I've read all kinds of books on a range of topics, all focused on one thing: how to live a better life.

I've consolidated the learnings that I repeatedly find useful.

Here's a thread of 72 of them 👇
Habits are the first topic.

They form the basis of everything we do.

Good habits = good life.

Bad habits = bad life.

The best book on habits is Atomic Habits by @JamesClear. Read it.
Focus on the process, not the goal.

All habits start with a change we'd like to make.

Focusing too much on the end goal is discouraging.

Instead, focus on building the process required to get there.

Reach your process goal every day.

The results will come.
To change a habit, change your identity.

Don't be someone who wants to work out.

Be someone who works out.

Change the language you use to describe yourself.

Become that person.
Make good habits easy.

Make the starting point for your habit stupidly easy.

If you want to read, make it reading one page per day.

Or putting on your workout clothes.

Make it impossible to not do it.
Use the two-minute rule.

If the starting point for a habit takes more than two minutes to complete, it's too hard.

Make it easy to complete in two minutes.
Make bad habits hard.

If you want to eat better, get rid of all the bad food in your house.

The added friction required to do that habit will make it easier to avoid.
Make yourself accountable to someone.

Choose a friend who won't back out, and give them some money that they'll only give back if you succeed.

Make it a significant amount.

And then tell people publicly.
Link new habits to old ones.

This is called habit stacking.

Before you get dressed in the morning, do 10 pushups.

After you brush your teeth, pack your workout clothes.

Use old habits to trigger new ones.
Make your habits visual.

Print off a calendar and mark X on the days you complete your habit.

Or use Streaks to do it on your phone.

Keep the line of X's going.
The next category is health.

Without your health, you have nothing.

You can't do good work, you can't maintain relationships—you just can't enjoy life.

Poor health undermines everything else in your life.
There are three components to physical health: food, sleep and exercise.

Neglect any of them and you will suffer.
Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.

That's @michaelpollan's advice from Food Rules, and it's good.
How much you eat matters.

Calories matter. But some foods will make you feel more full than others.

Eat more protein and veggies to feel full.
Avoid carbs.

Eat lots of veggies and you'll get all the carbs you need.
If you want a diet, follow Slow-Carb.

You can find details in the 4-Hour Body by @tferriss

It's optimized for maximum adherence and maximum fat loss.
Don't drink calories.

Water, tea and coffee.
Don't eat or drink anything that didn't exist 2000 years ago.

This is @nntaleb's rule, though @michaelpollan has a similar one: don't eat anything your grandmother wouldn't recognize as food.
If you want to lose weight, 90% of the results will come from eating better.

It's just that simple.

"Abs are made in the kitchen."
Eat local.

Buy from a farmer's market if possible.

This avoids processed foods, pesticides (often), packaging, energy wasted on transportation, and a whole host of other benefits.
Next up is exercise.

Exercise is required to be physically healthy, but it doesn't have to suck, or even be that hard.
Start by walking.

Walk to your errands, walk to work, go for a walk in nature.

Start with something easy. Walk more.
HIIT for time efficiency.

High-intensity interval training—quick bursts of high-intensity exercise followed by a short period of rest—are the fastest way to get exercise results.

My favourite are boxing workouts.

If you're in the US, check out @joinfightcamp
Make exercise fun.

How?

Go to a class with friends. Make the workout easier. Exercise somewhere beautiful.

Add some adventure—go trail running or biking at night.

Add some skill acquisition—learn to box or play a new team sport.
Lift weights.

Everyone can benefit from being stronger.

Start with basic exercises and start slow and light.

Work out so you feel stronger leaving the gym.
Next is sleep.

Sleep makes or breaks the rest of your habits.

You can survive one night with poor sleep, but that's about it. After that, everything else will start to decline.
Measure your sleep.

Use a @whoop band, or an @ouraring.

The actual measurement matters less than the feedback loop. You want to be constantly reminded of the importance of good sleep.
Black out your bedroom.

Use blackout curtains. Tape over things.

Eliminate all sources of light.

Do what you have to in order to get a pitch-black bedroom.
Make your bedroom cold.

Everyone is different, but most people sleep better when it's cold.

If you can afford it, buy an @eightsleep mattress or pod to control the temperature of your bed.
Wake up to light.

Get a @Philips Hue light alarm clock, or some Hue bulbs, or an automatic blind system, and use them as your alarm clock instead.

No more annoying alarms, and a nice personal sunrise instead.
Use earplugs or white noise.

