This episode is much different than the first four – it is an update on what I’ve been working on recently and where I see this podcast and other works of mine progressing. This being the first Progress Update, I cover what I’ve done since the release of my first book and how it led me to this podcast. You’ll learn a lot about the purpose behind this podcast and the type of information I intend to share. I discuss why I’m currently researching books on the topics like free will, the power of choice, and the psychology of decision-making.

I plan to provide more Progress Updates periodically in the future so I can give some insight on what books I intend to read and other content I intend to cover in the upcoming episodes.

​Click this link to have a listen!

If you have any feedback, positive or negative, please leave a comment. ​You can also subscribe to my newsletter on my Contact Page to be the first to know when new episodes are live.

This episode cover's Carl Jung's Modern Man in Search of a Soul, a book that guides psychotherapists on how to treat patients as well as individuals on how to improve their spiritual sense and mental health. Jung was one of the founders of analytical psychology, along with Sigmund Freud and Alfred Adler but much of his work was overshadowed since Jung showed some disagreement with Freud's work.

Jung has had a major influence on personality typing, being the creator of the words introvert and extrovert as well as being the #1 influence of the extremely popular Meyers-Briggs Type Indicator (today's most trusted personality test), which was discussed in Episode 2. In this episode, we'll learn about his view on the importance of dreams, spirituality, religion, and the unconscious mind. Through helping thousands of patients who needed mental help, Jung has a very unique and educational perspective on these topics.

​Click this link to have a listen!

​If you've listened to multiple episodes, I hope you are noticing that the writing and production for episodes is improving! This is a new project for me but I am enjoying the challenge. If you have any feedback, positive or negative, please leave a comment. ​You can also subscribe to my newsletter on my Contact Page to be the first to know when new episodes are live.

Episode 3 covers the life of Benjamin Franklin after reading Walter Isaacson's book title Benjamin Franklin - An American Life. I share some of his core principles and the major influence he had on American culture and also discuss the author's background and other writings from Franklin himself.

You’ll get to know about his background as a printer/businessman, a scientist/inventor, and in American politics/diplomacy and hopefully will find some principles you can take away to improve your work ethic, creativity, and/or relationships.
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​Click this link to have a listen!

If you have any feedback (good or bad), I'd love to hear it in the comments below.
​You can also subscribe to my newsletter on my Contact Page to be the first to know when new episodes are live.

Episode 2 discusses the value that can be found from taking the Meyers Briggs Personality Assessment as well as reading Do What You Are. Whether you are between jobs or not, knowing your personality type helps you understand your strengths and weaknesses so you know what roles you are best suited for and what areas you need to work on most.
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I break down the differences in personality types so that you may be able to figure out your type while listening and with a figure provided on my website, you’ll also be able to figure out your biggest strengths and weaknesses.

​Click this link to have a listen!

Below are the figures mentioned in the episode - as images as well as downloadable PDFs.

​Welcome to Self, a podcast where you join me, Jacob Craig, as I research the areas of self-improvement and self-discovery. I am a researcher and author and my mission with this podcast is to simply share what I am learning in hopes you get as much value as I do. This podcast covers several topics, including health, fitness, motivation, personality types, self-worth, and more so that we can develop ourselves into the person we strive to be and reach new heights both personally and professionally.
 
This episode will be discussing Ray Dalio’s insightful book, Principles, and start to unravel the rabbit holes it has led me down. Being a high-achiever and creative mind himself and also having relationships with others like Elon Musk, Bill Gates, and powerful political leaders around the world, he has tons of insight on topics like: what it takes to be successful, how we can take an idea and build it into something bigger than ourselves, and why it is important for all of us to have principles that we implement in work and in life.
 
On that note, let’s get started…
 
 
I chose Principles for my first episode because of just how powerful this book is. The amount I will be able to cover in this 20-minute episode will be just some of the highlights but I am being serious when I say every page of this book has value in it. I believe it is the most valuable book that I have read in 2021. It also covers so many areas that I will be able to branch off of this book for episodes to follow.
 
