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Steepen Your Learning Curve with Deliberate Practice

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The four pillars for achieving mastery.

Photo by Colin Lloyd on Unsplash

The 10,000-hour rule is a harmful myth.

Malcolm Gladwell argued in ‘Outliers,’ if a person practices a skill for 10,000 hours, they will become a world-class master in that field.

While this simple rule sounds appealing, it’s wrong in several ways.

Ericsson, a scientist among the study’s authors that Gladwell popularized, debunks this learning myth:

  1. Ten thousand hours was an average. Most world-class performers practiced less or more before they achieved mastery.
  2. Nothing in the study implied almost anyone could become an expert in a given field by practicing ten thousand hours.
  3. Gladwell didn’t distinguish how the hours were used. If your practice is ineffective or flawed, even 10,000 hours won’t help you become a master.

Luckily, there’s a better model you can use to replace the misleading 10,000-hour rule — deliberate practice. Here’s how it works and how you can use the method to steepen your learning curve.

The four pillars of deliberate practice (Source: Eva Keiffenheim).

In essence, deliberate practice means actively practicing a skill while intending to improve your performance. “This distinction between deliberate practice aimed at a particular goal and generic practice is crucial because not every type of practice leads to the improved ability,” Ericsson writes.

The authors of ‘Make it Stick’ further specify: “If doing something repeatedly might be considered practice, deliberate practice is a different animal: it’s goal-directed, often solitary, and consists of repeated striving to reach beyond your current level of performance.”

So here’s how you can make your practice deliberate.

1) Define a Specific Learning Goal

Before you dive into practicing, consider which goal you want to achieve. Break down your ultimate goal into sub-steps, similar to skill trees.

If you want to become a better guitar player, decide what to focus on. The rhythm? Ear training? Barre chords? Riffs?

By breaking down your desired activity to one specific goal, you’re setting the groundwork for deliberate practice. One clear outcome is a thousand times better than overarching terms such as “succeed” or “get better.”

If you’re unsure where to start, get inspired by Danny Forest’s excellent exploration of Skill Trees. Here’s a beautiful visualization he created for playing the Ukulele for Beginners.

Source: Danny Forest

2) Commit to Absolute Focus

“Where your attention goes, your energy flows,” somebody wise once said. Absolute focus is the most valuable skill of our century. But it requires training.

In Cal Newport’s words, absolute focus means: “professional activities performed in a state of distraction-free concentration that pushes your cognitive capabilities to their limit.”

The key term here is ‘distraction-free.’

Whenever you practice, flight mode your phone and put it in a different room. Turn your computer off. Set a timer for your desired practice time and focus on nothing else.

Distraction-free environments are the crucial factor to unlock deliberate practice. “In tranquil silence, you can do deep work — the real work,” a fellow Medium writer rhymed.

“‘Just keep working at it, and you’ll get there,’ is wrong. The right sort of practice carried out over a sufficient period of time leads to improvement. Nothing else.”

— Karl Anders Ericsson

3) Get Immediate Feedback

Practice doesn’t make perfect. Practice makes permanent. You can repeat a specific behavior indefinitely without getting better at it. All you do is manifest the existing technique.

If you practice soccer with the same ineffective dribbling technique, you’ll never improve. To get better, you need to know what exactly you’re striving for and become aware of your shortcomings.

Feedback is the cornerstone element for deliberate practice.

You’ll understand how the desired skill works and what you need to do to get there. Feedback helps you manifest the correct revisions rather than repeating ineffective behavior.

There are a couple of ways you can use to get immediate feedback:

  • Self-record a video of you practicing a specific skill (e.g., playing an instrument, doing a sports technique) and compare it to an expert’s video.
  • Hire a coach or trainer who has mastered the practice you’re aiming to achieve.
  • Use learning software that provides you with immediate feedback. For example, language learning tools such as Lingvist or Memrise, or programming learning software such as Codecademy, have in-built feedback mechanisms.

4) Aim for Desired Difficulty

Whenever you practice, you want to challenge yourself a bit further than the last time. Desirable difficulty means putting in a considerable but desirable amount of effort into your practice.

“In the short term, conditions that make learning more challenging — such as generating words instead of passively reading them, varying conditions of practice, transferring knowledge to new situations, or learning to solve multiple types of math problems at once — might slow down performance. However, there is a yield in long-term retention,” a Stanford article says.

To steepen your learning curve, practice a bit outside your comfort zone. While additional challenge makes your practice less enjoyable, it will become more effective.

“There is a place, right on the edge of your ability, where you learn best and fastest. It’s called the sweet spot.
The underlying pattern is the same: Seek out ways to stretch yourself. Play on the edges of your competence. As Albert Einstein said, “One must develop an instinct for what one can just barely achieve through one’s greatest efforts.”

The key word is ‘barely.’”

— Daniel Coyle in ‘ The Little Book of Talent’

In Conclusion

Not every practice needs to be deliberate. You can learn a new skill just for fun and doodle around. Hobbies without clear goals or a coach inside your comfort zone can be a source of joy and fulfillment.

But if you’re looking for a way on how to learn a new skill faster, keep the four pillars of deliberate practice in mind:

  1. Specify your goal into a sub-goa.
  2. Schedule distraction-free focused practice.
  3. Find a way to get immediate feedback.
  4. Push yourself outside your comfort and inside your learning zone.

Want to feel inspired and improve your learning?

Subscribe free to The Learn Letter. I read a book and 50 articles a week, and each Wednesday, you’ll receive the best in your inbox. This newsletter will make you find tools and resources that help you on your path to health, wealth, and wisdom.

Five Common Beliefs About Learning That Are Actually Learning Myths

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Stop following them to save precious time and energy.

Created by the author via Canva.

In 2013, I studied for weeks for an undergrad test. Yet, I failed.

Research from different studies shows up to eighty percent of students never learn how to learn effectively. Even long after school and university, people waste time and energy with ineffective learning practices.

In the past five years, I’ve worked as a full-time teacher, completed a course on meta-learning, read 20 books on the science of learning. Each week I publish The Learn Letter — a newsletter that examines the best ideas around lifelong learning.

Again and again, I stumble upon beliefs around learning that are actually wrong.

Misunderstandings about learning waste your time. After reading this article, you’ll understand which common beliefs are learning myths so you can become a better learner.

1) Your brain capacity is limited

Some people fear lifelong learning can overload their brains. But, contrary to common belief, your brain is never full.

Learning is a virtuous circle. The more you learn, the more you can remember.

In this paper on the science of learning, scientists explain why storing information in your memory creates brain capacity. Rather than a library with limited shelves, your brain works like a growing tree.

The more knowledge you store, the more branches grow and connect. Instead of using brain space, learning creates additional opportunities for linkages and storage.

A research group around neuroscientist Henry Roediger and psychologist Mark McDaniel spent ten years bridging the gap between cognitive science and educational science. In their book, they explain:

“Learning depends on prior learning, the more we learn, the more possible connections we create for further learning.”

Remember Instead:

Your brain capacity is unlimited. The more you know, the easier you can hang up new information in your memory tree.

2) Rereading is an effective learning strategy

One of the most common learning myths is believing that reexposing yourself to something will burn the content into your memory.

Rereading feels productive because concepts sound familiar. But this feeling is an illusion of knowledge.

Roediger and McDaniel explain: “Rereading has three strikes against it. It is time-consuming. It doesn’t result in durable memory. And it often involves a kind of unwitting self-deception, as growing familiarity with the text comes to feel like mastery with the content.”

“Don’t assume you’re doing something wrong if learning feels hard.”

Remember Instead:

Rereading doesn’t lead to better retention. Effective methods include spaced repetition, interleaving, elaboration, self-testing, and free recall.

3) People learn better following their learning styles

Are you a visual or a verbal learner? While you might have preferences about the learning material, they don’t improve recall or retention.

No solid evidence from controlled experiments says that teaching in the preferred learning style improves learning.

“Tailoring instruction as suggested by the learning style approach can potentially have negative consequences for the learner,” psychologists explain in an evidence-based blog post.

Remember Instead:

The richer the learning material and the combination of styles, the better. The wider your mix of methods, the greater your learning success.

4) Rich environments enhance childrens’ brain

In ‘Understanding How We Learn,’ researchers looked for evidence for misunderstandings in learning. They examined 12 empirical papers with almost 15000 participants in 15 countries.

One of the biggest misconceptions about learning they found was the belief environments rich in stimuli improve the brains of pre-school children.

One reason why so many people wrongly believe this might be the following story of a misused teenager. Genie was locked by her father for 13-years. She was socially isolated. When she was found, she didn’t know how to talk.

True sensory deprivation can indeed lead to decreased learning. But under normal circumstances, the reality is enough for brain development. The researchers conclude:

“Even without decorated classrooms, children encounter sufficient information to enable their brains to develop normally.“

Remember Instead:

Children don’t need a stimuli-rich environment for healthy brain development.

5) 10,000 Hours of Practice Lead to Mastery

In 2008, Malcolm Gladwell introduced the ten-thousand-hour rule in his book ‘Outliers.’ He argued that it’d take 10,000 hours of practice to become a master in any field.

While this simple rule sounds appealing, it’s wrong in several ways.

Ericsson, one of the study’s authors that Gladwell used as the scientific foundation for his rule, debunks this learning myth. Ericsson lists several reasons why the rule is flawed:

  • There is nothing special or magical about ten thousand hours. A lot of world-class performers practiced less or more before they achieved mastery. Ten thousand hours was an average.
  • Gladwell didn’t distinguish how the hours were used (e.g., deliberate practice vs. ineffective practice).
  • Nothing in the study implied almost anyone could become an expert in a given field by practicing ten thousand hours.

Remember Instead:

10,000 hours of practice don’t guarantee world-class performance. The additional practice would lead to further improvement even if you crossed the 10,000-hour mark.

Final Words

Learning is a journey, not a destination. This meta-study on learning, memory, and metacognitive processes has shown that most learners hold outdated beliefs and commit errors that can even impair their learning effectiveness rather than enhance.

Reading more than 20 books on learning, I’ve noticed a recurring pattern: it’s less important what kind of brain you have — what matters is how you use it. To learn more effectively, here’s what to remember:

  • Learning is a virtuous circle, and your brain capacity is unlimited.
  • Spaced repetition and free recall are more effective than rereading.
  • Learning in your preferred style doesn’t lead to better cognition. Mix the methods instead.
  • Children don’t need a stimuli-rich environment for healthy brain development.
  • The 10,000 rule is a lie. How you practice is equally important to how much you practice.

This Learning Hack Helps You Remember More From Any Book You Read

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How writing book reviews fuels your learning.

Library in Vienna’s University of Economics and Business (Martino Pietropoli/Unsplash)

Reading gives you access to the smartest brains on earth. Learning from the greatest people is the fastest way to become healthy, wealthy, and wise.

Yet, reading per se doesn’t make you a better person. You can read 52 books a year without changing at all.

I’ve read about 20 books on learning in the past four years, and I’ve noticed a recurring pattern: it’s less important what kind of brain you have — what matters is how you use it.

I love my Zettelkasten and RoamResearch. But chatting with my newsletter subscribers, I understood that it’s tough to maintain these systems unless you’re a writer who can spend an hour a day reflecting on the books you read.

The best personal knowledge management systems are useless unless applied. Using the following learning hack can help you make the most of the books without wasting your time.

Why Writing Book Reviews Fuel Your Learning

We only recently started to understand how learning works. Learning science is a new field that combines the knowledge of neuroscience and social and cognitive psychology.

Books have been around for a long before learning science.

What we know now is that learning is a three-step process: acquisition, retention, and retrieval. In the acquisition phase, we link new information to existing knowledge; in the retention phase, we store it, and in the retrieval phase, we get information out of our memory.

Books were invented before these insights. It was Schopenhauer who already stated in the 1850s: “When we read, another person thinks for us: we merely repeat his mental process.”

You don’t read a page and shelf it in your mental library. Instead, your brain stores new information in terms of its meaning to existing memory.

To remember what you read, you not only need to know it but also to know how it relates to what you already know. You can add this layer of meaning by interpreting, connecting, interrelating, or elaborating.

Elaborating means you explain and describe an idea in your own words.

Learning researchers Roediger and McDaniel write: “Elaboration is the process of giving new material meaning by expressing it in your own words and connecting it with what you already know.”

Elaborative rehearsal encodes information into your long-term memory more effectively. The more details and the stronger you connect new knowledge to what you already know, the better because you’ll be generating more cues. And the more cues they have, the easier you can retrieve your knowledge.

„Elaboration is thought to be one of the best ways to increase learning and memory among many memory theorists,” scientists write in the evidence-based book ‘Understanding How We Learn.’

Book reviews are an elaboration practice for reading. Spending 5-minutes every time after you finish a book with writing them will help you store and retain more from what you read.

“A good book can teach you about the world and about yourself. You learn more than how to read better; you also learn more about life. You become wiser. Not just more knowledgeable — books that provide nothing but information can produce that result. But wiser, in the sense that you are more deeply aware of the great and enduring truths of human life.”

― Mortimer J. Adler in How to Read a Book

How to write book reviews for maximum learning

The more you elaborate or try to understand something, the more likely you‘ll keep this new information in your long-term memory.

When you use book reviews as a learning hack, you don’t focus on the quality of writing (eloquence, succinctness, conciseness) or the quality of the content (originality, editing, research, quoting).

Instead, you answer meta-questions that invite you to recall what you read from your memory and store it in relation to its meaning. Here are a few questions you might want to answer every time you finish a book.

  • How would you summarize the content in three sentences?
  • What do you find interesting about this book? Which parts surprised you? Which arguments altered your understanding?
  • How does the content relate to what you know? Does it contradict or confirm something you previously read?
  • When would you like to stumble upon the ideas in the book again?
  • Which concepts or ideas from the book do you want to apply in your life? When and where will you use these insights?

You don’t need to answer every single one. Keep the prompts that work for you, and screw the rest.

When you write a book summary, you have to filter relevant information, organize it, and articulate it using your own vocabulary. Don’t transcribe the author’s words but try to summarize, synthesize, and analyze. That way, you will remember much more from what you read.

Where to publish your book reviews

Many people I know don’t share their work in public because they’re scared other people judge them. I shared this fear. Around 200 articles later, I know the upsides far outweigh any risk.

Since I publish my work on Medium and in The Learn Letter, I learn faster, meet interesting people, and job proposals from projects that fascinate me.

So if you dare, publish your book reviews online. You can share them on Amazon, Goodreads, Medium, your blog, or a digital garden.

Once you write book reviews, you not only help other people but also yourself.

You will be able to explain complex ideas during dinner conversations, recall interesting concepts and ideas when you need them, and create your personal library.

Want to feel inspired and improve your learning?

Subscribe free to The Learn Letter. I read a book and 50 articles a week, and each Wednesday, you’ll receive the best in your inbox. This newsletter will make you find tools and resources that help you on your path to health, wealth, and wisdom.

Three Books That Prevent You from Forgetting Cruel History

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“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” — George Santayana

Photo by Frederick Wallace on Unsplash

Last week I visited Auschwitz, the largest of the German Nazi concentration camps and extermination centers.

Looking at the piles of hair, I felt anger, sadness, and shame. I think about most parts of my countries recent history in disgust. I lack the words to talk about the Nazi time.

As a German, ignoring the past hundred years seems easier than facing them. Yet, I feel a responsibility to call these atrocities to our minds. So, here are three books to not forget our past.

1) Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl

At the age of 39, Viktor Frankl was sent to a concentration camp. During imprisonment, he lost his brother, mother, and wife.

His memoir depicts the daily camp life and how the cruelties affected the mental state of its inmates who endure dehumanizing conditions. With the odds of 1 in 20, Frankl survives Auschwitz.

The book is hard to bear as it contains descriptions with graphic detail. When reading, you witness what concentration camp inmates have gone through.

“Human kindness can be found in all groups (camp guard or prisoner), even those which as a whole wit would be easy to condemn. “ — Viktor Frankl

2) The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas by John Boyne

This book is about Bruno, a young son of a Nazi officer, who lives in a house near Auschwitz. On his daily strolls, he meets another young boy behind a fence who turns out to be a Jew, imprisoned in the concentration camp.

One day, the Jewish boy asks his German friend for help to find his father. Bruno puts on a “Striped Pyjama” to disguise himself as one of the prisoners and enters the campground. Both boys will die in the gas chambers.

When I read this book as a teenager, I cried for hours. It made me care about history more than any high school lesson. Yet, there are flaws and plot holes about this story that you might want to consider before you decide whether to read it.

A 9-year-old boy would not survive over a year in a Nazi camp. After arriving on a cattle train to Auschwitz-Birkenau, officers sent children to the gas chamber.

