careful about how you spend your time. Are you spending it with loved ones? Are you spending it on initiatives that make an impact on the world? Are you spending it in a way that gets you closer to financial freedom? I’m not here to tell you how to use your time, but I am asking you to think carefully about whether or not you’re using it in the way that brings you joy and fulfillment.Focus on serving the customer - Without your customer, you have nothing. Always remember to focus on their needs intensely.Shift from self limiting beliefs to a growth mindset - Have you ever told yourself you’re simply not good enough? Stop the self limiting beliefs. Instead of saying that, ask yourself, “What can I do to grow as a person?” Embrace the growth mindset.Invest in your team’s success - Train people. Coach them. Empower them. The more you invest in people to fuel their growth, the better the outcome for your business.Learn to delay gratification - Walter Mischel, a Stanford Professor, began a slate of psychological studies in the 1960s, one of which was called the Marshmallow Experiment. Basically there was a group of kids in the study and each of them was given a marshmallow. The researcher then told them that if they waited, he would reward them with a second marshmallow. However, if they ate the marshmallow he had given them before he came back, there would be no second marshmallow. The results were astonishing. The group of children who delayed gratification and waited for the second marshmallow ended up generally scoring better in the areas of obesity, SAT Scores, substance abuse, social skills and a better response to stress.Hustle is one of the key ingredients to success - But not the only one. To make it in this world, you’ll have to work hard. But working hard and smart is even more important.Be transparent with others - Be willing to share the good and bad news with people. While it may be tough to deliver bad news, people will respect you for your transparency.Empathy is key to connecting with others - You won’t always have the answers to someone’s problems. And that’s totally okay. What you can do is listen intently to others, let them know that their voice is heard and feel what they’re going through. Empathy is hugely important if you want to build deep relationships with others.Celebrate your success along the way - Don’t get so focused on the big picture to the point that you forget to celebrate all the little wins along the way. Take your team out to lunch, recognize them with awards during meetings or send out a congratulatory video. This can rally people and lift morale to new heights.Having a clear purpose can be a huge driving force - When you discovery and understand your why, it’s one of the most beautiful moments in the world. Because your “why” will help drive you forward. My “why” is to make sure that I can help retire and take care of my parents for the long term and to make a difference in people’s lives. That drives me every single day. Use purpose to propel you forward. What’s your purpose?Recognize the achievements of others - People can’t stand it when someone else takes credit for their work. Make sure you give out proper recognition for the achievement of others.Time bound your debates - Ever run into a problem with making decisions quickly? One way you can address is by time bounding your debates. For example, you could set a deadline of 3 days to discuss a really important company initiative. However, once those 3 days are up, you have to make a decision to make sure you move things forward quickly.Recognize that sometimes you need a little luck too - Sometimes you can do all the right things in terms of preparation and execution. And it still may not work out. Not until you get a little bit of luck at least. But here’s the thing, the luck only matters when your opportunity arrives and you’ve done the prep work. So always put yourself in the best possible position preparation wise.Push yourself to learn from the best - Be humble and curious about how other top performers think and act. You can always learn more in this world. I recently became a co-founder of an entertainment company called “Third Culture Content” which recently produced an award winning series called “Dramaworld” currently streaming on Netflix. I push myself to learn as much as possible from the other co-founders (Sean Richard Dulake and Chris Martin) and our team members and partners who have had tremendous success in the industry.Go against the grain - If you do what everyone else is doing in business, chances are you’ll have a hard time standing out. Challenge yourself to go against the grain and have clear differentiators against your competitors.Be willing to experiment - “If you double the number of experiments you do per year you’re going to double your inventiveness,” said Jeff Bezos. Try out new ideas to make sure you’re driving innovation at your company.Be willing to play the long game - Success doesn’t happen overnight. Be willing to be patient. Put in the work every single day and remember that it’s a long game.Make sure your vision is clear to your teams - Does your team know what your long term goals and vision are for the company? It’s important to communicate this consistently to the team so that everyone is aligned.Always stay close to the customer - One of the biggest reasons large companies end up failing is because they don’t stay close to the customer and innovate based on the changing needs of their client. Always make sure you’re in front of your customers and understand their challenges and goals. Change is inevitable, make sure you get ahead of it!Inspire others as a leader - Sure, you can coach people how to do the job or teach them the skills they need to perform well in their role. But one really important part of leadership is inspiring people to bring their best to work every day. You can inspire others through powerful storytelling, reminding them of their “why” or leading through your actions.Be brutally honest about challenges and issues - If you put your problems to the side and never address them head on, they can