If you don’t know Ray Dalio, he built his company out of his two-bedroom apartment to earning the title of being the 5th most important private company in the US according to Fortune. He has also been titled one of the hundred most influential people by Time and one of the hundred richest by Forbes. But his life does not revolve around accolades like this. As you read Principles, you see that what he cares most about are the relationships he creates along the way and he and his family and coworkers had to overcome numerous hardships to achieve what they have today.
 
Ray’s company is Bridgewater Associates, an international investment firm (a.k.a hedge fund) out of Connecticut that handles investments from all over the world. Bridgewater is now up to 1,500 employees and Ray says that the success of the company has been sustainable by “having an idea meritocracy that strives for meaningful work and meaningful relationships through radical truth and radical transparency.”
 
 
Let’s break down what he means in what I just said – “having an idea meritocracy that strives for meaningful work and meaningful relationships through radical truth and radical transparency”
– because this really is one of his core principles and it is mentioned throughout his book.
 
Since he does such a wonderful job defining an idea meritocracy, I will quote his description and this describes how Bridgewater’s culture functions overall. So an idea meritocracy is “a system that brings together smart, independent thinkers and has them productively disagree to come up with the best possible collective thinking and resolve their disagreements in a believability-weighted way.”
 
Ray states how he wasn’t worried about management when he started Bridgewater and never imagined the company hitting 40 employees, never mind 1500. He started the company with a friend that he played Rugby with who knew nothing about what the work entailed and they hired an assistant. Ray was so passionate about the markets and he wanted to work with people who were smart but also that he just enjoyed being around. That is why, even today, Bridgewater strives for meaningful work and meaningful relationships, because he says there is “nothing more important than getting the culture and the people right.” They strive to enjoy themselves and each other’s company while also executing their jobs excellently.
 
What makes Bridgewater so unique and interesting is how they practice their idea meritocracy through radical truth and radical transparency. They not only allow but encourage all employees, even new hires, to be honest and open about what they think of not only meetings in general but how each person they work with executes a task and their thoughts on individual parts of meetings.
 
For example, he discusses two instances where he himself was critiqued:

1. In the first, Ray had an employee email him, stating that he deserved a D- for his performance in that day’s meeting and that it was not just his thoughts but everyone’s in the room. He went on to say that he could not have prepared for the meeting and executed this badly because he has had discussions on the same topic that he executed well on in the past. There is the radical truth, and the radical transparency comes from how the entire company was able to see this email. Ray talks about this in his book and his TED Talk and states how this feedback is crucial and how it strengthens him as well as his relationships with the people he works with.
2. In the second instance, he discusses how three of his employees decided to take him out to dinner in order to give Ray some critical feedback in a memo that they created. It highlighted the negative aspects of Ray’s management style. In his book, he provides part of that letter – and it reads as follows: 

This hit Ray hard but caused meaningful discussion on how to fix this problem. He states how these three employees did not want the radical truthfulness and radical transparency to change in the company and that they understand Ray has good intentions but for employees that did not know him as well, his words were having a lasting, negative effect. This reflection allowed Ray to be conscious of these reactions and it began a decade-long process of producing the company’s Work Principles that were discussed and disputed, then written down and distributed company-wide.
 
I also notice that the part that says, “The future success of the company Is highly dependent on Ray’s ability to manage people as well as money,” relates to a later part of the book. He talks about his transition out of the CEO role and during this transition, the company is much larger and he catches an area where the company is skipping on quality assurance. This pushes an audit company-wide, where they realize this is a much bigger problem and he states how the company continues to do well with money management but that those same standards need to be kept with other components of the company, especially management.
 
One of my favorite quotes from Ray Dalio is, “Pain + Reflection = Progress,” and he shows how this works by how the company took painful moments like those and used those situations as learning experiences to grow and develop in unique ways.
 
