Table of Contents
1 A Manifesto for the Everyday Hero within You 3
2 Being Faithful to Your Ideals Is a Force-Multiplier 6
3 The Final Hours of Your Defeatable Self 19
4 It's Okay Not to Be Okay 22
5 The Gold Miner's Paradox 24
6 The Victim-to-Hero Leap 27
7 That Time My Private Journals Were Taken 34
8 Instruction from Heavyweight Mentors 37
9 The Joy of Being Laughed At 44
10 The Orson Welles Memo 45
11 Nothing's Perfect 47
12 The Chestnut Seller Doctrine 49
13 The IPOP Principle for Accelerated Positivity 53
14 Stop Calling Your Genius Sh*t 56
15 What J. K. Rowling Taught Me about Relentlessness 59
16 Guard Good Health like a Pro Athlete 62
17 My Four Chocolate Croissant Evening 73
18 A Contrarian Philosophy for Mastering Unexpected Change 77
19 You're Absolutely More than Enough 80
20 The Starter's Activation Declaration 83
21 The Very Good Bearded Man in the Really Cool Baseball Cap 86
22 Train with Stronger Teachers 89
23 A Red Flag Is a Red Flag 92
24 The Shortest Chapter in the History of Creativity? 95
25 The Rule-Bender's Hypothesis 96
26 Have Bravery like Swifty 100
27 A Teacher Called Trauma 102
28 The People Builder's Mantra 107
29 The 7 Threats to World-Class 110
30 Expect Ungrateful 118
31 That Time I Was Left Alone at the Top of a Mountain 120
32 The Peak Productivity Strategies Pyramid 125
33 Join the Hope Brigade 141
34 40 Things I Wish I'd Known at 40 143
35 The Misty Copeland Confidence-Making Technique 147
36 The 40 Copies of a Single Book Habit 149
37 The Meaning of Disgrace 152
38 A Basic Motto for Stunning Prosperity 154
39 Hug the Monster 155
40 The 4-Figure Dessert Rule 159
41 Don't Be a Sloth 161
42 Ben Franklin's 13-Virtue Habit Installer 163
43 The Peacock's Complaint 168
44 The Most Costly Conflict 169
45 Kill Your Darlings 171
46 Avoid the Third Reward 175
47 To Heat Your Once Wide-Open Heart Makes You a Great Master 177
48 What I Learned from Leonardo's Private Notebooks 187
49 The "You Won't Win If You Don't Even Try" Attitude 191
50 The Hard Worker Who Never Got Any Better 194
51 The Dark Sides of Your Upsides 197
52 The 3 Step Success Formula (and My Broccoli-Eating Behavior) 200
53 What I Think About When I Think About Difficulty 205
54 Why I Write to Heartbreak Country Music 213
55 The Patient Who Blinked a Book 215
56 The Possibilitarian's Secret 217
57 The Big Lie of Positive Thinking 223
58 That Time I Went Camping 228
59 The 13 Hidden Traits of the Billionaires I've Advised 231
60 The 8 Forms of Wealth 239
61 The Algorithm for a Beautifully Balanced Life 246
62 The "Just Because" Code for Everyday Heroes 254
63 Deaths Just a Hotel Room Upgrade 257
64 Why Aristotle Slept on the Floor 260
65 Shatter Your Winning Formula like Miles Davis 264
66 The Antifragile Artist in the Shiny Purple Suit 266
67 The Keep Your Fire Blazing Theory for a Lifetime of Audacity 270
68 How Heavyweights Work 272
69 The Little Things Are the Big Things 275
70 Become a Creative Athlete 277
71 How SuperProducers Do It 279
72 Escape Post-Moonwalk Astronaut Affliction 284
73 Resilience Lessons from the Human Who Lost His Face 286
74 Charles Darwin and the Extreme Agility Advantage 290
75 The Free Money Model for Advanced Prosperity 293
76 Put Down Your Phone and Talk to a Person 299
77 The Shortest Chapter in the History of Productivity 301
78 Business Is a Beautiful War 302
79 Be Serious When You're Serious 304
80 The 4 Major Communication Practices of Movement-Makers 306
81 That Time I Learned How to Surrender 311
82 You Never Know Who Is Standing in Front of You 314
83 The GCA Index for A-Lister Performance 316
84 Steve Jobs's Last 6 Words 321
85 When Things Seem Hard, Trust Your Strength 323
86 You Can't Inspire If You're De-inspired 326
87 The Six Months Left to Live Question 332
88 Fame and Fortune for a Line on Your Tombstone? 335
89 Resist the Titan's Decline 337
90 The Necessity of Artistic Unpopularity 342
91 The Troll Deconstxuction 344
92 That Time I Met Muhammad Ali 349
93 Don't Worry about Your Legacy 353
94 A Hero Named Desmond Tutu 355
95 The Life Regrets of People on Their Deathbeds 357
96 The Good You Do Lasts a Lifetime 362
97 Be Happy to See Live People 365
98 Verses of the Everyday Hero Who Can't Be Defeated 366
99 Windows of Opportunity and Your Second Chances 368
100 Be Not a Dream Postponer 373
101 A Philosophy for Returning to Human 375
What's Next on Your Heroic Adventure? 377
Fuel Your Rise by Reading 379
Appendix 1 My 25 Books to Read Before You Die List 380
Appendix 2 My 25 Favorite Films 382
Appendix 3 My 25 Favorite Documentaries 383
About the Author 385
