The Diary of a CEO: The 33 Laws of Business and Life
by Steven BartlettThis book transforms the way you approach your potential by revealing the core behavioral science principles behind success. Through memorable stories, cutting-edge research, and practical frameworks, you'll discover why it's not just what you know, but how you apply knowledge, build habits, handle failure, shape your self-story, and design your environment that defines what you achieve. Whether you want to advance your career, build stronger relationships, or become more resilient, these actionable laws teach you to think, act, and communicate like the world's top performers.
Why Filling Your Buckets in Order Will Outperform Overreaching for Quick Rewards
Introduction
Imagine building a house on shaky ground—no matter how beautiful, it will eventually falter. Steven Bartlett calls this the 'Five Buckets' law: to fulfill your potential, fill your buckets—knowledge, skill, network, resources, reputation—in order.
Real-Life Scenario
Picture Richard, a talented young professional who jumped at a CEO title in a flashy new startup, lured by money and prestige but lacking management experience. Just 18 months later, the company collapsed. Richard found himself unemployed, reputation damaged, and back to square one. Had he focused on learning and skill-building before chasing resources and title, the trajectory would have been vastly different.
Core Concept Explained
Behavioral science warns against the temptation of shortcuts. True power is compounding: when you acquire knowledge and practice it (skill), you become indispensable. This attracts networks and resources, eventually earning you reputation, not the other way around. Skipping foundational steps weakens your 'career immune system' and exposes you to professional earthquakes that only robust knowledge and skill can withstand. Most people ignore the long game due to ego and impatience—don't be one of them.
Your Next Steps
First, take stock of your buckets—be ruthlessly honest. Instead of chasing the tempting role or raise, plot a path to deepen your expertise and abilities. Invest energy in small daily actions—learning that new tool, volunteering for tough projects, asking for feedback on your presentation skills. When a shortcut appears, pause and recall the cost of building on weak foundations. You'll soon see your value increase, not only for yourself but for others who will begin to believe in your potential.
Actions to take
Create an Obligation to Teach and You'll Unlock Mastery Quicker Than Consuming Alone
Introduction
Many believe you must be an expert before you teach, but the opposite is more powerful. The act of public commitment lights a fire beneath your learning.
Real-Life Scenario
Steven Bartlett dreaded public speaking at 14, but ten years later was keynoting international stages. His secret? He created a daily obligation to share a distilled idea online, whether or not he felt ready, and crafted a social contract with his early readers that elevated his commitment—and skill.
Core Concept Explained
Research into the Feynman Technique and 'skin in the game' shows that teaching forces your learning to deepen. When something is at stake—your reputation, your social contract, even a couple of Twitter followers—you focus, synthesize information into clear ideas, and close your knowledge gaps fast. This loss-aversion (not wanting to let people down or lose face) drives consistent action. People who wait to become masters before teaching miss out on the biggest accelerant.
Your Next Steps
Choose a topic or skill to grow in. Don't hide—declare your intention to share what you learn, even as you're learning. Pick a channel—a blog, podcast, LinkedIn post, or even WhatsApp group. Set a deadline and publish your insight, no matter how brief or incomplete. Ask for feedback and treat each comment as a gift for your next round. Watch your mastery grow as your consistency builds both knowledge and reputation.
Actions to take
Change Beliefs Not by Arguments but With New, Firsthand Evidence
Introduction
Have you ever tried to convince someone (or yourself) by reason alone, and failed? Changing beliefs isn’t about logical argument—it's about replacing old evidence with new, meaningful experience.
Real-Life Scenario
When Steven Bartlett was paralyzed by stage fright, friends and family saying 'You’ll be fine!' only entrenched his fear. But after countless small speaking engagements—with incremental successes, genuine applause, and no disasters—his core belief about being a 'bad speaker' crumbled. He didn’t change because someone reasoned with him, but because new personal evidence slowly replaced old, limiting stories.
Core Concept Explained
Belief formation is driven by confirmation bias and the need for firsthand evidence. Our brains stubbornly hold onto what they've 'seen' for themselves—good or bad. Telling someone (or yourself) to just 'have more confidence' rarely works. To crack stubborn beliefs, you must first make new experiences possible, especially ones that provide evidence you can see, hear, and feel directly.
Your Next Steps
Zero in on a belief that's holding you back. Reflect on what keeps it in place. Then, devise a small, direct experiment: try out a new behavior in the lowest-stress environment possible. Afterward, be intentional in observing any tiny signs of success. Even a single, honest compliment or improvement is a seed for a new belief. Keep stacking these moments. In time, what once felt impossible is simply your new normal.
Actions to take
Never Fight Bad Habits—Replace Them or They Will Defeat Your Willpower
Introduction
You may think willpower alone can break your habits. In reality, fighting habits attracts more temptation, more rebound—and little progress. It's time to win by working smarter, not harder.
Real-Life Scenario
Steven Bartlett's father was a lifetime smoker—until he stumbled upon a new explanation. Learning about the 'habit loop' and swapping his car-cigarette ritual for lollipops, he quit instantly after decades of failed attempts. No battle, no suffering—just a smarter loop.
Core Concept Explained
Research in behavioral psychology (Duhigg, Nir Eyal, Tali Sharot) reveals we are action-oriented. Suppressing thoughts or behaviors not only tires out our willpower (a limited resource) but often makes the forbidden fruit even more enticing. Instead, lasting change comes from swapping in positive, less-addictive routines and rewards. Trying to tackle many habits, or focusing only on what you 'should not do,' almost always backfires.