Most interestingly is how they have created apps and tools to assist with management and finding out what people are like. One way that Bridgewater does this is through an app they created called the Dot Collector. The Dot Collector is used while meetings are in progress, requiring everyone to rate the attributes of individuals along with the reasoning behind their rating so that they are using real data and can look at patterns in the data to find out what people are like and what subjects they are most believable in. If you recall, their company’s system revolves around an idea meritocracy that uses believability-weighted decision-making, so this is a major tool they use to facilitate that. Dalio says to, “Think of each individual dot as an at-bat in baseball,” in that you don’t rate the person based off one instance but in a collection of instances.
 
A couple other tools that Bridgewater uses are:

1. The Issue Log. This is where employees jot down problems that arise from mistakes that are made. This allows people to own up to issues, for the issues to get solved appropriately, and for metrics to be created on who typically causes problems and who typically solves them. If an issue is logged, it is not a problem but if they don’t log it and hide an issue, then it becomes a problem.
2. The Pain Button. Ray describes how pain is “an important signal that there is something to be learned” and that “if you reflect on your pain well, you will almost always learn something important.” The Pain Button app lets people record what they feel in the moment that they are feeling pain so that they can return later to reflect through guided questions. This brings them to solve what is causing them pain and deal with situations better in the future. 

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Of the several tools Bridgewater has, what I think is the most valuable tool is also the simplest. The Daily Update Tool is an app that started out as daily emails he would ask his employees to send him to inform him of what they did that day, the issues that have come up, and reflections on their day’s work. From this information, he is able to see who is doing what and decide if issues should be discussed further as well as gauge morale, work load, and collaboration from an individual’s perspective as well as collectively at a high level. I can see how invaluable this tool can be to an organization and how easily it can be implemented.
 
The last tool I will describe is a prominent one and possibly the most interesting and unique as well. At the very beginning stages of hiring someone, Bridgewater uses a combination of personality tests and in-person meetings to find out what attributes best describe them and actually develop what they call Baseball Cards for each individual. This allows everyone they are working with to truly know what they are like from the get-go.
 
In the next episode, I will start to unravel what I have discovered through different personality tests but Ray states, “If I had to choose between just the assessments and just the traditional job interviews to get at what people are like, I would choose the assessments. Fortunately, we don’t have to make that choice.”
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He goes on to describe the valuable information found in these assessments and the four that he finds most useful:

1. The first being the Meyers-Briggs Type Indicator (or the ‘MBTI’)
2. Workplace Personality Inventory
3. Teams Dimensions Profile
4. Stratified Systems Theory

 
In early 2021, Ray actually released his own personality assessment called ‘PrinciplesYou’ which is completely free for anyone to take and has a ton of great features so you can compare with others and use it in your organization as well.
 
A personality type that Dalio frequently talks about in Principles is what he calls a Shaper. He defines a Shaper as “someone who comes up with unique and valuable visions and builds them out beautifully, typically over the doubts and opposition of others.” He worked hard to find and recruit individuals with these qualities to Bridgewater and even went as far to find out exactly what makes up a Shaper in great detail.
 
He did this in two significant ways:

1. First was by talking with Walter Isaacson after reading his books on Shapers like Albert Einstein, Benjamin Franklin, and Steve Jobs about what they were all like and the commonalities between them. This evolved from a one-on-one discussion in Walter’s office to then Walter presenting to Bridgewater as a whole in their office.
2. The second was by reaching out to proven shapers he knew including Bill Gates, Elon Musk, Reed Hastings, and others. He asked them to take an hour’s worth of personality assessments and then analyzed them to dig into their values, abilities, and approaches.

 
Some key characteristics he found they have in common were:

• They are all simultaneously creative, systematic and practical while being assertive and open-minded.

• Another crucial characteristic he uses to describe them is “When faced with a choice between achieving their goal or pleasing (or not disappointing) others, they would clearly choose achieving their goal every time.”

• Lastly, he states that above all, they are passionate, intolerant of those who aren’t excellent, and want to have a big beneficial impact on the world.

 
Ray highlights that the key difference between these individuals is whether their shaping comes mainly in inventing, mainly in managing, or if they execute both consistently over decades.
 
