T Hoffman

Backed by psychological research and brain science, Fast Forward's 5 Power Principles have helped more than 100,000 professionals achieve extraordinary success and happiness. As they have excelled, so have their businesses and teams. For the first time, authors Wendy Leshgold and Lisa McCarthy share their proven system along with compelling stories from the people who have made their boldest ambitions a reality.

Do you find yourself hoping that someday, life will be less hectic? One day, you say, you’ll finally have time for the activities that you love–writing that book, completing that triathlon, traveling with friends. But if the COVID-19 pandemic has taught us anything, it’s that life is unpredictable. If we’re not careful, dull, unfulfilling tasks can quickly occupy our precious hours, derail our best-laid plans, and make life feel like a slog.

At the age of thirty-six, on the verge of completing a decade’s worth of training as a neurosurgeon, Paul Kalanithi was diagnosed with stage IV lung cancer. One day he was a doctor treating the dying, and the next he was a patient struggling to live. And just like that, the future he and his wife had imagined evaporated.

One afternoon - after another failed attempt to get motivated to exercise - I (accidentally) started my first mini habit. I initially committed to do one push-up, and it turned into a full workout. I was shocked. This "stupid idea" wasn't supposed to work. I was shocked again when my success with this strategy continued for months (and to this day). I had to consider that maybe I wasn't the problem in those 10 years of mediocre results. Maybe it was my prior strategies that were ineffective, despite being oft-repeated as "the way to change" in countless books.