To summarize, Ted grew up in Brooklyn the son of immigrant parents. Through hard work and fortunate timing he was very successful at a young age. But he wasn’t happy. A near death experience opened his eyes to his second chance at life and he decided to dedicate himself to being happy.

Ted’s theory is to not confuse being successful with being happy. He was successful, but not happy. Ted theorizes that successful people are not happy because they are successful, they are successful because they are happy.

Ted is an interesting guy. He’s done a lot! His insights into his time as Chairman at AOL gave me new found respect for that company. His story shows that hard work does pay off, but that there’s more to life than just achieving financial and professional goals.

After his near death experience, Ted creates a “list”. 101 and things he wanted to do before he dies. He admits many items did not generate happiness (own a Ferrari), but that he created the list at 28 and he’s been faithful on following through. The fact that he did follow through on his list when given an opportunity to achieve one of his goals fortuitously protected a large portion of his wealth during the dot com bust.

The book is broken in two parts. The first part is mostly autobiographical. An interesting read. The second half the author breaks down the six things he believes creates happiness.

This was a good and quick read. I recommend it!

Not shown but still on the list is: Reality Marketing Revolution.

To this list I would also add Free: The Future of a Radical Price and The Long Tail: Why the Future of Business is Selling Less of More by Chris Anderson, the editor of Wired Magazine.

Links to the books in the picture above:

Meditation in a New York Minute: Super Calm for the Super Busy
Nurturing Customer Relationships
The 4-Hour Workweek
The Ultimate Sales Machine: Turbocharge Your Business with Relentless Focus on 12 Key Strategies
Pricing with Confidence
Built to Last: Successful Habits of Visionary Companies
Hidden Champions of the Twenty-First Century: The Success Strategies of Unknown World Market Leaders
Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap… and Others Don’t

Both GTD and Inbox Zero are popular time, task and email management methodologies. Inbox Zero focuses on the challenges of managing an unmanageable amount of email. Getting Things Done is broader based, focusing on simple next step actions: Collect, Process, Organize, Review and Do.

We encourage you to take a few minutes to review the website for Inbox Zero and the Amazon reviews for Getting Things Done.

Using technology to further your business sometimes requires also reevaluating your processes and techniques for more efficient ways of managing information. Considering the current state of most people’s email boxes we find starting with email is a great first step!

Along with these techniques also consider the extra advantage of Google Apps. Simply put, Google Apps email is more GTD and Inbox Zero friendly than Microsoft Exchange and Outlook.

To learn more about any of these items or discuss Google Apps for your business, please contact us! 858-270-3595.