In this episode of the Successful Barrister, Diana and Marc give you the secrets to being brilliant. While that may sound a little far-fetched, they have the tools to do it; specifically, they are pulling from The Personal MBA: Master the Art of Business by Josh Kaufman. The book asks a series of 49 questions to help you become brilliant, guiding you through topics like your health, your focus, your fears, and your fulfillment. 

With the insights from these questions, you can learn new insights about yourself and bring brilliance into 2025. 

For detailed show notes, navigate using the time stamps below:

[1:45] Today’s episode is all about how to be brilliant going into 2025. Specifically, Diana and Marc are discussing The Personal MBA: Master the Art of Business by Josh Kaufman. Often, lawyers are hesitant to look outside the legal profession for tips on running their firms – but they shouldn’t be!

[5:00] The Personal MBA provides 49 questions to ask yourself to be brilliant. The first set of questions is about how you use your body optimally – how you manage your diet, your sleep, your exercise, and more.

[11:32] The next set of questions is related to knowing what you want. It’s important to check on your priorities, which naturally shift over time. This includes questions about which achievements would make you excited, where you focus your energy, and how you define your values and priorities. 

[16:55] Next, what are you afraid of? This set of questions asks you to determine what is holding you back, and importantly, why it is holding you back. You have to get to the “fifth why” of your fears to fully understand where they come from and how to conquer them. These questions also help you understand and mitigate risk.

[22:10] Is your mind clear and focused? The next set of questions asks about how your organize your ideas, capture your thoughts, and guide your attention. 

[27:00] Next, are you confident, relaxed, and productive? This involves regularly reviewing your commitments, forming new positive habits, and learning to say no. Diana explains a four-quadrant technique that she used to set goals in the new year – “keep,” “improve,” “start,” and “stop.”

[31:06] The next section, Marc’s favorite, asks how you perform best: how you learn, how you like to work, and what you’re good at. Diana points out that this also has to do with your health.

[39:45] The final section asks what you need to be happy and fulfilled. It asks how you define success and how often you compare yourself with others. Marc defines success as helping as many families as possible through his work.

Read the 49 Questions from The Personal MBA and buy or listen to the book: https://personalmba.com/ 

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Visit the Successful Barrister website: https://www.successfulbarrister.com/ 

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