About

About Dean Bokhari (Short Bio)

Hi, I'm Dean Bokhari. I'm a speaker, writer, entrepreneur, television and podcast host.

As an entrepreneur, my main focus right now is fulfilling my role as founder of FlashBooks, one of the largest non-fiction book summary publications in the world.

As a speaker + writer, my main focus right now is the website you're reading right now (MeaningfulHQ) - which is my play-ground for all things personal development. This is where I publish science-based articles and podcast episodes to help you live the most meaningful, fulfilling, and inspiring life you can live.

There's enough stuff here to fill a few books, so if there's something specific you're looking for, feel free to use one of the search boxes I've placed around the site. If you're looking for a place to get started, here's what I'd suggest:

• my self-development blog
• my weekly personal development podcast
• subscribe to my weekly newsletter
• if you'd like to get in touch with me about something, I'd love to hear from you, so just shoot me an email here or use the contact form below to drop me a line... 

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aBOUT DEAN BOKHARI (DETAILED BIO)

Hi, I'm Dean Bokhari and I...

..used to be shy, until I became a professional speaker

..used to be fat and unhealthy, until I transformed my body + mind

..used to work for Big Tobacco, until I decided to start doing meaningful work

..used to be insecure, until I became a “model" (which immediately helped me become even more insecure--but let's not talk about that right now ;-)

The point I'm trying to make is this: I used to be a lot of things, until I decided not to be anymore.

And now, I get to help hundreds of thousands of people around the world make similar changes within their own lives.

And if you're up for it, I'd love to do the same with you.

Over the last 7 years, I've read 732 Self-Improvement books (and counting) in search of the answer to one super-simple question:

What does it mean to lead a meaningful life?

• How do we live a kick-ass life, bursting with passion, purpose, and fulfillment?
• How do we discover and do meaningful work?
• How do we become fully charged physically, intellectually, emotionally, and spiritually?

Some pretty heavy questions, eh?

Wanna know what kind of answers I came up with?

I’ve learned that living a meaningful life is not so unknown ... All we need is something worth living for, striving for, or fighting for.

We also need other people, because after all, what's the fun in living a meaningful life if you can't share it with other people?

Which brings me to why I started this self development blog and podcast in the first place...

Actionable self development tips to help you Live like you give a damn.

My meaning in life comes from a little Greek word called Areté, which basically means this:

Striving to live at your fullest potential on a daily basis.

That said, what I'm all about doing is this: inspiring people (like yourself, hopefully!) to live at their peak potential on a daily basis -- at work, at home, or at your local donut shop -- I don't care WHAT you do, I care about whether you do what you WANT to do.

I like to refer to it as "Living Like You Give a Damn"

I certainly don't claim to have all the answers (not even close!) But I wake up every day ready to learn and provide you with the most effective research + story-driven self-improvement insights I can dig up.

Why do I do what I do? 

Well, yah see, I'm an idealist. An optimist. A "possibilities" kinda guy.

I believe that one day we will all wake up and do what inspires us. And helping make that happen is what inspires me.

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what's the blog + podcast about?

Let's face the facts: 

Self-improvement blogs usually SUCK.

Most of em' are filled with big promises and proclamations that rarely work and have little or no plausibility.

How do I know? Well, I'm sort of obsessed with everything that's got anything to do with the subject of Self-Improvement, including but not limited to topics like...

• Meaningful work
• Reading lots of books
• Personal development
• Health + Fitness
• Business + marketing
• Confidence, charisma + communication skills
• Book reviews from top self-help + business books 
  (checkout: FlashBooks - non-fiction book summaries for busy people)
• and much, much more...

I believe that Mastery is the key to success and long-term fulfillment — which is just a nice way of saying I'm the kinda fella that wants soak up every ounce of knowledge and motivation information that can possibly get my hands on.

That said, I've spent the last 7 years of my life reading as much Personal Development information I could get my hands on.

I read blog after blog and found nothing substantial. I read over 700 Self-Improvement books and found that less than half contained concrete; data-driven, actionable insights that I could actually apply and get results from.

And so as the story goes, I read books and blogs looking for someone who published actionable content that I:

• could connect + resonate with, and
• could actually use + benefit from in life.

I found very little. And this pissed me off! Because I invested my time, my money, my emotional and intellectual energy into reading these websites and these books in hopes of degenerating this knowledge into action that I could apply in real life...

I felt betrayed. Bamboozled. Like I'd just gotten taken for a fool.

So I decided to pull up my socks and start something of my own.

When you look hard for something, and you just can't find it, you now have opportunity -- in life, in business, in pretty much any endeavor that thrives on creating content and delivering value.

And since I couldn't find what I was looking for — and I looked pretty darn hard for it — I decided to take on the opportunity... the opportunity to take my love for the subject of Self-Improvement and combine it with the rock-solid dependability of the Scientific Method ... to publish a data-driven exploration into Personal Development. 

