One of the best ways to stay in touch with people and be highly productive is to have a "knowledge share" call. Here's the format of a great one:

*Scheduled at least a week in advance *Both people have some experience on the topic to bring to the table *Profitable actionable subject matter *30 minutes to 90 minutes usually; 120 minutes rarely *A great agenda set in advance *Great prep beforehand

Greater detail:

*Scheduled at least a week in advance: This gives both participants time to turn the topic over in their heads and notice talking points in their daily life. Even if you don't do this consciously, your subconscious will pick up new subject matter when you know you've got a knowledge share coming up. I recommend scheduling them at least a week out.

*Both people have some experience on the topic to bring to the table: I've found a single broad theme that both people can bring something valuable to be most profitable. I'll also have calls where I'm just helping someone, or vice-versa, can be great. But the best is when you have hands-on experience here. If you don't have any, don't ask for a full knowledge share -- instead ask for a single piece of tactical guidance and go bang your head against the wall doing that for a while, refine a bit, then have the call. You've got to bring a lot to the table.

15 August 2013. 1:48AM. Beijing, China.

The whirlwind had subsided and the lights were getting shut off at the mixed residential/office/cultural organization's HQ.

I'm in the kitchen and just drank an entire large bottle of soda water. An interesting call just ended -- t'was about whether it's better to accept human nature or attempt to elevate it during the sales process at an outstanding company.

During the call, it made sense to load up some websites as resources and reference points.

Call over. Then -- clicking around, somewhat aimlessly, reading something mildly interesting. Only mildly interesting.

In Sophocles's play Antigone, the title character is mourning the death of her brother. He is declared an outlaw, and his body is left unburied and rotting outside the city of Thebes. Anyone burying him would be executed.

Antigone gives her brother a proper burial anyways. When arrested for it, she does not lie or deny what she has done -- but instead explains that there is a higher morality and higher law that she must follow than that of the ruler's --

It's worth meditating on.

I was doing some research on sleep discipline -- consistently sleeping enough, at good times, and in circumstances where doing so isn't easy.

And I came across this gem published by the U.S. Army:

https://rdl.train.army.mil/catalog/view/100.ATSC/AF18AF6D-7DFB-4CA4-BE78-8D0A5FEDF993-1274316004566/6-22.5/chap4.htm

Generally speaking, you get better right-to-the-point information from practical military manuals than almost any other source. There's less tolerance for superstition, identity-driven agendas, or long or excessively clever narratives.

It also puts things in proper context, like this:

Now vs. "IMMINENT"

Through my consulting, through sharing/collaboration on Ops calls with friends, and observing my own system, I've found something that is utterly hostile to success.

It's evil and wretched, broken, seductive and conniving, and leads on the path to ruin.

It has the heart of pure darkness, the most viciousness of all the ages combined, and with a voice as sweet as the sirens beckoning you to the rocks.

It's really, really bad.

A slight dust kicks up in the hot air, walking in the shadow of China World in Beijing.

It's a city with some of the best salesmanship in the world -- and some of the world.

The Chinese hustle. They work hard and constantly, relentlessly sell.

But sometimes their sales skills need some work.

I'm walking past a booth adverting a gym with swimming pool, tennis, and nice facilities.

The answers are usually preceded by the right questions. If you don't know what the problem is or why an initiative isn't working, you can't start looking for solutions.

But here's the thing -- oftentimes, the right questions are incredibly painful.

Imagine being an Old Bolshevik in Stalin's Russia. Against all odds, you overthrew the Tsar and you think you're on the path to paradise on Earth. But... things start getting shaky and your old comrades start getting arrested. Would you ask, "Hey, what if Comrade Stalin isn't actually a good guy? What if he's a murderous sadistic bandit at heart? What if the courts are an abomination with no notion of justice? What if we're at terrible risk?"

You read that on paper. It makes sense. But for a person there, in Moscow, then, it would have been near impossible to ask. Where else would you go? What else would you do? Your whole life was Russia. You were persona non grata in most of the world. You spoke Russian, and your family was there.

Yet, you and your family were in line to get executed if you stuck around. You should have asked the question. You had to ask that question.

A friend of mine is the CEO of a rapidly growing funded company. A couple weeks ago, catching up briefly on a call, he mentioned he was totally over-bandwidth. Almost drowning, even.

So we blocked out some time today, starting with the always-key question of, "What are the key actions that ensure your company's success?" Not the nice ones, not the bonuses, but which are really the make-or-break stuff?

And here's where things got interesting. As he walked me through success at his company, his "absolutely must-happen" list was about… 30 things long.

Do you know what that means?

It means his "absolutely must-happen" list is actually zero things long. In the event of an emergency, actions will be picked haphazardly and erratically, just like someone didn't have a must-do list at all.

A useful exercise:

Sit, think, and consider this: when you go off a desired habit of yours, when do you usually do it?

Is it during high moods -- celebrations, victories, birthdays, holidays, parties, festivities, and happy moods?

Or is it during low moods -- anxieties, fears, doubts, losses, boredom, setbacks, and negative moods?

It's worth sitting and thinking this through. That way, you can be more vigilant during these times. If you know you tend to act stupidly, drink too much, spend money in ways you don't like, eat horribly, and treat people badly when you go to a bar when you're having a bad day... then stop going to bars when you're having bad days!