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

As you can imagine, I have been very busy preparing for the launch of Inspiring Leaders in Health & Fitness, Vol. 1. I have also prepared my new books series website, www.inspiringleaderscollective.com. I think you'll find that site much more clean and professional so if you have not checked it out yet, go take a look!

I've also been creating daily content, just not on this site. What I used to call A Structured Morning Ritual (which I discussed in my last post) is now The Morning Chatroom. It has really started to grow with a community of amazing people sharing their mornings with me and joining in the daily discussion. At the bottom of this post, I will share a YouTube video I've recently created to show an example of what The Morning Chatroom is like and I also explain the purpose. You could also go right to my Facebook Page and hit the Follow button so that you get notifications when I go live next. I am live each and every Mon-Fri, 6:30-7am.

Lastly, I've created a "link tree" that has all of my links (https://wlo.link/@ilc) - The Facebook Page, the YouTube Channel, Inspiringleaderscollective.com, and this site here. There is also a link to donate, which is done through PayPal, in case you'd ever like to show extra support. When the book releases, there will be promotional days where the ebook will be either free or 99 cents. Some have said they'd rather spend more money to help support. Well if you support through that link, 100% of it will go right to my Inspiring Leaders Collective business account!

So, I decided to combine these ideas - create my own "commonplace book" but also live stream my morning ritual each morning. This also helps me commit to getting up a bit earlier.

If you would like to join me at 6:30 a.m. each Monday-Friday, I will be on Facebook Live through my Page (Jacob Craig or @inspiringleaderscollective). If you go to that link, you can click the "Follow" button so that you get notified by Facebook when I go live.

These streams will only be about 15 minutes long and we will:

1. Discuss the quote that I've chosen for that day. I will start by reciting it and then stating why it is meaningful to me and how it could be helpful to you. At any point, you can add comments of what you think of the quote or how it speaks to you.
2. I will mention someone or something I am grateful for that day. You are also more than welcome to comment with what you're grateful for that day as well.
3. Talk to me, ask me questions, talk to everyone else in the chat, tell each other to have a great day, and get the morning started off on the right foot!

I've already done a handful of these streams ​and there was a lot of troubleshooting at first but now that I have the schedule down and the streaming program working, it should be smooth sailing from here.

So come meet up with me - 6:30 a.m. Monday-Friday! See you there! :) 

Kelly Starrett is an athlete, physical therapist, and (above everything else) strength and conditioning coach who focuses on movement. He has worked with several national and international teams including the Buffalo Bills, New York Giants, Golden State Warriors, New Zealand All Blacks, Toronto Blue Jays, and a variety of sports organizations like the NBA, MLB, NFL, NHL, and international Rugby as well as multiple (if not all) branches of the military. Kelly also coaches top-performing athletes one-on-one at his gym, San Francisco CrossFit, where he focuses less on volume and power and more on form and function being the keys to performance.
 
Kelly states that there are three categories or ways to train:

1. General Physical Preparedness, or GPP, is working on foundational strength or fitness by practicing basic skills like push-ups and pull-ups.
2. Sports Preparation is mastering coordination and skill, like jumping and landing with your feet straight, to work on being able to pick up new sports and skills quickly.
3. Sports Specific Training is training skills for a specific sport so that you can be “good at your job” and/or be prepared. This means you are possibly sacrificing work in the other two categories.

 
The reason for having these categories are to know when you should be working on which area and to be aware of all the areas of strength training so that you can be a better athlete all-around.1
 
He gives the general public advice on strength training and ways to improve outside the gym through mobility exercises which he provides in his New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestselling book, Becoming a Supple Leopard, and his online coaching program, The Ready State. Kelly is popularly known for teaching people to use tools like foam rollers and lacrosse balls to increase mobility in joints and to downregulate and he suggests doing this for about 10 minutes each day outside the gym.
 
Kelly has many other accomplishments worth mentioning, including:

• Being a two-time Whitewater Kayak and Canoeing champion.
• Being co-founder of StandUp Kids with his wife, Juliet. StandUp Kids is a non-profit organization with the mission to give all public school kids standing desks in a matter of 10 years and so far have been very successful, implementing standing desks in school all over the United States.
• Running The Ready State Podcast with Juliet, interviewing friends and people with heavy influence on topics like longevity, nutrition, pain, CrossFit, and children’s sports practices. Guests include folks like Laird Hamilton, Matt Hasselback, Geoge St. Pierre, and Alex Hutchinson.
• He has also written other books than Becoming a Supple Leopard, including: Ready to Run, Waterman 2.0, and Deskbound, focusing on more specific topics.