Bottom line? This blog is about the Science of Self-Improvement.

... and it's here to help you you Live better, Learn better, Love better, and leave behind a Legacy that makes us ALL just a little bit better.

Where to Start?

The best 2 places to get started would be...

1) On The Podcast, which you can start listening to right now:

• at the MeaningfulHQ.com show page
• on iTunes

2) On The Self-Improvement Blog

Our personal + professional lives are inherently intertwined with one another. Life is one, single, indivisible whole.

what you can expect

What type of content will you find on MeaningfulHQ?

Meaningful is a hotbed of valuable information for anyone that wants to learn about personal growth and what it takes to live, lead, and craft the type of lifestyle you can be proud of.

Be sure to checkout the blog, where every week, I dish out practical tips and tactics on how to succeed in life + business, including:

The Meaningful Show Podcast: Every Thursday, I host a weekly show about about self-improvement + self-employment. The goal of the show is simple: to deconstruct the patterns of success, in an effort to inspire others with similar dreams take action on creating meaningful lives of their own, as opposed to submitting themselves to the robotic, unfulfilling path of a conventional career or lifestyle they have no desire to pursue.

Free Training Videos to help you monetize your message.

Book Summaries : stellar book reviews and annotated notes on meaningful books to help you succeed in life and business. Checkout some of my most popular book reviews here: 

• Flow
• Leaders Eat Last

eBooks & Action Guides : downloadable training resources like: 

• The Instant Business Consultant, and
• The GPS Mapper: how to find & do work you love.
  

So, there's the high-level overview of the things you'll learn about here at MHQ, and every week on The Meaningful Show.

my meaningful story (why I started this self-improvement blog + podcast in the first place)

First off, I believe that our lives cannot be segmented into "personal" and "professional" categories.

We're not crayons. We're people.

And if we try to act one way at work, and another way at home, we're going to drive ourselves crazy.

(Side note: this is well documented fact that's backed by science and psychology.)

In other words: if you have a bad day at work, it's likely you'll bring that bad day back home (and vice versa). Seeing as though we spend more than 50% of our lives doing this thing we call "work" -- I'm a firm believer that it should be something that inspires us to get up every morning know that what we're about to go and do meets our own unique criteria for living a successful life.

In order for you to understand why we do what we do here at MeaningfulHQ, I think it's important that I tell you a little about me...

Up until a couple of years ago, I was stuck in the typical rat race, working a soul-sucking corporate job I couldn't stand...

So I decided to do something about it.

Since then, I've become somewhat of an "internet entrepreneur", making over six figures [edit: make that seven figures---as of October 2015] in annual income building businesses around things I love to do...

More specifically; building businesses around things I'm good at, passionate about, and can serve people with in the most meaningful way I'm capable of.

And now, I talk, write, and teach people the same non-sleazy business strategies I used in order to inspire + instruct others with what I know + love.

I believe we all deserve to use our greatest strengths and skills in service to the world - both in business and in life. In other words, I believe we all deserve to find and do meaningful work that allows us to live fully and abundantly.

But there was one major problem with this belief of mine...

and it kept presenting itself to me over and over again throughout my own journey to finding that fire within, and that problem was this:

There aren't enough people actually DOING meaningful work.

And when I say meaningful work I don't mean that in some fluffy "go find your bliss" type of way either. Meaningful Work is simply something that sustains your needs and actually matters to *you*. As of right now, there simply aren't enough people doing work that matters.

What's worse: I don't see enough people teaching people about integrating MEANING with MONEY.

... I see lots of people teaching about meaning, passion, and leadership.
... I see lots of people teaching about money, business, and marketing.
... But RARELY do I see someone teaching about integrating BOTH domains together.

When I first got started, I wanted someone to teach me the actionable steps I needed to take towards creating a meaningful business + life I could actually be proud of.

• I wanted to know how to identify my skills and package, promote, and position myself in the marketplace.
• I wanted the inspiration of those that came before me to help me do it.
• I wanted some motivation and strategy along the way.
• I wanted to know that my business and work were in alignment with the way I wanted to live my life.
• I wanted make a difference doing what I love to do...

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Why Should You Listen To Me?

Part of why I started Meaningful was because of the challenges I faced throughout my own journey to finding meaningful work - and let me tell you, it's been quite the journey...

..I've had the opportunity to work as a professional speaker and spokesperson.

I worked in marketing for the 2nd largest Tobacco Company in the world, too... And once I finally woke up out of denial and decided that I no longer wanted to be responsible for contributing to the death of millions of people around the world -- I became a Health + Nutrition Coach (pretty ironic, eh?)

I started an online Wellness Show, giving people advice about health, nutrition, and optimal living. 

I even wrote a book about doing meaningful work.

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