Leadership

# Summary:

In Episode #219 Ari and Nick share an interview with Sara Gottfried, author of The Hormone Cure.

Listen in to hear about how hormone levels affect your mood, health, and energy – and how you can leverage your hormones to improve your life.

Time-stamped Show Notes

– 03:30 – Nick’s latest project has involved using the development platform of [Zapier](https://zapier.com/)

– 05:40 – The Less Doing bootcamp has some exciting changes coming up – sign up to the Less Doing newsletter to find out more

– 06:45 – The flat rate for VA services is now $129 each month, including 5 free hours

– 07:40 – When you sign up for VA services, you’ll gain unlimited free calls to our Less Doing service

– 09:15 – Interview with [Sara Gottfried](http://www.saragottfriedmd.com/)

– 09:50 – Hormones are extremely significant in our lives

– 10:20 – “Stress is the small hinge that swings big doors”

– 10:57 – If you’re stressed all the time, your stress hormones will be in overproduction

– 12:05 – “Testosterone is important. It’s not just linked to sex drive, it’s linked to all kinds of energy.”

– 13:45 – Many hormones act as neurotransmitters as well as carrying messages to different parts of your body

– 15:10 – “The body does best when it’s nudged, not shoved”

– 16:10 – The steps (in order of severity) to improving hormone balance: – Changing how you eat, move, think and supplement – Take proven botanical therapies in the short term – Bio-identical hormones, in small doses and in the short term

– 18:03 – Addressing root causes is essential to developing robust health

– 19:40 – There are plenty of ways to get your hormones in balance without using bio-identical hormones

– 21:00 – When’s the best time to do a base case for hormone levels?

– 24:00 – How about ageing? What are ideal hormone levels as you get older?

– 25:30 – Everyone’s bodies are adjusted to different levels

– 26:50 – How does sex affect hormone levels?

– 27:50 – Orgasm raises testosterone and reduces cortisol in both men and women

– 29:55 – It also helps to balance the thyroid

– 31:00 – In Daoist philosophy, there is a focus on sexual plateaus rather than sudden climaxes

– 34:00 – Women are used to squeezing a lot of benefit from a small amount of oxytocin

– 34:50 – What foods are good for helping to balance hormones?

– 35:30 – Napa cabbage and crustaceans are great for balancing zinc and copper

– 36:00 – Cutting sugar is one of the best steps you can take to balancing your hormones

– 38:00 – Find more information at [The Hormone Cure](http://www.amazon.com/Hormone-Cure-Vitality-Naturally-Gottfried/dp/1451666942)

Resources Mentioned:

– [CodeGophers](https://codegophers.com/)

– Programming tasks completed in 48 hours

– [The Hormone Cure](http://www.amazon.com/Hormone-Cure-Vitality-Naturally-Gottfried/dp/1451666942)

– Sara’s Book Sponsored By: [FreshBooks](https://www.freshbooks.com/)

– FreshBooks helps you simplify your accounting. Generate invoices automatically, follow up clients, and cut your accounting time to just a few minutes. Get a 30 day free trial by using the code LESSDOING at [www.freshbooks.com/lessdoing](https://www.freshbooks.com/lessdoing) Text DOLESS to 33733 to sign up for the Less Doing Newsletter Credits

– Original Music provided by [Felix Bird](http://2014.felixbird.com/)

– Audio Production by [Chris Mottram](https://www.linkedin.com/pub/christopher-mottram/96/b12/708)

– Show Notes provided by [Mallard Creatives](http://www.mallardcreatives.com/Testimonials) ——- [Get the FREE Optimize, Automate, Outsource Blueprint here.](https://go.lessdoing.com/blueprint?utm_campaign=blueprint-ari&utm_medium=link&utm_source=podcast) — Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/lessdoing/message

Summary:

In Episode #217 Ari and Nick interview [General Jefforey Smith](http://www.bragg.army.mil/leaders/Pages/DCG.aspx). General Smith is Deputy Commander at Fort Bragg – one of the USA’s most significant military bases and home to 90,000 people.

