You don’t need to refrigerate your eggs.

I discovered this when I walked into my first supermarket in Germany.

I went to go buy eggs for the first time after I moved there. In the section where you pick up eggs, they are all just sitting on a table. Out in the open. Not in a refrigerator.

This concerned me a bit.

Not enough to not purchase eggs, but I was a bit concerned they weren’t in a refrigerator.

I assumed they would be bad. I would get salmonella.

After a bit of research, it turns out eggs don’t have to be refrigerated.

If, and only if, you don’t wash them.

Washing them removes a natural protective membrane on the eggs.

But, if your eggs are super dirty, you have to wash them. And, eggs get super dirty when chickens are kept in cages.

So, if you remove chickens from cages, making them cage-free, you no longer have to wash your eggs.

Then, you don’t have to refrigerate them.

What’s surprising here, is that if you tell egg producers they cannot wash the eggs before selling them, because of this protective membrane, they are forced to have cage free chickens.

And, we know that cage free chickens are more humane.

This brings me to a concept by Jim Collins called the flywheel.

The premise is, we do actions that force us to do a subsequent action that is desirable.

He explains this by saying, if I do action A, I can’t help but do action B. If I do action B, I can’t help but do action C. This scenario begins to gain momentum slowly, because a flywheel is difficult to get started. But, once it gains momentum, it starts to move itself.

In the flywheel scenario, we begin to choose our actions more strategically. We try to understand why we do something. And, does it build momentum that moves us in the right direction.

It is like deciding we are not going to wash our eggs.

What tiny action can you do with a positive subsequent action?

Throughout his presidency, Bill Clinton was known for sleeping six hours a night.

Sometimes less.

Obviously, the stress and amount of work that’s required of the President is going to limit the hours you can sleep.

But, a lot of the lack of sleep was by choice.

Clinton credits the idea of limiting sleep to a college professor who said successful men require less sleep than regular men.

Then, in 2004 Clinton nearly died and had to undergo quadruple bypass surgery. He had heart disease. Which, can be accelerated by long periods of sleep deprivation.

Needless to say, Clinton was a hustler. His hustle caught up with him and he publicly admits it.

That’s why he’s changed his sleep habits and is now vegan.

While the evidence is clear, sleep, rest, and recovery are paramount to our health, we can’t help but promote the hustle.

Hustle porn.

Working around the clock, trying to get ahead.

But, this can’t be sustained.

You can’t play the long game with this attitude. It affects creativity. You make poorer decisions.

It’s not cool.

Either, you mentally burn out, or like Clinton, you physically burn out.

There is plenty of scientific evidence to support all of this.

Sleep, rest, and sustainable work and creativity over long periods is cool.

Not flash in the pan hustle porn.

You can measure success a lot of ways.

Happiness. Family. Money. Fame. Recognition. Just to name a few.

Another way, could be the change you create. That might look a little something like the Oakland Athletics (A’s) and what’s now known as Moneyball.

Baseball is an extremely traditional sport. They didn’t get instant replay until recently.

So, in the early 2000s, when the Oakland A’s began basing every decision on data, they were laughed at. It was highly controversial.

They began hiring data analysts from Wall Street to help them find the edge they needed. Being a low budget team, they were able to level the playing field with deep data insights.

It was the Moneyball era.

Now, some may not call them a success, because they haven’t won a world series since they introduced this concept to the league.

But, the Red Sox and many other teams have.

They started movement in baseball.

Almost 20 years later, teams are hacking other teams’ databases for data and analytical insights.

Success, at least for the A’s, is the fact that baseball is no longer hiring ex-baseball players to run their scouting and front offices. Baseball now hires Ivy League grads to crunch numbers and find the edge.

How far an idea spreads and is adopted can be a great measure of success.

Thanksgiving is here.

It is time give thanks for what we’re grateful for.

For me, I am thankful for so many things.

A loving wife, great family, the best friends.

Thanksgiving forces us to reflect on the power of a thank you.

A sincere thank you can change someone’s day. Equally powerful is acting in a way that someone else is compelled to give thanks to you.

This is showing kindness, love, and empathy.

Thanksgiving is a great time to be thankful for all we have. It is also a great time to think about giving something to others. Give someone the opportunity to be thankful.

Today, let’s be kind, thankful, and generous.

Good luck and good selling!