1. You're better off putting all of your energy into one important task or goal than you are investing small amounts of energy into multiple smaller, but important, tasks. You have a finite amount of energy at any given moment in time. Set your sights on one important goal, anticipate obstacles, and push forward with all your might. You'll be far more productive this way.

2. Confidence is the single most valuable commodity available to us today. Look for opportunities to build it, slowly but surely, moment by moment, and day by day. Develop new skills, take new risks, and reinvent yourself.

3. Be sure that you are consistently looking for ways to do things better, quicker, and with less effort. We waste too much time doing things a certain way because “that's how we've always done it.” We also fail to stop and analyze the time invested versus the outcomes achieved. If the former is greater than the latter, you can surely benefit from making some changes in your approach.

4. Practice living honestly. In my book, that means being honest with yourself about your strengths, weaknesses, and idiosyncratic ways of doing things. It also means operating on a daily basis as if your behaviors can withstand public scrutiny. Doing so allows you to expend less energy on public relations (you know who you are, have no need to apologize for that, and you don't have to waste energy remembering what facts you embellished previously) while also allowing you to live a life whereby you spend very little time looking back over your shoulder.

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Four books to read this summer, with or without an ice-cold glass of lemonade:

1. A Moveable Feast, by Ernest Hemingway

2. The Teammates: A Portrait of a Friendship, by David Halberstam

3. The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald

4. A New Guide to Rational Living, by Albert Ellis

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I'm known as an optimist by those close to me, which is probably one of the reasons I've been a Cubs fan since graduate school. I am, I guess, someone who focuses relentlessly on improving subjective aspects of everyday life in my favor. Guilty as charged. However, I think it's important to understand that being optimistic (especially amidst an economic recession that nobody other than Warren Buffett wants to admit is occurring…) is not synonymous with being naïve.

Realistic optimism is the term I use to describe this frame of mind. There are three key beliefs at work here:

1. Life is seldom fair
2. Hard work and relentless focus result in good outcomes over time
3. We have conscious control over our attitude

Starting with the first belief, we have to realize that life simply isn't fair. Further, we run into problems when we walk around expecting it to be! We have to disabuse ourselves of this notion, and quickly, if we are to adjust more quickly to life's difficulties.

The second belief empowers. Both hard work and focus are always under our control.

The third and final belief, that we alone are responsible for our attitude, ensures that we can modify the meaning of any moment, any situation, and any problem. We can paint the world with whatever colors we prefer, no matter the canvas. Once we realize this, we move from being helpless and passive to being in control and proactive.

When it comes down to it, we have two basic choices when faced with any “stimulus” in life: Make the best of it (according to our own standards) or sit back and play helpless. It takes effort to create any habit, but while we're at it, why not create a good one, right? You do, my friends, have a choice in the matter.

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