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I believe that we are responsible

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for creating the moments of joy
in our own lives.

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We can't take credit
for a beautiful sunrise,

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but we can take credit
for being there to see it.

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We can take credit

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for the decisions that we made
that allowed us to experience that moment.

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You decided to leave house early.
You decided to go for a hike.

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But making good decisions is really hard.

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It's something I've struggled
with my entire life.

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When I was young, I was diagnosed
with Attention Deficit Disorder.

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At the time, there was not
a lot known about the condition,

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and there were no resources,
not to mention that there was no Internet.

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So the few tools that I could find
were either too rigid or too complicated.

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They didn't work the way
that my mind worked.

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A big misconception about ADD
is that we can't focus.

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In my experience, I could focus.

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I was just focusing on
too many things at the same time.

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So, over the next 25 years,

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I silently made it my mission
to design my own resources.

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Over time, I actually outgrew my ADD,

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but I found the methodologies
I'd developed

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remained relevant, incredibly helpful

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so I shared them
with a couple of my friends.

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I was really surprised to find out
that they too found it helpful.

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Who knew?

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I designed it for myself,

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I'd never assumed
that it would work for other people.

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But with that in mind,
about three years ago,

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I built a website and shot some videos

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to teach the system to others,

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in hopes that it might help them
the way that it helped me.

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I called the system "The Bullet Journal."

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If you search for the Bullet Journal
on YouTube or Instagram today,

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you will find hundreds
of thousands of examples

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of how people have adopted
the Bullet Journal

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to help them deal with challenges
in their own lives.

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Those tutorial videos
have been seen over 5 million times.

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It's incredible.

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I just wished that I'd had this knowledge
when I was that young struggling kid.

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That's why I'm very excited
to be here today

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to share some
of what I've learned with you.

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We're going to talk about
how to declutter your mind,

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how to cultivate your curiosity,

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and how to remain focused over time.

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These practices
will help you close the gap

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from leading a distracted life
to leading one of intention.

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And all begins with reflection.

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Studies suggest we have
over 500,000 thoughts

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every single day.

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Remember, as a kid, my biggest problem was

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I was focusing on way too many things
at the same time.

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Doesn't that some familiar though?

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As an adult, that's just known
as being busy.

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But being busy doesn't mean
that you're being productive, right?

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A lot of time, being busy just means

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you're in a state of being
functionally-overwhelmed.

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And a lot of this is due to
the overwhelming amount of choices

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that we have to make in our modern life.

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Freedom of choice
is absolutely your privilege,

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but it's a privilege that comes at a cost

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because for every one
of these choices that we make,

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we have to make a decision.

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And every decision requires us to focus.

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And focus costs us
our two most valuable resources:

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our energy and our time.

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We don't like to think
about how to invest our energy and time

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because it's really stressful.

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"What do I want to do with my life?"

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It's a very overwhelming question.

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It's like going shopping
when you're super hungry

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but you have no idea what you want to eat.

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Have you ever done that?

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You walk in, and there is
a million different options,

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you're immediately overwhelmed,

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so you just start picking
all sorts of random junk.

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Most of it will end up
in your pantry of shame.

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The rest will go bad in the fridge.
It's always a waste.

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But you've vowed to do better next time

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as you pick up the phone
to order pizza again.

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Decision fatigue is a real condition,
and it can lead to decision avoidance.

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Rather than dealing with these thoughts,

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we just start stuffing them
into the back of our mental pantry

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until we have no more room left
to think clearly.

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That can cause an incredible amount
of anxiety and stress

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because we feel like we're losing control.

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We're overwhelmed.
We need room to think and to focus.

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So how do we create room?

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Like when you cleaning a pantry,
we have to start by taking everything out.

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We have to externalize our thoughts
to declutter our mind.

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A good way that I found to do this
is to create a mental inventory.

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Simply take a sheet of paper and a pen,

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write down the things that you need to do,

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the things that you should be doing,
and the things that you want to do.

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Holding thoughts in your mind
is like trying to grasp water --

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it's nearly impossible.

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But by writing down our thoughts,
we can capture them clearly

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so we can work with them later.

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So now we have
this mental inventory; now what?

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This mental inventory

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will actually give you
a pretty clear picture

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as to how you're investing
both your time and your energy.

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So the next step is
to ask yourself, "Why?"

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Why am I doing these things?
It's a simple question.

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But you don't have to dive down
some existential rabbit hole;

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simply ask yourself, "Does it matter
or is this actually holding me hostage?"