1. Alpha Brew Podcast - "Ep. 2 - Kelly Starrett"
2. Ever Forward Radio - "Ep. 242: How to Best Recover From Injuries and Training for the Infinite Game with Kelly Starrett"
3. Becoming a Supple Leopard, p. 59
4. Becoming a Supple Leopard, p. 96
5. Becoming a Supple Leopard, p. 126-`128
6. Becoming a Supple Leopard, p. 132
7. Below the Line Podcast - "Ep. 22: Kelly Starrett - Foundational Thinking"

​Dr. Cate is a board-certified physician who worked as a family physician all over the United States for over 20 years. She also worked with the Los Angeles Lakers to create a nutrition plan that helped players be less susceptible to injuries and allowed them to recover faster. Currently, she works as a consultant for a company in Florida (ABC Fine Wines & Spirits), helping to improve the health of their 1500 employees through one-on-one consultations.
 
Dr. Cate has written multiple books but her most well-known is Deep Nutrition. She covers many different topics in this book but the most prominent are:

1. Why vegetable oils are “Public Enemy #1.”
2. What she calls the four Pillars of World Cuisine: meat on the bone, organ meats, fermented and sprouted foods, and fresh foods.

 
“Meat on the bone” means that when we consume meat, we should be including everything that comes along with it. Most of the meat you find in the grocery store is stripped of the skin, fat, cartilage, and bones even though all of those things give us nutrients that our bodies need. Dr. Cate warns that the more you cook meat, the less nutrients remain, especially when it comes to steak - she advises trying to work your way down to eating steak medium-rare or even rare.1 She also states that the bones can be used to create something she calls “a missing food group,” bone stock.2
 
The other groups are more self-explanatory. She suggests eating organ meats 1-3 times per week,3 eating probiotic-rich foods like kimchi and sauerkraut once a day,4 and having a salad with four cups of fresh vegetables of four different colors, four days a week.5
 
Dr. Cate’s other books include Food Rules and The Fatburn Fix and she also shares articles on her website, DrCate.com. Through her job, her books and website, and the work she does to spread the word through interviews and health documentaries, she is doing all she can to help as many people as possible with improving their overall health.

1. Deep Nutrition, p. 244
2. Deep Nutrition, p. 303
3. Deep Nutrition, p. 405
4. Ben Greenfield Fitness Podcast: "4 Ways To Eat Yourself Beautiful: Meat On The Bone, Fermented & Sprouted Foods, Organ Meats, Deep Nutrition & More With Dr. Cate Shanahan"
5. Ben Greenfield Fitness Podcast: "4 Ways To Eat Yourself Beautiful: Meat On The Bone, Fermented & Sprouted Foods, Organ Meats, Deep Nutrition & More With Dr. Cate Shanahan"
6. The Fatburn Fix, p. 333
7. Deep Nutrition, p. 21
8. Deep Nutrition, p. 118
9. Deep Nutrition, p. 298
​10. The Fatburn Fix, p. 216

​Mike Matthews is a virtual fitness coach and bestselling author of several books. His flagship books and programs are Bigger Leaner Stronger (or ’BLS’) for men and Thinner Leaner Stronger (or ‘TLS’) for women. To explain the purpose of these books and his mission as a coach, he states, “I’m Mike and I believe that every person can achieve the body of their dreams. My mission is to give everyone that opportunity by providing time-proven, evidence-based advice on how to build muscle, lose fat, and get and stay healthy.”1 He also has a popular podcast, Muscle for Life, and is the founder and CEO of his supplement company, Legion Athletics.
 
Mike works to give the coaching advice that he wished he had when he started working towards his health and fitness goals. He also backs up all of his advice with scientific reasoning. For instance, in BLS and TLS, he cites over 500 different resources that are mainly scientific articles.
 
For Mike’s advice on weightlifting, he mainly focuses on progressive overload. This term is used to express that you are loading your muscles enough when you work out that you consistently see progress in reps and weight you’re adding to the bar. He also focuses on “The Big Three” lifts: the barbell squat, barbell deadlift, and barbell bench press and working in the 4-6 rep range (with 1-2 left in the tank) for those lifts and in the 8-12 rep range for most other exercises.
 