This Holocaust survivor wrote about the book: “I was once myself a boy in striped pajamas and am a survivor of six German concentration camps. This book is so ignorant of historical facts about concentration camps that it kicks the history of the Holocaust right in the teeth.”

“What exactly was the difference? He wondered to himself. And who decided which people wore the striped pajamas and which people wore the uniforms?” 
— John Boyne

3) The Choice by Dr. Edith Eger

At age 16, the Nazis came to Edith Eger’s Hungarian hometown. They deported the Jewish family to an internment center, then to Auschwitz. Upon arrival, Joseph Mengele sent her parents to the gas chamber.

Edith Eger and her sister Magda survived multiple death camps. In 1945, American Troops found them barely alive in a pile of corpses on the camp’s liberation.

The book consists of four sections: prison, escape, freedom and healing. It’s a mixture of the holocaust, a personal memoir, and psychology.

She works through her terrible experience in Auschwitz and takes us through a journey of her healing. By drawing on her patients’ personal cases, she derives wise and powerful life lessons.

Unlike the previous two stories, Dr. Edith Eger’s historical description is uplifting. While Frankl’s ‘Man’s Search for Meaning’ carries profundity and a deep understanding of human psychology, Dr. Edith Eger, who has been 20 years younger than Frankl and one of his students, adds warmth and life experience.

‘The Choice’ is one of the most inspiring books I have ever read.

“We don’t know where we’re going, we don’t know what’s going to happen, but no one can take away from you what you put in your own mind.” — Dr. Edith Eger

Want to improve your learning?

Subscribe free to The Learn Letter. I read a book and 50 articles a week, and each Wednesday, you’ll receive the best in your inbox. This newsletter will make you find tools and resources that help you on your path to health, wealth, and wisdom.

This Quick Mental Model Can Improve How You Navigate Life

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Understanding entropy changed the way I think.

Photo by DesignClass on Unsplash

“With every birthday, life gets more complicated,” my wise friend said last Sunday. When I asked why he replied:

“When I was a child, I thought the world made more sense the older you get. But with every year, the world becomes more complex. Life feels like a growing puzzle while you’re struggling to put the pieces into the right places.”

His words lingered with me long after the weekend. Does life get messier the older we get?

Murphy’s law says, “Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong.” But once you research further, you find a deeper truth.

While pieces might just fall into the right places, most of the time, they don’t. And that’s not bad luck.

This quick read will help you regain trust and support a calmer and happier life.

What You Should Know About Entropy

According to Dan Brown entropy is just a fancy way to say things fall apart. I disagree. Entropy is more than that.

Imagine you open a big puzzle and dump the pieces on your floor. What are the chances every piece will fall into the right places?

Theoretically, it’s possible. But the likelihood is close to zero. Unless you hit the jackpot probability, the pieces won’t fall in perfect order.

There’s a single state where everything falls in order but nearly infinite states in disorder. Congrats — you just grasped entropy’s quintessence.

Entropy is a measure of disorder and randomness for even smaller units than your puzzle pieces.

Physicist Ludwig Boltzmann says entropy is a measure of the number of possible arrangements of atoms and molecules of a system, that comply with the macroscopic condition of the system.

Entropy is about probabilities. And as time moves forward, more possibilities emerge.

The second law of thermodynamics confirms what my wise friend felt: entropy will always increase over time. Life gets more chaotic when you grow older.

“The increase of disorder or entropy is what distinguishes the past from the future, giving a direction to time.”

— Stephen Hawking

Believing life gets less messy with age is a waste of energy. The English scientist Arthur Eddington said: “ If your theory is found to be against the Second Law of Thermodynamics, I can give you no hope; there is nothing for it but to collapse in deepest humiliation.”

Now you know about entropy’s existence. But what does it mean for you?

What This Universal Law Means for Your Life

You can’t go back in time. You can’t reverse entropy and reduce complexity, uncertainty, and chaos. Entropy is present in every aspect of life.

Here’s a helpful metaphor by Tom Stoppard: “When you stir your rice pudding, Septimus, the spoonful of jam spreads itself round making red trails like the picture of a meteor in my astronomical atlas. But if you stir backward, the jam will not come together again. Indeed, the pudding does not notice and continues to turn pink just as before.”

For every step you take, most scenarios won’t bring you to your desired destination. Nevertheless, you can’t go back in time and reverse it.

A tidy room gets dirty; your computer breaks, your relationship ends, you lose a piece of your life’s puzzle. In all of these cases, life isn’t against you. It’s entropy at its best.

The question isn’t how to stop entropy. It’s how you navigate through life despite its existence.

“The ultimate purpose of life, mind, and human striving: to deploy energy and information to fight back the tide of entropy and carve out refuges of beneficial order.”

— Steven Pinker

How You Can Use Entropy to Your Advantage

Adopt John Green’s mindset: “Everything that comes together falls apart. Everything. The chair I’m sitting on. It was built, and so it will fall apart. I’m going to fall apart, probably before this chair. And you’re going to fall apart.

The cells and organs and systems that make you — they came together, grew together, and so must fall apart. The Buddha knew one thing science didn’t prove for millennia after his death: Entropy increases. Things fall apart.”

Don’t expect things to stay the way they are. Don’t feel like life’s against you when things become chaotic or complex.

Any disorder or chaos isn’t your personal mistake. It’s the universe’s default. Any order is unnatural, temporary, and subject to change.

Sounds scary? When you imagine the opposite, you see it shouldn’t. In a world without entropy, everything would always stay the same. Rooms wouldn’t get dirty, things wouldn’t break and people wouldn’t change.

Life would become predictable.

In a world without entropy, creativity and innovation wouldn’t exist.

Whether you run a business, have kids, or look for meaning in life —the next time you face a problem, know that life doesn’t work against you.

Once you know disorder is the default, you can decide how and where you want to use your energy to create stability.

Use attention and care to foster your relationship, clean your house so it won’t get messier, build an emergency fund so you’re forearmed against unpleasant surprises. Use energy to create your desired state of order.

Final Thoughts

My friend was right. Things get more complicated. With every birthday, the degree of disorder and randomness increases. Statistically, more things turn out different than your version of “right.”

But life doesn’t conspire against you. It’s only entropy doing its job.

This mental model helped me reach my goals and stop being so hard on myself. I hope it does the same for you.

Want to join a community of lifelong learners? Subscribe free to The Learn Letter. Each Wednesday, you’ll receive the best in your inbox. My newsletter will make you find tools and resources that help you on your path to health, wealth, and wisdom.

3 Binge-Worthy Books for Life-Long Learners

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These resources can help you expand your brain.

Created by the author via Canva.

“Reading is a basic tool in the living of a good life,” Mortimer J. Adler said. I disagree.

Books don’t magically make you live the good life. You can read a book a week without changing at all.

Reading doesn’t help you per se — it’s reading the right books that can make all the difference.

No life skill can earn you greater dividends than learning how to learn. After reading more than 30 books on learning, these three are my favorite picks on meta-learning.

Every single one will help you understand how your brain learns. By doing so, you’ll make better decisions and find yourself on your journey to wisdom.

1) Make it Stick

Did you know rereading and highlighting are the most popular yet the least productive learning strategies?

Revisiting concepts and ideas might feel like learning because you recognize some of them. But you’re not learning. You’re trapped in an illusion of knowledge.

Mastering a text is different from recalling or remembering what you read.

“People commonly believe that if you expose yourself to something enough times, you can burn it into memory,” the authors write.

They also why it’s not worth it: “Rereading has three strikes against it. It is time-consuming. It doesn’t result in durable memory. And it often involves a kind of unwitting self-deception, as growing familiarity with the text comes to feel like mastery with the content.”

I used to think learning should feel easy. Slow and difficult meant unproductive. Turns out I was wrong.

Effective learning must feel hard: “Learning is deeper and more durable when it’s effortful. Learning that’s easy is like writing in sand, here today and gone tomorrow.”

‘Make it Stick’ doesn’t stop after dismantling learning myths.

The research group around neuroscientist Henry Roediger and psychologist Mark McDaniel spent ten years exploring learning strategies. Their goal was to bridge the gap between cognitive science and educational science.

Here are some powerful concepts from the book explores:

  • Your brain’s capacity is unlimited. Contrary to common belief, our brains are never full. The more we learn, the more we can remember. Learning is a virtuous circle. The more cues we have, the easier it is to encode new information to these cues. As long as you connect further information to existing brain branches, you can store much more than you think.
  • To learn, you first need to forget. I always thought forgetting is a character’s flaw. But it isn’t. Forgetting is necessary for new learning. That’s why spaced repetition is among the most effective learning strategies. You allow forgetting to occur and thereby strengthen your memory.
  • The power of reflection. Reflecting leads to stronger learning. To reflect, you need to retrieve, connect, and visualize earlier memories. Often, you mentally practice what you’d do the next time differently. That’s why regular thinking breaks are so valuable.

Last but not least, ‘Make it Stick’ summarizes six evidence-based, application-ready strategies that help you learn better and store new knowledge in your long-term memory.

The six strategies include retrieval practice (recall something you’ve learned in the past from your memory), spaced repetition (repeat the same piece of information across increasing intervals), interleaving (alternating before each practice is complete), elaboration (rephrasing new knowledge and connecting it with existing insights), reflection (synthesize, abstract, and articulate key lessons taught by experience), self-testing & calibration (answer a question or solve a problem before looking at the answer and identify knowledge gaps).

“Mastery, especially of complex ideas, skills and processes, is a quest. Don’t assume you’re doing something wrong if learning feels hard.”

2) The New Science of Learning

This book should be mandatory for students, teachers, and anyone who wants to learn. It’s based on state-of-the-art science about how the human brain learns. It will help you make learning more effective and teaches how you can retain knowledge and skills for a lifetime.

Similar to the ‘Make it Stick,’ the authors reveal common ineffective learning methods. The authors agree on many levels: “New learning requires a considerable amount of practice and a meaningful connection to other information in order to become a more permanent part of memory.”

To learn effectively, you need to use new information to form meaningful connections to other information. That’s why a multi-dimensional learning experience that involves many senses is effective.

Listen, talk, read, write, and think about the new material at hand to make learning more effective. The more work your brain does, the more connections you establish. And as you know, more connections increase the chances that you remember what you learn.

But it’s not only the learning itself that can improve your memory:

  • Sleep. During sleep, your brain cells shrink, and fluid can wash the toxins out. Sleep is your brain’s way of keeping itself clean and healthy. While sleeping, you strengthen the learning of your day.
  • Movement. Various studies attest to the importance of exercise for learning ability. Move your body to learn better.
  • Environment. A distracted brain can’t study. Prepare your environment for maximum focus. Go to a study room, turn off your phone, and eliminate any other distraction.

“Learning and memory have two key components: the learned object itself and the retrieval cue to find the learned object.”

3) How to Take Smart Notes

Do you finish a book or an article and think you’ve found great insights but don’t know what to do with them?

I read a lot, but I struggled to manage the input and my ideas for creative output. While writing an article, I often remembered I read something related but couldn’t find the source.

As Ahrens writes: “Having read more does not automatically mean having more ideas.”

Taking smart notes is the fast track to improve your productivity and creativity. Yet, most note-taking systems are ineffective.

This is one of the books that has forever changed the way I learn. Before, I didn’t know the difference between note-taking, note-making, and note-hierarchies.

‘How to Take Smart Notes’ transformed the way I store and manage what I read. It helped me realize a learning workflow can turn into a virtuous circle.

The idea is not to hoard knowledge but to develop ideas, arguments, and discussions, and the method he describes is called the slipbox.

Niklas Luhmann, a social scientist, invented the slipbox. He wrote 73 books and almost 400 research articles on various topics during his life, including politics, art, ecology, media, law, and the economy.

When someone asked him how he published so much, Luhmann replied, “I’m not thinking everything on my own. Much of it happens in my Zettelkasten. My productivity is largely explained by the Zettelkasten method”.

The slipbox is a fantastic learning tool as it forces us to use all the strategies known for effective learning.

When you read the book, you’ll marvel at sentences like: “We learn something not only when we connect it to prior knowledge and try to understand its broader implications (elaboration), but also when we try to retrieve it at different times (spacing) in different contexts (variation), ideally with the help of chance (contextual interference) and with a deliberate effort (retrieval).”

I love how Sönke Ahrens describes Luhmann’s Zettelkasten method and embeds it into the science of learning. It’s like “Make it Stick” applied to note-taking. This book will forever change the way you take notes.

“To seek as many opportunities to learn as possible is the most reliable long-term growth strategy.”

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If Knowledge Is Power, Knowing What You Don’t Know Is Wisdom

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Adam Grant’s principles can change the way you think.

Created by the author via Canva.

“When was the last time you changed your mind about something?” I send to all new online dating matches. I want to test whether they foster a flexible, curious mind.

Changing your opinion when presented with evidence or arguments is one of the most valuable skills you can have in the 21st century. In fact, it’s so relevant, well-known psychologist Adam Grant dedicated an entire book about it.

Bill and Melinda Gates say ‘Think Again’ is a must-read. If you’re willing to expanding your mind, you can learn a lot from this book. The following insights can improve your ability to rethink and change your mind.

Embrace Your Second Thoughts

“You can’t change your opinion all the time,” my parents used to say whenever I liked something that I previously disliked. “It makes you weak.” So whenever I changed my mind, I felt guilty.

Society values character traits such as decisiveness and having a strong opinion. It gives a sense of control and stability. But this thinking is flawed.

If I could talk to my younger self, I’d say changing your mind isn’t a bad character trait. It means you’ve got a flexible mind and are open to learning.

When you don’t allow for rethinking your opinions and updating your beliefs, you stagnate. You’ll stop challenging your ideas and numb yourself through life.

“Decisiveness is overrated,” Adam Grant writes, “but I reserve the right to change my mind.”

“We laugh at people who still use Windows 95, yet we still cling to opinions that we formed in 1995.”

The Smarter You Are, The Harder You Might Fail

In our world of information overload, your intelligence isn’t all that matters. In fact, your heightened ability to learn and think can be counterproductive. Recent research suggests the smarter you are, the harder it is to update your beliefs.

Most smart people lack intellectual humility — they’re unaware of what they don’t know. Here’s an example.

When you just read a few books in your life, you’re likely aware of what you don’t know. But once you’ve read a good deal, you become ignorant. You might be too confident, too sure, and less aware of the things you don’t know.

That’s why I love antilibraries, a collection of unread books. Antilibraries represent unknowledge. They’re a great cure for overconfidence and ignorance.

“You will never read all those books,” friends say when they look at my want-to-read list. They’re right. The list grows by two books every day. Even though I read two books a week, I will only read very few of them.

But that’s the point. My antilibrary is a constant reminder of what I don’t know. It helps me stay curious and humble.

If you want to learn something new, you first need the humility to see what you don’t know.

“If knowledge is power, knowing what we don’t know is wisdom.”

The True Purpose of Learning

Grant tells the story of Spanx founder Sara Blakely. While she knew she could turn her idea en idea for footless pantyhose into reality, she doubted having the right tools for it.

Blakely relied on her beginner’s mindset and learned as much as possible about prototyping and patent law. What made her successful was her confidence in learning anything she would need.

It’s your mindset, your views on your intelligence, and your abilities that determine how much you learn.

Researcher Carol Dweck highlights the differences between the two types of thinking. Even though her model falls prey to the binary bias, her categorization can help us understand the distinct mindsets.

People with fixed mindsets believe intelligence is a fixed trait. In contrast, individuals with growth mindsets, such as Sara Blakely, see intelligence as something that grows by acquiring knowledge and skills.

“The purpose of learning isn’t to affirm our beliefs; it’s to evolve our beliefs.”

The Potential Power of Imposter Syndrom

Many people bought into the story that you can become successful despite your doubts. But what if your doubts drive success?

Basima Tewfik led a study to explore this idea. She invited med students who were about to start their clinical rotations two times. On their first visit, the students answered a survey on impostor syndrome. They were, for example, asked how often they think stuff like “I am not as qualified as others think I am.”

A week later, she invited these med students to inspect patients (who were played by actors). Similar to their professional reality, the students diagnosed diseases and suggested treatments.

Twefik tracked whether the students made the right diagnoses and how they handled their patients.

Guess what: the students with stronger imposter syndrome did significantly better — they scored higher on empathy, respect, professionalism, and communication.

This evidence is new and has not yet been replicated among other studies. But we might have been wrong about judging impost syndrome as a weakness.

“Feeling like an impostor can make us better learners. Having some doubts about our knowledge and skills takes us off a pedestal, encouraging us to seek out insights from others.”

Final Thoughts

Philosopher Bertrand Russell wrote almost a century ago, “the fundamental cause of the trouble is that in the modern world the stupid are cocksure while the intelligent are full of doubt.”