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We burden ourselves with
unnecessary responsibilities all the time.

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We're so distracted by all the things

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that we should be doing
and we could be doing

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but we completely forget
to ask ourselves,

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"Why are we doing these things?
Do I even want to be doing those things?"

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But now we have
a mental inventory to remind us.

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So, for every item on this inventory,
ask yourself two questions.

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One - "Is it vital?"

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Is this item vital, this task vital;
think rent, taxes - that kind of thing.

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Two - "Does it matter?"

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Does it actually matter to you
or to someone that you love?

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If the answer is no
to both of those things,

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you've just identified a distraction,
and you can cross it off your list.

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For every item you cross off your list,
you're becoming less and less distracted.

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OK, so now, your mental inventory
is divided by the things you have to do,

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and the rest is probably related to things
that you aspire to -- your goals.

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The key to setting goals
is to set yourself up for success.

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And the best way I found to do that

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is to take your goals and to break them
down into small actionable projects.

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If you don't know how to cook,
but you want to learn,

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don't start by tackling
an incredibly complicated meal

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for six people.

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Even if you don't make a total mess,

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the experience
will have been so unpleasant

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that you run the risk
of ruining your curiosity

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about cooking all together.

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Natural curiosity is incredibly important
because it's genuine, it can't be faked.

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These small projects allow us

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to cultivate our curiosities
and help them grow;

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maybe even help some of them blossom
into fully-fledged passions.

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At the very least,

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we learn more about ourselves,
about the things that we want.

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So what do these small projects look like?

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For one, they have to have
no barriers to entry.

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What does that mean?

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You don't have to wait
on anybody or anything;

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you can get started right away.

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Two - they have to have a very clearly
defined list of actions and tasks.

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And three - it should take
less than a month to complete.

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If you estimate your project will take
more than a month, that's fine.

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Just break it into two smaller projects.

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These projects don't even have to be
part of some big epic goal.

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They can be self-contained micro goals.

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The goal really here is to be able
to indulge your curiosity,

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try it on for size and see if it fits
so you don't waste time.

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Unfortunately, time
is not a renewable resource.

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You can't make time.
You can only take time.

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It's our responsibility to take the time

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to identify the things that interest us,
to figure out ways to pursue them

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because project after project,
goal after goal,

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we will learn what we want to eat,

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and we'll have acquired all the skills
that we need to prepare a beautiful meal.

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We'll go from this state
to something more along these lines.

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But it takes time.
And it takes dedication.

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Please, raise your hands

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if you've ever accomplished the goal
that you set for yourself.

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Congratulations.

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(Laughter)

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Now please, raise your hands again,

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if by accomplishing a goal
it was like a dream come true,

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it was exactly like you thought
it was going to be.

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All right. Not as many hands. Why is that?

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It's because time has passed.

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You've learned new things,
your circumstances have changed;

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you're not the same person anymore.

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This mental inventory is like a map

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and as we navigate our lives,

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we have to dedicate ourselves

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to a habit of keeping that map updated
with all the new things that we discover.

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If we don't, our map becomes inaccurate,
and we start to go off course, we drift.

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And all of sudden, the distractions
start leaking back into our lives.

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Even if it's only five minutes a day,
just five minutes a day,

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we have to dedicate
ourselves to a practice

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that allows us to keep
our mental inventory updated.

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Over time this skill, this practice

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will also provide you
with a lot of personal data,

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and that data can provide
profound insights into your life:

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what have you tried,
what have you not tried,

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what should you do more of,
what's working, what's not.

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I've been doing this for years,

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and it's shown me just how much power
I actually do have in shaping my life.

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It's allowed that young
struggling kid with ADD

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to stand on this stage today
in front of you.

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It's also allowed this adult
to get through the speech,

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but we're almost there.

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OK, so, to recap:

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reflect - declutter your mind
by creating a mental inventory,

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get rid of what doesn't matter;

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ideate - figure out ways
to pursue the things that interest you

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by creating small actual projects;

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dedicate - get into a daily practice
of keeping your mental inventory updated.

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Reflect, ideate, dedicate.

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Rid yourself of the things
that don't matter,

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so you have the time and the energy
to focus on the things that do.

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I'll help you go
from leading that busy life

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to leading an intentional life,
to close that gap.

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An intentional life is the one
that you want to live

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not the one that you endure.

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The intentional life has the power

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to grant you more of those
beautiful moments in the sun.

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Thank you.

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(Applause)