If you live in a city in particular, loud or irregular noises can disrupt your sleep without waking you.

White noise and earplugs minimize their effect.
Use Night Shift or f.lux.

Avoiding screens for a few hours before bed is ideal, but if you can't, make sure to use these.

They will minimize the amount of blue light you're exposed to, which can disrupt normal sleep patterns.
Hydrate.

One of my biggest learnings from my @whoop has been how much hydration affects my sleep.

I try to drink as much as possible 2-3 hours before bed, and then stop 1-2 hours before going to sleep.
Avoid alcohol.

Alcohol, even small amounts, inhibits REM sleep.

REM sleep is what makes you feel alert and awake.

Avoid alcohol anytime near bed if you can.
Consume caffeine early.

Caffeine takes a long time for our body to process, so it's best to stop consuming it sometime early afternoon.
Aim for 8 hours per night.

What's often overlooked is that 8 hours of sleep usually requires more like 9 hours in bed.

Try and carve out that much time to be in bed each night. If you're not convinced, try it on your next vacation. You'll feel great.
Keep a schedule.

Going to sleep at the same time and waking up at the same time helps our bodies learn when to be asleep.

The quality of your sleep will go up, and it fits well with carving out a set amount of time each night.
Avoid eating late.

Your body requires energy to process food, and it will disrupt your sleep.

My resting heart rate is often 20+ beats higher for several hours when I eat late!
Next up is wealth.

Money can't buy you happiness, but it can buy you freedom.
Becoming wealthy is about self-control.

"How you behave is more important than what you know."— @morganhousel

To become wealthy, you need to save more than you spend. That's it.
Automate saving.

Trying to rely on yourself to remember to save won't work.

Open a @Wealthsimple account (Canadians) or a @Wealthfront account (US) and set up recurring transfers.

Start small if you need to, but get started and commit to never decreasing it.
Automate investing.

The vast majority of money managers never beat the market.

Investing success comes from investing consistently over a long period of time.

Automate your investing with the same services above. They will do everything for you.

Get started, optimize later.
Aim to save 20% of your take-home pay.

This is a good benchmark to aim for.

Take-home pay is after-tax dollars.

Start with 20% and build from there.
Stop moving the goalposts.

As you build success, you'll be tempted to upgrade your lifestyle.

Try not to.

This is one of the hardest skills to master, and the longer you wait, the better you will be at doing it.

If you get a raise, add that money to your automated transfers.
Avoid comparison.

One of the reasons we have a hard time with not upgrading our lifestyle is we're constantly comparing ourselves to others all over the world.

Try to compare less, or find better comparisons.

Live in a small town, or visit one. Find friends with similar goals.
Understand dollar-cost averaging.

If you invest a fixed amount of money at a regular interval, you automatically buy more when prices are low.

All you have to do to take advantage is set up automatic investments of a fixed amount.
Try minimalism.

If you want a taste, try traveling with very little luggage.

You'll be surprised at how little you need, and how much simpler your life becomes.
Figure out your dream number.

Most of us dream of wealth for the freedom it buys.

But few of us actually do the math.

What do you want? How much is it? Often you'll find it's a lot less than you think.
Things are not what they appear.

Those influencers are probably renting that car and that mansion.

That perfect couple definitely fights.

Things are rarely as good, or as bad, as they seem.
Avoid debt.

Debt exposes you to bankruptcy.

And rarely is it as good a deal as it may seem.

Things like buying a house are not straightforward decisions.

Be careful taking on debt at all, and pay it off as soon as possible if you already have it.
Pay off your credit cards.

Credit cards have some of the worst interest rates of any financial product.

You should be paying them off, always.
Use less than 30% of your credit limit.

Not only will this help make sure you can pay it off, but spending more can impact your credit score.
Use money to buy time.

Money is a renewable resource. Time is not.

When you spend, aim to get back your time, not accumulate things.
No one is as impressed with your possessions as you are.

Our ego is what drives us to buy things. So avoid it, whenever possible.
Be careful with expensive purchases.

Big ticket items are often the biggest chances to save money.

Look to buy used when you can, and be careful even if you can't.
Rules of thumb for buying a house from @ramit:
• Only buy if you're planning to live there for >10 years
• Only buy if you can afford at least 10% down (20% better)
• Your mortgage is only one part of your costs: maintenance, insurance, taxes will cost hundreds more per month
Create an emergency fund.

At any one time, you should aim to have 6 months of expenses covered.

