Some of you (most of you, I hope!) remember, fondly, our humble Zaadz origins. So I’m pretty sure you’re not going to mind that we’re interrupting our regularly scheduled programming for a note from the man who started it all—Zaadz’s founder (and, of course, Philosopher!) Brian Johnson.
Round of applause, please? And then read on to find out what he’s been up to since this Fall—and how to
listen to (or read!) the results.
o
Greetings Gaia-sters: :)
Long time no chat! :) I trust you’re doing great and would love to give you a quick update and share my new project with you: PhilosophersNotes!
The short version: I’m launching a new business in May. It’s called
PhilosophersNotes . It’s kinda like mini-Cliff’s Notes for self-development books. I’d love to give you (and any of your friends and family who you think would enjoy) 5 free samples (PDFs & MP3s) to give you a sneak peak on what I’m up to and hear your thoughts about how I can make it ideal!
Just cruise over to:
http://PhilosophersNotes.com… and get PhilosophersNotes on these great books:
- Deepak Chopra’s Seven Spiritual Laws of Success
- Eckhart Tolle’s A New Earth
- Stephen Covey’s Seven Habits of Highly Successful People
- Brent Kessel’s It’s Not About the Money
- Shawn Phillips’ Strength for Life (this great book hits the shelves at the end of April!)
The longer version: As you know, the decision to merge Zaadz with Gaiam was a big one for me. After transitioning out of the day-to-day flow of the business, I immersed myself back into the study of universal truths and meditated on the next step of my hero’s journey.
It quickly became clear to me that my next step involved giving myself my own Ph.D. in “Optimal Living.” I figured I’d earn a Masters when I’d distilled the wisdom from 100 of my favorite self-development books—by authors ranging from Buddha and Lao-tzu to Nietzsche and Rumi; from Eckhart Tolle and Byron Katie to Wayne Dyer and Deepak Chopra. My original plan was to simply immerse myself in this wisdom and embody these perennial truths in my own life while creating summaries I could share with my friends and family.
Then, on a long flight from Tokyo back to the US, I happened to have a SkyMall catalog in my lap (OMG! Who came up with all those products?!? :)) and opened to an ad for a company that provides summaries of business books “for the busy executive.” As I read their ad, I had one of those “AHA!/Hallelujah!!!” moments of inspiration and clarity where it became obvious to me that someone should be doing the same thing for self-development books “for the busy self-actualizer”!!!
And, I realized that someone should be me. :) So, I decided to take my plan to distill 100 of my favorite books and create a conscious business around it.
Enter:
PhilosophersNotes The idea is simple: you’re busy. AND you’re committed to reading/learning/growing and all that good stuff. When you put those two together, it can be hard to keep up!!!
Have you noticed that in any given book, there are usually a bunch of REALLY “Big Ideas”—those life-changing gems that really make an impact in your life (those pages are usually all marked up, underlined, starred, highlighted and all that goodness in my books! :))?!?
Well, what I’ve done is opened up my favorite books, gone straight to those pages with the BIG IDEAS and created “PhilosophersNotes” that quickly give you the inspiring gems along with my thoughts on how these ideas have impacted my life and how they can impact yours—all in the context of a 6 page PDF or a ~20 minute MP3 (so you can decide if you’d prefer to read over a cup of tea of listen on your way to work, on a hike, at the gym, doing errands or whatever’s best for you!).
Alright. That’s more than enough from me. :)
I trust you’re doing great and hope to have the opportunity to share
PhilosophersNotes with you and hear what you think!
Hugs and high fives,
-bri
o
Okay. Siona again. (And I know, I know. We miss him too. :) I just wanted to put in my own $0.02 about these notes, mostly becuase I'm not ordinarily one for condensed versions. I’m a reader, and part of what I love is the sheer enjoyment of the book itself. Brian’s Notes are in a different category entirely, though. It’s like learning about a topic from a favorite teacher or best friend or one of those rare geniuses who manages to make anything fascinating, and not just fascinating, but unforgettable.
You’ll see . :)
Make that a group hug,
Siona PS. Okay. $0.02 more, just to let you know that my words are in good company. Dan Millman, author of
The Peaceful Warrior, described the PhilosophersNotes as “an idea whose time has come,” and that Bri’s “life to this point has prepared him for the task.” I think you should
write the next testimonial.