To not operate among the stupid, keep in mind to:

  • update your beliefs when presented with evidence and new arguments
  • remaining aware of what you don’t know
  • looking for ways to learn and evolve your beliefs
  • use your doubts to seek out insight from others

By valuing curiosity, learning, and mental flexibility, you will not only win my heart but also live a happier and wiser life.

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Feynman’s Favorite Problems Will Help You Discover Meaning in Life

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And how I use a Roamkasten to work with mine.

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With 24 hours a day and limited days before you die, you’re facing a trade-off between how you spend and not spend your time.

Nobel Prize-winning physicist Richard Feynman was well aware of this dichotomy, and he developed a framework that helped him navigate through life.

If you ever wondered whether you’re using your time for the right things, this timeless idea will help you direct your attention to what matters most.

Richard Feynman’s Mental Framework

While most people find problems inconvenient, Feynman took a fresh approach. Through his lens, problems can give your life meaning and purpose. He once wrote:

“My approach to problem-solving is to carry around a dozen interesting problems, and a dozen interesting solutions to unrelated problems, and eventually, I’ll be able to make connections. [
].

You have to keep a dozen of your favorite problems constantly present in your mind, although by and large they will lay in a dormant state.”

What Feynman intuitively described, learning scientists now call the diffuse modes. Without actively thinking, your subconsciousness works on problems.

It not only helped Feynman become a highly respected physicist but also other world-class performers, such as Stephen King.

King says he found the best ideas for his novels during diffuse mode thinking: “These were all situations which occurred to me while showering, while driving, while taking my daily walk and which I eventually turned into books. [..] It’s that sudden flash of insight when you see how everything connects.”

Once you know your favorite problems, you don’t need to work on them constantly. Your mind will look for answers while you’re focusing on something else.

In essence, your favorite problems are questions that help you get into an explorer mindset. When you read through other people’s ideas, you’ll unconsciously make connections to your favorite problems. Day by day, you’ll make progress on finding solutions.

“Every time you hear a new trick or a new result, test it against each of your twelve problems to see whether it helps. Every once in a while there will be a hit, and people will say, ‘How did he do it? He must be a genius!’”

— Richard Feynman

How to Find Your Favorite Problems

Your favorite problems can be anything — related to your work life, scientific questions, your love life, your health, wealth, or humanity as a whole.

The only important thing is to settle on problems you can contribute to. In a letter from 1966, Feynman wrote to his former student Koichi Manom:

“The worthwhile problems are the ones you can really solve or help solve, the ones you can really contribute something to. [
] No problem is too small or too trivial if we can really do something about it.”

To find twelve worthwhile problems for your life, consider the following questions:

  • What are you curious about?
  • What have you always pursued?
  • What puzzles you about life and society?
  • Which problems you can’t stop thinking about?

Most of your favorite problems won’t have a single solution. The goal is not to be done with them. Your questions will stay with you or evolve, sometimes for years or even decades.

How I Work With My 12 Favorite Problems

To serve as guiding principles for your life, you’ll want to revisit your questions regularly.

I work with my problems by using a Zettelkasten with Roam. The Zettelkasten was invented by socioligist Niklas Luhmann. Thanks to the method, he published 70 books and 500 scholarly articles.

I’ve been using a digitized version of Luhmann’s system for four months. I can already see how it’s improving my writing, thinking and helping me find answers to my 12 favorite problems.

Understanding and implementing the system takes about five to ten hours, but here’s the quintessence of Zettelkasten’s notes hierarchy:

  • Fleeting Notes
    Fleeting notes are ideas that pop into your mind as you go through your day. They can be really short, just like one word. You don’t need to organize them.
  • Literature Notes: 
    You capture literature notes from the content you consume. It’s your bullet-point summary from other people’s ideas. I create these notes for all books, podcasts, articles, or videos I find valuable.
  • Permanent Notes: 
    When you create permanent notes, you think for yourself. In contrast to literature notes, you don’t summarize somebody else’s thoughts. You don’t just copy ideas but develop, remix, and contradict them. You create arguments and discussions.

My 12 favorite problems serve as a filter for my permanent notes. Whenever I develop my opinion, I think about how it relates to my favorite problems.

Here’s a snapshot of my current permanent notes page on my first favorite problem — How can I help education evolve so it ignites kid’s curiosity and creates a lifelong love of learning?

Permanent notes in Roamkasten for my first favorite problem. (Source: Author).

By using your favorite problems as guiding questions for your permanent notes, you will start to get answers. Plus, you’ll revisit your questions regularly.

In Conclusion

Writing your interests as a dozen questions will help you clarify what you’re truly after and making better decisions.

By keeping a list of problems, you can decide what you want to read, watch, or listen to. Feynman’s framework can work as a system of filters and turn consumption into contribution.

All you need to do is write down your 12 favorite problems and keep them in the back of your head, e.g., through integrating them in your Zettelkasten.

As you capture information to find answers to your favorite problems, you will start to see patterns of interest and find more meaning in life.

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Ethos, Pathos, and Logos Can Help You Win Any Argument

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How Aristotle’s rhetoric helps you get what you want.

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When was the last time you tried to persuade someone? Whether you’re pitching your business, convincing your kid to do their homework, or negotiating a better deal — persuasion is all around us.

And while most people assume that their either naturally bad or good at it, winning arguments is a skill you can learn. What follows are the most valuable principles I learned in my first year of philosophy studies.

Around 2300 years ago, Aristotle wrote about the three drivers of persuasion: ethos, logos, and pathos. Most rhetoricians regard his work as “the most important single work on persuasion ever written.”

Here’s what these three appeals mean and how you can use them to master the art of persuasion.

“Of the modes of persuasion furnished by the spoken word there are three kinds. The first kind depends on the personal character of the speaker [ethos]; the second on putting the audience into a certain frame of mind [pathos]; the third on the proof, provided by the words of the speech itself [logos].” — Aristotle

Ethos: Your Attributes and Credibility

Let’s assume two non-menstruating men want to sell you a menstruation product. As a menstruating person, would you trust them?

Probably not. (When this happened in the German version of Shark Tank a few weeks ago, the guys went out of business soon after that.)

If your audience doesn’t find you trustworthy, likable, or knowledgeable, your words don’t matter. When trying to change someone’s opinion, you have to be credible.

Ethos, a Greek word meaning character, is the verbal equivalent of all your degrees and years of working experience.

As a speaker, your character should reflect your credibility. According to Aristotle, this can happen through phronesis (useful skills & practical wisdom), erete (virtue & goodwill), and eunoia (goodwill towards the audience)

How you can do it:

Give examples of why listeners should trust you. Do you have relevant credentials or experience? If so, talk about it early on.

Your appearance can also improve your ethos. Dress professionally and use your clearest and most confident voice.

Lastly, listen to the other side. Show empathy and really try to understand. When you do, stress your common ground before you get into the next part.

Pathos: Your Words’ Emotional Dimension

Humans connect with emotions, not facts. That’s why emotions have the power to change opinions. Your audience is likelier to believe what you say when they care.

Pathos means a speaker should deliver their message in the right emotional environment. In Aristotle’s words, speakers should be “putting the hearer into a certain frame of mind.”

But doing it is easier said than done. According to the philosopher, understanding the goals of your listeners is essential for deciding which emotion you want to evoke.

How you can do it:

First, learn as much as you can about your audience. What do they care about? What triggers them? What are their hopes, their fears?

Once you know, add the emotional dimension to your message — through storytelling, striking pictures, or emotionally charged words.

Logos: Your Message’s Logic and Presentation

If your argument doesn’t make sense, has no supportive evidence, or a coherent structure, persuasion is out of reach.

A good argument follows the rules of composition. Logos appeals to the argument’s sense and rationality.

“If ethos is the ground on which your argument stands, logos is what drives it forward: it is the stuff of your arguments, the way one point proceeds to another as if to show that the conclusion to which you are aiming is not only the right one but so necessary and reasonable as to be more or less the only one.”

— Sam Leith

How you can do it:

Whenever possible, substantiate your arguments with logic or evidence. Do your homework before you’re trying to convince someone.

Aristotle had an extra tip for using logos effectively. Your reveal will be even more convincing by encouraging your listeners to reach their own conclusion (moments before you come to the same one).

In Conclusion

One of the best ways to get better at winning arguments is by borrowing this concept that stood the test of time.

Good arguments rely on one or two of these appeals, but the most effective ones use all three.

Knowing ethos, logos, and pathos is one of the most useful ways to change your listeners’ opinion. But there’s more: knowing them will also help you identify weak or manipulative arguments.

If you really want to become a better persuaded, these are the three steps you want to remember:

  • Ethos — establishing your authority to make an argument.
  • Logos — making a logical point.
  • Pathos — connect with your audience emotionally.

These principles are powerful. Use them wisely. The most brilliant people I know keep an open mind, listen and change their opinions when proved wrong.

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A Former Facebook VP Shares Lessons to Manage Your Team Better

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Ideas that can help every entrepreneur achieve more.

Photo by John Ray Ebora from Pexels

Most management books are self-help fluff by people who’ve never done what they’re preaching. So when a fellow founder recommended Julie Zhuo’s The Making of A Manager, I didn’t expect much.

Turns out I was wrong.

Zhuo’s book is a bible for entrepreneurs who want to help their team achieve better outcomes. I wish I’d read this book before founding my first company. Reading it would have helped me avoid many pitfalls.

What follows are the top four lessons from the book with actionable questions on how to use them.

Use these 3 pillars for stellar 1-on-1 meetings

These meetings are an essential lever to building healthy relationships with your team. Zhuo recommends doing a weekly 1-on-1 with every person that reports directly to you.

These 30-minutes should feel a bit awkward — because that’s how you realize you’re in the meaningful zone. Strong relationships don’t arise from superficial small talk. Instead, talk about mistakes, confront tensions, and share your fears and hope.

But meaningful conversations don’t arise naturally. You need to prepare, or as Zhuo writes:

“It’s rare that an amazing conversation springs forth when nobody has a plan for what to talk about. I tell my reports that I want our time together to be valuable, so we should focus on what’s most important for them.”

When you prepare, think about your report’s top priorities. How can you help? Moreover, list the feedback that will help your co-worker succeed. Lastly, sharpen your understanding of what ‘great’ looks like.

The main goal of these 1-on-1 meetings is to help your report. What would help them be more successful in what they’re doing? Don’t look for status updates but focus on topics that are hard to discuss in a larger group. Once you’re in the 1-on-1, three pillars will make them valuable.

Identify:

  • What’s top of mind for you right now?
  • What priorities do you think about this week?
  • What’s the best use of our time today?

Understand:

  • What does your ideal outcome look like?
  • What’s hard for you in getting to that outcome?
  • What do you really care about?
  • What do you think is the best course of action?
  • What’s the worst-case scenario you’re worried about?”

Support:

  • How can I help you?
  • What can I do to make you more successful?
  • What was the most useful part of our conversation today?”

Appreciation can work as fuel. Make sure also to reinforce good behavior. Kind words about your co-worker’s unique strengths will help both of you achieve your goals. You know you’ve held a great 1-on-1 if your team member found it highly useful.

Transform average meetings into great ones

Even as an entrepreneur, most meetings suck. They’re part of any work culture, no matter how small or large your company might be. Yet, most meetings are highly unproductive.

“Meetings are a blight of big companies and almost always get worse over time. [..] walk out of a meeting or drop off a call as soon as it’s obvious you aren’t adding value. It is not rude to leave; it is rude to make someone stay and waste their time”

— Elon Musk in an email to his staff

While most of us can’t simply walk out of meetings, we can be more respectful of each other’s time. Zhuo’s tips transform average meetings into great ones.

Great meetings should be simple and straightforward. They have a clear purpose and lead to clear outcomes. But having a meeting agenda is not enough. Besides, you need a picture of the desired outcome.

If you schedule a meeting to make a joint decision, make sure every attendee can give their opinion (either through speaking, commenting, or voting). Focus on making the time valuable for everyone involved but don’t get lost in details.

In my team’s last meeting, I put “decide on communication tool for teamwork” on the list. I estimated 10 minutes for this discussion. Yet, two co-workers held strong opinions about the different tools, and it became clear that we wouldn’t reach an agreement. At the same time, the other four team members involved were indifferent.

Instead of letting this discussion take up the entire meeting time, I asked the two for a brief get-together after the meeting. By removing anything from the agenda that didn’t concern all of the attendees, your co-workers will know you respect their time.

Another way to make your meetings more valuable is by being vulnerable. A way to foster opposing opinions is by acknowledging that you don’t know everything, Zhuo writes.

Acknowledging your shortcomings with your team will foster a growth mindset. Dare to say when you don’t know an answer and ask for your team’s ideas. Apologize when you made a mistake. Share your learning goals with your team.

Lastly, think about which meetings can be replaced by a call, an email, or a shared document? When Zhuo realized her weekly stand-ups were repetitive, she replaced the meeting with a weekly e-mail.

Use reflection to manage yourself better

The key to managing yourself is understanding your strengths and weaknesses. And a great way to do this is by reflecting — the active decision to think about your past. Or, as researchers put it:

“Reflection is the intentional attempt to synthesize, abstract, and articulate the key lessons taught by experience.”

We don’t have to be visibly active to learn. Progress starts with self-awareness. If we aren’t aware of a problem, we can’t improve.

I do a yearly reflection every December and another every month, but Zhuo’s input inspired me to do it more regularly. Here’s a checklist of questions you can ask (and my answer to them):

  • How would the people who know and like you describe you in three words?
    inspiring, thoughtful, empathetic
  • Which three qualities are you really proud of?
    open-minded, generous, mindful
  • When you remember your last success, what were the traits that enabled you to succeed?
    getting-things-done mentality, reflection, vision
  • Which positive feedback have you received most commonly from your co-workers or chef?
    growth mindset, motivating, efficient
  • Whenever your worst inner critic sits on your shoulder, what does she yell at you for?
    wanting to make it right for everybody, holding back my opinion, not trying hard enough
  • If you could ask a fairy for three gifts you don’t have yet — what would you ask for?
    persuasiveness, patience, courage
  • What are the things that trigger you?
    people with overconfidence and inflated egos, not being accountable, the ideas other people don’t appreciate my work
  • What are the three most common pieces of advice from your team or boss on who you can improve?
    dare to disagree with popular opinions, share achievements with others, be less direct

If you’re unsure about your strengths and weaknesses, ask the people around you for feedback. Once you have your answers, you can work best with the resources you have.

In the words of American philosopher, psychologist, and educational reformer John Dewey:

“We do not learn from experience. We learn from reflecting on experience.”

Moving Forward

As with all business advice, pick the lessons that best help you in your situation. Focus on the principles that make a difference in your company.

  • Use the three pillars of identifying, understanding, and supporting to make every 1-on-1 meaningful.
  • Transform average meetings into great ones by removing the ones you don’t need and welcoming contradicting opinions.
  • Get better at managing yourself by using reflection as a learning tool.

Without application and action, the best advice is worthless. If you, however, apply one principle at a time, you’ll realize how these small decisions accumulate and lead to changes in your company.

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7 Questions to Ask Yourself If You Seek More Meaning in Your Life

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Start by defining what a great day means to you.

Photo by Kun Fotografi from Pexels

“Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive, and go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.”

― Howard Thurman

Do you ever lie in bed thinking you ticked off so many to-dos but still didn’t have a great day?

If you don’t really feel alive, it’s likely because you focus on the wrong things. And the most dangerous thing is to measure your day based on the level of your productivity.

Doing a lot of exciting work is good. But being too busy to feel alive isn’t.

Stop numbing your mind with work. Here are seven better metrics to judge your life. Using some of them will transform your days from good to great.

1.) Did you do something meaningful?

For a long time, I believed the only purpose of life was happiness. What other reason is there to go through life’s ups and downs if not to be happy?

But chasing happiness is the fast-track to an unhappy life. Happiness isn’t something you can catch. That’s why neither things nor achievements can make you happy.

The first time I felt long-lasting happiness was after meditating for ten days, eleven hours a day.

Because happiness is the freedom from desire, you can let go of desire when you detach from what you think you need.

Apart from meditation, there’s another way to let go of desire and feel happiness: stop making life only about yourself. Ralph Waldo Emerson said:

“The purpose of life is not to be happy. It is to be useful, to be honorable, to be compassionate, to have it make some difference that you have lived and lived well.”

You don’t need to work at an NGO to do useful, honorable work. You can find it in tiny actions such as:

  • Create a meaningful gift for a person you love.
  • Take your parents on a day trip.
  • When somebody says they’re having trouble with something, find a way to help.
  • Write an article about something you learned and share it with a group.
  • Go food shopping for a neighbor that’s in need.
  • Do something at work that’s outside of your responsibility.

