Over the past 5 years I've read 120+ books.
Here's 10 key lessons I've picked up from the following #books 👇:
1. In The Biggest Bluff, @mkonnikova shares the secret sauce to #learning:
“Less certainty. More inquiry.”
Question everything. Whittle down each subject to first principles.
That and having skin in the game by betting.
When we have a stake in the outcome, we learn more.
2. In Filters Against Folly, Garret Hardin provides us a tool for examining the assumptions in our lives.
“Unexamined assumptions can produce results we don’t want.”
When considering the advice of Experts, challenge the assumptions in their premise.
#criticalthinking
Don’t accept statements uncritically.
Apply filters to clarify your thinking and get to the heart of the matter. Breakdown the words or numbers used by the experts. What do they mean?
Always ask the question: And Then What?
And remember: We can never do merely one thing.
3. In Fragments Heraclitus says:
“One’s bearing shapes one’s fate.”
Our thoughts, our words, and our deeds determine our outcome.
Today’s decisions reveal tomorrow’s choices.
How you present yourself to the world, shapes your future.
amazon.com/Fragments-Peng…
4. In How to Read a Book, Mortimer Adler expounds on the virtues of Active Reading.
To read actively, rather than passively, is to engage w/ the writing.
To ask questions & to seek answers.
To go from a state of understanding less to understanding more on your own effort.
Ultimately, Active Reading is about forming an enlightened opinion based on an understanding of the author’s point, not just what is said but why she says it.
It’s the difference between reading for information and #reading for understanding.
Choose to be an Active Reader.
5. Prioritize process over outcome.
In The Practice, @ThisIsSethsBlog says that great work comes from good processes, repeated over time.
Focus on outcome & your practice will fail. You fail.
Outcome is out of your control.
Only commitment to the process is in your control.
6. The Effort is Enough.
In Ego is the Enemy, @RyanHoliday explains that when your work itself fills you with pride & self-respect, then a sense of accomplishment & recognition from others doesn’t matter.
“The less attached we are to outcomes the better.”
Find joy in the work.
7. In the Bhagavad-Gita, Krishna instructs Arjuna to detach himself from the results of his labor in order to find peace and freedom from desires.
‘’Actions do not cling to me because I am not attached to their results. Those who understand this and practice it live in freedom.”
To be free from anxiety, find work that you can do for the joy of it.
Focus on the joy of your work.
Ignore the personal results of work.
#BhagavatGita
amazon.com/Bhagavad-Gita-…
8. In The 48 Laws of Power, @RobertGreene urges us to focus our efforts on one important task rather than spreading ourselves too thin.
Law 23: Concentrate your forces.
Quality over quantity.
A lack of focus results in mediocrity. For great results, focus on your effort.
9. Free yourself from analysis paralysis by acting quickly when you’re in a Freeroll scenario.
@AnnieDuke, in How to Decide, explains that a Freeroll is any decision where the potential upside for acting quickly greatly outweighs any downside to getting it wrong.
Recognize decisions where more time doesn’t improve the outcome.
Identify Freerolls by asking yourself, “what’s the worst that could happen” if you repeated your decision over and over.
Also, ask if you will be worse off if you’re wrong.
annieduke.com/books
10. In Seneca’s Letters From a Stoic, he famously tells his friend that time spent worrying is time wasted.
“It is indeed foolish to be unhappy now because you may be unhappy at some future time.” XXIV
Rather than worry, do yourself a favor—imagine your fear becoming reality.
What is the worst that can happen?
#Senec says that usually what we fear eithers turn out to be “insignificant or short-lived.” So why worry?
“He suffers more than is necessary, who suffers before it is necessary.” XCVIII
Focus on what you can control. What happens, happens.
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