As much as many of us commonly think that we wish we had the success of individuals like Jobs, Musk, and Gates, it’s important that we are honest when thinking about how exceptional these individuals are and that professional success does not mean personal happiness.
 
One of my favorite quotes from Principles is where Ray states, “Having spent time with some of the richest, most powerful, most admired people in the world as well as some of the poorest, most disadvantaged people in the most obscure corners of the globe, I can assure you that beyond a basic level, there is no correlation between happiness levels and conventional markers of success. A carpenter who derives his deepest satisfaction from working with wood can easily have a life as good or better than the President of the United States. If you’ve learned anything from this book, I hope it’s that everyone has strengths and weaknesses and everyone has an important role to play in life.”
 
He also states that, “Some people want to change the world and others want to operate in simple harmony with it and savor life. Neither is better. Each of us needs to decide what we value most and choose the paths we take to achieve it,” and asks us to think deeply about whether we care more to savor life or make an impact. This empowers us to think of what success means to us and take our own path to get there.
 
The sheer amount of wisdom in Ray Dalio’s book, Principles, can’t be captured anywhere else. As I said at the beginning of this episode, every page holds value and the amount of consideration you can tell is placed in the wording and phrasing is just incredible. That is why Principles is my favorite book that I’ve read in 2021 and it will be a book I will always keep in high regards.
 
As you venture through the upcoming episodes, you’ll see how this book has led me down a rabbit hole to learn more about and from individuals like Walter Isaacson and Adam Grant and tools that help me reflect and learn more about my personality type so that I can improve.
 
I appreciate you for listening in and sincerely hope that:

1. You got value from this episode.
2. Are ready to join me in hearing about what there was to learn from the rabbit hole Principles led me down.

 
Thank you, I hope you have an awesome day – let’s go crush it and think about what we can do to be just a bit better than yesterday.
 
Alright, I’m out.

After a long, stressful week, what is the thing you look forward to most?

We all need our outlets - whether it's the gym, having a night out with friends, or even just coming home and being able to relax on the couch and watch our favorite show.

While these all work, I'd like to take some time to discuss the importance of having a creative outlet and why it is notably beneficial for us to have one. Let me first define what I mean by a creative outlet: any hobby or practice that allows you to express yourself freely and for tangible things to be developed from your imagination. Normally, we think of things like drawing or painting but I would even extend it far beyond that. In climbing, soccer, skateboarding, and just about any other sport, there is a creative piece where you can create tricks or moves if you have an open mind as you are doing it. 

What is it about creative outlets that makes them special? Whether we're introverts or extroverts, there is something about them that the gym, social media, or being at a loud bar can't seem to accomplish.

Once we leave high school, it appears most of our lives get much more complex and so, out of necessity, they also become far more structured. Eventually, this is what our schedules look like:
6:00am - Wake up
8:00am - Start work
5:00pm - Leave work
6:00pm - Eat dinner
7:00pm - Decompress

Cycle that on repeat, Monday through Friday. And this is if we are blessed enough to have a career where we work 40 hours a week, we can live off of the work we do there, and our life doesn't include children and/or other daily responsibilities.

The point I am getting at is there is a negative side to so much structure: there is a sense of freedom lost and the occasional feeling that you're programmed to do the same motions on repeat. From my earlier definition, a creative outlet is the exact opposite. It is something where you don't know the results until it's done and it's a unique experience every time.

A creative outlet should be something that you consistently get better at as you overcome challenges and obviously that you enjoy. Also, preferably you'd have access to this hobby/practice no matter where you are. You only benefit yourself more by having that pen & paper, book, soccer ball, climbing wall, or whatever your outlet is accessible to you as much as possible.

You can easily have more than one creative outlet and it's great to have a bit of variety. Maybe you enjoy spending time drawing, playing on your guitar, and also producing your own music altogether - these are all powerful creative outlets that could complement each other very well while testing your limits in different ways. For me, writing, reading, and producing content have been outlets that work together very nicely and allow me the freedom that I need away from my work as an Engineer/Construction Manager.

