Projects are like halfpipes. The momentum you gain skating into the halfpipe needs to be maintained through the end. The depth of the halfpipe is equal to your optimism at the start of the project. The width of the halfpipe is equal to the scope of the project.

Mental models that will fundamentally alter your worldview.

From productivity, investing, statistics, and more.

🧵A running thread... 1. The Medium is the Message.

The characteristics of a technology determine what succeeds in a medium. So, the messages you see are a product of the medium.

Annoyed you're seeing yet another tweet thread?...

The top 5 books I shared in 2021.

As decided by clicks 👇 in my newsletter:
1. Not Nice
2. Work
3. Triumphs of Experience
4. Perennial Seller
5. Fooled by Randomness

Here's a preview of each of these non-fiction books... #5: Fooled by Randomness: The Hidden Role of Chance in Life and in the Markets (by @nntaleb)

What seems under control is often random. Learn to spot randomness and create your own luck.

📚 HOW TO READ A BOOK
If you want to fully absorb a book, take notes to store in your Zettelkasten.

Here's how, in 6 easy steps... 🧵 STEP 1/6: Highlight as you read.

Highlight anything you find interesting, or might want to remember.

If you think you'll need to jog your memory later, make a short note, too.

After writing three books, I’ve tried different ways to organize what I learn to use in my writing.

The best method I’ve found is Zettelkasten, or slip box.

In this thread, I share my note-taking system.
🌂 Zettelkasten is German for “slip box.” In analog form, it’s a box, filled with slips of paper.

On each slip is an idea, with notes about keywords & what other slips it relates to.

It adapts paper to internet-like organization. But now you can do it digitally.

INCOME REPORT
October’s revenues were $5,589, up from September’s $5,093. Profits were $3,627, up from $3,242.

You can see the "profit" trend-line is slightly downward over the past three years.

That's not all bad. I'll tell you why... Mind Management, Not Time Management brought in $2,410 revenue in October (in 4 days). Profits were $2,190.

When I factor in preview edition sales and up-front expenses, profits are over $4,000.

The Heart to Start's profits were $3,300 the first *year* (on $15,000 ad spend).

Bring back the siesta!

Your body and mind need a nap in the afternoon. Science shows not only are naps good for your health, they’re also great for your productivity.

(a thread👇) "Siesta" means nap in Spanish, but the afternoon nap has been a tradition in cultures across the globe.

Whether in the Mediterranean or Mainland China, people around the world have come to the same conclusion: You need a nap in the afternoon.

What I learned about productivity meditating 60 hours in 60 days.

(a thread) I just finished my 60th consecutive day meditating for 60 minutes. (Aka @naval's meditation challenge.)

My 60th day happened to be the final day of a solo retreat in a cabin in the Andean foothills of Colombia.

The view from the location of my 60th session, this morning.

THE BLACK SWAN BOOK SUMMARY
One of my favorite books is @nntaleb’s “The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable”

It teaches how to protect yourself against (and gain from) improbable events.

Want to hear – in my own words – the highest-impact ideas from the book?... What is a Black Swan?

A Black Swan is a highly-improbable event. A Black Swan can be negative, or positive.

-Negative: The terrorist attacks of 9/11
-Positive: I got my first book deal, from a blog post

Why the term “Black Swan”?...

I recently published my first hardcover-edition book through @IngramSpark.

How did it go? (a thread) I published a hardcover edition for two main reasons:

1. To serve as a "souvenir" edition of The Heart to Start. I figured some of the 15k readers wanted something more substantial.

2. To consider launching a future book straight to hardcover (instead of paperback).

How to do your best thinking when you're not thinking.

(a thread) As I mentioned in a previous tweet storm, there are four stages to creativity: Preparation, Incubation, Illumination, Verification.

https://twitter.com/kadavy/status/1321085311036907522

Productivity + creativity is about mind management, not time management (a thread) "There's only 24 hours in a day," people say.

What they think that means: You should get as much as you can from each of those hours.

What that actually means: Time management is squeezing blood from a stone. There's a limit to the time you can save.

WHAT’S SO GREAT ABOUT GETTING THINGS DONE?

I’ve been using Getting Things Done for 15+ years. It’s helped me write three books, build a business, and move to South America.

Here’s my summary of the most important ideas behind “GTD” (thread) Four important principles to GTD:

1. GTD is your “trusted system.” You get everything out of your head and into the system.

2. GTD helps you “engage appropriately.” You’re doing no more and no less than necessary, whether you *need* to do it or *might* do it.

3...

How to stop procrastinating & start creating (a thread) Section I: The Laws of Art

Just as there are laws of physics, there are also laws of art.

The laws of physics dictate how high a ball will bounce. The laws of art dictate whether you’ll bring your art into the world, or whether your unmade art will die when you die.

1. Ego will hold you back from publishing.

We’re used to hearing that books take years to publish. That’s because the traditional publishing industry moves slowly.

Self publishing your book does not have to be a “Big Deal.” 2. Your book doesn’t have to kill you.

Some people say you’re committing career suicide if you don’t put every fiber of your being into your first book.

Not surprisingly, these people are in bed with the traditional publishing industry somehow.

1/ Why Your Tweets Suck: The Analytics Twitter shows you are deliberately confusing.

They show what's good for *them* to show you. Not what’s good for *you* to know (a thread). 2/ The main graph on Twitter’s Analytics dashboard is “total impressions.” The more impressions your tweets produce, the more ad space Twitter can sell.