Now you might argue that these things bring you away from what you want to achieve. That you will waste time and not be productive. But this over-optimization is what prevents you from feeling alive.

Life is no chase. There’s nothing to catch. If you want to feel alive and happy, do something meaningful and compassionate.

2.) Did you spend time in nature?

It’s easy to get lost in front of our screens. When we feel busy, we feel like making progress.

Yet, our laptops will never make us happy. You won’t find a single person on a deathbed mumbling, “I wish I spent more time on the internet.”

Don’t focus on the laptop life. Focus on the natural life. Hours spent outside, surrounded by water and forest, is the best thing you can do.

Japanese scientists have proven the health-promoting effects of the forest in several studies. Just looking at the forest lowers your blood pressure, slows your pulse, and decreases the concentration of the stress hormone cortisol.

Nature makes people healthy all by itself. The rustling of the leaves, the scents of the trees, birdsong, and the splashing of the streams heal people and strengthen their health.

“Natural stimuli are fascinating,” says Dr. Anja Göritz, professor of psychology in an interview with the German Times, “They captivate people and attract their attention. The mind is pleasantly occupied.”

To move your day from good to great, spend time outdoors. Go for a walk after lunch. Plan a weekend trip to the next national park. Make camping trips during summer. Start measuring your days by the time spent outside.

3.) Did you learn something you didn’t know before?

Knowledge is power. That’s why learning can improve any life. Yet, only very few people make learning an ongoing habit.

Reading is the easiest way to learn every day. Books expand your mind. They make you discover truths about the world and yourself. Page by page, they help you live a happier life.

Use your curiosity as a guide. How much do your days engage your curiosity? If the answer is “not much,” consider changing something.

This study followed aging individuals while tracking their curiosity levels. They found that people with high levels of curiosity were more likely to live five years longer.

Plus, curiosity drives discoveries. There’s strong evidence curiosity makes you better remember new knowledge. The more curious you are about a topic, the more it’ll stick with you.

So, read outside of your typical field. Say less and ask more and better questions. Spend time with children. Let curiosity guide you to learn something new.

4.) Did you feel your mind-body connection?

My boyfriend has worked out almost every morning for five years. Before COVID, he jumped out of bed at 5:50 AM and biked to the gym. Now he exercises at home. He doesn’t listen to music. He’s fully present in his body.

I always admired his willpower. But he says he doesn’t need willpower anymore. Once you feel your mind-body connection, you want to feel the connection between your brain and your body.

My boyfriend in October 2020. (Picture by Victoria)

And while I’m not yet where he is, doing yoga every morning helps me grasp what he’s talking about. When I connect with my body through movement, the day gets a new quality.

Throughout centuries, philosophers and scientists have hypothesized about the mind-body connection. There’s no consensus yet. We have been left with what many refer to as the mind-body problem: What is the relationship between mind and body?

And while neither philosophy nor modern science has given a clear answer, I just witnessed how it can transform my days from good to great.

5.) Did you sharpen your mind?

The body is one part of the equation. The mind is the other half. Yet, most people don’t prioritize mental health. They chase around, trying hard to take care of the world and, meanwhile, forget to take care of their mind.

“If you take care of your mind, you take care of the world.”

— Arianna Huffington

Meditation is the most effective way to take care of your mind. Mind training tackles different topics such as dealing with a monkey mind, letting go of fear and anxiety, and returning to the present moment after distraction.

Scientists attest to the manifold benefits of meditation. This meta-analysis with more than 1,200 adults found meditation can decrease anxiety. Another study discovered that individuals who completed a meditation exercise had fewer negative thoughts when seeing negative images than the control group.

Meditating is one of the most powerful habits you can build.

Your meditation muscle will grow day by day. By seeing your thoughts as thoughts and letting them go as they arise, you’ll let go of inner chatter. As Mark Twain said, “I’ve had a lot of worries in my life, most of which never happened.”

6.) Did you have time to think for yourself?

Whenever I have a spare moment, I try to fill it. I listen to podcasts, read books, have a conversation with my beautiful boyfriend, answer messages, or hop to the next task in my bullet journal.

And while these activities can be enjoyable and add energy to my life, they have a marginal return on thinking utility. After a certain point, every additional minute of doing decreases the ability to think for yourself.

When we’re so busy doing, we don’t spend single second thinking. Entire days go by without a single deep thought. At the end of your life, you realize you’ve lived the life of others.

An easy fix is to eliminate distractions that take away your time. Get an alarm clock and ban your phone from your bedroom. Leave your phone turned off until lunch. Disable all notifications and use your time to think and connect the dots.

7.) Did you spend undivided attention with fellow humans?

Two friends met at a party. It clicked; over a few months, they enjoyed their time together — until she fell back into her old beliefs. She prioritized her physics research and became a sloppy communicator. At one point, he ended it.

Many people struggle to put their relationships first. Ryan Holiday found great words for this:

“Many relationships and moments of inner peace were sacrificed on the altar of achievement.”

During quarantine, many people have first felt the true benefit of relationships. Human connections give us energy, a sense of belonging, joy, and a feeling of oneness.

Researchers confirm what we instinctively feel. Robert Waldinger, psychiatrist and former professor at Harvard Medical School, shared in a TED Talk how relationships are the most important ingredient for a healthy, happy life.

This is probably the most important point of the entire article. Because if you don’t get your relationships right, having great days is almost unattainable.

Every hour working is an hour without friends and family. Eric Barker cites a study where one of the top five regrets of people on their deathbed is “I wish I didn’t work so hard.”

Care for your friends. Trait working time for people time. A great day for me always includes deep human connection.

All You Need to Know

Now, most people on this planet don’t have the luxury of transforming their days from good to great. But as you’re reading this, you belong to the privileged people who do have a choice.

Start by defining what a great day means to you. Consider using some of the above metrics as inspiration:

  1. Did you do something meaningful?
  2. Did you spend time in nature?
  3. Did you learn something you didn’t know before?
  4. Did you feel your mind-body connection?
  5. Did you sharpen your mind?
  6. Did you spend undivided attention with fellow humans?
  7. Did you have time to think for yourself?

Don’t make these things other achievement items on your to-do list. Pick what you like and screw the rest.

Making time for some of these things is one of the greatest gifts you can give to your future self. Repeat it often enough, and you’ll find yourself lying in bed being grateful for all the great days in your life.

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19 Things You Should Say ‘No’ to for a Happier 2021

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How to become the person you want to be in life and business.

Photo by cottonbro from Pexels

Most people think happiness is a skill, something you can build and train with the right habits.

And while this is partly right, there’s a deeper truth about living a life full of meaning that a lot of people miss: Improving your happiness and well-being is often about what you do less of, not more of.

Often I don’t feel happy for the things I do, but for what I don’t do. Last year, I said ‘no’ more often. I focused my time and energy on things and relationships that mattered most. I became self-employed, spent weeks with my parents, and proposed to my boyfriend. 2020 has been one of the happiest years of my life.

What follows are 19 things that I said no to. Not everything will apply to you. But eliminating some of these can improve your happiness and well-being in 2021.

1. Say No to Distractive Environments

1.1 Your phone in your bedroom.

Get an alarm clock and stop waking up to your smartphone’s alarm. When you sleep with your phone in another room, you don’t need to exert your willpower first thing in the morning. You’ll start your days with a clear mind.

“Because it’s my life and it’s ticking away every second. I want to be there for it, not staring at a screen.”

— Ryan Holiday

1.2 Social media on your phone.

Social media’s persuasive design distracts you and takes away your time without active consent. I bet there’s no single person on this planet who will be lying on death bed wishing they spent more time with their phones.

Researchers continue to link social media usage to mental and physical illnesses like back pain, depression, anxiety, and even suicide-related thoughts. If you’re trying to live a happier, healthier life, deleting your social media apps is a great start.

1.3 Phone notifications.

Turn off all alerts. Your lock screen should almost always be blank. If you turn off notifications by default, you won’t see any red circles that nudge you into more screen time. That way, you stop conditioning your mind for distraction.

“What we choose to focus on and what we choose to ignore, play in defining the quality of our life.”

— Cal Newport

1.4 Distractions on your computer during deep work sessions.

LinkedIn? Block. Slack? Block. Online Games? Block. Unblock these sites once you finished your deep work block. You’ll be surprised how much more you can achieve in less time. The equation for knowledge work is as follows:

High-Quality Work Produced = (Time Spent) x (Intensity of Focus)

1.5 Consuming the news.

A 2017 report by the American Psychological Association showed 95% of American adults follow the news regularly, even though more than 50% of them say it causes them stress. Delete your news apps. Stop reading the news. If you still want to know what’s going on in the world, start reading books.

“Are you distracted by breaking news? Then take some leisure time to learn something good, and stop bouncing around.”

— Marcus Aurelius

2. Say No to Destructive Habits

2.1 Finishing mediocre books.

Not all books are created equal, and most books aren’t worth your time. You don’t have to finish every book you start. Instead, read the books that make you want to read more.

“Life is too short to read a bad book.”

— James Joyce

2.2 Consistently working more than 40 hours a week.

It’s nice if you love your work and don’t mind working a lot. But numbing your mind with work is your fast-track to an unhappy life. Life is best enjoyed in balance.

We all have 24 hours a day. People who spend most of their awake time working don’t have much energy left for their health, relationships, and play.

”The price of anything is the amount of life you exchange for it.”

— Henry David Thoreau

2.3 Sugar.

Sugar is the biggest culprit for chronic inflammation today. Going sugar-free first feels like recovering from drug addiction (because sugar is a drug). Say no to sugar for a week, and you’ll feel the positive effects on your mood.

2.4 Doing what everybody else is doing.

Don’t read what everybody else is reading. Don’t believe what all of your friends are saying. Foster a healthy criticism and think for yourself. Sapere Aude! — Have the courage to use your own reason.

2.5 Quitting too early.

Everything sucks at first, but only a few things suck forever. The Dip teaches us that there is a time of struggle between start and success when we should either aim for excellence or strategically stop.

Never quit something with great long-term potential just because you can’t deal with it right now. Follow through with your side hustle. Publish 100 articles before you quit and reap your thoughts compound interest.

3. Eliminate Toxic Relationships

3.1 People (mostly men; sorry bro) with big egos.

I was one of the women who learned to sit patiently and smile. But once I learned about patriarchal culture’s influence on women’s behavior, I quit mansplaining situations.

Financial analyst Laura Rittenhouse evaluated leaders and how their companies performed. Eric Barker, citing her findings:

“Want to know which CEOS will run their company into the ground? Count how many times they use the word “I” in their annual letter to shareholders. [
] Me, me, me means death, death, death for corporations.”

3.2 Bad listeners.

You are the master of your life. Choose whom to surround yourself with. When someone doesn’t listen to you, you don’t need to continue listening to them. Relationships are mutual.

“Noise proves nothing. Often a hen who has merely laid an egg cackles as if she had laid an asteroid.”

— Mark Twain

3.3 Other people’s agenda.

The world isn’t as simple as just givers and takers. But if you give to everyone who asks, you won’t have much left for your own pursuits. Follow Melinda Gate’s mum, who always said to Melinda as she was growing up:

“If you don’t set your own agenda, somebody else will.”

If you don’t fill your calendar with important things, other people will do it. Say no to things that don’t align with your goals.

3.4 Naysayers and maybes.

All decisions in life should be a clear yes or no. Stop saying, maybe. If you feel hesitation towards meeting a group of people, say no.

Follow Mark Manson and Derek Sivers with their crystal clear, yes, and no’s, and watch your satisfaction levels rise.

4 Quit Harmful Mindsets

4.1 Using negative self-talk to motivate yourself.

If I had to pick one single thing you should let go of, it’d be this one. Once I stopped judging myself (thanks, BrenĂ©), quitting destructive behavior became easy.

You don’t need to be hard on yourself to achieve what you want in life. Psychologist Nick Wignall writes, “People are successful despite their negative self-talk, not because of it.”

4.2 Complaining when you can change things.

Complainers curse cold weather while they can wear warmer clothes. They complain about bad teachers while they can change their learning path. They grumble about their negative friends while they can change their relationships.

Complaining is choosing victimhood while we still have a choice. Or, as Holocaust survivor and brilliant writer Dr. Edith Eger put it:

“No one can make you a victim, but you.”

4.3 Downplaying your strengths.

Don’t excuse yourself for your personal strengths. You’re capable of almost anything. Carol Dweck says: “If you think you can, or you think you can’t, you’re right.”

Don’t apologize for things you can’t do. Replace “Sorry, I can’t” with “How can I?”

“Ninety-nine percent of the failures come from people who have the habit of making excuses”

— George Washington Carver

4.4 Focusing on results.

Lasting progress isn’t about being consistently great; it’s about being great at being consistent.

Focusing on the results will make you impatient. Ultimately, you’ll give up. Don’t focus on the outcome. Focus on the process.

4.5 Wasting your time on perfection.

Perfection is destructive. It has nothing to do with self-improvement. Perfection is, at its core, is about trying to earn approval.

Let it go. Make your deadlines tighter, and don’t work on your stuff after your time runs out. Aim for consistency instead of perfection.

“Perfection is the enemy of progress.” — Winston Churchill

Remember improving your happiness and well-being is often about what you don’t do. Saying no feels hard at first. But it will get easier every time you do it.

Ultimately you realize saying no is a skill you can learn. Once you dare to say ‘no,’ all that follows becomes easier and easier.

So, what are you waiting for? You can do it.

“You have to decide what your highest priorities are and have the courage — pleasantly, smilingly, nonapologetically, to say “no” to other things. And the way you do that is by having a bigger “yes” burning inside. The enemy of the “best” is often the “good.”

― Stephen Covey

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Avoiding These 6 Things Will Help You Tell Stories People Want to Hear

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How to create a cinema for the mind.

Photo by cottonbro from Pexels

Humans connect with emotions, not facts. So the best way to put your ideas in the world is by telling stories.

Yet, many people don’t know how to captivate an audience. They recite a list of events, get lost in abstractions, or take away the surprise before even starting.

As a result, the audience feels bored and doesn’t listen. Instead of wondering where a story will take them, all they care about is when it will finally end.

My dad is the best storyteller I know, but I didn’t inherit his skills. My stories sucked. And while I was convinced you can learn most things in life, I thought storytelling had more to do with innate talent than learnable traits.

Turns out I was wrong.

Storytelling is a skill you can learn. After completing a TED masterclass, studying Matthew Dicks, and practicing in public, I discovered a pattern most bad storytellers have in common.

1) They recite events in chronological order

When asked about their vacation, we all know people who give a list of locations and activities. “Well, our first stop was in a beautiful hotel in Paris, where we went to Louvre and blah, blah, blah.”

Listeners don’t want to hear meaningless lists. I’m sorry for all of my friends who had to listen to my backpack stops through South America and whether I liked the hostels.

The problem is: People can’t connect with things. Instead, they connect with emotions and moments of insight and transformation.

What to do:

Think about a blockbuster moment: A transformational insight that forever changed the way you think about a specific topic.

One single incident in a seemingly meaningless setting can mean so much more than the best holiday scenery. People connect with stories they can associate with, not with the stuff that has never happened to them.

Don’t talk about a Machupicchu marathon, but share the moment where you found trust in humanity because a stranger returned a lost wallet. Don’t share details about hotel facilities but about the moment you felt homesick because you realized relationships matter most.

To find these meaningful moments, ask yourself: When did you feel angry, loved, surprised, moved, or in awe? Then, recreate the build-up towards the emotion.

Great storytellers guide through the transformation from one feeling to another. The best stories reflect change over time.

2) They tell stories about their heroic self

Would you rather hear about how a failed exam and bad breakup led to chronic depression and my six-month escape to India or about the time I sent only one application and landed my dream job?

Me too. Perfectionism is boring. Nobody wants to hear about the time something ran down smoothly. Especially not if the story has a bragging undertone.

Ego-centeredness leads to bad stories. We don’t want to hear a flawless hero’s journey. We want to see other people struggle as we do. World-class storyteller Matthew Dicks wrote:

“Failure is more engaging than success.”

What to do:

Dare to be vulnerable because this is what moves listeners emotionally. We love to listen to people who truthfully share their struggles. Honesty is freaking attractive.

Share the times you’ve failed and your lessons learned. The times you desperately wanted to achieve something, but you didn’t.

Being honest with each other allows us to strengthen our social bonds and form deep, meaningful connections.

3) Bad storytellers don’t know when to be quiet

Dr. Brené Brown once wrote we should be as passionate about listening as we are about wanting to be heard.

Many of us feel the urge to say something, to at least share their opinion, but hardly anyone is ready to listen.

Bad storytellers don’t pay attention to the space they occupy. They don’t realize when they’ve said too much. They don’t sense when it’s time to be quiet.

