Mind Food: How to Become More Creative and Successful by Watching What You “Eat” (TPS170)

You’ve probably heard the old adage, “you are what you eat,” but it applies to more than just your physical body – it applies to your mind as well. In this episode, Brooks and Mike talk about “mind food,” an idea Mike picked up from author Tim Sanders on the importance of curating what information you allow your mind to feed on. We discuss why it’s so important to watch what you’re putting into your mind, explain how the right information can change your world and help you achieve your ideal future, and share the most influential books and podcasts that we personally include in our own information diets.

Cheat Sheet

• What mind food means and why we don’t think about this concept often [1:18]
• Why a lot of workers in today’s world are mental athletes and knowledge workers [5:15]
• How technology allows us to control who we are connecting with in our life [9:52]
• Why successful people read over 50 books a year, which is a great way to tune out the noise and tune into the signal [16:03]
• How to get out of a creative rut by collecting inputs from other places besides your own head [21:00]
• How to create a system for collecting good ideas [25:43]
• Different sources of mind food you can access [30:26]
• Our top ten books and podcasts that make great mind food [38:36]

Top 10 Books

• #1 (Brooks): Patrick Lencioni The 5 Dysfunctions of a Team [39:45]
• #2 (Mike): Deep Work by Cal Newport [42:06]
• #3 (Brooks): Cal Newport So Good They Can’t Ignore You [42:52]
• #4 (Mike): Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill [44:46]
• #5 (Brooks): Ed Catmull Creativity Inc. [46:03]
• #6 (Mike): The Obstacle is the Way by Ryan Holiday [47:55]
• #7 (Brooks): Fay Wolf New Order [49:44]
• #8 (Mike): Essentialism by Greg McKeown [52:03]
• #9 (Brooks): Garr Reynolds Presentation Zen [53:12]
• #10 (Mike): Make Your Bed by Admiral William McRaven [54:23]

Top 10 Podcasts

• #1 (Brooks): Hardcore History by Dan Carlin [55:57]
• #2 (Mike): 10x Talk w/ Joe Polish & Dan Sullivan [57:46]
• #3 (Brooks): The Tim Ferriss Show [59:37]
• #4 (Mike): Hurry Slowly by Jocelyn Glei [1:01:08]
• #5 (Brooks): The Economist – The Week Ahead [1:02:36]
• #6 (Mike): seanwes podcast by Sean McCabe [1:03:45]
• #7 (Brooks): Mac Power Users [1:05:30]
• #8 (Mike): The Art of Manliness [1:07:02]
• #9 (Brooks): Here’s the Thing with Alec Baldwin [1:08:21]
• #10 (Mike): Cortex [1:10:39]

Links

• It’s All Too Much: 3 Keys to Overcoming Information Overload (TPS161)
• Change Your Habits, Change Your Life by Tom Corley
• A Primer to Quick Capturing for GTD
• Austin Kleon (Steal Like an Artist)
• Tim Sanders – Today We Are Rich
• Drafts iOS
• nvALT Mac OS
• How to Find Balance While Working in a Corporate Culture (TPS140)
• Essential Travel Tips to Make Your Next Trip a Breeze w/ Kevin Clack (TPS168)
• Overlap: A simple strategy for closing the gap between where you are and where you want to be w/ Sean McCabe (TPS163)
• The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People
• Leverage Leadership
• Multipliers
• Happier with Gretchen Rubin

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