Each morning, before I eat, before I shower, before I check my email, I take 5 minutes for mental exercise. On a good day I consume an enormous amount of information; my RSS feeders are jam-packed (that’s right. Plural. I have two – a personal and a professional), I scour the websites of the Post and Times, research guests, ideas and links for the blog, and at the end of the day, sit down with a challenging book. Therefore, I think it is important to get the brain functioning before I begin this informational intake.

I have found that the best way to prepare myself is to start the day with a little light reading to stimulate the brain and get the gears moving. Last Christmas while searching for gifts, I stumbled across The Intellectual Devotional: Revive Your Mind, Complete Your Education, and Roam Confidently with the Cultured Class. Interesting, I thought. After all, I am all about roaming confidently.

The book features 365 lessons (one per day) from seven different fields of knowledge. I wasn’t sure if this would be something I would return to daily, or one of the number of fads I get all excited about initially, only to lose interest quickly (like exercise). But I found the book captivating. The topics are simple and usually feature a concept, event, or person I had at least vague familiarity with beforehand. For instance, today's entry - Tuesdays feature Literature - gave a brief description of the 19th century Romantic Movement. I was familiar with this topic, but it was refreshing to read a short, focused description without dwelling on the academic repercussions of the movement . . . as one would in a literature, art or history course. Now, as the year winds down, and I am running out of lessons, I am hopeful there will be future Devotionals to help me start my day off. Oh, but there is.. . .

Anyway, I think the Intellectual Devotional is a great way to start your day and get your mind working. It makes a great Holiday gift, and as a New York Times bestseller, turned out to be a great entrepreneurial idea as well.

The success of the book and the release of the new Modern Culture Edition, were two great excuses to have co-author David Kidder on The Blank Page. David is an entrepreneur by nature, with a wide range of success – mainly in online advertising. David discusses the idea for this project, his transition to the print world, and the benefits of working for yourself. My favorite bite came when I asked David to pass along information for aspiring entrepreneurs.

I think that people don’t realize the opportunity cost of not doing what your calling is. When you do something that you are passionate about, when you do something that creates a lot of cultural value, the economics will come. And so my unsolicited advice is don’t underrate your skills, your talents and your contributions. I think you should follow it.

To see the high quality version of the complete interview, visit Daivd Kidder’s show page. Or, watch his YouTube AdviceByte below.