Listen in as General Smith breaks down what’s involved in managing a military base, long-term strategic planning, and how to communicate a sense of purpose.

Time Stamped Show Notes:

– 11:27 – Welcoming General Smith to the show

– 12:01 – General Smith’s 32-year military career

– 12:31 – Being a general at Fort Bragg is similar to being the mayor of a small city

– 13:34 – What does a typical day look like?

– 14:07 – Around 80-90,000 people live and work in Fort Bragg

– 14:52 – General Smith spends around 30% of time on strategic planning and infrastructure

– 15:55 – Right now General Smith is focusing on planning a deployment

– 16:30 – Decisions include healthcare, infrastructure management, traffic, and capital investment in addition to military duties

– 18:30 – Mostly employ a civilian workforce rather than military engineers

– 19:15 – Fort Bragg is like army’s 911 – they can deploy almost anywhere within 18 hours

– 21:14 – The garrison command and staff remain on the base even if other units are deployed

– 22:00 – Ari: “How do you manage your projects and communicate with everyone?”

– 22:31 – You must have principles that you live and work by.

– 23:00 – “Activity, nutrition, and sleep are the triad that allow you to maintain performance in a consistent and enduring way.”

– 23:55 – “Sleep is generally the weakest link for most people”

– 24:30 – Running an organization starts with vision: the leader has to have a vision, and a reason for existing, that they can communicate to the people in their organization

– 25:50 – If you have a strong _why_, the _how_ and _what_ become less challenging

– 26:45 – Individuals within a company can have an entrepreneurial spirit – even if they aren’t running a startup

– 27:50 – What processes is General Smith using to organize and plan strategy?

– 28:30 – “We use the same strategic management software as any private company”

– 29:29– _Top 3 Tips to be More Effective:_

– Focus on the most important things – Have some kind of routine that helps you be in control of your life – Have a balanced life. Make sure you have a way to recharge.

Key Points: – Being a general on a military base is like managing a small city: there’s a lot of strategic planning and management as well as military duties

– Have principles that you live and work by. When you know _why_ you’re doing something, and can communicate that vision, you’ll be effective.

– Maintain routines – exercise, sleep, and good nutrition – that keep you in control of your health and your life

– Focus on getting the most important things done

– Cultivate an entrepreneurial attitude, even if you work within an organization

Resources Mentioned:

– [Dropbox: Project Infinite](https://blogs.dropbox.com/business/2016/04/announcing-project-infinite/?ref=producthunt)

– View and edit everything from your computer without syncing it – [Exist](https://exist.io/)

– Aggregate data from all your health tracking devices – [Microsoft Flow](https://flow.microsoft.com/) – Create automations between various services

– [Lead Dyno](http://www.leaddyno.com/) – Manage affiliate programmes Sponsored By: [EarthClassMail](https://www.earthclassmail.com/)

– Earth Class Mail helps you move your snail mail to the cloud. Visit [www.LessDoing.com/postal](http://www.lessdoing.com/postal) to get signed up now! Text DOLESS to 33733 to sign up for the Less Doing Newsletter Credits

– Original Music provided by [Felix Bird](http://2014.felixbird.com/)

– Audio Production by [Chris Mottram](https://www.linkedin.com/pub/christopher-mottram/96/b12/708)

– Show Notes provided by [Mallard Creatives](http://www.mallardcreatives.com/Testimonials) ——- [Get the — Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/lessdoing/message

Summary:

In Episode #216 Ari interviews [Dr Daniel Amen](http://www.amenclinics.com/): the man who’s scanned more brains than anyone else in the world. Daniel’s a psychiatrist with a background in medical imaging who believes that the health of your brain is physical, social, and spiritual as well as mental.