Whenever I listen to a person who loves his own voice just a little bit too much, I think of this quote by Mark Twain:

“Noise proves nothing. Often a hen who has merely laid an egg crackles as if she has laid an astroid.”

What to do:

Ask questions but don’t listen to reply. Instead, listen to understand. You connect with others when they feel heard and valued.

Don’t bother about what other people think about you. Instead, use your energy to be the best listener in the room.

Whenever you’re in doubt whether you’re saying too much and listening too little, pause and be quiet.

4) They forget to create a cinema for the mind

An audience wants to connect visually, but bad storytellers don’t give any visual information. They get lost in abstractions and don’t act as a person who is physically moving through space.

The bigger the abstraction, the harder it is for an audience to connect. While sentences like ‘certainty is the enemy of growth’ and ‘how you do anything is how you do everything’ work on paper, they don’t work in stories.

People can’t identify with concepts. They’re not relatable, and in stories, they lead to boredom. Just like Einstein said, “If you can’t explain it simply, you don’t understand it well enough.”

What to do:

Matthew Dicks sums it up:

“The simplest stories about the smallest moments in our life are often the most compelling.”

Rather than focusing on the big concept and blurring the overall takeaway, aim for details and specificity.

And don’t get lost in the land of nothingness. Great stories are a cinema for the mind. They contain details that make a scene highly sensory—information about the setting, physical location, feelings, events.

A physical location in every scene helps your audience create a vivid picture in their mind.

5) They kill any surprises

Let me tell you about the time I felt outraged and almost left my startup. Wow. I killed any surprise. So do starter phrases like:

  • “You won’t believe it.”
  • “You can’t imagine what happened to me.”
  • “Yesterday, I met the most interesting person ever.”

Stories live by unexpected twists. That’s what makes them interesting in the first place. But if you predict the outcome and raise the expectation bar, your story can only disappoint.

What to do:

Don’t start with a summary. There’s no need to give a disclaimer or summary. Start with the story.

The best place to start your story is by starting at the end’s opposite. Want to tell a story about regaining trust in humanity? Start with a scene when you had the least trust. Thereby, you reinforce the change that happened in you.

And if you need a thesis statement, put it at the end. Because surprise is what creates emotions. Again, Matthew Dicks, who makes his audience laugh hard before he makes them cry:

“You need to build surprise into your stories. There must be moments of unexpectedness so that your audience can experience an emotional response to your story.”

6) They repeat what has been said before

Bad storytellers are often unoriginal. Margarete Stokowski gives a perfect example: It’s like shouting through a megaphone: “We all have to think for ourselves!” And a crowd of a thousand people repeats: “We all have to think for ourselves!”

It’s the tenth article about Elon Musk’s first-order thinking. It’s people who quote Kant’s “Have the courage to use your own reason,” and then happily continue giving more and more quotes.

Bad storytellers repeat what has been said a thousand times. They cling to stories and beliefs that aren’t contradictory or bear any controversy.

What to do:

Take a stance and a statement. Support a thesis. It’s easier to not have an opinion than it is to have one. Don’t be the one who doesn’t have one. Be the one who does.

Use other people’s ideas as a stepping stone. Copy thoughts, but then add a twist and make them about your view of the world. Use your experiences to create a unique story out of them.

If a friend went through a story you would love to share, tell your story’s angle. Don’t ever copy something just because you feel people will like it.

“Be quoatable. Your job is not to recycle but to create something new.”

— Matthew Dicks

All You Need to Know

Great storytellers aren’t born that way. They become great by following these rules:

  1. Don’t give time-stamp listicles of events and facts. Instead, build your story around one emotionally transforming moment.
  2. Don’t make any story about your best self. Show vulnerability and imperfection. Talk about the lessons you learned along the way.
  3. Don’t take too much space. Allow others to take the stage and listen carefully.
  4. Don’t get lost in abstractions. Be as specific as you can, include physical locations, and create a cinematic mind experience.
  5. Don’t take away the surprise. If you need a thesis statement, use it in the end, not in the beginning.
  6. Don’t repeat what has been said before. Dare to be original.

In the end, people don’t make decisions based on numbers or facts — it’s stories that make all the difference. No matter where you are in life, storytelling can help you achieve your goals.

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Philosophical Books that Can Still Improve Your Life Today

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Stop buying from bestseller lists.

Photo by BERK OZDEMIR from Pexels

If you look at humanity’s timeline —what are the chances that the truly great books have been written in the past 20 years? Approximately zero, right.

Still, many people buy the latest books instead of the greatest. Here’s what that leads to:

“A public that will leave unread writings of the noblest and rarest of minds (
), merely because these writings have been printed today and are still wet from the press.” — Schopenhauer

Common problems have been the same throughout all centuries: happiness, morality, power, justice, and love. That’s why the wisdom from great philosophers is still so applicable.

Here are eight books from great minds that you don’t find on current best-seller lists.

1. Tao Te Ching by Lao Tzu

Even though the title sounds complex, reading the Tao Te Ching is easy. The book helps us understand Taoism, which literally means ‘the way.’

Like Stoicism, Taoism also focuses on simplicity. But it also contains human values like patience and compassion. Stoicism is Jordan Peterson, Taoism is Brené Brown. I much more prefer the latter.

When you read through the 160-page short book written in 4th century BC, you feel trust and self-compassion rushing through you. Here’s one of my favorite quotes:

“Knowing others is intelligence;
knowing yourself is true wisdom.
Mastering others is strength;
mastering yourself is true power.”― Lao Tzu

2. Zhuangzi by Zhuangzi

If Tao Te Ching explains Taoism’s theoretical concepts, this book is its workbook. It shows us how to put Toaism into practice.

Zhuangzi gives us applicable guidance, like “A path is made by walking on it” or, “Happiness is the absence of the striving for happiness.” In sum, the book is a how-to guide for living a simple and natural but full and flourishing life.

It’s an ancient and even wiser version of Naval Ravikant and a great read for anyone who wants to bring more happiness and wisdom to their life.

3. Nicomachean Ethics by Aristotle

The main goal of Nicomachean Ethics is learning to achieve eudaimonia, a Greek term with deep meaning. Philosophers say there’s no accurate translation for eudaimonia. But if we had to find a word, it’s happiness.

To achieve this kind of happiness, a person must first reach a state of inner balance. And to achieve personal harmony, there are two things you should do:

  1. Investing in your education, reasoning, and thinking.
  2. Cultivating important character virtues.

In the book, Aristotle explains how to build a virtuous character. First, by learning the difference between virtuous and not virtuous actions. Second, by creating habits that allow you to form a good character.

That’s how Aristotle goes one step further than James Clear. Before he tells you how to form habits, Aristotle gives you a decision guide for future actions.

4. Five Dialogues of Plato

When I started studying philosophy last fall, reading Plato was one of the first reading assignments. Different characters debate topics like justice, death, and virtue. They mostly try to find a conclusion (even though they can’t always find one).

What I love about Plato is his philosophy in dialogue form. The dialogue makes reading interesting.

The asking protagonists are the reader’s voice. They ask questions you will have. And this book contains 5 of the most important Platonic dialogues.

“Are you not ashamed of your eagerness to possess as much wealth, reputation, and honors as possible, while you do not care for nor give thought to wisdom or truth, or the best possible state of your soul?” — Plato

5. What is Enlightenment? by Immanuel Kant

Now, this isn’t really a book but an essay. But Kant is hard to read. And better to read a hard-digestible essay than not to read Kant’s work. It still contains the quintessence of his writings.

Kant popularized the idea that we should trust no authority except our own reason. He would sigh when looking at all the coaches, self-help books, and online courses that suggest how to live your life.

He’d say: Use your own reasoning and, by all means, dare to be wise.

So, this essay is excellent for anyone struggling with trusting their own beliefs. For writers who feel scared to form opinions. And for insecure overachievers.

Kant’s words are a great reminder of whom to trust making any decision in life — you.

6. PenseĂ©s by Blaise Pascal

The Penseés is a collection of philosophical fragments, notes, and essays. Pascal explores the contradictions of human nature from a psychological, social, theological, and metaphysical perspective.

While this collection is slightly pessimistic and tries to convince atheists of God’s existence, it’s still worth the read. You will realize the fundamental human problems were the same in 1670 as in 2021.

“Man’s condition: Inconstancy, boredom, anxiety. But take away their distractions and you will see them wither from boredom.” — Blaise Pascal

7. The Complete Essays by Michel de Montaigne

Just like Bill Gates, Michel was one of the wealthiest men of his time. And just like Bill, Michel appreciated ‘thinking time.’

Yet, Michel’s thinking time far exceeded Bill’s think week. He isolated himself for 9 entire years to find what it means to be human.

Frankly, his essay’s topics seem random. They cover wide arrays and range from friendships to the imagination, to laughing, and more.

Reading his essays is not too difficult. But the sum (1344 pages) is daunting. If you decide to get this book, here is a selection of his most-discussed essays. Yet, when you choose, remember to use your own reason (see 5).

  • On Friendship
  • To philosophize is to learn how to die
  • Apology for Raymond Sebond
  • On Experience
  • On Solitude

8. The Letters of Abelard and Heloise by Betty Radice

What I dislike about most booklists is they don’t include female authors. Yet, I didn’t know that finding ancient female writing is a true research project.

HĂ©loĂŻse was a philosopher of love and friendship. Plus, she was important for the establishment of women in science. Her controversial thoughts about genre and marriage influenced the development of modern feminism.

HĂ©loĂŻse, a 12th-century woman raised in a convent, expressed her sexuality with such openness our generations can learn from.

“No one’s real worth is measured by his property or power: Fortune belongs to one category of things and virtue to another.” — HĂ©loĂŻse

In Summary

Learning from the greatest thinkers who have ever existed doesn’t need to feel like a burden. On the contrary — it can be fun and worthwhile.

Your life, your reading list. Use your own mind and pick the ones that resonate with you. Then, screw the rest. When in doubt, remember Schopenhauer’s suggestion:

“Only read for a limited and definite time exclusively the works of great minds, those who surpass other men of all times and countries, and whom the voice of fame points to as such. These alone really educate and instruct.”

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The Apeiron Blog — Big Questions, Made Simple.

We know that Philosophy can seem complicated at times. To make things simple, we compile together the best articles, news, reading lists — and other free resources to guide you on your journey. To continue with us, follow us on Medium and sign up to our free mailing list.

Arthur Schopenhauer’s 3 Ideas Will Improve the Way You Read

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Timeless advice on how to make the most of your books.

Photo by Suzy Hazelwood from Pexels

Books carry the wisdom of the smartest people who ever existed. Through reading, you find yourself on the surefire way to become happy, healthy, and wise.

Yet, books per se don’t make you a better person.

You can read every day without changing at all. It’s what and how you read that will improve your life’s quality and enhance your mind.

I’ve read a book a week for more than three years and always look for ways to improve my reading practice. Recently, I stumbled upon Arthur Schopenhauer’s essay on reading and books.

Schopenhauer was a philosopher whose writing on morality and psychology has influenced Einstein, Nietzsche, and Freud, among others. Here are his powerful reading insights and how to apply them:

1) Stop Reading Passively

In 1851, Schopenhauer got something right most people still ignore. Books are the arena of someone else’s thoughts, not our own. He writes:

“When we read, another person thinks for us: we merely repeat his mental process.”

Human brains don’t work like recording devices. You don’t absorb information and knowledge by reading. Relying on highlighting, rereading, or, worst of all, passive reading is highly ineffective.

For my first 80 books or so, I was a passive reader. Whenever a conversation revolved around something I read, I could never remember much. I thought forgetting is a personal character flaw.

But it isn’t. Instead, it’s the way we read that’s flawed.

To get the most from books, we need to think for ourselves while reading. Active reading is the way we acquire and retain knowledge.

How to apply it:

Before opening your next book, take a pen to your hand. Scribble your thoughts on the margins and connect what you learn with what you already know.

While reading, think about questions like:

  • How can you link the words to your own experiences?
  • How can you use the author’s thesis to explain something else?
  • Do you have any memory that proves or contradicts what you read?

You store new information in terms of its meaning to our existing memory. To remember new information, you not only need to know it but also to know how it relates to what you already know.

And by scribbling down your own thoughts, you’re doing what cognitive scientists call elaborative rehearsal. You associate new information with what you already know.

Soon you’ll realize that taking notes not only helps you to concentrate but also to remember what you read. That’s how you transform yourself into an active reader.

2) Not Every Book is Worth Your Time

Books aren’t created equal. When looking at current best-seller lists, what Schopenhauer wrote some hundred years ago feels right on point:

“Nine-tenths of the whole of our present literature aims solely at taking a few shillings out of the public’s pocket, and to accomplish this, author, publisher, and reviewer have joined forces.”

A book’s sales numbers don’t say much about its quality. Best-selling authors are primarily great marketers.

When you look at human history, the fundamental human problems are the same in all ages: Justice, happiness, power, love, and change.

And through books, you can connect with people who mastered these areas centuries before. So why bother with the short-cycle of current books?

Again, Schopenhauer:

“A public that will leave unread writings of the noblest and rarest of minds, of all times and all countries, for the sake of reading the writings of commonplace persons which appear daily, and breed every year in countless numbers like flies; merely because these writings have been printed today and are still wet from the press.”

How to apply it:

Knowing what you want to read is essential, but so is its inversion — knowing what you don’t want to read.

Statistically, the chances are small that the best books are written in the current decade. So, look beyond best-seller lists to choose the books you read.

If you only read the books that everyone else is reading, you can only think what everyone else is thinking. Instead, follow A.B. Schlegel’s advice, who had also been a guiding star for Schopenhauer:

“Read the old ones, the real old ones. What the new ones say about them doesn’t mean much.”

I love to find ‘the real old ones’ through Mortimer J. Adler’s book recommendations, starting page 175.

3) Develop Your System of Thought

Schopenhauer’s last advice concerns the way we systemize reading:

“Every one has aims, but very few have anything approaching a system of thought. This is why such people do not take an objective interest in anything, and why they learn nothing from what they read: they remember nothing about it.”

Knowledge isn’t power unless it’s applied. And to apply what we read, we must first remember what we learned.

Schopenhauer got right what Harvard scientists confirmed some hundred years later:

“It is only by reflection that one can assimilate what one has read if one reads straight ahead without pondering over it later, what has been read does not take root, but is for the most part lost.”

When we don’t pause to think and to contemplate, we keep circling in a limited sphere at a higher velocity. We can read a book a week to 10x our productivity and still lose the most important life lessons.

Like Mortimer J. Adler said: “In the case of good books, the point is not to see how many of them you can get through, but rather how many can get through to you.”

How to apply it:

Don’t focus on the number of books you read, but on your reading depth.

Use your margin notes to create a summary. Keep it brief and use your own words. Depending on your preference, here’s what you can do with it:

  • Keep your summaries analog in your journal.
  • Post them publically on GoodReads, Bookshlf, or your blog.
  • Create your personal knowledge database in Notion or Roam.

Summarizing, synthesizing, analyzing a book might feel like slowing you down. But the opposite is true. Learning works best when it feels slow and difficult.

The One Thing Schopenhauer Was Wrong About

While most of his advice is timeless, he holds one flawed assumption. In his words:

“One can overload and choke the mind by giving it too much nourishment.”

You can never over nourish your brain. The opposite is true. The more you learn, the easier it’ll be to remember. As cognitive scientists write in this paper:

“Our capacity for storing to-be-learned information or procedures is essentially unlimited. In fact, storing information in human memory appears to create capacity — that is, opportunities for additional linkages and storage — rather than use it up.”

Retrieval, the process of accessing your memory, is cue dependent. This means the more mental links you’re generating during stage one, the acquisition phase, the easier you can access and use your knowledge.

The more connected information we already have, the easier we learn.

Conclusion

Acting on Schopenhauer’s insights isn’t complex, long, or exhausting.

On the contrary: These principles make reading fun and worthwhile and help you get the most from books.

  • Become an active reader by taking notes while you read.
  • Know what not to read. Don’t waste your time on mediocre books.
  • Systemize your thinking by creating a personal knowledge base.

Instead of feeling discouraged by all the ideas about what you could do to improve your reading, enjoy experimenting at your own pace. Keep the ideas that work for you and screw the rest.

Choose one or two new principles until you find a pattern that helps you on your journey to health, wealth, and wisdom.

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These Money Lessons by Morgan Housel Are Helping to Make Me a Better Investor

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Five mindset shifts to help you reach financial freedom

Photo by NeONBRAND on Unsplash

Did you know that $81.5 billion of Warren Buffet’s $84.5 billion net worth came after his 65th birthday?

I didn’t until I started reading Morgan Housel’s finance blog.

Morgan earned credibility through his former finance column at The Wall Street Journal. But what’s even better is that Morgan practices what he preaches. He’s transparent about every step he takes and passes along precious advice.

