At least three time per day at scheduled times, he had to ask himself the following question: Am I being productive or just active? Charney captured the essence of this with less-abstract wording: Am I inventing things to do to avoid the important? He eliminated all of the activities he used as crutches and began to focus on demonstrating results instead of showing dedication. Dedication is often just meaningless work in disguise. Be ruthless and cut the fat.

Lack of time is actually lack of priorities.

Happiness can be bought with a bottle of wine and has become ambiguous through overuse.

People feel personally slighted if you don't respond to them in 30 seconds and treat email as instant messenger.

I was an All-American in wrestling in high school, was National Champion in Chinese kickboxing in 1999 and have spent a lot of time around professional athletes, which includes my eight-plus years as CEO of a sports nutrition company.

I'll repeat something you might consider tattooing on your forehead: What we fear doing most is usually what we most need to do.

Becoming a member of the NR is not just about working smarter. It's about building a system to replace yourself.