He’s the author of [The 7 Types of ADD](http://www.additudemag.com/slideshow/61/slide-1.html), and [Change Your Brain, Change Your Life](http://www.amazon.com/Change-Your-Brain-Life-Obsessiveness/dp/0812929985).

Tune in to learn more about Daniel’s work, and find out how to make your brain function better.

Time Stamped Show Notes:

– 15:22 – Welcoming Daniel to the show

– 15:43 – Daniel was an infantry medic in Vietnam and retrained as an x-ray technician

– 16:16 – Was inspired by the potential of psychiatry to change people’s lives

– 17:20 – Has developed a database of 120,000 brain scans

– 17:27 – “You’re not stuck with the brain you have…you can make it better”

– 19:00 – How large a part of Daniel’s process is the Spec Scan?

– 20:20 – Health is physical, mental, social and spiritual

– 21:20 – Psychiatry needs to look at damage to the brain as a physical organ

– 22:20 – “I originally trained as a marital therapist”

– 23:30 – Daniel scanned the brains of his most troubled couple: “It helped so much”

– 24:30 – Many problems have physical causes – for instance, toxoplasmosis

– 25:30 – “We should be analysing and rehabilitating criminals…let’s invest in making people effective”

– 26:26 – Daniel started looking at ADD when he was a child psychiatrist

– 27:30 – “All psychiatric illnesses are not single or simple disorders” – like physical symptoms, they have multiple causes and need different treatments

– 30:20 – “Everybody’s ADD is different”

– 30:45 – “I don’t like fighting with people…my colleagues hate what I’m doing and it used to really trouble me.”

– 32:00 – What’s Daniel’s treatment methodology?

– 33:20 – Treatments range from nutrition supplements, to education, to medication

– 35:58 – How much of Daniel’s work is corrective and how much is optimisation?

– 37:05 – Daniel and his wife are starting a new course: “The Brain Warrior’s Way”

– 39:09 – “We’d love to see entrepreneurs get really serious about the health of their brains”

– 30:20– _Top 3 Tips to be More Effective:_

– Improve the quality of your decisions

– Never let yourself get hungry

– Make sure you get 8 hours of sleep every night

– Visit the [Amen Clinics](http://www.amenclinics.com/) website for more information

Key Points:

– When your brain is healthy, you are healthy

– Health is simultaneously physical, social, mental, and spiritual: ‘mental illness’ can have physical or social causes

– You can make your brain function better by making the right decisions: fight to keep it healthy with good nutrition, sleep, and stimulation

– Psychiatric illness, like physical illness, is complicated: different treatments work for different people Resources Mentioned:

– [Tab Snooze](http://www.tabsnooze.com/)

– Make open tabs go away until you need them

– [Get See Note](https://www.getseenote.com/?ref=producthunt)

– The Post-It note, upgraded with e-Ink – [Ummo](http://ummoapp.com/?ref=producthunt)

– Track and improve your public speaking – [The world’s first co-working space](https://hbr.org/2016/04/the-innovative-coworking-spaces-of-15th-century-italy?utm_source=nextdraft) – [Smooch](https://smooch.io)

– Automate responses and customer support – [Front App](https://frontapp.com)

– Aggregate all your messages to one collaborative inbox Sponsored By: [EarthClassMail](https://www.earthclassmail.com/)

– Earth Class Mail helps you move your snail mail to the cloud. Visit [www.LessDoing.com/postal](http://www.lessdoing.com/postal) to get signed up now! Text DOLESS to 33733 to sign up for the Less Doing Newsletter Credits

– Original Music provided by [Felix Bird](http://2014.felixbird.com/)

– Audio Production by [Chris Mo — Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/lessdoing/message

Summary:

In Episode #215 Ari interviews [Rodney King](http://coachrodneyking.com/), creator of [Crazy Monkey Defense](http://www.crazymonkeydefense.com/) – a modern system of self-defense and mindful living.

