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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My new book, Platform: Get Noticed in a Noisy World, has just started shipping to bookstores. The official publication date is Tuesday, May 22. In a moment, I’ll tell you why you should WAIT until then to buy it.

First, let me tell you a little about the book.

I signed up to run the Country Music Half Marathon in January. The big race was on Saturday, April 28th. But I didn’t run.

With the launch of my new book, Platform: Get Noticed in a Noisy World, and several other projects in the works, I just didn’t have the time to do the distance training I needed to do in order to participate. (I have kept up with my normal running routine; I just haven’t done the extended distance work.)

Thomas Nelson just released the full version of The Voice Bible translation. It represents the combined work of more than 100 Bible scholars, pastors, writers, musicians, poets, and artists.

The goal of this new translation was to allow the one divine Voice speak through the unique and diverse human voices who wrote the books of the Bible without attempting to homogenize the final product. The Voice does a masterful job of capturing the passion, grit, humor, and beauty that is often lost in other translations.

A few years ago, I had breakfast with an old college roommate. We hadn’t seen each other in twenty-two years. To my surprise—and delight—he looked almost exactly as he did the last time I saw him. The only difference was that his blond hair was mostly gray.

We spent an hour or so eating and reminiscing. We talked. We laughed. And we listened.

In this podcast episode, I talk about work-life balance and whether or not it is really possible. In fact, I question the balance metaphor itself and pose an alternative that better describes what our focus should be.

I also share several examples from my own life, most notably a story from early in my marriage with Gail when I was working seventy hours a week.

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As a keen reader of Michael’s blog, you’ll likely remember this interview he did with marketing blogger and provocateur Seth Godin about a year ago. About 3:40 in Seth hints at a project connected with his Domino Project publishing company, and then says he can’t say any more because “… he’ll get in trouble.”

But I can tell you about it. And as tomorrow is World Malaria Day, a time to remember and refocus on the battle against malaria, it’s the perfect time. Let me explain why.