No one can specify the creative outlet that's best for you. Not everyone enjoys journaling and not everyone enjoys making music. It's completely up to you to experiment for yourself. If we look back at our childhoods, it's likely that most of us have found at least one or two outlets that we love but maybe we lost sight of them as our lives got more complex.

This is definitely something worth considering when thinking of new goals/resolutions to pursue.

What are your creative outlets? Have you lost sight of them? If so, you wouldn't believe the new appreciation for life you'd feel by picking up that guitar, pen, or camera once a day. Whether you want to find a new outlet or cultivate an old one, you can't go wrong.

I'd love to hear your thoughts in the comments. Maybe share what creative outlets you enjoy most, why they're so important to you, and/or how you make time in your busy life for these activities.

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Thank you for reading! If you haven't already and you enjoyed this read, be sure to subscribe to my newsletter by going to the Contact Page and entering your email address so that you are notified of news related to my work. Very exciting projects are underway that will be unveiled in early 2022 so stay tuned!

Since the release of my first book, Inspiring Leaders in Health & Fitness, Vol. 1, in March, I've definitely been keeping myself busy even though this blog site hasn't been updated as much as it used to. Some of the things I've done are:

• 150 livestream segments for The Morning Chatroom via Facebook, Twitch, and YouTube.
• Hosted a live conference, How to Achieve Both Professional Success & Personal Happiness, which can be found on YouTube or my other site, InspiringLeadersCollective.com. Guest speakers included were fellow authors and speakers: Kevin McShan, Brandon Eastman, & Terry McDougall.
• Developed The Reflection Tool, which can be found in the post below this. Answer questions that guide you to reflect and you will receive a personalized guide to help you set and achieve your goals.

At this point, I am back to being focused on research. You will notice at the top of this blog, you will find photos of the books I am currently reading and those I have recently read. One thing I realize I need to do better is post on books that have had lessons worth sharing. I will be working on this.

If you are interested in reading along with me or if you have book recommendations, I'd love to hear from you! Simply comment or shoot me an email at jake@inspiringleaderscollective.com. I also plan to start a Facebook Group for other avid readers in nonfiction, which I will share when it is ready for you to join.

Recently, I offered free one-on-one mindset/goal-setting consultations. The amount of people that reached out to me was incredible! I also really loved being able to see all of the folks I was able to meet over Zoom getting value from what I was telling them. I could see their attitudes turn from feeling lost to ready to get after it over the 45-minute talk we had.

What was difficult was realizing how much time and energy this takes and that I needed to do something different in order for more people to get this value... so here it is, The Reflection Tool! Think of it like a personality test - how you answer questions about yourself and receive a customized report that helps you learn and grow.

Many people struggle to get away from all of the distractions in life so they don't spend time reflecting, so my goal for this tool is to make that process as simple and powerful as possible.

The Reflection Tool comes in two parts:

The assessment is made to assist you with gauging where you are currently. It asks questions that prompt you to reflect on your personal happiness, professional success, and where your values currently lie. 

After assessing where you are currently, it asks questions that give me an idea on how I can help you. They get you thinking of what areas of your life you should focus on, so that you can set goals for yourself and start heading in the right direction.

The assessment only takes about 5-10 minutes. As I said above, made to be simple yet powerful.

Click this link to take the assessment.

After filling out the assessment, you will receive a custom report based on your answers. I created an algorithm that leads to over 100 different possible reports. The main goal of this report is to assist you with setting and achieving big goals for yourself. If you don't have goals set, I suggest grabbing pen and paper while you look through this report in order to set a list of goals for yourself and if you do already have goals, I believe you will find tips and resources to help refine them and/or stay motivated to achieve them.

This report provides:

• General tips on goal-setting.
• Advice on how to push past what normally stops you from achieving big goals (lack of confidence, not knowing where to begin, etc.).
• Suggestions on where to start based on what areas of your life you'd currently like to focus on improving.
• Resource recommendations: valuable books, audiobooks, and ebooks.