The personal skills and attitudes Rodney learned from martial arts took him from the streets of Johannesburg to success.

Listen as Ari and Rodney discuss mindfulness on the mat, and how the lessons of fortitude, resilience, and non-aggression can create success in business.

Time Stamped Show Notes:

– 13:53 – Welcoming Rodney to the show

– 14:21 – Crazy Monkey Defense is a modern self-defense lifestyle brand

– 14:55 – Designed to help people to take on the martial arts of everyday life

– 15:40 – Incorporates elements from multiple systems and Rodney’s own experience

– 17:10 – Teaches de-escalation as well as effective self-defense

– 18:22 – De-escalation through body language

– 20:00 – “Nobody wants to get into a fight”

– 21:00 – A hyper-aggressive approach to self-defense is dangerous – it’s best to get out

– 21:50 – “Martial arts is about restraint”

– 22:30 – “Knowing when to stop is important in every part of your life”

– 23:00 – “Killer instinct is unhelpful both in martial arts and in the business world”

– 24:10 – It’s important to have a Zen mind – to be calm instead of emotional

– 25:10 – Accept how you are feeling, put it aside, and move toward your goals

– 25:55 – Rodney grew up in the south of Johannesburg

– 26:30 – Was kicked out of his house at the age of 17

– 27:05 – “I’ve always been pretty self-aware…I decided to choose my path and choose my attitude”

– 28:00 – Martial arts training developed resilience and fortitude for Rodney

– 28:45 – Decided to teach people how to bring the internal skills from martial arts into their leadership and their life

– 30:20– _Top 3 Tips to be More Effective:_

– Your story is what holds you back: change the story you tell yourself – Practise mindfulness

– Just because you feel or think a certain way, doesn’t define the outcome – Visit [Rodney’s website](http://www.coachrodneyking.com) or [Full Contact Living](http://www.fullcontactliving.org/) for more information

Key Points:

– Accept how you’re feeling. There are no negative emotions – every emotion has a role. Accept what’s happening inside you, remain calm, and keep moving towards your goals.

– Be mindful of the story you’re telling yourself. Change the story and you’ll change your outcomes.

– You are always free to choose your attitude and your reaction to a situation. Exercise that freedom.

– Practice restraint. Don’t be controlled by aggression, either in martial arts or in business. Resources Mentioned: – [Scatter Dot](https://scatterdot.com/add_to_slack?ref=producthunt)

– Share an image in Slack and point to it synchronously or asynchronously – [Notarize](http://www.notarize.com)

– Visit a notary digitally – [How To Tell If Someone Is Lying](http://www.bakadesuyo.com/2016/02/how-to-tell-if-someone-is-lying/) – [PaperJet](https://www.paperjet.com/?ref=producthunt)

– Automatically creates fillable forms from PDF documents – [SkipLino](http://skiplino.com/?ref=producthunt)

– Skip the line at restaurants and venues – [Halo Neuro](https://www.haloneuro.com/?ref=producthunt)

– Increase athletic performance by rewiring your brain – [Nexar](https://www.getnexar.com/?ref=producthunt)

– A dashcam app that records events Sponsored By: [EarthClassMail](https://www.earthclassmail.com/)

– Earth Class Mail helps you move your snail mail to the cloud. Visit [www.LessDoing.com/postal](http://www.lessdoing.com/postal) to get signed up now! Text DOLESS to 33733 to sign up for the Less Doing Newsletter Credits

– Original Music provided by [Felix Bird](http://2014.felixbird.com/)

– Audio Production by [Chris Mottram](https://www.linkedin.com/pub/christopher-mottram/96/b12/708)

– Show Notes provided by [Mallard Creatives](http://www.mallardcreatives.com/Testimonials) ——- [Ge — Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/lessdoing/message

Summary:

In Episode #214 Ari welcome [Vern Harnish](https://gazelles.com/) – founder of [EO](https://www.eonetwork.org/), CEO of [Gazelles](https://gazelles.com/), and author of [Scaling Up](http://www.amazon.com/Scaling-Up-Companies-Rockefeller-Habits/dp/0986019526).