In his new book, he shares timeless lessons on wealth, greed, and happiness. Here are the ones that stuck with me. If applied, they can turn you into a better investor.

1.) Your Behavior Matters More than Your Financial Hard Skills

Until halfway through my economics studies, I avoided personal finance. Yes, I aced through my math-heavy exams. But knowing how to invest your own money?

I thought you’d have to be a genius.

Derivates, hedging, and exchange-traded funds sounded like Chinese. A beautiful language I’d never be able to learn.

As a life-long learner, I hear you sigh. Of course, with the right mindset and tools, you can learn anything in life.

When I picked up my first personal finance books, I started learning that making your money work for you is actually pretty simple. Morgan writes:

“Financial success is not a hard science. It’s a soft skill, where how you behave is more important than what you know.”

Once you understand the basics, like knowing your net worth, building an emergency fund, and the power of compound interest, behavior matters more than hard skills.

Psychological biases, like impulsive purchases, often have a far greater effect on financial success than understanding another portfolio theorem.

2.) Only You Can Determine When You Have Enough

I loved the following anecdote from the book as it shows the difference between being greedy and living in abundance.

At a billionaire’s party, Kurt Vonnegut teases his conversational partner Joseph Heller. He says the host earned more money on a single day than the author had made with his popular book Catch-22. Heller replies: “Yes, but I have something he will never have. Enough.”

How much money do you need to feel you’ve got enough? When can you truly feel satisfied and free from greed?

Abundance is a choice. You’re the one who determines whether you have enough. In Morgan’s words:

“The hardest financial skill is getting the goalpost to stop moving.”

If you keep chasing more and more, you’ll waste your life. You’ll always feel you’re missing out on something.

When I became self-employed last summer, I defined my monthly minimum ($2K) and dream ($10K) income for a 35-hour workweek. In my fifth month of self-employment, I hit my income goal.

And yet, I moved my goalpost without realizing it. I kept trying to earn even more, put in more hours, said yes to more projects. With every additional working hour, I dropped another healthy habit.

Work and money have a diminishing marginal utility. From a certain point, more isn’t better but worse.

Once I pass the 35-hour threshold, every additional working hour decreases my joie de vivre. I move less, laugh less, and feel less. In the long-run, no additional income is worth this price.

Enoughness is a choice. Only you can get your goalpost to stop moving.

3.) Freedom is the Ultimate Form of Wealth

Why do you want to make a ton of money?

Do you want a specific car or luxurious clothing? Or are you past material status symbols and chasing new experiences, like traveling the world? Maybe you already found contentment in the presence and want to earn more to pay for your kid’s education or your mum’s retirement.

When you keep exploring your reasoning and peel down the outer layers, many people discover a fundamental core underneath.

The key motivation to become wealthy is the ultimate freedom.

Freedom means doing what you want whenever you want. Freedom means surrounding yourself with the people you want for as long as you want. As Morgan put it:

“Controlling your time is the highest dividend money pays. Use money to gain control over your time, because not having control of your time is a powerful and universal drag on happiness.”

You no longer have to say “yes” when you feel like saying “no.” You can pick the projects you truly want without thinking about monetary rewards.

That’s also what Naval Ravikant means when he says that you should optimize for independence rather than pay whenever you can in life.

4.) Shut Up and Wait

$81.5 billion of Warren Buffet’s $84.5 billion net worth came after his 65th birthday. One of the richest people alive used the power of compounding interest to grow his money.

This piece of advice is so powerful yet often neglected. To become a better investor, you don’t need to consume financial news a few hours a day. Instead, it’s about remaining passive and wait it out.

If we look at long time horizons, we see nothing but economic growth. And that’s why the benefits of compounding are available for everyone who manages to stick to the same strategy.

Because all you need to do to benefit from compounding interest is keeping your money invested and wait it out. Good returns sustained over an uninterrupted period of time will ultimately win.

Billionaire Charlie Munger, Warren Buffet’s long-term business partner, sums it up nicely:

“Understanding both the power of compound interest and the difficulty of getting it is the heart and soul of understanding a lot of things.”

5.) Wealth is Income Not Spent

What would you do if you became a millionaire overnight? Most people answer this question by listing all the things they‘d buy. Soon they wouldn’t be millionaires any longer.

The math is simple. If you own a million but spend all of it on consumer goods, nothing will be left to pay the dividends.

Becoming wealthy isn’t solely about how much you make. It’s also about how much you save.

Earning $1200 or $8200 a month won’t increase your net worth if you’re spending all of it on food, clothes, beauty products, cars, furniture, hairdressers, insurances, phones, and travel.

By spending 100%, you will never accumulate wealth unless someone else is saving for you. If you own a million but spend all of it on consumer goods, you’ll soon be broke. Wealthy people remain wealthy because they don’t spend their money, they save it.

Wealth is invisible. It’s income you didn’t spend. As Morgan states:

“Wealth is an option not yet taken to buy something later.”

Bonus Tip: Don’t Trust Mutual Fund Portfolio Managers

Did you know that most wealth managers are salespeople? I didn’t.

That’s why I almost trusted a mutual fund manager when he told me about his investment opportunities. In my uninformed mind, 1% sounded pretty cheap. But it isn’t. Over time a 1% fee can reduce your returns by around 30%.

Morgan Housel likely agrees with Rami Sethi, who writes,

“If you are reading this and you’re paying over 1% in fees, I’m going to kill you. Get smart. You should be paying 0.1 to 0.3%.”

Fund managers and many other financial experts earn money per product they sell. And because they earn commissions, you’ll understand why they likely direct you to expensive mutual funds.

The financial times published an article revealing that half of all U.S. mutual fund portfolio managers do not invest a cent of their own money in their funds. So, better do the maths before investing in an overpriced product.

The Bottom Line

If you just remember one thing from the Psychology of Money, it should be the following: Inspirational lessons on investing and acting according to them aren’t the same thing.

Whenever you read through valuable investing advice, you have two options: Let it pass like a swift moment of inspiration, or ask yourself how to apply that insight in your decision making.

So, if you’re serious about becoming a better investor, pick your favorite lesson and change your behavior. Because ultimately, you are in charge of creating the life you want to live.

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How to Learn Like Someone Who Aced the MIT Challenge

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The four principles of ultralearning.

Photo by Andrea Piacquadio from Pexels

In 2014, Scott H. Young embarked on a controversial project.

He completed the MIT undergraduate computer science curriculum at 4x speed. Instead of the typical four years, he passed all final exams in less than 12 months.

Some people praise his results as the ultralearning experience.

Others are more skeptical as Scott transformed his MIT challenge into lucrative blogs and books. Here’s a question some people ask:

Is Scott a sneaky marketer or one of the most efficient life-long learners?

And while I’ll share my opinion at the end of this article, the answer doesn’t really matter. What matters is what we can learn from his learning journey.

These are Scott’s tips on how to become an ultralearner and quadruple your learning efficiency.

Use directness to improve learning effectiveness

Learning in formal settings is often ineffective because it’s distant from the actual application. Let’s take an example.

Imagine you’re a frequent flier. Before every start, you watch the video of a flight attendant putting on the life vest. You watch the video again and again.

But as this study shows, actually putting on the inflatable life vest a single time would be more valuable than repeatedly watching another person doing it. You acquire true mastery by performing the procedure yourself.

Social climber Dale Carnegie used to say knowledge isn’t power until it’s applied. And it’s true.

Don’t spend your time on tasks far away from your end goal. If you want to write online articles, don’t spend time watching a masterclass on how to write a book. Foster a bias towards direct action.

The directness principle is a powerful way to make learning more efficient.

How to do it:

What’s your end goal behind learning?

Let’s say you want to learn writing. What do you want to use it for? Is it for writing a novel? Then start learning to write by writing a novel. Is it for earning an extra income? Then start studying submission guidelines for paid online platforms and pitch your articles there.

Whatever you learn, focus on your true end-goal and pick a practice that’s as close to it as possible.

Feynman’s technique helps you remember anything

Nobel Prize-winning physicist Richard Feynman (1918–1988) was an expert for remembering what he learned — by teaching.

Teaching is the most effective way to embed information in your mind. Plus, it’s an easy way to check whether you’ve remembered what you learned.

Because before you teach, you have to take several steps: filter relevant information, organize this information, and use your own vocabulary to paraphrase the concepts.

Feynman mastered this process like no other. The people of his time knew him for explaining the most complex processes in the simplest language. They nicknamed Feynman “The Great Explainer.”

Bill Gates was so inspired by his pedagogy that he even named Feynman “the greatest teacher I never had.”

How to do it:

The Feynman Technique consists of three simple steps:

  1. Summarize whatever you want to learn on a blank page.
  2. Explain what you learned in plain, simple language as if you were talking to a child.
  3. Identify your knowledge gaps and revisit the concepts whenever you’re stuck circle back to your knowledge source.
  4. Reread what you forgot to mention and add it to your explanation.

By following this technique, your learning by ‘first principles’ instead of superficial memorization.

“The person who says he knows what he thinks but cannot express it usually does not know what he thinks.”

— Mortimer J. Adler

Create a meta-learning map

No life skill can earn you greater dividends than learning how to learn. Yet, most people don’t know how to master meta-learning.

Meanwhile, taking responsibility for your learning is one of the most important undertakings you can manage.

Your meta-learning map serves as a knowledge tree for your practice and will help you learn better. Scott Young, the author of ultralearning, says a meta-learning map should contain three key items:

  • Concepts: Anything that needs to be understood.
  • Facts: Anything that needs to be memorized.
  • Procedures: Anything that needs to be practiced.

How to do it:

Make a learning map before you dive into any specific skill.

If you want to write paid articles, don’t start by practicing headlines. Instead, list all the things you need to acquire, like style, editing, storytelling, research, headlines, and a solid idea-to-paper process.

Unsure how to start the map? Find people who mastered the skill you want to learn and ask them about their learning paths.

Do you want to publish a bestselling non-fiction novel? Craft personal, short e-mails and send them to Malcolm Gladwell, Brené Brown, Nicolas Cole, James Clear, and all the other successful authors. Ask them about the core skills they needed to master. Then, start drafting your own map.

Unlock the power of self-testing

Many people feel traumatized when they think of formal test settings. But testing can be a powerful tool to improve the way we learn.

Because self-testing helps us overcome the illusion of knowledge and shows us whether we truly mastered the subject at hand. Plus, self-testing helps to identify knowledge gaps and brings weak areas to the light.

Even if you don’t get the right answer, the process facilitates remembering the correct answer. In almost all cases, it’s better to solve a problem than memorizing a solution.

Use the testing process to learn more as you go along. Always test yourself before you feel confident and push yourself to recall information, not just review it.

How to do it:

My favorite testing techniques include flashcards with a built-in spaced repetition feature (like Anki for anything, readwise for books, podcasts, highlights, or lingvist for languages).

Apart from flashcards, you can also use free recall. After reading something, try to write down everything you can remember, then use the source material to fill the gaps you missed. After your session, sit down with a piece of blank paper. Challenge yourself to list everything you can remember from what you’ve learned in as much detail as possible.

A third alternative includes the question-book method. Here you write down questions that test the content and answer these questions whenever you revisit the source. Ali Abdaal explains the active recall method in one of his learning videos.

Did Scott Young really finish the MIT curriculum?

Yes and no.

Yes, because he achieved his goal of ‘just wanting to learn more about Computer Science.’

No, because he self-graded his exams, skipped advanced course modules, and replaced peer-projects with less intense modules.

There are plenty of discussions that shed more light on Young’s underlying assumptions. And meanwhile, he also shared a critical reflection on his learning path.

But there’s a more important lesson here: With the right tools, learning any new skill is possible.

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Four Great Resources That Will Teach You How to Learn

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Crack the core of education and become a lifelong learner.

Photo by Ketut Subiyanto from Pexels

No life skill can earn you greater dividends than learning how to learn. Yet, most people don’t know how to master learning.

When asked, “Do you study the way you do because somebody taught you to study that way?” a study by Kornell & Bjork showed about 73% of students answered “no.”

Long after school, we continue to rely on ineffective learning strategies like passive consumption, highlighting, or rereading in the hope new knowledge will magically stick to our brain. Most people ignore that humans don’t absorb information and knowledge by reading sentences.

The mediocre majority will continue struggling through life this way, never experiencing the benefits of effective learning. They don’t care enough about the potential benefits to invest in their growth.

Most people ignore the proven ways to improve their learning process.

As a result, their lives stagnate. “Entertainment and distraction is the enemy of creation and learning. They will keep you in mediocrity,” Benjamin Hardy once wrote.

But it doesn’t have to be this way.

A life full of meaningful learning and growth is available if you know where to start. In the last years, I read +15 books on learning, taught as a Teach for All fellow, and continue working in education. Here are the best resources for learning how to learn.

📘Make it Stick: The Science of Successful Learning

A research group around neuroscientist Henry Roediger and psychologist Mark McDaniel spent ten years exploring learning strategies. Their goal was to bridge the gap between cognitive science and educational science. The result of their work is ‘Make it stick.’

The book in one sentence: Learning that’s easy is like writing in sand, here today and gone tomorrow; learning works better when it feels hard.

Why you should read it: Because of its applicability, this is my favorite book on evidence-based learning. You’ll realize the factors that shape your intellectual ability lie to a surprising extent within your own control. After reading, you’ll understand how to make the best learning techniques work for you.

Time Commitment: 336 pages; 7 hours to read it

Content Sneak Peek: This book explores and summarizes six evidence-based, application-ready strategies that help you learn better and store new knowledge in your long-term memory. The six strategies include retrieval practice (recall something you’ve learned in the past from your memory), spaced repetition (repeat the same piece of information across increasing intervals), interleaving (alternating before each practice is complete), elaboration (rephrasing new knowledge and connecting it with existing insights), reflection (synthesize, abstract, and articulate key lessons taught by experience), self-testing & calibration (answer a question or solve a problem before looking at the answer and identify knowledge gaps).

đŸ’» Dr. Barabara Oakley — Learning How to Learn

Learning How to Learn is the most popular Coursera course of all time taught by academic experts Dr. Barbara Oakley and Dr. Terrence Sejnowski from the University of California, San Diego. Dr. Oakley’s research has been described as “revolutionary” in the Wall Street Journal, and she won numerous teacher awards for it.

The course in one sentence: Taking responsibility for your learning is one of the most important undertakings you can manage.

Why you should watch it: By exploring effective learning and retention strategies, this course upgrades your learning toolbox. Plus, the course dismantles common learning traps and guides and how to overcome them. After watching it, you’ll feel ready for an effective, personalized learning journey.

Time Commitment: Self-paced 15 hours

Content Sneak Peek: The course explores the modes of thinking (diffuse mode and focused mode), how our memories work (long-term memory and working memory), a handful of learning strategies (recalling, interleaving, and deliberate practice), learning blockers (Einstellung, procrastination, illusions of knowledge, task-switching), brain hacks on a mental level (memory training, environment, Pomodoro technique, habit-forming, focus) and hacks on a physical level (sleeping, naps, workout).

📰 Farnam Street Blog: Accelerated Learning

Shane Parrish, the founder of Farnam Street, was a cybersecurity expert at Canada’s top intelligence agency and an occasional blogger. He promotes proven strategies of rigorous self-betterment as opposed to classic self-help fare. The best articles on the blog explore timeless ideas around learning.

The source in one sentence: You can train your brain to retain knowledge and insight better by understanding how you learn.

Why you should read it: The blog is excellently written and application-oriented. There’s constantly new content, and it serves as a great refresher to the other resources.

Time Commitment: Around 10 minutes per article.

Content Sneak Peek: The blog explores various topics, like deliberate practice, double-loop learning, learning from failure, the half-life of facts, spaced repetition, and the Feynman Technique.

📘Mindset: The New Psychology of Success

There’s been a lot of criticism around this book as the studies by Carol Dweck haven’t been replicated. Yet, I benefited so much from the mindset this book taught me that it belongs in this resource list. While reading it, just consider that it’s not peer-review science but rather mindset advice.

The source in one sentence: By distinguishing between a fixed and a growth mindset, Dweck shows how success in school, work, sports, the arts, and almost every area of human endeavor is influenced by how we think about our talents and abilities.

Why you should read it: This book is a must-read for every person looking for growth. After reading this book, you’ll be able to integrate a growth mindset into your life. For example, you’ll see mistakes as valuable learning opportunities. Studying this book can empower any educator to make positive changes in the classroom environment.

Time Commitment: 320 pages, 6.5 hours to read it

Content Sneak Peek: Mindsets shape whether we believe we can or can’t learn, change, and grow. People with a fixed mindset seek approval, while those with a growth mindset seek development. Role models from our childhood strongly influence our attitudes and ideas, yet we can change our mindset even in adulthood.