Start small, and build your way up to this amount.
Wisdom.

Wisdom ranges from building skills in immediately useful areas to contemplating larger things like the meaning of life.

Wisdom is often gained from experience. By learning from those who have already gained wisdom, we can become wise beyond our years.
Give yourself the advice you'd give to a friend.

This mental trick helps us escape our usual biases and be a little more objective.
Cultivate a curiosity in others.

This mind trick is great for networking, making friends, becoming more empathetic, a better conversationalist, and less judgmental.

Play detective, and assume you have something to learn from everyone.
Be intentional with your time.

For ambitious personalities, it's tempting to focus on making every moment of life productive.

But you don't have to always be productive. You just have to be more intentional.

Doing nothing is fine, as long as you do it intentionally.
Happiness = Results - Expectations.

If you set out to do 6 tasks, and finish 4, you'll be unhappy.

If you set out to do 1, and manage 4, you'll be very happy.

"The best way to achieve felicity is to aim low." —Charlie Munger
Do what you say.

You'll feel aligned in life when what you do—your actions—aligns with what you say.

This has the side benefit of building your reputation, which will pay off in a myriad of ways.
Aim to be antifragile.

Antifragility is about becoming stronger under adversity.

Ways to do this:
• Avoid debt
• Build wealth
• Diversify your income streams
• Separate your time from your income
• Avoid dependence on others
• Minimize downside
• Maximize upside
Accept that the world is not black and white.

Partisanship and negativity are often a refusal to accept that there are degrees of truth.

Accepting that the world is full of shades of grey recognizes the role of uncertainty in the world, and in our opinions.
Understand via negativa, or subtraction.

We know a lot more about what is wrong than what is right.

Become rich by avoiding ruin.

Become happy by avoiding unhappiness.

Become more effective by focusing on less.

Often, the answer is: subtract.
Use the Lindy rule.

For anything non-perishable—like knowledge—you can predict the lifespan based on how long it has been around already.

Use this to: choose what books to read; evaluate what you consider rational or irrational; the list goes on.
Say less, listen more.

People attribute more authority and wisdom to you when you listen more.

People will also fill silence and give you more information than they would otherwise.

"Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak and remove all doubt."
Surround yourself with admirable people.

We underestimate the influence of those around us, and can use this to our advantage by choosing these people well.

Cultivate a group of people who you want to be like.
Use Hanlon's Razor.

Never attribute to malice that which can be explained by stupidity."

Or: "Assume ignorance, not malice."

We tend to believe others act more intentionally than they really do. Assume otherwise and live a happier life.
Master your emotions.

First, recognize when you are reacting to an event.

Then, try to step outside like a third-party observer. View your emotions from a distance.

Finally, channel them. Use them to help you empathize, to communicate, to motivate.
Say yes to everything, then say no to almost everything.

In the early stages of life and your career, say yes to everything. Sample widely and find what you like.

Then, once you're on the right path and enjoying some success, start saying no to anything that distracts you.
Less but better.

Aim to constantly eliminate things in your life. Clutter, activities, things that don't bring you joy.

Fill that with things you love.

Repeat.
Adopt Extreme Ownership.

Coined by @LeifBabin and @jockowillink, Extreme Ownership says: you are responsible for everything in which you are involved.

This attitude helps overcome our built-in biases that help us avoid blame, and instead pushes us to action.
Seek flow states.

Flow happens when you're so immersed in an experience that you lose track of time.

Flow states bring us inherent happiness; not from the outcome but from the process.
You can have almost anything you want, but not everything.

Everything has a price, and we must make choices.

The key is to make these choices consciously.

Make decisions and focus, but do so with thought.
Pain + Reflection = Progress

Another from @RayDalio's Principles.

Feedback and criticism—and overcoming fear—are critical components of making progress.

The better we become at overcoming these things, the faster we improve.
Write online.

Writing is a form of thinking. It forces you to clarify arguments, form opinions, do research, and a host of other beneficial things.

Writing online builds you an audience and opportunities that you can leverage later.

Everyone should do it.
If you'd like to get the full version of this list, you can grab it here for free! gum.co/CzDKj

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More from @grahamkmann

3 Feb
Enjoyed the @creatorlabfm podcast between @bzaidi and @waitbutwhy

Here are some takeaways 👇
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Today's atomic essay 👇 (thread below) Image
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(h/t @farnamstreet)
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In the newsletter that just went out 👇
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