“The difference between ordinary and extraordinary is a little extra” ~ Jim Rohn
I read this quote often and ask myself am I doing a little extra here and there. Is there a little extra I could add to this project to make it extraordinary?
In my journey, I’ve come across some people that aren’t on the usual Times or Esquire Magazine cover.
You have probably never heard of the 10 people I’ve listed below, but you will definitely want to learn more about them and what they do. They are ordinary people that have done some extraordinary things. They may inspire you to do some extraordinary things as well.
As a bonus, I added 10 people that you may or may not know. They have also influenced my thinking this past year.
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On to the introductions:
I’ve met the first five people in person and they have had an impact on my thinking
Lee Egbert @milemarker111 http://www.dashfirebitters.com/
img credit http://heavytable.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/dashfire-lee-egbert-325.jpg
Lee has a passion for whisky. A couple years ago he started making his own Whisky bitters. Today, Dashfire bitters ship all over the world. How was Lee able to get all this going? For as long as I have known Lee he has aways had an entrepreneurial mind. I remember when he lived in China – he was always finding new opportunities for product creation. At some point he picked up a copy of Tim Ferriss’ 4 hour work week and followed it to the T. He is in tune with his purpose and passion.
This guy has found his fire:
Fred Cook – @fredcook – Golin CEO and author of Improvise
img credit http://www.instituteforpr.org/wp-content/uploads/Fred-Cook.jpg
I never guessed that Fred was the Global CEO of GOLIN. I thought I was just attending another team monthly meeting. Fred came up to me, introduced himself and we talked about how work was going and where he had been traveling to recently. Later when, the office MD announced who he was. WOW! I thought. Such a down to earth guy. Fred continues to impress me year after year. He published “Improvise – unconventional career advice from an unlikely CEO.” That connected the dots for me when I heard more about his career path and journey to be coming CEO. Great stuff!
Julian Quander – @julianquander – singer, songwriter www.julianquander.com/
img credit https://media.licdn.com/mpr/mpr/shrink_500_500/p/4/000/159/381/17898d9.jpg
JQ! Would you believe me if I told you Julian and I grew up across the street from one another? Julian is an amazing musician, songwriter and singer. I didn’t know his voice was that good until I wen to one of his shows. We reconnected after almost a decade of not seeing each other. He is doing great things and continues to grow year on year. When it comes to persistence and the pursuit of passion, this guy knows it well. He has given me advice and encouragement countless times. Get to know this guy and show him some love. BTW, he is back in the USA now.
Here is one of his music videos:
David Baldwin – @lig360 – Founder of Leadership Insight Group http://www.lig360.com
img credit http://www.lig360.com/images/bio_david_baldwin.jpg
I had the pleasure of meeting David while he was traveling through Shanghai. He is a relatable guy and knows a lot about leader development. David is certified in a kabillion leadership assessments and inventories. Turns out he holds over a decade of experience as a faculty member at the Center for Creative Leadership. I never knew!
Hammurabi Fuentes – @hammurabif – The Core Control Movement
img credit http://corecontrol.tumblr.com/image/89623289405
When i first met Hammurabi, he couldn’t do what you see in the picture. To be honest, I still can’t do what you see in the picture (i’m okay with that…). And that is what makes him an extraordinary person you should follow and get to know.
He completely transformed his body and became addicted to everything fitness and nutrition. Shortly after a group of people wanted to work out with him. This became the core control movement. AND if you’re already in shape he has an additional program to get you in even better shape.
I put his twitter address above, but I’m not entirely sure if he even tweets anymore. We have internet connection issues here in Shanghai. You can find him down by the docks on weekends. He might be climbing walls, walking slack lines or doing handstands on obscure objects.
He is a testament that anyone can get into shape by eating clean and training dirty.
The next five people I have not met in person, but have been impacted through their books, programs, etc. I would love to have tea with them and pick their brain one day.
Josh Kaufman
NO….Not this Josh Kaufman… just kidding
img credit http://s3.amazonaws.com/img.goldderby.com/ck/images/JoshKaufman.jpg
I’m talking about this Josh Kaufman – @joshkaufman – Author of the Personal MBA and First 20 Hours – http://www.joshkaufman.net
img credit http://media.joshkaufman.net/images/joshkaufman-about.jpg
There are a lot of people named Josh Kaufman out there. I wonder if there are many people named Paris Law?
Josh started out with a mission of developing an MBA www.personalmba.com curriculum for himself and saving the cost of going to an overpriced school. He called it – the personal MBA. He has now written another book on how to learn anything. Two good works that should be come standard texts for learning and business.
His research and development has now expanded into decision making, core human skills and personal science (making yourself better by mini experiments).
Jon Petz – @jonpetz – Author of Boring Meetings Suck http://www.jonpetz.com/
img credit: http://www.nancyvoglspeakers.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/Petz-Jon.jpg
I found out about Jon when I was researching how to make meetings more efficient at work. His work immediately got my attention. It was bold and straightforward – Boring Meetings Suck. When it comes to meeting productivity, this is the guy to know.
I love his humor and candor about making the most of meetings. He even has strategies on how to escape them.