Fixed Mindset vs. Growth Mindset (Source: Author based on C. Dweck)

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How Ali Abdaal Uses Tech to Remember Everything He Reads

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The seven-level system for books, podcasts, articles, and tweets.

Photo by Daniel Romero on Unsplash

As a UK based doctor, YouTuber, instructor, and podcaster, Ali Abdaal is one of the most productive people on the internet.

In one of his recent videos, Ali states that his additional income streams generate more than three times his income as a junior doctor in the UK’s National Health Service.

More than one million people follow his Youtube channel, and his e-mail list has more than 50.000 subscribers.

Despite his achievements, Ali remains a humble, reflective, fun person. Apart from Niklas Göke, he’s the one under 30 content creators I admire most.

In his recent video, he combines cognitive science with life hacks and shares the seven levels that lead to remembering (almost) everything we read.

Level 1: The way most people read

Many people are very passive while consuming content. They read through books and articles or listen to podcasts but don’t engage with the material. Soon, they forget what they learned.

Scientists call this our natural forgetting curve. We lose information over time when we don’t retain it.

Yet, many people continue to equate reading with learning. But this isn’t the case as my experience underlines.

Before building my first business, I had read dozens of books for each stage in the business lifecycle. Yet, as time went on, I forgot most of the advice I consumed. I was the perfect example of a level one reader.

At level one, we’re not using our brainpower. Reading in this way is mere entertainment.

Level 2: Take the next step after passive reading

At this level, you highlight everything you find interesting, either with a finger on your kindle, the trackpad on your browser or with a highlighter in your physical book.

While highlighting gives us the illusion of knowledge, it’s an ineffective learning method. Level two consumption still doesn’t improve your retention capacity.

As before, the natural forgetting curve will kick in, and as the days go on, you’ll soon have forgotten what you wanted to remember.

Yet, highlighting will become a great help if you use it as a learning strategy for levels three to five.

Level 3: Make your highlights work for you

Before we dive into how Ali does a systematic highlight revision, let’s see why it works from a learning perspective.

Our brain strengthens and consolidates memories of information it encounters regularly and frequently. With spaced repetition, you revisit the same information regularly at set intervals.

Science on learning has shown spaced repetition to be the most effective learning method to remember new content.

To use his highlights in a spaced repetition manner, Ali uses Readwise. It’s an online service that imports the highlights from your consumption tools. For blog articles, this might be Instapaper, for your podcasts Airr, and for your books, Kindle.

Once you’ve connected your inputs, Readwise sends you an email with 5 random highlights from your library. In one of his newsletters, Ali wrote:

“Since September 2018, the daily Readwise email is one that I’ve read religiously. Each day, I stumble upon wisdom that I chose to highlight in a previous life, and often I come across highlights from my favourite books that are spookily relevant to what’s going on in my life.”

I became a Readwise user a few months ago, but to be honest, I found the unorganized e-mail quotes pretty disturbing. Before diving into work, I don’t want to read my highlight from a book on slow sex. I unsubscribed to the daily email.

Yet, reaping the other Readwise benefits in level four kept me using this software.

Level 4: Find your holy storage palace

A highlight storage location is the golden nugget that can transform the way you read.

Remember that Readwise imports the highlights from your podcasts, articles, and books? Now you can export all the highlights into your favorite note-taking app.

By not only consuming but integrating the new knowledge into his working projects, Ali makes the most out of his time.

Here’s how I make Ali’s system work for me.

I connected my Readwise account to Medium, Twitter, Airr, and Kindle account. Every Sunday, I export the Readwise highlights to my Notion database. From there, I link the highlights to ideas for my podcast, articles, or business. In that way, I connect what I read to my current projects.

By sending your highlights to your Notion, Evernote, or Roam account, you’ll be able to work with the content you consume.

Level 5: Unlock the power of elaborative rehearsal

Elaborating means you explain and describe an idea in your own words. You consciously associate material you want to learn with what you’ve previously learned.

The more details and the stronger you connect new knowledge to what you already know, the better. By doing so, you’re generating more brain cues, and you’ll have an easier time retrieving new knowledge.

In his video, Ali says he regrets not elaborating on all the books he ever read. Here are the questions he now answers after reading a book:

  • How did you discover the book?
  • Who should read it?
  • How do you summarize the book in three sentences?
  • How did the book change you? (Life, behavior, thoughts, ideas that have changed as a result of reading the book)
  • What are your top three quotes?

Level 6: Become an expert for your content

Now, if you’ve reached level five, you’ll remember more than most content consumers. You’ll have evolved from a passive reader to a person who applies what they read.

If the content is excellent, and you want to take it one step further, you can write a literary summary. To do so, focus on the points that resonated. Your result will go as close to an entire book summary as it can get.

If you decide to go all-in, make sure to mentally recall what you want to remember instead of copy-pasting your highlights. By not recalling the information from your memory, you’ll skip the learning part.

What you want to do instead is to retrieve the concepts and ideas from your own memory. While writing your summary, try to use the simplest language you can. It was Albert Einstein, who said:

“If you can’t explain it simply, you don’t understand it well enough.”

Level 7: Connecting the dots to a bigger picture

Information vs. Knowledge by @gapingvoid

So this level is pretty complex, and even Ali admits that he hasn’t fully started using it. I had to research Evergreen notes for some hours to understand the concept behind it fully.

Evergreen notes are the modern way to organize slip-box, “Zettelkasten” notes. Originally, this concept was from Luhmann, an extremely productive academic who published more than 70 books and 500 scholarly articles in his 40 years of research.

In the Evergreen system, you spend most of your time doing deep work, like creating content and connecting the dots. Your note organization takes care of itself. Here’s how education designer Andy Matuschak describes them:

“Evergreen notes are written and organized to evolve, contribute, and accumulate over time, across projects. This is an unusual way to think about writing notes: Most people take only transient notes. That’s because these practices aren’t about writing notes; they’re about effectively developing insight: “Better note-taking” misses the point; what matters is “better thinking”. When done well, these notes can be quite valuable: Evergreen note-writing as fundamental unit of knowledge work.”

If you want to dive deeper, this blog entry is a good starting point.

In Conclusion

You might wonder whether content consumption needs to feel hard, challenging, and time-consuming. It doesn’t. If you see reading and listening as forms of entertainment and leisure, it’s fine to stay forever in the comfort of level one.

If, however, you want to get the most from what you read and use it for your life, you want to reach level five with everything you consume.

  1. Passive Reading
  2. Highlighting
  3. Systematic Highlight Revision
  4. A Central Highlight Storing Location
  5. Summarizing Key Principles with Elaborative Rehearsal
  6. Writing Literary Summaries
  7. Organize Your Life With Evergreen Notes

Life is a learning journey. By following Ali’s levels to remember everything you consume, you’ll soon find yourself on your path to wealth, and wisdom.

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These 5 Life-Changing Books Are Worth Every Minute of Your Time

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Every single one can get through to you.

Photo by Karolina Grabowska from Pexels

These days, a lot of people focus on reading a specific number of books a year.

Yet, there’s a big fallacy in the quantification of reading. Mortimer J. Adler, an American philosopher, recognized this thinking error as early as 1940 when he wrote:

“In the case of good books, the point is not to see how many of them you can get through, but rather how many can get through to you.”

Not all books are created equal, and most of the books on our want-to-read lists are not worth our time. I know because in the +170 books I read since 2017, most were mediocre.

What follows is a collection of five cherry-picked, timeless masterpieces that are worth every minute of your time. Every single one holds the potential to get through to you.

Viktor Frankl — Man’s Search for Meaning

This one is tough to handle. But if you manage to get through the lines of cruel reality in German concentration camps, you’ll pick up incredible life lessons.

Yes, you’ll also learn about Frankl’s psychological theory, logotherapy, which contends that humans are motivated by the search for meaning, not pleasure (Freud) or power (Adler).

But this masterpiece goes far beyond understanding holocaust or psychological theory. It’s one of the rare books that will change your perspective on life.

‘Man’s Search for Meaning’ will teach you how you can choose your response even in unbearable circumstances.

Plus, as Viktor Frankl was 100% confident he would anonymously publish this book, his lines are self-detached and ego-free, making reading it even more relatable.

“When we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves.”

Paulo Coelho — The Alchemist

Coelho’s books were sold more than two million times in over 80 languages, and ‘The Alchemist’ is officially the most translated book of all time.

The key concept behind this book is to follow your dreams and let your heart guide you. This teaching sounds simple. Yet, the implicit hints towards the importance of your pasts give the book an additional depth.

Here’s a personal story to demonstrate the power of your past:

When I was a child, I wrote tiny stories on the pages of my Diddle diary every day. On my 13th birthday, I stopped this habit thinking it’s a childish thing to do. Fast forward to today, and I’m back on writing every day.

Reconnecting with your roots is a full circle of transformation. Because too often, we silence our deepest desires to follow society’s rules.

Yet, if your heart keeps on nudging you into another direction, you’ll only find happiness if you follow this pull. By reading Coelho’s classic, you’ll dare to listen to your inner voice and allow it to guide you through life.

“The secret of life, though, is to fall seven times and to get up eight times.”

Hermann Hesse — Narcissus and Goldmund

Literature Nobel Prize winner Hesse is best known for his books Siddhartha and Steppenwolf. And while all of his books revolve around an individual’s search for authenticity and self-knowledge, I loved this one the best.

‘Narcissus and Goldmund’ is a story of a young man, Goldmund, who quit a Catholic monastery school and wanders through Medieval Germany in search of life’s meaning.

The novel is both a journey and an awakening that will take you over the course of many decades and through brutally honest human emotions.

Even though this book has many layers — philosophy, existentialism, religion — it reads way easier than Hesse’s other books. And since the words are so relatable, this book will linger with you after it’s closing page and make you glad you’re a reader.

“I call that man awake who, with conscious knowledge and understanding, can perceive the deep unreasoning powers in his soul, his whole innermost strength, desire and weakness, and knows how to reckon with himself.”

John Strelecky — Big 5 for Life

It feels wrong to put a literary assassination attempt on the same list with Nobel Prize winners. But as the metaphor in ‘Big 5 for Life’ is so powerful, it will get through to you; I ask you to overlook its poor writing style.

So here’s the metaphor:

Imagine, somebody would catalog every one of your days, and on the day before you die, display the entire catalog in the museum of your life.

While this concept sounds romantic, the museum of life would look depressingly sad for an average person. From our 15 hours and 39 minutes awake time, most knowledge workers spend two thirds in front of screens.

So, after reading this book, you’ll reconsider how you spend every single minute of your time. You’ll understand the only shortcut to live the life of your dreams is to fill your days with activities worth portraying.

“Imagine what it would be like to walk through that museum toward the end of your life. To view the videos, listen to the audio, look at the pictures. How would you feel knowing that for the rest of eternity, that museum would be how you were remembered?”

Elizabeth Gilbert — City of Girls

If you didn’t like her previous novels ‘The Signature of All Things’ and ‘Eat Pray Love’ you still might love this one. It’s a wise women’s ode to female self-determination and sexual liberation.

City of Girls is set in the 40s in New York City and joyfully tells the story of an emerging adult born into a rich family. Surprisingly, the main character doesn’t follow social expectations but bluntly follows her free will.

This masterpiece is as close to multi-orgasmic as a book can get: once you start reading, you don’t want to stop anymore.

Gilbert’s writing is alive, intoxicating, vibrant, and lush. And by reading this page-turner, you’ll not only laugh out loud but also become motivated to live your best, authentic life.

“But I had never been an ardent fan of society, so I didn’t object to seeing it challenged. In fact, I delighted in all the mutiny and rebellion and creative expression.”

— Vivian in Elizabeth Gilbert’s City of Girls

In Conclusion

I won’t tell you knowledge is useless unless applied. I’ll also skip quoting Ratna Kusnur, who said, ‘Knowledge trapped in books trapped in books neatly stacked is meaningless and powerless until applied for the betterment of life.’

These masterpieces don’t require you to filter out action items to apply them to your life. These books are no self-help fluff.

Instead, these five books unfold their power because you read them. Their wisdom will stay with you long after finishing them.

So, what are you waiting for?

Pick the book that resonated the most with you, order it, start reading, and witness how the pages will get through to you.

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These 4 Concepts by Brené Brown Can Make You Shame-Resilient

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And improve your emotional literacy.

Photo by Victor L. from Pexels

Shame is toxic. Again and again, researches demonstrate the link between shame and addiction, depression, eating disorders, bullying, and suicide. And even though we know about the harmful effects of shame, it continues to exist in our classroom, workplaces, and homes.

Chances are high you’re among thė 85% of people who have experienced a shaming incidence at school that was so devastating it forever changed how you perceived yourself.

During the past decades, Brené Brown dug into the shame trauma from thousands of people. She was able to identify a pattern all shame-resilient people have in common.

Brené demonstrates how all of us can better cope with shame. And the solution is easier than you think: expanding your emotional vocabulary.

Once you know the difference between the following four concepts — shame, guilt, humiliation, and embarrassment — you’ll be able to see and label your emotions as they arise. You’ll become resilient towards your feelings of shame.

Shame Is About Yourself

When we feel shame, we think we’re unworthy of connection. We might have done or not done something that makes us a worse human.

Brené defines shame as the painful feeling of believing we are flawed and, therefore, unworthy of love and belonging.

Here are common things we say to ourselves when experiencing shame:

“There’s something inherently wrong with me.”

“I screw up things, I am a bad person.”

“I’m so stupid for not studying.”

“I’m sorry, I am a mistake.”

When we’re experiencing shame, we want to run away from anything that’s causing this feeling. Shame leaves us paralyzed and makes us think we don’t add value to the world.

This feeling of unworthiness makes shame so toxic. It fuels our deep fear of being not good enough. Experience enough of it over time, and you’ll make yourself so small you may as well not exist.

“Shame erodes our courage and fuels disengagement.”

— BrenĂ© Brown in The Power of Vulnerability

Guilt Is About Your Choices

In contrast to shame, guilt is not self-focused. It’s about your actions, rather than your personality.

BrenĂ© defines guilt as feeling bad about something you have said or done or failed to say or do. When you feel guilty you’re holding your actions against your values and experiencing a psychological discomfort.

Here’s the self-talk we have while experiencing guilt:

“I can’t believe I didn’t study. Not studying was such a bad thing to do.”

“I’m a good person, but I made a bad choice.”

Do you spot the profound difference between shame and guilt?

While shame self-talk is self-destructive, guilt is action-focused, adaptive, and helpful.

When we see our actions don’t match our intentions, we feel uncomfortable. Yet, this psychological discomfort often motivates us. It steers us in a positive direction, without downgrading our self-worth.

“The difference between shame and guilt lies in the way we talk to ourselves. Shame focus on self, while guilt focus on behavior.”

— BrenĂ© Brown in Daring Greatly

With Humiliation, You Know You Don’t Deserve It

Humiliation is much better than shame since we don’t talk ourselves down. This feeling arises because of circumstances that have nothing to do with our actions.

Brown states the difference between humiliation and shame is that we don’t believe we deserve our humiliation.

Here’s your self-talk when you’re experiencing humiliation:

“This person doesn’t know how to handle things. I don’t deserve this.”

“This is unfair to do to me. It’s not my fault.”

A police officer recently stopped me and said I’d crossed a red light. Even though I attest to the fact the light was green, he made me pay 30€. I didn’t feel guilt or shame — I felt humiliated.

Shame and guilt can feel like humiliation, but with the latter, the “not-deserving” part helps us to not buy into the message. We won’t identify with what has happened to us.

With Embarrassment, You Know You’re Not Alone

Embarrassment is a feeling of discomfort and luckily, doesn’t last very long. When we have the courage to laugh at ourselves, moments of embarrassment can actually be fun.

What differentiates embarrassment from the other emotions is that when we do something embarrassing, we know we’re not the only ones who have done that thing.

Here’s what we think when something embarrassing is happening:

“That’s awkward, but I know I’m not the only one who has ever done that.”

“Ouch. I know this has happened to somebody else before.”

Shame makes us feel we’re all alone in this. When we do something embarrassing, it can even be hilarious shortly after the moment has passed. It goes away quickly, and it doesn’t make you question your self-worth.

The last time I felt embarrassed, I was wearing a white skirt, sitting in the library, and unexpectedly got my period. I felt awkward walking past other people with a red spot on my skirt. Yet, quickly afterward, I was able to laugh about it.

“If you own this story you get to write the ending.”

—BrenĂ© Brown in Daring Greatly

How You Can Cope With Shame

By now, you’ve figured out guilt, embarrassment, and humiliation are okay. Yes, these feelings are uncomfortable, but you can manage them.

What you want to be cautious of is the feeling of shame — the emotion which downgrades your self-worth and harms your growth mindset.