For his advice on nutrition, his main focus is on your caloric intake: making sure you are in a caloric surplus when you are trying to bulk up and in a caloric deficit when you are trying to cut weight. He also states that you cannot ignore the quality of food you eat and suggests eating 1-2 servings of fruit and 2-3 servings (cups) of fibrous vegetables each day.2
 
Mike does a great job at breaking everything down so that anyone could get started on one of his programs. His programs vary between 3-5 workout sessions each week to accommodate those who cannot find time to go to the gym every day. He also has workbooks that go along with the BLS and TLS programs, more advanced books to follow, and even a cookbook, The Shredded Chef. Last but definitely not least, The Little Black Book of Workout Motivation is a book that he wrote to give advice on motivation and success to assist you further in making goals for yourself and crushing them. As you can see, Mike has been creating great content for a while and he continues to do so.

1. Bigger Leaner Stronger, p. 31
​2. Bigger Leaner Stronger, p. 206
​3. Bigger Leaner Stronger, p. 38
​4. Bigger Leaner Stronger, p. 102
5. Bigger Leaner Stronger, p. 163
6. Bigger Leaner Stronger, p. 70
7. Bigger Leaner Stronger, p. 216
8. Muscle For Life - "Ru Anderson on How to Master Your Habits"

​Ben has so many titles, both current and former, that if I tried to list them out, I know I would miss a few. Today, mainly he is a coach to high-performing CEOs and athletes, CEO of his own supplement company, Kion, a top-rated blogger and podcaster through Ben Greenfield Fitness, and a world-renowned speaker on health, fitness, and productivity. To explain some of his past work, he has written over a dozen books on all different subjects from his experiences of being a personal trainer, bodybuilder, and top-performing triathlete.
 
During a live conference he spoke at for Mindvalley Talks, Ben stated that his main goal through his work is to, “empower people to live a more adventurous, joyful, and fulfilling life.”1  He strives to give people quality advice on performing their best, whether it is in the gym or in the office, while maintaining a full and happy life. Many know Ben as a “biohacker” because he talks of improvements you can get by means of things like saunas, cold thermogenesis, and stem cells.
 
Ben has also been a strong advocate of being on a high-fat diet, or at least saving the most of your carbohydrates for the end of the day. Outside of an increase in performance and just anecdotally feeling better, Ben states that a high-fat diets also improve metabolic efficiency and flexibility2 as well as recovery3 and reduced risk of diseases like type 2 diabetes and even cancer.4
 
Some of Ben’s highest-praised and most recent books include Beyond Training and Boundless. His past books speak more to specific topics like bodybuilding or triathlete training while these books speak more to a general audience who wants to improve their lives and increase longevity.

1. Mindvalley Talks: "Can You Hack Your Biological Age? - Ben Greenfield" 
2. Beyond Training: p. 318-319
3. BenGreenfieldFitness.com Article: "Rewriting the Fat Burning Textbook - Part 1: Why You've Been Lied to About Carbs And How To Turn Yourself Into A Fat Burning Machine"
4. BenGreenfieldFitness.com Article: "10 Ways To Do A Low Carbohydrate Diet The Right Way"
5. Beyond Training: p. 207
6. The Mindbodygreen Podcast : "Ben Greenfield, Professional Biohacker, On Daily Hacks Everyone Can Try"
7. Beyond Training: p. 115
8. Beyond Training: p. 127

I wanted to break up the content and do something different so here it is!!

Here is a special interview with an old friend of mine, Dell, who was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes about a year ago. In this discussion, we mainly talk about the misconceptions that people have about diabetes but you also get to see how this has affected his outlook on things, how it affects his daily life, the equipment he uses to track his blood sugar levels, and we also learn why it's so important to specify between Type 1 and Type 2 Diabetes.

Dell has been sharing great content on Facebook so I wanted to talk to him to get more information and to help him inform a larger audience. This discussion is not only valuable for individuals who just want to learn more on the topic but also coaches who work with clients daily so they know what people with diabetes deal with regularly. 