Here is the cover page of the report that you will receive:

I appreciate you for reading this and hope that you give it a try. If you do, I'd love to hear your feedback so that I can improve the tool over time!

Click this link to take the assessment.

Amazon has just released a new platform for authors and readers called Kindle Vella, where authors share ongoing stories. The first three episodes are free to read for each story and Amazon is also currently giving readers 200 free tokens to unlock more!

Boost Your Potential (https://amzn.to/3z6mu7s) provides tips on building confidence & setting goals so that you can reach new heights. 

Dominate the Day (https://amzn.to/3ksYJSZ) is an ongoing series with a new reading each day. Each episode contains 3 days of an inspirational quote with reflection to follow.

Both of these series currently have 5 episodes with more to come! All of the episodes are quick, easy reads - I like to get right to the point to give as much value as possible.

I hope that you enjoy these series. Let me know your feedback and any questions you may have by commenting here or emailing me directly at jake@inspiringleaderscollective.com.


P.S. If you're wondering why this blog has been less active than it used to be, it is because I am working on these series, my second book, and more. I am most active on Facebook and do my best to keep my book series website updated. For all of my links, you can go here: wlo.link/@ilc. Lastly, if you're not subscribed to this website for updates and other free content, go to my Contact Page.

​I recently was recommended and gifted a book, The Entrepreneur Roller Coaster by Darren Hardy, by my friend Juan. Normally, I do not directly study entrepreneurship specifically, but it is similar to books that I normally read on self-improvement because it does cover principles in success and motivation. Darren Hardy is not only a best-selling author and successful entrepreneur but a keynote speaker who works with Success Magazine.
 
There was a part of this book that made me feel I should do some homework and I would like to share it with you. Hardy talks about how he interviewed Maria Shriver and asked his routine question of, “What is your definition of success?” and was taken back by the answer enough to realize he had not adequately defined it for himself until then.
 
In turn, this made me want to take the time to define success and what it means to me, which I am sharing here along with how you can do the same.

At its roots, I would define success as: the feeling of fulfillment in any particular area in life. Success can be reached through any goals that you may have. Everyone’s definition is different based on what makes them feel fulfilled and what they want to accomplish; it also changes regularly.
 
If you want to define what success is for you, you can think of three things (this was taken from my friend, Juan, who gifted me The Entrepreneur Roller Coaster, which he says are the three things that he focuses on when pursuing goals):

1. Finances
2. Relationships
3. Contribution

 
And ask yourself the following questions:

• What does success mean to me?
• What drives me/what am I truly passionate about?
• When I picture myself being successful, what does that look like?1

 
Challenge yourself to think critically about contribution. Juan says this is the most critical of the three and I agree with him.  Whether that contribution is a positive impact that you want to make on friends, family, or to any cause that you’re passionate about. Money is not a great, lasting motivator but giving back to someone or something you’re passionate about is.

​So ask yourself: what does success mean to me? This is a great exercise to do before you sit down and write down the goals that you currently have in mind. It also helps you realize what you are truly passionate about so on days that you wonder why you continue to work hard, you can keep this in mind and remember your why.
 
I’ll repeat a key thing that I’ve learned from my endeavors and learning from highly successful people – money is not a great, lasting motivator but giving back to someone or something you’re passionate about is. Of course, finances are still a part of it and they’re important to everyone to some extent. But the things you’re passionate about (why you’re doing what you’re doing) is what really pushes you at the end of the day. If you’re doing something solely for money, you won’t be successful or happy long-term.
 
If you decide to challenge yourself and write down your definition of success, feel free to ask any questions you may have in the comments below or email me directly at jake@inspiringleaderscollective.com. I would love to hear your thoughts on this or to assist in any way I can. Share this post on social media if you find it helpful to you. You never know, it may help someone else too.

1. The Entrepreneur Roller Coaster by Darren Hardy - p. 75-78