When you or your loved ones feel shame, there are two things you should do:

  • Be Self-Compassionate
    Treat yourself with kindness and talk to yourself like you would speak to someone you love or care about.
  • Offer Empathy
    Connect with the people around you, so they know they’re not alone in this struggle. Share your experiences with shame and make them feel understood.

Conclusion

Emotions are different for all of us. What’s shaming for me might be embarrassing for you. How you experience emotions depends on your story, your history, and your expectations.

Yet, by knowing the differences between shame, guilt, humiliation, and embarrassment, you’ll increase your emotional intelligence.

  • When you feel shame, you make the experience about yourself.
  • When you experience guilt, you know it’s about your behavior.
  • When you sense humiliation, you know you don’t deserve it.
  • When you feel embarrassed, it passes quickly and feels funny afterward.

Let’s get away from a culture of shame and embrace the power of self-compassion and empathy.

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7 Quotes By Ryan Holiday That Will Change How You Live Your Life

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If applied, they can improve your entire existence.

Photo by Arthur Yeti on Unsplash

Most people introduce Ryan Holiday as the Marketing Director at American Apparel at age 21. Some would add that Benjamin Hardy, PhD, and Tim Ferriss hired him to improve their books.

I’d suggest we forget about his achievements in business. Instead, let’s think of Ryan Holiday as the philosophical translator of our time.

Thoreau once said, Philosophy is about solving the problems of life, not theoretically, but practically. That’s precisely what Ryan does. He makes ancient philosophy applicable to our lives.

Probably it’s because he read the same book 100 times over 10 years that he understands stoic thinkers — Epictetus, Marcus Aurelius, Seneca — like no other 1987-born person does.

In 2019, his wise lines on time management inspired me to change my life for the better. That’s why I bought and devoured his recent books: The Obstacle is the Way (2014), Ego is the Enemy (2016), and Stillness is the Key (2019).

And as I believe the insights from this book can change any life for the better, here are my favorite quotes, including why they are relevant and how you can apply them.

“Many Relationships and Moments of Inner Peace Were Sacrificed on the Altar of Achievement.”

Social networks allow us to connect with the world. Yet, they also allow us to compare ourselves with more than 3.6 billion people on this planet.

There will always be people in your network who achieve more than you do. So-called high achievers posting impressive job updates on LinkedIn. Or hustlers sharing intimidating morning routines on their Instagram stories.

Let’s take the hard truth: By comparing ourselves against the achievements of others, we will never feel real satisfaction. Because we’ll always be reminded of more: do more, earn more, own more, achieve more.

We add unachievable items to our ever-growing to-do lists.

We prioritize work over a walk with a friend.

We postpone family catchups.

And while we’re so focused on more, we often neglect our relationships and inner peace. At the end of the day, we feel burned out and empty.

How to apply this quote:

We can stop our hamster race by replacing the altar of achievement with an altar of compassion. When we go through the world with an open heart, there’s no room for ceaseless striving.

Let’s get comfortable with the concept of good enough. Doing something good enough trumps doing something perfectly.

Start a gratitude journal and focus on the abundance in your life. By jotting down the things you’re grateful for — physical and mental health, a caring partner, warm summer sun — there’s no space for unhealthy wanting.

“People Who Don’t Read Have No Advantage over Those Who Cannot read.”

I wish I could spend five minutes with my younger self. What I’d tell the young Eva is to read every damn day. I’d tell her books to carry the wisdom of humanity, and that life is better when you turn into an avid reader.

Wanting to live a happy life without reading books is the same as you wanting to learn a new language without looking at the vocabulary.

In any language, we need a vocabulary to form proper, meaningful sentences. And to live a meaningful life, we need insights and wisdom from ancient philosophers and the great thinkers of our time.

By reading books, we learn the vocabulary of life.

Books allow us to access the minds of the world’s greatest philosophers, humble startup founders, and war survivors. It’s in books where we find the greatest wisdom, the best advice for any life situation.

Yet, unless we read, we close ourselves from the benefits of any book. If we don’t read, we have no advantage over illiterate people.

How to apply this quote:

Make reading a habit. Seriously. Abandon your phone from your sleeping room and, instead, take a book to your hands. That’s how I read 52 books a year for two years.

In case you need extra motivation, go to a bookstore, or browse through Goodreads. Create a want-to-read list. Start a book club. Get inspired by avid readers, like Bill Gates.

“When Your Life Is Solely and Exclusively About Yourself It’s Worse than Not Fun — It’s Empty and Awful.”

With all the self-help fluff out there, it’s tempting to think the universe revolves around you. Many people treat self-improvement like a religion.

What they forget is that we don’t rise by lifting ourselves.

Instead, we rise by lifting others.

In 2013, I forgot about this essential principle. I thought I’d be better than any other person on this planet. I only consumed higher, further, faster content without reflecting on it.

And that’s why I love this quote so much. My own experience showed me it’s true. When you inflate your ego and make life all about yourself, you’ll feel empty and awful in the end.

How to apply this quote:

No matter where you’re in life, remember to be humble. Connect your presence to the lives of others. Center your activities around the needs of others.

Look out for tiny acts of care. Carrying a bag, offering help, doing things that need to be done, but that nobody else wants to do.

And no matter what you’re doing: Remember that you are no better or worse than any other being on earth.

“Give More. Give What You Didn’t Get. Love More. Despite Any Old Story. Try It, If You Can”

Huh? How the hell can you give what you didn’t get?

Too often, we’re slaves to our storylines. We feel we were deprived of something in our childhood — praise, love, encouragement. We secretly wish to reengineer how we grew up.

Yet, fantasizing about what should have happened only makes you feel worse. Regretting your past keeps you from enjoying the present. If you want the best, the world has to offer, offer the world your best.

How to apply this quote:

Stop pitying yourself. Ditch old stories that no longer serve you. Let go of any anger towards your caregivers. Lewis Smedes once said:

“To forgive is to set a prisoner free and discover that the prisoner was you.”

Free yourself from negative storylines and, instead, give what you didn’t get. Step by step, day by day, create the story of your present life.

“Mental and Spiritual Independence Matter Little If the Things We Own in the Physical World End up Owning us.”

This one is essential. When I prepared this article, most quotes resonated with me in terms of internal mindsets, this quote, however, goes beyond our mindsets.

Most of us own too much stuff. We spend money on things we don’t need to buy things that end up owning us.

Every material thing we own ties us down. Expensive phones come with insurance, big gardens with gardeners we need to pay, an urban jungle plant with a special treatment that’s required.

Everything you own blocks mental and physical space.

How to apply this quote:

Get rid of everything you don’t need: Clothes, decoration, food, clutter. Take an afternoon and a big box. Here’s an excellent visualization for every part of your house or apartment you can declutter.

“Leisure Is Not the Absence of Activity, It Is Activity. What Is Absent Is Any External Justification.”

Too often, we transfer the achievement mindset to our free time.

Do a fancy panty yoga session to tell your co-workers about it?

Or should you go to the gym to burn some calories?

Instead of allowing time for leisure, we put additional weight on our shoulders. We feel bad if we can’t keep up with the sports portfolio of our fittest friends.

Leisure doesn’t mean we should watch Netflix from the comfort of our homes. What it means is to enjoy activities in the absence of any external justification.

How to apply this quote:

Find a hobby you genuinely enjoy. An activity you don’t do to achieve something or to impress someone. Find something that you love doing.

“Always Think About What You’re Really Being Asked to Give. Because the Answer Is Often a Piece of Your Life, Usually in Exchange for Something, You Don’t Even Want. Remember That That’s What Time Is. It’s Your Life, It’s Your Flesh and Blood, That You Can Never Get back.”

We live in the misconception that we have plenty of time left. With a life expectancy of around 80 years, 20 minutes here and there seem infinitesimal.

Yet, when accumulated, those minutes turn to hours, into days, and ultimately your life. Seneca once wrote how stupid many of us are when it comes to time:

“No person hands out their money to passersby, but to how many do each of us hand out our lives! We’re tightfisted with property and money, yet think too little of wasting time, the one thing about which we should all be the toughest misers.”

I don’t like admitting it, but I used to fall into this group. I’d say yes to please the person asking. I’d give away hours of my lifetime to feedback a startup pitch, proofread documents, catch up with so-called friends.

Ryan Holiday reminds us to treat our time with intention. Because every time we say yes to something, we give away parts of our life. Time we give away will never be given back to us.

How to apply this quote:

Before saying yes to anything, think about whether you’d treat your life for it. If your answer is yes, go for it. If your answer is no, say no.

Remind yourself that saying no equals a yes to yourself. And when saying no, we can borrow the phrases from Ryan Holiday, who’s no, sounds like this:

“No, sorry, sounds great but I’d rather not.”

“No, I’m not available.”

“No, I don’t like that idea.”

“No, I don’t want that. I’d rather make the most of what I already have.”

Closing Thoughts

A glimmer of inspiration won’t matter if you don’t take action. And that’s what makes quotes so powerful: If applied, they can improve your life for the better.

  • Remember good enough is better than perfect
  • Make reading a daily habit
  • Center your life around the lives of others
  • Let go of unhelpful storylines and give what you didn’t get
  • Get rid of anything that blocks your mental or physical space
  • Engage in leisure activities you genuinely enjoy
  • Say no to things you don’t want to treat your life for

Always remember it’s not your actions that determine your self-worth. You are enough. You are always loved, no matter what you’re doing today.

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7 Lessons from Silicon Valley Legend Ben Horowitz Every Entrepreneur Should Know

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On management, culture, responsibility and so much more.

Photo by Austin Distel on Unsplash

I sighed when a fellow founder recommended I read Ben Horowitz’s The Hard Thing About Hard Things. I thought it’d be another book full of theoretical self-help fluff from a person who has never done what he is preaching.

Turns out I was wrong.

Horowitz’s book is a management bible for growing any company. I wish I’d read this book before founding my first business. His advice would have saved me from making costly mistakes.

Here are the top seven lessons from his book with instructive examples on how to apply them.

Don’t Protect Others by Whitewashing Facts.

It’s in our human nature to protect people who depend on us. This behavior is helpful when raising a child. Yet, it might be counterproductive for startup management.

I fell into the protection trap early in my entrepreneurial career. Back then, I conducted the user tests for our new app. We didn’t follow the Lean Startup approach. The product was ready. But our potential customers weren’t.

I listened to harsh criticism. Testers did neither understand the app’s navigation nor find the functionalities they were looking for.

Yet, I felt the urge to protect our CTO. I used positive framing to sugarcoat the negative feedback. I thought he couldn’t handle the hard truth.

By keeping the hardest feedback to myself, I prevented the product team from building a better application.

When you don’t share the hardest obstacles, your people can’t build a better business.

Horowitz advises us to be brutally honest with our employees. Honest conversations lead to trust. Besides, the more people are aware of hard obstacles, the more brains can start building solutions.

“In any human interaction, the required amount of communication is inversely proportional to the level of trust.”

How to apply this lesson:

Share everything you know about a challenging situation. Be both brutally honest and transparent. Don’t whitewash facts.

When you share uncomfortable facts, tell your team you have the company’s goals in mind. Growth is about tackling the hardest parts.

Always Put Your People First.

With investors in the neck, it’s tempting to prioritize profits over people — particularly when things don’t go well. When your ship might sink, you might go over lives to protect it from going down.

Yet, we should never lose sight of our moral compass. When Horowitz’s company was fighting for life and death, he still focused on what mattered. He put people first.

He was between sign and close of company saving acquisition talks. John Nelli, former CFO, would not have transferred to the new company. Meanwhile, he was diagnosed with cancer.

From a profit perspective, Ben should’ve stuck to the initial plan and let John go. He didn’t owe his CFO anything. Yet, he accepted the healthcare costs and thereby prevented John’s family from bankruptcy.

This lesson teaches us to always focus on what matters in life. You should always put people first. Thereby, you’ll not only stick to your moral compass and do good in the world but also create loyal employees as they know they can trust you.

“Take care of the people, the products, and the profits — in that order.”

How to apply this lesson:

Listen to your people with open ears and open hearts. Be generous with your words and actions. Care for your employees’ families and show understanding when anyone is facing tough family circumstances. In this way, you create a company culture of loyalty and trust.

Look for Things You’re Not Doing.

You defined and communicated your vision to your team. Your people know their KPIs and focus on execution. The entire team is on track, and you’re working hard.

Your business might be so focused that you overlook one important thing, and you no longer see the wood for the trees.

To avoid this common issue, Horowitz suggests asking one powerful question. This question invites out-of-the-box thinking and keeps different perspectives involved.

In every meeting, he’d ask: What are we not doing?

“Ordinarily in a staff meeting, you spend lots of time reviewing, evaluating, and improving all of the things that you do: build products, sell products, support customers, hire employees and the like. Sometimes, however, the things you’re not doing are the things you should actually be focused on.”

How to apply this lesson:

Make it a habit to ask in every meeting, “What are we not doing?”. You’ll shed light on the necessary tasks.

By asking this question, you’ll give your team a creative thinking space. To involve all meeting members, ask them to write down their ideas. Then, do a quick round of sharing all thoughts.

When you find different people giving similar answers, you know what should move on your list.

Create a Culture That Enables Free Information Flow.

According to Horowitz, free information flow is critical for the health of your business. It’ll allow you to learn about negative news before it’s too late.

Yet, many company cultures discourage the spread of bad news, so the knowledge lay dormant until it was too late to act. By being judgy or nurturing fixed mindsets where mistakes are viewed as failures, employees won’t share bad news.

Create a culture that encourages openness and sharing struggles and challenges. Your feedback system shouldn’t punish employees for getting obstacles into the open.

“A healthy company culture encourages people to share bad news.”

How to apply this lesson:

Thank your colleagues for sharing difficult things. Avoid choleric reactions. Be okay with people revealing a problem without offering a solution.

Show gratitude when an employee tells you something you don’t want to hear. Remember, it’s better to know about critical turning points too early than too late.

Don’t Put It All on Your Shoulders.

As a founder or CEO, you feel like you must know it all. You think you should have a solution to any problem. Yet, this thinking is flawed and will harm your business.

By taking too much responsibility on your shoulders, you restrain your people from problem-solving.

Instead of keeping the hard things for yourself, allow your team to join you in brainstorming for solutions. Give the challenge to people who can not only fix the issue but who are also intrinsically motivated to do so.

“You won’t be able to share every burden, but share every burden that you can. Get the maximum number of brains on the problems even if the problems represent existential threats.”

How to apply this lesson:

Call an all-hands and tell your employees what’s the block in front of you. Share the problem with all details and then get the team mastering to build a solution that can help your business.

That’s why you hired your team first — making your company win. By not putting it all on your shoulders, you empower your team.

Take Action on Negative Indicators.

When I learned our new users grew by 38 percent beyond the average growth rate, I strategized about the next growth steps.

Who would we hire next? Should we increase our budget for marketing campaigns? I jumped into taking action.

Entrepreneurs have a bias for taking action on positive news. We love to act on promising information such as unexpected customer growth.

On the other hand, when things don’t go as planned, we tend to blame it on the rain. We find alternative explanations for the bad results and wait it out instead of taking action.

“Almost every CEO takes action on the positive indicators but only looks for alternative explanations on the negative leading indicator.”

How to apply this lesson:

When one of your teams didn’t reach their KPIs, don’t sit it out. Instead, focus on figuring out what happened and how you can improve it for the time to come.

Which numbers or people can give you a detailed explanation about what happened? What should your team be doing differently to overcome this obstacle the next month? Take action on negative indicators.

Set Up Employee Training Structures.

When I suggested my co-founder, we set up a training program; she replied, “There are so many decisions to make, customers to win, products to improve that we can’t prioritize training right now.”

Many founders argue that putting a training program in place will take too much time.

Yet, no investment will yield to higher interest rates than investing in your people. Training will improve productivity in your company.

Moreover, when your best people share their most developed skills, your company culture will improve more than with any team-building event.

“Being too busy to train is the moral equivalent of being too hungry to eat.”

How to apply this lesson:

Teach a course yourself, for example, on management expectations. Select the best people on your team to teach other courses. Make training mandatory.

Horowitz suggests teaching can also become a badge of honor for employees who achieve an elite level of competence.

Moving Forward

As with all business advice, pick the lessons that apply to your situation. Focus on the principles that make a difference in your company.

  • Be brutally honest about hard things.
  • Always put your people first.
  • Regularly ask, “What are we not doing?”
  • Embrace the free information flow.
  • Share your burdens with your team.
  • Take action on negative indicators.

Without application and action, the best business lessons are worthless.

If you, however, apply one principle at a time, you’ll realize how these small decisions accumulate and lead to changes in your company.

Now the only question is: Are you ready to do the work?

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