Books I Read in 2017

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I decided to challenge myself to absorb / read at least 200 books this year. I want to make it a habit that instead of watching crap, I'll listen ONLY to audiobooks. And instead of surfing on social media, i'll read books.


Reread: Miller Jr, Walter M. – A Canticle for Leibowitz (Dramatized Version)

Reread: The life and opinions of Tristam Shandy


Completed

"Superhuman by Habit" by Tynan

  • (Audiobook) Superhuman by Habit: A Guide to Becoming the Best Possible Version of Yourself, One Tiny Habit at a Time
  • Habits need 'loading time' during which they are more fragile.
  • Never miss a habit more than one or two days in a row
  • Whenever you’re going to not do a habit, you'll have explain to your brain why you’re missing.
  • Plan for failure. Figure out why you will miss a habit and plan solutions in advance. Don't cheat on this.
  • Plan for variances in habits ahead of time. “I won’t follow my normal workout routine when I go on my trip overseas. So I will do 20 push-ups per day while I’m there and then return immediately to my previous workout routine once I get home.”
  • When you don’t feel like doing a habit, do a crappy job.
  • If you beat yourself up every time you miss a habit, you are basically ruining the whole purpose of the experience. Habits are supposed to make your life better. Hating yourself for missing a habit introduces negativity that completely offsets the positive benefits. (Note: we could use a finance metaphor here. Getting a new credit card to earn a bunch of frequent flier miles is pointless if you don’t pay off the balance each month. The negatives offset any positive gain. Same situation here with habits.)
  • Use your mistakes to focus. They are an indicator of where to direct your energy.
  • You can do just about anything if you break down the task into habits.
  • There are two types of people: those who find it easier to add new habits into their life and those who find it easier to cut habits out of their life.
  • If you’re not going to follow through on a habit, it is better to not start it at all and focus on a habit you can actually stick to instead.
  • In many situations it is better to try and fail than to not try at all but it is not so with habits. It is better to try a small one and stick with it than to try a big one and fail.
  • Chain your habits together with the easiest habits at the beginning. Make it really easy to start and let the momentum build.
  • Expose yourself to ideas you disagree with and actually try them out.
  • The most critical component of a calendar habit is getting everything on the calendar. If you don’t keep every single event on the calendar then you can’t trust it and that defeats the purpose.
  • Unclutter your life. If you’re 90 percent sure you won’t use it in the next 6-12 months, give it away.
  • “Twice, then quit.” The first time you want to quit, don’t. Push through. The second time you want to quit, don’t. Push through again. The third time you want to quit, then you can stop.
  • At this end of each day, rate yourself based on how much time you wasted and so on.

Intentional Focus

  • focus on the four key areas - family, self, social responsibilty, profession
  • Someday is not a day of the week

HOLY CRAP, that's a lot of quadrant images out there

Quadrant graph1.jpg Quadrant graph2.png

See also

Previous lot of readings and summaries:

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