fester and become worst. Be transparent and share what’s going on with your team so that you can tackle it head on together.Focus on quality - Steve Jobs once said, “Be a yardstick of quality. Some people aren't used to an environment where excellence is expected.” Set a high quality bar for everyone so that folks work really hard towards their aspirational goals.Know your elevator pitch - You never know who you might meet in an elevator or on the airplane. Always be ready with your best elevator pitch. It could end up being one of your biggest clients.Learn to test for product market fit - Is the market you’re going after a good one? Does the product or service you’re offering solve the customer problem efficiently? Does it provide substantial value? Test for product market fit.Love the process - One of my favorite quotes is from Gary Vaynerchuk: “Enjoying the process is the key to happiness.” Learn to love the process. If you can’t, maybe it’s time to find a new one.Make your product “remarkable” - Is your product so amazing that someone will talk about it to someone else? Make it that remarkable. Paid acquisition will only get you so far and the only way to truly build a sustainable business is to start with a great product that helps your clients.Build systems - If you left your business today, could it still function at a high level because you’ve put in a place a system that anyone could learn? Focus on building systems so that you can step away from the business when needed.Don’t burn that bridge - Sometimes people will do something wrong towards you. It will suck. But you need to let it go. It’s simply not worth it in the long run to burn bridges. Instead, spend that energy on building something awesome!Tackle the most important tasks in the morning - I always front load the hardest and most important business issues in the early morning. This is because I’m the sharpest during the early part of the day. Better to spend 1 hour in the morning on a problem than 3 hours in the afternoon because you’re simply not as sharp then.Focus on a strong start to the day - For me, working out in the morning, meditating and eating a healthy breakfast is my way of having a strong start to the day. I’ll have a much more clear and focused mind and my productivity is usually through the roof.Focus on the details - One of my favorite quotes is from Jack Dorsey: “Make every detail perfect and limit the number of details to perfect.” Keep things simple and do them incredibly well.Exceed expectations - Larry Page once said, “Always deliver more than expected.” When you exceed expectations, it leads to a happy client. And when they’re happy, they’re more likely to refer you to others. Go above and beyond for your clients.Turn off your mobile notifications - Have you ever been in an awesome workflow only to be interrupted by a mobile app notification? I know I have. Make sure you turn it off so that you can focus for an extended period of time.Subscribe only to newsletters that really make a difference - If you have to spend 30 minutes a day filtering out the junk mail in your inbox, that’s a lot of wasted productivity! Ask yourself, “Do I really need to subscribe to this site?”Use scheduling tools to free up time - Have you ever exchanged multiple emails with someone trying to coordinate a meeting time? It can take quite a bit of time! Especially when someone forgets to respond with their schedule. Use tools like Calendly or Doodle where someone can easily schedule a time with you through a simple link.Take breaks every hour - Studies have shown that overworking yourself can lead to a multitude of health problems such as depression, impaired sleep, heart disease and weakened memory. Make sure you work in breaks into your work schedule.Get a blender - When work gets really busy, it’s hard to find the energy and time to cook a healthy meal for yourself. But if you have a really nice blender, you can easily make green smoothies for yourself to ensure your get your daily dose of fruits and vegetables. The best part? It only takes a few minutes to make and the mess is very minimal!Create a “stop doing” list - This is a fantastic way to ensure you don’t end up spending your time on activities that don’t lead to a productive life.Block out time on your calendar for critical items - For most people, we follow what we put on our calendar. So if you block out a critical activity (for example, like respond to customer emails) from 3 to 5 PM, you’ll know that you have to dedicate that specific time block to that activity.Break it down - Sometimes big goals are really overwhelming. Make sure you break those down into small goals that you can more quickly achieve. This will give you a sense of great accomplishment when you complete them and give you something to celebrate along the way.Leverage a virtual assistant - Make sure you spend your time on the most important aspects of your business where you can generate the most return and impact. If you can, try to delegate other non critical tasks to a virtual assistant to reduce your workload.Take a cold shower in the morning - This is one of the fastest ways to wake yourself up and to sharpen your mind for the day.When in doubt, tell someone you need more time to think about it - You’ll have to make a lot of important decisions in life. Why rush it? Don’t make big life decisions quickly on the spot. Tell people you need more time to think about it so that you can be thoughtful about your answer and to make sure it aligns to your life goals and values.You don’t know until you try - Don’t paralyze your decision making by doing too much planning in life. The reality is that at the end of the day, you don’t really know how things are going to work out until you actually give it a try. Take that leap forward and give it a go.Our paths to success are not linear - Don’t compare yourself to others. Everyone has a unique path to success. Focus on your own journey and be the best version of yourself that you can. Also recognize that your journey can look completely different from others. Here are the jobs and businesses I’ve worked in or