Jude Bijou – @judebijou – Author of Attitude Reconstruction http://www.attitudereconstruction.com
img credit http://attitudereconstruction.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/JUDE-pix300-270x300.jpg
During my research and writing on the attituning process, Jude Bijou’s research and opinions are one the works that I refer back to often. She has created a blueprint for attitude reconstruction that I believe is well done. How do you get to Joy, Love and Peace? Take a look at her work and find out. I’ve read many other books on the topic of attitude and this one is the most practical and methodical that I have found.
She even has a nice little introduction video
Andrew Farley – @drandrewfarley – author of Naked Gospel http://www.andrewfarley.org
img credit http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-jiDTFoam7bQ/TgkBBjlup6I/AAAAAAAACPY/C_bmrAu1G2M/s1600/Andrew%2BFarley.jpg
I sent Andrew an email a few weeks ago, and he replied! I thought for sure he would be too busy and receiving tons of other emails. Besides his name you might hear whispers about his work on God with religion www.churchwithoutreligion.com/.
I enjoy watching his sermons on youtube and reading his books. They are very easy to understand and give practical advice for Christians. I won’t get into all the details here, but you can definitely check it out first and let me know what you think.
Roy Peter Clark – @roypeterclark – author of How to write short & 50 writing tools www.roypeterclark.com
img credit https://acmonteagudo.files.wordpress.com/2011/04/97951.jpg
Roy first got my attention when I saw his book “How to Write Short.” It has given me some new strategies for writing in a world of short attention spans. I’ve been so accustomed to academic writing. I want take more steps to improve the tone and style of what I write for the world.I’ll be staying tuned into Roy for some more tips and tricks of the trade. Later I went back to some of my old texts and saw that he also wrote “50 writing tips.” I didn’t get through all 50, but when i saw the name again it was like a lightbulb went off in my mind. It was the same guy. I’m going to be adding a goal for myself to go through the 50 tips this year.
One thing at a time thought.
There you have it
10 people that you never heard. Don’t you want to follow them and learn more? Take action and do it today.
BONUS:
10 people you’ve probably heard of. However, I think they are worth mentioning in case you haven’t come across them yet.
Leo Babauta – @leobabauta www.zenhabits.net
The guy who influenced me to take a more minimalist approach in life. He is also creator of the zen habits wordpress theme (the one I’m using). I used to collect and keep so many things. For what? I still have a pile of books that I need to deal with. Nevertheless, I’ve significantly reduced the amount of clutter in my home and my mind. Thanks Leo.
Benny Lewis – @irishpolyglot www.fluentin3months.com/
Benny continues to approve again and again that you can learn a language in three months. It’s amazing to follow his travels as he continues to learning languages. Be sure to check him out if you are into language learning.
Win Wenger – @winwenger – www.winwenger.com/
I’m not sure where Win fits in the timeline with De Bono. He has done some amazing work in the field of creativity. There are so many books written on the subject . His website is outdated, but the content is gold.
Josh Waitzkin – @jwaitzkin www.joshwaitzkin.com/ www.theartoflearningproject.org/
Chess Master and Tai Chi Champion. He made a discovery that there was more to it all than just the act of playing chess. He discovered that he had a love of learning that could be applied to any skill. His book is good story on learning toward mastery.
Nick Udall – @drnickudall or Nic Turner @nowehere_feed http://www.now-here.com/
These two guys go together. I was introduced to their ideas when I started researching creative thinking methods. They have eight questions that can unlock your world. I should probably write a review post on that.
Tina Seelig – @tseelig about.me/tinaseelig
I took Tina’s Crash Course on Creativity and recommended it across my company. The innovation engine is a remarkable thought that I play around with often. I’m more interested in the attitudinal portion and how that can be triggered to increase the chances of creative flow.
Tim Ferriss – @tferriss http://www.fourhourworkweek.com
Mr. Tim Ferriss apparently does everything in 4 hours. Not literally. His books are what I call modern day tools for increasing performance and getting more out of life. He does a lot of research on himself first and then shares what he learnings. Kinda like I do here on this site. Some of his stuff is really cool. I first got interested in Tim Ferriss’ work through the 4HWW (four hour work week) book and also purchased his other books – 4 hour body & 4 hour chef.
Jason Fried – @jasonfried & David Heinemeier Hansson – @dhh – Authors of Rework www.basecamp.com
The creator of Ruby on Rails and the founder of Basecamp (easiest project management software) wrote a book called, “Rework.” I like the writing style. I also enjoyed how they challenge the norm of business today. Why grow
Tony Schwartz – @tonyschwartz www.theenergyproject.com/
Around the time that I was preparing a course on time management I came across Tony’s work. He has researched sports performance psychology and abstracted the concept of energy management in our work. As a creative person and entrepreneur it is important to understand the concepts of energy and when we can really work at our peak states. Also justifies the couch time when we need it.
Ramit Sethi – @ramit www.iwillteachyoutoberich.com/
Ramit’s tips are helping me work toward being debt free. I like the way he explains things. He has a very straightforward and honest tone. His resources are designed to get you results rather than making you spend a lot of time trying to figure it out.
Tell me what you think. Who else is a person that the world should know about? Who should I know about?
I’d love to hear their story.