My friend Bryan Yager is from Boise, Idaho where he lives and travels out to the world as a consultant and trainer for some great organizations like Expedia, Albertsons, Arthur Anderson, and Microsoft. I had invited Bryan to Phoenix to speak to my leadership team. He did an outstanding job challenging us to think differently, especially when we were dealing with people who “Just don’t get it!” We found out a lot about Bryan that afternoon, including his disdain for law-abiding citizens who travel the speed limit in the left lane.

During this interview, Bryan and I talked about working on your business instead of in your business, the challenges of moving into a leadership position, being good “doers” instead of good managers, and a host of other topics.

During the interview we referenced the following resources: I would suggest you consider reading and/or using them.

Who Moved My Cheese?

This is the book that Bryan’s wife told him to stop reading! See why dozens of people I have talked to say this book changed their life.

Getting Things Done

This book literally changed the way that I approach my daily tasks and my life. It has improved my productivity by 200% or more. It is the only way that I can juggle my family obligations, a 50+ hour workweek at my full-time job, a full load at Northern Arizona University, and the honor of serving Elevate Phoenix as a board member….. Oh yeah, this whole blog/podcast thing.  I am a David Allen EVANGELIST!!! I have literally bought and given away more than 50 copies of this life-altering book in my career.  In fact, the first person that comments at the end of this page with the words, “Please send me a free copy of David Allen’s Getting Things Done” will get a free copy. Just email me your mailing address after I acknowledge you in the comments.

 Nozbe

Nozbe is a phenomenal task/project management tool that my entire Executive Team uses every day. Did I mention it was designed by a David Allen evangelist? When Getting Things Done first came out, it was the era of paper planners and manila files. Nozbe takes Mr. Allen’s seminal work into the digital age.  I would be lost without it!  It is $8/Month or $96/Year. Just click on the picture to the left

Evernote

I can’t believe that there was a time before I used Evernote! It allows me to clip webpages, insert emails, add my own typed notes, add pictures, leave myself voice notes, and make annotations on all of them.  The full paid version of Evernote is a steal at $5/month or $45/year. Again, just click the picture to the left.

Evernote Essentials

Evernote is very intuitive…. but if you want to supercharge your Evernote experience, I can’t recommend Brett Kelly’s Evernote Essentials Ebook enough. It will get you to Evernote Ninja status in an afternoon! For the cost of an album on iTunes, you won’t have to go through the learning curve. Just click the banner to the left and get after it!!!

 Elevate Phoenix

If you have enjoyed this podcast (or any of my other podcasts/blogs) please consider making a donation to Elevate! This group of people are truly impacting the urban youth of Phoenix and making the world a better place. Don’t believe me? I dare you to schedule a school visit! You can leave a comment at the end that indicates you want to come out and see this world-altering organization at work. I will be your personal host! To learn more (and make a donation) just click the picture to the left.