Personal Growth: Here Are Some People To Follow, Things To Read, Videos To Watch

A dear friend of mine had a very rough 2020; he had to shut down his restaurant, and then his liquor store burned down a few months later.

At one point during that period, he asked me about the stuff I read and listen to that I had talked about many times previously. So I emailed him a list of my favorites, and I have sent this to other friends a handful of times since.

Then I posted it to Facebook.?

Then I shared it with my new team once I got to Pittsburgh late last year.

And I was reminded of it when I caught up last week with an old college acquaintance who asked me if I was familiar with Steve Harvey's great "You Gotta Jump" video. I had seen it. I had no idea Harvey was a motivator until I stumbled across several of his great speeches on Youtube a few years ago.

Some of these people are motivational speakers like Harvey, some are entrepreneurs, some have great insights on mental health and happiness, others talk about productivity and efficiency. I'm sure you'll find a couple people from this list below to be helpful:

+ Simon Sinek: Motivational, infinite mindset.

+ Gary Vaynerchuk: Personal accountability, entrepreneurism. He's a little brash and has plenty of critics, but he's got some good messages, and he's an interesting follow on social.

+ Jim Kwik: Brain behaviorist, big proponent of morning routines (that include cold showers and brushing your teeth with your off hand in order to stimulate your brain).

+ Joe Rogan: He's become a great interviewer with arguably the most popular podcast (for male listeners, at least) but it's not just his guests. He has a lot of his own good thoughts, deep thoughts. Just a really smart thinker, his recent slips notwithstanding.

+ Jordan Peterson: Psychologist, behaviorist. Super smart. Has overcome some of his own dark struggles and is a frequent guest on Rogan and has plenty of his own content out there.?

+ Tony Robbins: Master motivational speaker.

+ Jim Rohn: He was Tony Robbins' mentor and one of his great beliefs is that to get better at work or in school etc., you don't work on your work or your school, you work on yourself. Also, regarding goal-setting, you don't set a goal just to attain that goal in a vacuum. You set it in order to challenge yourself to become the person you think you need to become in order to reach the goal. So each goal is essentially two goals.

+ Ed Mylett: Entrepreneur, billionaire, has a lot of good motivational content online.

+ Andy Frisella: Same as Mylett above.

+ David Goggins: The decorated Navy SEAL whose book I read last year. He's a badass and sometimes his stuff can feel over the top, but it's better than the alternative.

+ The last three guys -- Mylett, Frisella, Goggins -- are all about personal accountability. Get off the couch. Stop complaining, put yourself out there, take a chance, seek discomfort, keep moving, stop trying to be comfortable, boss mindset over bitch mindset (Their words not mine!). There's definitely some machismo there, which could be off-putting to some. It may not be my style, but who's to say we shouldn't reinvent ourselves? The "seek discomfort" approach really has stuck with me, even prompting me to de-clutter and clear out my basement and do CrossFit last year! It's good to incorporate new things into your routine, especially in your hours away from work. Stretch new muscles, evolve into a better version of yourself.

BTW, did you know that for the average office drone, when we come home from work, let's say we have three hours of our own time each night, five nights a week. That's almost 800 hours in a year. Do you watch Netflix? Do you work out? Do you practice your passion/hobby? Don't waste those 800 hours.

Alright, if you’ve read this far, thank you very much. I love talking about this stuff. Hope you enjoyed the read and that you find some of these people helpful.