" One of the best books of the year. Passionate, practical and powerful, Todd will help you do more and do it better, starting right now." - Seth Godin , author of The Icarus Deception Most of us fill our days with frantic activity, bouncing from task to task, scrambling to make deadlines and chase the next promotion. But by the end of each day we're often left wondering if any of it really mattered. We feel the ticking of the clock, but we're unsure of the path forward. Die Empty is a tool for people who aren't willing to put off their most important work for another day. Todd Henry explains the forces that lead to stagnation and introduces practices that will keep you on a true and steady course. The key is embracing the idea that time is finite, so you should focus on the unique contribution to the world that only you can make. Henry shows how to sustain your enthusiasm, push through mental barriers, and unleash your best work each day. "A simple, masterful manual for leading a fulfilled life. I couldn't put it down. Bravo, Todd Henry!" -- David Allen , author of the international bestseller Getting Things Done "In a field crowded with rivals, Todd Henry stands out as a unique and original voice. I love Todd's outstanding thoughts on how each of us possesses a career-in-potential, and it's our challenge to bring it forth so that we can 'die empty.' If you can read this book and not be inspired, you need a 100 percent full-body-and-soul transplant."-- Steven Pressfield , author of The War of Art and Turning Pro Todd Henry is the founder and CEO of Accidental Creative, a consultancy that helps organizations generate ideas. He is the author of The Accidental Creative and a popular public speaker. He lives in Cincinnati with his family. How much work did you do today that you will be proud of tomorrow? I don’t mean just how you handled the big things, but also how you addressed the little, seemingly insignificant ones. Did you make progress on what matters most to you, or did you allow the buzz, busyness, and expectations of others to squelch your passion and focus? I’ve been asking these questions of others and myself each day for more than a decade, and they are the main reason I originally felt compelled to write Die Empty . Through my work I’ve encountered many teams of brilliant, sharp, amazing, talented people who have at some point “settled in” or begun coasting on past success. Unfortunately, this often leads to deep regrets. It’s not that these people aren’t getting things done; perhaps they are even succeeding in the marketplace. It’s that in “settling in” they are ignoring the small hunches, ideas, and bits of intuition that could lead to something truly remarkable. For this reason, many of us have had to sacrifice long-term greatness on the altar of short-term efficiency. We have stopped unleashing our best work each day. Unleashing your best work means ensuring that your daily mix of work includes the important work that you should be doing for yourself (but may have been ignoring) in addition to the work that you must do as a function of your job. Your best work may include choosing to have the difficult conversations you’ve been deferring, setting aside time to invest in future results rather than just focusing on immediate outcomes, and pushing yourself out of your comfort zone in order to learn a new skill or sharpen your thinking. In short, it means choosing not to defer your contribution, but instead working with urgency and diligence each day as you make progress on building a body of work that represents your real values, hopes, and ambitions. It’s about putting your focus, assets, time, and energy into the work that matters most. Your best work. I have learned that there are no clear rules for success, but I believe there is enough evidence to make this claim: a person who intentionally structures work and life around what matters most to them will find a greater degree of gratification and will ultimately produce better results than those who don’t. Unfortunately, our culture often doesn’t provide for this kind of fulfillment. We spend more time trying to find easy roads to success or comparing our career paths to those of others rather than striving to maximize our contribution in our own areas of influence. It’s clear that a significant share of the energy expended by employees is spent playing politics or clamoring for the next promotion. Many have lowered their sights from working toward the long-term goals of their organization to the short-term gratification they might be able to achieve as individuals. Even those who came in bright-eyed and optimistic have become worn by short-term thinking and eventually settle into the fold. The good news is that we all have the ability to shun mediocrity and can instead live and work by design. If you refuse to settle, then there has never been a more opportune time for you to build a remarkable body of work. The