Your Next Steps
Think like a scientist: observe what triggers your undesired behavior and what reward you're truly craving. Now, choose a new, positive action to answer the cue. Commit to changing only this, and let yourself enjoy the reward—all without piling on guilt or overloading your willpower. Prioritize rest and remember: it's the small, sustainable change that lasts. Swap, don't fight, and notice how one small win builds confidence for the next.
Actions to take
Sweat the Small Stuff—Tiny 1% Improvements Compound into Explosive Long-Term Gains
Introduction
We tend to overlook tiny actions, assuming only big changes matter. Yet, as Steven Bartlett and brands like Toyota prove, it's the small 1% choices that decide success or failure.
Real-Life Scenario
General Motors once dominated global car sales, but Toyota—with the 'Kaizen' philosophy of a million small improvements—surpassed them by optimizing even the smallest workflow detail. What looked like 'nothing special' daily became unstoppable when compounded over years.
Core Concept Explained
Big wins tempt our ego, but behavioral economics shows we're terrible at predicting and enacting huge changes. The Kaizen philosophy (and Bartlett's own podcasting and business success) rests on everyday, accessible improvement. Failing to consistently care about details lets problems compound—eventually leading to missed targets, burnout, and regret. The math is astonishing: 1% better each day becomes 37x better in a year—ignore the effect at your peril.
Your Next Steps
Rather than waiting for inspiration or a dramatic fix, commit to a single, tiny adjustment today. Make your coffee a bit healthier, clarify your next meeting's goal, send a thank-you message. Each action is small, but over time the effect is exponential. Track your changes and actually celebrate them—they’re proof that you're building unstoppable momentum, one easy-to-do (and easy-not-to-do) decision at a time.
Actions to take
Prioritize Health as the Table Everything Else Rests Upon—Or Risk Losing Everything
Introduction
We often sacrifice health for deadlines, ambition, or others' needs. But as Bartlett writes, health is the table—if it falls, everything falls.
Real-Life Scenario
Warren Buffett, one of the world's wealthiest men, once compared his only car to his only body: you'd take care of it meticulously if you knew you could never have another. COVID-19’s impact brought this lesson home for millions—no career, relationship, or dream survives without a healthy body and mind.
Core Concept Explained
Despite what hustle culture or ego might preach, robust health isn’t just 'nice to have'—it's foundational and non-negotiable. Behavioral science and global research prove that, without a health-first approach, every other goal is fragile. Most people rationalize neglect until a crisis hits, too late and with steep costs.
Your Next Steps
Pause and write down everything that matters to you—work, love, friends, hobbies—and draw a table underneath. That table is your health. Now, move from realization to action: plan daily wellness habits like sleep, exercise, or healthy meals and make them sacred appointments. Create monthly check-ins to catch drift before it’s a crisis. Health isn’t a luxury: it’s your only viable foundation for achievement, joy, and resilience.
Actions to take
Out-Fail the Competition and You'll Outpace Them—Why Failure Is Your Fastest Feedback Loop
Introduction
What if the secret to winning was failing faster than everyone else? Top innovators treat failure as currency—the more times they flop, the richer their knowledge becomes.
Real-Life Scenario
Booking.com, now the leader in travel, succeeded by running thousands of tiny tests daily, most of which failed. The result? Rapid feedback, learning, and the winning features that competitors were too cautious or slow to stumble upon. Similarly, two brands with the same resources—one willing to embrace fast, measured failure, the other paralyzed by analysis and bureaucracy—witnessed the fast-failer dominate its market while the slow one faded.
Core Concept Explained
Behavioral science establishes that we learn far more from mistakes than success. Yet culture and ego bias us against trying things that might not work. The best in business (and life) flip this script: they treat failures as mini-investments that, over time, return outsized results. Efficiency comes from cutting out bureaucracy, aligning incentives, and openly sharing learnings so every error pays double.
Your Next Steps
Start by reframing mistakes as fast experiments—particularly for reversible decisions. Go for 'good enough', test, and adapt, instead of chasing certainty. As you rack up lessons learned, share insights with your team or community, making failure a badge of honor, not shame. Innovators outpace their peers not by avoiding loss, but by accelerating toward it and learning every time.
Actions to take
Reframe Pressure as Privilege and Turn Stress into a Source of Energy
Introduction
Pressure is inevitable, but your relationship with it isn't. Shift your mindset and physiology to turn stress into an asset.
Real-Life Scenario
Billie Jean King, legendary tennis champion, declared, 'Pressure is a privilege.' While many collapse under high stakes, she thrived. Research now backs this up: adults who viewed stress as beneficial, not harmful, performed and lived better—even under the same objective pressures as their peers.
Core Concept Explained
Science reveals pressure and stress are not inherently bad—it's our appraisal that determines whether it destroys or energizes us. Those who treat pressure as meaningful, voluntary, and signifying privilege experience healthier stress responses and are more likely to reach their goals. Most people fall into the trap of avoidance or victimhood, missing the transformation that perspective brings.
Your Next Steps
Start by simply naming your pressure. Acknowledge the challenge—out loud or in writing. Don't bottle it up: connect with friends, colleagues, or a community that understands. Then, look at the pressure anew: it's there because you care, it's the price of meaningful pursuits. Finally, whenever anxiety rises, see it as a rush of energy you can channel into performance, learning, or action—just another sign you're alive and striving.
Actions to take
Don’t just read. Act.