In the interview, he also mentions the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF), a great organization working on research to discover the causes of Type 1 Diabetes as well as assisting those with the disease. If you would like to go check them out or go donate, you can do that either by going to Dell's donation page or by going to their website by clicking these links:

• Dell's Donation Page to JDRF
• JDRF.org

Anyways, I hope that you all enjoy the interview! Comments, likes, and shares on the video go a long way so please and thank you.

I appreciate all of you. If you would like to subscribe to my blog and receive two free PDF guides (Your Guide to Nutrition & Fitness and Your Guide on How to Get & Stay Inspired), go to my Contact Page now and simply provide your email! You will also get news about my upcoming book, news on the website, and updated when I have new posts.

Dr. Steven Gundry has an incredible story of how he made the switch from being a talented heart surgeon to becoming a best-selling author and one of today’s well-known nutrition experts. Gundry graduated cum laude at Yale University in the early 1970s and has been heavily involved in medicine (mainly in the fields of cardiology and immunology) ever since.  As a cardiac surgeon, he patented multiple tools still used in heart surgery and was known for keeping hearts beating for extensive periods outside the body.
 
In the early 2000s, Dr. Gundry had a patient who he calls “Big Ed” that threw a curveball in his career path. Big Ed was a special case who had seen multiple doctors about his clogged arteries and had been continuously told that nothing can be done to help him. After Dr. Gundry had said the same thing, Big Ed explained that he lost forty-five pounds in the past six months and had been taking a number of supplements. Gundry congratulated him on the weight loss and said something along the lines of, “Good for you, but that isn’t going to help your heart.” Big Ed insisted that a new video be taken of his heart and Dr. Gundry was astounded to find that half of Ed’s artery troubles had been wiped away!
 
Thanks to this moment, Dr. Gundry started helping people that he would perform surgeries on to then adjust their diets and start taking supplements so they never had to have the same operation again. He also stated that he had performed multiple surgeries on the same patient several times. In one instance, he operated on someone NINE times. About a year after meeting Big Ed and when Dr. Gundry realized his methods were working, he decided he should be helping people before they ever need surgery so he started his own restorative medicine practice at the International Heart and Lung Institute in Palm Springs, California.1
 
From there, Gundry started to study his own patients more enough to write multiple books. His first book, Dr. Gundry’s Diet Evolution, was published in 2009. It focuses on weight loss and shows his root principles. His following book is what really sparked his popularity – The Plant Paradox. In both of these books, Dr. Gundry shows his interest in longevity by helping us achieve “dying young at a ripe old age” through adopting a healthy, sustainable diet that eliminates processed foods and strengthens our guts.
 
Most recently, he released a new book, The Longevity Paradox. Other than reading his books, you can also visit his website at gundrymd.com, watch videos from him on his YouTube channel, or listen to him on The Doctor Gundry Podcast or on one of his dozens of podcast interviews.

Here are some of the tips and quotes from Dr. Gundry that I’ve found most valuable:
​

• “I love cardiac surgery. But giving people the tools to heal themselves transcends just about anything I can do with a knife, needle, and thread.”2

 

• “Calories merely tell us how much energy is contained in a food, not how much energy your body can derive from it.”3  Dr. Gundry explains that for longevity purposes, it is more about the quality of the food you eat than the quantity.

 

• “Research has shown that it takes at least six weeks of continuous practice to instill a new habit.”4

 

• “My research has shown that if you can work your way up to consuming the equivalent of one bag of dark green leaves (lettuce, spinach, or other greens) daily, your life will change dramatically for the better.”5

  ​

• More than 80% of Dr. Gundry’s patients are deficient in Vitamin D3 and “anyone in my practice with leaky gut or an autoimmune disease has low levels.” Dr. Gundry states that this essential vitamin prevents leaky gut as well as bone degeneration. He also relates a lack of Vitamin D to prostate cancer and obesity.6 Take at least 5,000 IUs per day and if you have an autoimmune disease, take 10,000 IUs per day.7

1. Muscle Intelligence Podcast: Dr. Steven Gundry, Rethinking Everything You Knew About a "Healthy Diet."
2. Dr. Gundry's Diet Evolution - p. 131
3. Dr. Gundry's Diet Evolution - p. 24
​4. Dr. Gundry's Diet Evolution - p. 47
​5. Dr. Gundry's Diet Evolution - p. 132
6. The Plant Paradox - p. 113-114
7. The Plant Paradox - p. 275