Listen to most presentations and you will hear a litany of stories half submerged in what might be major points—or maybe just another story.

Regardless, 75 percent of the people leave a presentation with no idea what the point of the message was. Even worse, 50 percent of speakers can’t identify the objective of their own talk.

I just returned from the Catalyst Conference in Dallas where I spoke on the topic of my new book, Platform: Get Noticed in a Noisy World. The theme for this year’s conference series is “Be Present.”

This is a particularly powerful reminder for me. I seem to be always living in the future. I’m either planning my next big project or worried about how it will turn out.

In this podcast episode, I talk about—of all things—naps! Yes, that’s right. I explain why you should consider them as part of your journey to greater productivity.

When I blogged about this topic recently, I got 1,780 comments on my blog, 1,602 retweets on Twitter, and 13,666 Facebook shares. Obviously, this topic hit a nerve—or maybe people are just tired.

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As I have grown older, I have become increasingly aware that we live in toxic environment. Our food, water, and air are contaminated with poisons.

Over time these poisons take a toll on our bodies. Years from now, I believe we will discover that many of our worst diseases—especially autoimmune ones—were the direct result of the toxins we were ingesting.

If you have followed my journey from corporate CEO to full-time writer and speaker, you know I am a big advocate of using virtual assistants. I couldn’t survive without mine.

But I have noticed that many of my fellow entrepreneurs are reluctant to take the plunge. So often they don’t get the help they need because they think hiring a full-time, physical assistant is their only option.

I need your help. Part of building your PLATFORM is recognizing you need others to help you along the way. That’s true for you. It’s true for me.

As we’re approaching the launch of my new book, I’ve decided to try something different. I am inviting 100 of my readers to join me in creating a special “Platform Launch Team.” It’s a peer group of people who are willing to roll up their sleeves and help get the word out about the book.

There is a tragedy in our world today. Most people aren’t living their dreams, and the reason is simple: fear. They’re scared to be who they are.

When you endeavor to find your life’s work, there is a lot at risk:

• You could fail.
• You could lose the respect of your friends.
• You could go broke.

You could mess up in a hundred different ways. But—and this is important—you could also succeed. And until you start living into your calling, you’re robbing the world of a gift.

Do you ever feel like you are running out of bandwidth? I do. I am in one of those periods right now. The last several weeks have been crazy.

My new book, Platform, is about to be published. My speaking calendar is full for the next several weeks. And I have a daughter getting married at the end of this month.

In this podcast episode, I talk practical ways to restore margin in your life and, specifically, how to shave ten hours off your work week.

This is something I am personally having to re-apply to my own life. In this episode I share some of my current challenges.

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