Vern’s a strategic planning expert who helps companies to scale up successfully.

Listen in as Ari and Vern discuss delegation, hyper-focus, and how ‘scale-ups’ are going to replace ‘start-ups’ as drivers of business.

Time Stamped Show Notes:

– 16:28 – Welcoming Vern to the show

– 16:50 – CEO of [Gazelles](https://gazelles.com/) – a firm that helps growing firms to scale up

– 18:20 – “Nailing strategy can cover a lot of execution flaws”

– 19:20 – “I would define ‘scaling’ as growing at 20% to 100% per year”

– 20:00 – “We look at 4 scale areas: talent, strategy, execution and practice

– 20:40 – Communication and execution are the main challenges

– 22:20 – “What’s the biggest problem people face when they can’t scale?”

– 22:40 – CEOs should spend 4 of 5 days on market-facing activities

– 23:30 – Talented people often struggle to delegate. People can’t let go.

– 24:30 – “We’re big on gamifying companies”

– 24:50 – Currently working on 4 books

– 25:30 – “We want to create the [Techstars](http://www.techstars.com/) for scale-ups”

– 26:25 – “Most people’s creativity increases hugely as they age”

– 27:05 – “I think we’ll see a move from start-ups to scale-ups”

– 29:00 – “Become the absolute expert in your niche – you need to hyper-specialise”

– 29:45 – Scaling-up doesn’t have to be about reaching more people – you can focus more tightly and become the absolute master in your field

– 31:52– _Top 3 Tips to be More Effective:_

– The most leverage comes from people…write down the 25 people that you absolutely need to get on board with your project and start working that list

– Find the tone or two words that you need to own in the mind of the market

– Read Eli Goldratt’s book [The Goal](http://www.amazon.com/The-Goal-Process-Ongoing-Improvement/dp/0884271951) – Visit [com](https://scalingup.com/) for free personal plans and strategic planning help

Key Points:

1. Hyper-focus. Find a niche you can absolutely dominate, and own it. Scaling doesn’t have to mean going broader.

2. Work on your company, not in your company. Learn to delegate, automate, and outsource so that you can focus on strategy and expansion.

3. Your biggest leverage point is people. Write down the people you need behind you, and work on that list.

Resources Mentioned: – [Pop Slate 2](https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/popslate-2-smart-second-screen-for-iphone#/)

– An iPhone case that turns the back of your phone into a 2nd screen – [Nadi](http://wearableexperiments.com/nadi/)

– An outfit that corrects your form in real time during exercise – [No More Voice Mail](http://www.nomorevoicemail.co/?ref=producthunt)

– An app to keep your voice mail box empty – [Card Form](http://cardform.co/index.html?ref=producthunt)

– Build a blog from Trello – [Dieterest](http://dieterest.co/?ref=producthunt)

– Text-based diet coach Sponsored By: [EarthClassMail](https://www.earthclassmail.com/)

– Earth Class Mail helps you move your snail mail to the cloud. Visit [www.LessDoing.com/postal](http://www.lessdoing.com/postal) to get signed up now! Text DOLESS to 33733 to sign up for the Less Doing Newsletter Credits

– Original Music provided by [Felix Bird](http://2014.felixbird.com/)

– Audio Production by [Chris Mottram](https://www.linkedin.com/pub/christopher-mottram/96/b12/708)

– Show Notes provided by [Mallard Creatives](http://www.mallardcreatives.com/Testimonials) ——- [Get the FREE Optimize, Automate, Outsource Blueprint here.](https://go.lessdoing.com/blueprint?utm_campaign=blueprint-ari&utm_medium=link&utm_source=podcast) — Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/lessdoing/message