Books The Power of Now — Quotes Many years ago, I read The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle. I loved the book and was fascinated by the power of focusing on the present moment. Unfortunately, focusing on the present moment is something that I am yet to master. Today, I searched for some of the powerful
Books 20 Quotes From The 5:00 AM Club One of the books that inspired me to wake up early is "The 5 AM Club" by Robin Sharma. Below are some quotes from the book : 1. "The way you begin your day defines how you live your day. And how you live your day defines how
Books What Are the 48 Laws of Power The 48 Laws of Power" is a book by Robert Greene. It is prudent to mention that the laws described in this book have been judged by some as dark, unethical or manipulative. However, some laws can be useful in one’s life. The 48 laws are as follows:
Books J.K. Rowling’s Persistence in Writing Harry Potter Few traits are more praiseworthy than persistency. Persistency requires riding past the wave of motivation and surviving the travails that action entails. Very few people possesses such grace. Today, I stumbled upon one such example: J.K. Rowling, the author who gave us Harry Potter. The idea to write Harry
Books Memorable Quotes From Brave New World by Aldous Huxley Below are some of the quotes I kept from the book Brave New World by Aldous Huxley: * “Words can be like X-rays if you use them properly – they’ll go through anything. You read and you’re pierced.” * “Most human beings have an almost infinite capacity for taking things for
Books Anti-fragility — Gaining From Disorder Anti-fragility is a notion the describes systems that are able to not only withstand or survive situations of high stress and volatility but also benefit from such situations. The concept of anti-fragility has been developed and popularized by Nassim Nicholas Taleb in his book "Anti-fragile: Things That Gain from
Books Karl Popper’s Impressive Productivity I am always impressed with people who immersed themselves in their work and produce as much as they can in their life time. I recently learned yet another such example: Karl Popper. Karl Popper (1902-1994) was an Austrian-British philosopher and a major figure in 20th century philosophy of science. One
Books Gestalt Psychology While reading The Laws of Human Nature, I stumbled upon the word Gestalt. When I looked it up, I realized it was an interesting concept worth understanding and capturing. Gestalt refers to a concept in psychology that describes the importance of perceiving objects or events as a whole, as opposed
Books The Stephen Hawking Index (SHI) If you want to know whether a given book will be difficult to understand, you can check its Stephen Hawking Index (SHI). This index is a metric used to determine how difficult a book is to read. The index is determined by measuring the frequency of difficult words it contains.
Books Quotes From Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury Below are some of the books I retained from the book Fahrenheit 451 written by Ray Bradbury: * “Don't ask for guarantees. And don't look to be saved in any one thing, person, machine, or library. Do your own bit of saving, and if you drown, at
Books How To Create a New Habit To form a new habit, try this formula: * Pick one thing/habit. * Plan a sustainable plan * Tell your friends (or not) * Do it DAILY. (No excuse. None.) * Track meticulously * Be unapologetically disciplined. Self-discipline is a bridge to the new habit. * Bake in the new habit. It’s who you are
Books Inversion: A Framework To Improve Decision-Making One of the mental models that can improve one’s decision-making is the inversion framework. As a mental model, inversion refers to a framework of thinking about problems in reverse. That is, it encourages considering what would happen (or the counterfactual), if we did the opposite of what we are
Books Socratic Questioning: A Powerful Technique to Improve Our Understanding One of the techniques that can improve one’s critical thinking is Socratic questioning. This technique refers to is a method of inquiry that employs a series of questions to improve the clarity of thoughts, ideas, and beliefs. As the name implies, the technique was named after Socrates, the ancient
Books First Principles Thinking One of the strongest framework or mental model is first principles. Generally speaking, first principles thinking allows for one to break down the difficult and complicated task or issue into smaller and more fundamental units. As Shane Parrish argues in his book on mental models, first principles thinking identifies the
Books Circle of Competence In one of his volumes on mental models, Shane Parrish introduces the idea of a circle of competence. This may refer to areas where you are knowledge and skilled. But how do you build and maintain a circle of competence? Keep learning and updating your knowledge. The author makes it
Books Arthur Schopenhauer on Happiness Arthur Schopenhauer was a German philosopher and one of the most influential thinkers of the 19th century. In one his books, The Wisdom of Life and Counsels and Maxims, he covers the idea of happiness and how it is connected to who we are. He first categorizes our lives into
Books Overcoming the World — In the Words of Kapil Gupta The newest addition to Kapil Gupta’s wisdom nest is his latest book Overcoming the World. Below are my favorite quotes picked from this jewel: * The one who desires to be famous dreams of a day when the people of the world will recognize him. Once he becomes famous he
Mental Models Mental Models — Why They Are Important (Part 1) The Great Mental Models (Volume 1: General Thinking Concepts) is a great book by Shane Parrish and Rhiannon Beaubien. In the words the authors, Mental models “are how we understand the world. Not only do they shape what we think and how we understand but they shape the connections and
Books On Talking to People In conversations, bring the good out of people and avoid arguments. On the idea of talking to people, Jean de La Bruyère said: “The true spirit of conversation consists more in bringing out the cleverness of others than in showing a great deal of it yourself; he who goes away
Books On Success and Luck When fortune grants us short spells of success, it is easy to mistake it for fate. Success has an irresistible pull to it that tends to cloud our minds. We easily get caught up in the delirium of glory. As Seneca wrote in one of his letters to Lucilius, we
Books Show Your Work by Austin Kleon - Notes (Part 2) This follows the first part of the notes/quotes I took while reading “Share your Work” by Austin Kleon: * “The impulse to keep to yourself what you have learned is not only shameful, it is destructive. Anything you do not give freely and abundantly becomes lost to you. You open
Books On the Shortness of Life - Wisdom from Seneca In his book, On the Shortness of Life, Seneca offers enduring wisdom on how to use our time well and avoid wasting our time (and our life). The following are some of the best quotes and ideas from the book: It is not that we have a short time to
Books Meditations — Wisdom from Marcus Aurelius “Meditations” by Marcus Aurelius remains one of the best collections of wisdom in history. It is considered as one of best works of Stoic philosophy. Below are some of the most memorable quotes from the Roman Emperor: 1. "The happiness of your life depends upon the quality of your
Books Remembering Dostoevsky With His Memorable Quotes 142 years ago today, Fyodor Dostoevsky died. Here are a few of his memorable quotes he left behind: * “Above all, don't lie to yourself. The man who lies to himself and listens to his own lie comes to a point that he cannot distinguish the truth within him,
Books Show Your Work by Austin Kleon - Notes + Quotes (Part 1) Below are the notes I took while reading Share Your Work by Austin Kleon (+ some quotes). Notes: * It’s not enough to be good; you have to be findable. As the author puts it: Imagine if your next boss didn’t have to read your résumé because he already reads