started in the past: salesperson at Mervyn’s, salesperson at a body shop, car racing team, clothing company and plant based food company. Pretty unconventional, I’d say!Emotional intelligence is incredibly important - It’s great to have a high IQ and to be book smart. But do you have a strong EQ? Are you self aware and do you have the capacity to control and express your emotions? Can you handle interpersonal relationships with a strong sense of empathy and good judgment? Learn to develop your EQ.Nourish your mind with learning - There is an endless amount of amazing content that can help you learn how to live a better life. Need tips on how to stand out in marketing? Read Seth Godin’s “Purple Cow.” Need motivation to go out there and make your dreams happen? Get inspiration from YouTube videos from Gary Vaynerchuk. Want to learn how entrepreneurs built their businesses? Listen to a podcast like Mixergy. There is a wealth information out there that you can learn from.Recognize that you won’t be able to make everyone happy - There will be people that disagree with you or don’t like something that you did. And that’s okay. There will almost always be some people in this world you can’t make happy.Always do the right thing - Whether it’s in your business or personal life, always do the right thing. Even if things don’t work out, you’ll be able to look yourself in the mirror and feel great about about the process.Focus on improving every single day - What if you learned one new skill every single day? That’s 365 new skills learned in year! Or what if you practiced a specific skill every day for a year? You’d be dramatically better by the end of the year. Daily improvement compounds over time.Know that a simple life is a good one - The more stuff you have, the more overhead you have. For example, have multiple cars? That’s a lot of insurance payments and high maintenance costs. A ton of clothes? You’ll need a lot more closet space. Keep things simple in life. It’ll reduce the amount of headaches you have.Have a strong foundation of values to stand by - Having and knowing your core set of values in life is important. Anytime you run into a tough challenge, you can ask yourself, “does this align to my values?”Practice gratitude daily - Every morning, I take a moment to think of 3 things I’m grateful for. For example, today I was grateful for my health, my family and the opportunity to make an impact on the world. Gratitude will keep you grounded.Remember to give back - At the end of the day, there are only so many things and experiences you can buy for yourself. Once you are comfortable in life, do what you can to give back to the community. Giving is one of the most rewarding experiences in life.Stay true to yourself and be authentic - It’s simply too exhausting for you to be someone you’re not over the long term. Not only is acting like someone else incredibly tiring, but people will be able to see through the lack of authenticity. You are uniquely awesome. Remember that and stay true to yourself.Engage in activities that build your confidence - For example, my friend will take a workout class like Orange Theory or CorePower Yoga that challenges him intensely. The feeling of accomplishing the class is tremendous and builds up his overall confidence as a person - which has positive ripple effects elsewhere in life! For example, if you’re able to get through one of the toughest workouts in your life, what else will you be capable of? Make sure you partake in activities that build up your confidence.Be willing to admit when you are wrong - Don’t be stubborn, if you’re wrong, own up to it and learn what you can do better next time around. People will respect you more this way.You have a gift to share with the world - So share it. Lift up others and help them live a better life.Have fun along the way - Life is too short to spend your working hours on something that makes you miserable. At a minimum, you’ll probably spend about 24% of your total time on work, so make sure you’re doing work that you love and enjoy. And remember to have fun. Whether it’s hosting a celebratory team dinner, high fiving a staff member for crushing it or having a “Secret Santa” event at work, engage in activities that remind people to enjoy the process.Be willing to take risks - No risk, no reward. Get comfortable with taking on risk. Just make sure you take smart risks that give you the best chance of success.Invest and bet on yourself - Sure, the stock market is a great place to invest in, but it’s impossible to predict how it’s going to perform every year. It’s even tougher to predict how individual companies will do. That’s why my preference is to invest in and bet on myself. By doing that, you can directly control your own path to success. It’s much tougher to do that as a public shareholder of another company.Learn from the past, enjoy the present, prepare for the future - Enough said.Learning to persevere can be game changing - You will face a lot of tough times in life. Sometimes it won’t feel fair. Sometimes it’ll hurt a lot. Sometimes you’ll want to give up. Don’t. Remember that even in hardship there are lessons to be learned. It’ll shape you into the person you were meant to be. So persevere and keep moving forward. You’ll be better for it.Be kind to people - Smile at someone. Ask them how their day went (and be genuinely curious to hear their response). Tell your friend how much they mean to you. Tell your parents how thankful you are for their support. Being kind doesn’t take much, but it can make all the difference.Tune out your inner critic - One of my favorite quotes from Will Smith is: “The first step is you have to say that you can.” Turn off the voice of your inner critic and believe in yourself.Listen more than you speak - Seek to understand people first before your speak.You control your destiny - Remember, this is your life. It’s up to you on how it turns out. Don’t make excuses. Do make the effort.Seize this moment - Now is the time to take action. Now is the moment your journey begins. Now is the time make an impact on the world. Don’t wait. Take action. Now.