Diary of a CEO
Rating: 3.5 / 5 stars
Read more on Amazon | Subscribe to my monthly newsletter
High-Level Thoughts
Great read on the fundamentals of life. Chapters are short and precise with notable quotes from inspirational figures. Some laws were questionable such as “Create a Cult Mentality”, whereas others like “Never compromise your story,” were pivotal. Contains snippets of wisdom for anyone navigating business and relationships, especially people in their 20s. Would re-read some laws again.
“The most convincing sign that someone will achieve new results in the future is new behavior in the present.”
Top 5 Laws Summary
Law 1: Fill your five buckets in the right order
The five buckets. The following five buckets are the pitchers we fill to build our wealth. We need to fill our buckets to have the wealth necessary to support others. The five buckets are the following:
What you know (your knowledge)
What you can do (your skills)
Who you know (your network)
What you have (your resources)
What the world thinks of you (your reputation)
Professional Earthquakes. A professional earthquake is an unpredictable career event that adversely impacts you. This can be any new factor entering your playfield such as a technological innovation, being fired by your employer, or your company going under. A professional earthquake can impact the latter 3 buckets, but it can never remove your knowledge and unlearn your skills.
Filling your buckets. Fill your buckets according to the order listed above. Applied knowledge leads to skills. Skills lead to creating more value and expanding your network and resources. This will then provide you with a more robust reputation.
Law 7: Never Compromise Your Self-Story
Self-Story. Your self-story is the beliefs and perceptions you have of yourself based on the events in your life. This concept is commonly known as the ‘self-concept’ in psychology. The self-story brings you mental fortitude and grit for future challenges you may face. An example of this is when Chris Eubank Jr, championship boxer, speaks about how 80% of being a fighter is mental. The walk alone takes huge mental strength to fight in front of millions of people.
Developing Grit. The actions you conduct with or without an audience provide evidence to you about who you are and what you’re capable of. Continue to show up regardless of whether somebody is watching or not. These actions reinforce the self-story you believe in. The ability to push even when adversity meets you in the day-to-day further develops the grit mentality for future obstacles you may face.
The Feedback Loop. Self Story → Thoughts and feelings → Actions → Evidence → Self Story. The self-story you tell yourself affects everything else in your life. Addressing this and doing the inner work expands into other areas of your life one step at a time. A positive self-story derives mental toughness for enduring success.
Law 11: Avoid Wallpaper At All Costs
Habituation. Habituation is a neurological device that helps us focus on what matters and tunes out the things that our brain doesn’t need to focus on. The brain adjusts to repeated stimuli by ignoring or downgrading their significance. This frees up mental capacity for other activities we deem more worthwhile later on.
Semantic Satiation. The meaning of a word or phrase becomes temporarily inaccessible due to repetition and the brain’s inclination to tune out of things it doesn’t need to commit to. Fear slows down the habituation and semantic satiation process because there is a strong association of danger with the word.
Mere Exposure Effect. We tend to develop a preference for things or people that are more familiar to us because of repeated exposure. There is a middle ground of grabbing our attention and familiarity which is considered the optimal level of exposure.
Bypassing Habituation. The more specific, revealing, and thought-provoking you are with your brain bypasses the habituation process. Call to reciprocity - asking for something after others feel you’ve done something for them & future reward provides more incentive to change tendencies.
Law 24: You Must Make Pressure Your Privilege
Training. Human beings were not meant to be in acclimate conditions all the time. They were meant to be pushed in both extremely cold and hot conditions. Training yourself in these environments further prepares you for the trials ahead.
Health benefits. A ‘stress in enhancing’ mindset changes our relationship and the effects stress has on our body. Rather than being something that causes us to crush under pressure, it instead does the opposite.
Privilege. Pressure is provided through the subjective opportunity you have with your responsibilities. Not everyone has this opportunity. It is a gift presented to us in our situation.
Law 27: The Discipline Equation: Death, Time, and Discipline!
Finite Lifespan. Reminding yourself how many days, weeks, months, or years you statistically have remaining on this earth gives you the perspective of the ticking clock. This reminder allows you to reprioritize where you dedicate your time.
Discipline is an ongoing commitment. Ongoing commitment to the goal is like waking up every day and doing your chores. The chores will continue to be there every following day, and it is a choice to continue pursuing the desired goal.
The discipline equation. Discipline = the value of the goal + the reward of the pursuit - the cost of the pursuit. The innate value and the reward are both incentivizing; however, the reward of the pursuit also has a cost. The intrinsic value alleviates this by having another adding force.
