Hello again to my friends, family, colleagues, and clients. Many of you know me personally through work, networking or through one of my speaking engagements. Some of you may know me only by email and telephone. Welcome to everyone that’s new to this distribution list.
There are a lot of smart and interesting people that I am very fortunate to network with. We share books, movies, music and ideas that stimulate us. I'm always interested to learn what other people that I respect are reading, watching and listening to. I send out an email from time to time with books I’ve recently read, movies seen, music devoured and ideas that may be of interest to you. If you find this interesting and would like to pass it on, please feel free to do so. If you’d like to be removed from this list just let me know.
I wrote most of this newsletter last weekend from my hotel room at the Renaissance Harborplace Hotel in the Inner Harbor in Baltimore. If you haven’t been to Baltimore in the last 5 to 10 years you should go. The Inner Harbor has been revitalized and there is a revolutionary war period battleship in the harbor in addition to an ESPN Zone and lots of shops and restaurants. Nice place for a historical family weekend trip (the founding fathers would have loved ESPN).
THREE BOOKS TO PUT ON YOUR MUST READ LIST
Getting Things Done- David Allen
I wish that I had read this book about 20 years ago; although I bet that I would not have been ready for it at that time. Allen has some great techniques for organizing tasks, data and your life. His methods may seem a little extreme at first but once I started implementing them into my life I realized the brilliance of his ideas. It’s an example of the truth always being simple and the truth setting you free. Allen has a second book called Ready for Anything that is kind of a Cliff notes version of GTD. I would recommend reading GTD though, as this book explains his techniques in detail rather than from a high level. His email filing system has reduced my inbox cleaning methods by at least 30 to 40%. The same goes for the inbox on my desk. Allen is a master of the art of stress-free productivity. Checkout www.davidco.com for more details of his work and his public speaking engagements.
The Go-Giver- Bob Burg and John David Mann
This book is getting a lot of press right now and deservedly so. It’s a short tale in the mold of some of the great books from Og Mandino. I read this book on the plane trip to and from Baltimore and loved it. I have to admit that I am a huge Bob Burg fan and have had the opportunity to meet him on a few occasions. His book Endless Referrals is the best book on professional networking that I have ever read and I have made a lot of money utilizing his simple techniques in my sales career and I’ve also given and recommended his book to hundreds of people. Don’t be fooled by their seemingly simple story. The truths that Burg and Mann weave through their story have the power to change your life if you’re ready to accept and live them. Their Five Laws of Stratospheric Success have a brilliant way of showing us that “a glorious irony of creation is that it tucks its greatest truths carefully inside of paradoxes”. We don’t ever break the laws of human relations; we only break ourselves against them by trying to violate them. Must read! www.thegogiver.com
The Beatles- Bob Spitz
Hello, my name is Kevin Knebl (everyone say “hi Kevin”) and I am a Beatleaholic. I love everything that the Beatles wrote and have been a huge fan of their music since I was a kid (when the earth was cooling). This is the best biography of the Beatles that I’ve ever read. If you are interested in a complete and detailed understanding of their family histories, childhoods, marriages, neuroses, career together and a complete explanation of their breakup this is the book for you. At over 800 pages it is an exhaustive warhorse, so saddle up. I learned a lot of details about the lads that I didn’t already know and I consider myself a Beatles aficionado (not at your level, Tommy, but up there). After reading this book you’ll be dusting off your records or downloading their great music off iTunes.
MUST GET MUSIC
Take The Long Way Home (DVD)- Roger Hodgson
Remember Supertramp? You probably do if you’re over 30. Roger was one of the two brains behind Supertramp’s greatest hits. He left the band at their peak and disappeared off the music scene for a long time in order to raise his kids. He came back a few years ago and has been touring as a solo artist. This DVD is a live performance recorded in Montreal in June, 2006. It’s just Hodgson and a sax player. I thought that this would sound very bare bones without the rest of the band and I was completely wrong- he’s a one man orchestra. He plays his hits either on piano or twelve-string guitar the way that he wrote them. He seems absolutely thrilled to be back playing these songs and is so relaxed and unpretentious that his performance is breathtaking. If you’re a Supertramp fan you’re going to love this DVD and if you’re not familiar with Supertramp you need to get this DVD. I can’t stop playing this DVD and often listen to it on my laptop in the background while I’m working on other things. This was the top selling DVD in Canada in November and December and may still be at this point in time. Hodgson is a melodic master. www.rogerhodgson.com
HILARIOUS YOUTUBE CLIP
In keeping with my personal philosophy that we should have at least one good belly laugh per day, I submit to you a great video clip. I remember doing a couple of these moves and no you can’t see the home movies and pictures of me from high school, college and crazy bachelor parties. I especially like the Vanilla Ice/MC Hammer portion. This may be the funniest six minutes of your week. Enjoy. http://www.youtube..com/wa
SOME GREAT QUOTES
“Circumstances are rulers of the weak and instruments of the wise”
“What you find tells you what you are looking for”
“Write a wise saying and your name will live forever”- Anonymous
“Kindness is the highest form of intelligence”
“Perception is a mirror, not a fact”
“Outside of a dog, a book is a man’s best friend. Of course inside of a dog, it’s too dark to read”- Groucho Marx
If you think that this will be of interest to someone that you know, please feel free to forward it on. If you have any thoughts or opinions on any of these recommendations please let me know- you never know where the conversation will go from there. I hope that you're having a great start to 2008 and that you, your families and your businesses are all doing fantastic! As always, if you’d like to reach me, the easiest and fastest way is either by email or mobile phone.
To your success,
Kevin