Another year just ended, and, ended with a speed faster than light. It was a strange year too, one could hardly expect what was coming. Still, it had so many things to teach us.
Here are some (three, to be exact) lessons I want to share with you this week – things that I have learned, read, heard, observed, or discovered recently:
1. Embrace the change
I believe, despite all the horrors of the last year, it gave us a hell of a lot of opportunities to grow, to improve, to achieve. (I’m not saying that so many people lost their lives is a good thing; it isn’t a good thing.) While some people lost their jobs, others discovered ways to work from home; while some companies suffered loss, others grew multiple times in size.
The difference between those who succeeded and those who didn’t is in their ability to embrace change, how they reacted to sudden global metamorphosis, what things extraordinary they decided to do.
If we are going to learn one lesson from year twenty-twenty, let this be it:
When difficult situations present themselves, do not sit there and wait for everything to get back to normal because it might never be normal again. Rather, when you find yourself in dreadful circumstances, face them with courage. When adversity comes, embrace it, and do everything in your power to extract whatever good you can, out of it.
2. Become aware of your time
Last Sunday, I picked up my phone and opened up settings to check the screen-time – how much time I was spending staring at the screen every day. And it turned out, I was spending way too much time on it.
After realizing that I was wasting my time on that useless device (although I also use it for work so it isn’t entirely useless) I got angry with myself. But why should I be angry when I can stop wasting my time. And so I did.
I set up time-limitation for the apps that were consuming most of my day. If I cross those time limits, my phone will automatically lock those apps until the next day.
I didn’t get rid of the time-wasting habit entirely. However, my analysis shows I have reduced my screen-time by almost 50 percent. That’s a lot.
Awareness of where you’re spending your money helps you manage it better, similarly, awareness of where you’re spending your time helps you manage time better.
3. Best books I read in 2020
One thing I like to do the most is reading. And I want to be in a story I once read: a man makes a deal with someone to stay confined into a room for a decade, to win one billion. And he can get as many books as he wants, there in that room. At the end of the story, he wins but refuses to take the money because he already got something far more valuable than the money.
However, I have not read a pile of books. I read a good number of books last year, and I hope to read a good number of books this year as well.
In his recent newsletter (Monthly Mulling by Tapan Desai), my friend Tapan Desai wrote about the reading challenge for 2021 (Check it out here). It inspired me to share my fav books from last year.
These are the books that, I think, everyone should read at least once:
The $100 Startup by Chris Guillebeau: Ever wondered how you can make money from home doing what you really love? This book answers that question in detail. It is a highly practical book with little theory in it.
Mastery by Robert Greene: Robert Greene, in this book, explains how genius people are made and how you can become one too. Greene breaks down the process of Mastry in simple steps and illustrates everything with stories of the Masters of our world.
Atomic Habits by James Clear: Habits are not easy to form nor easy to forget. James Clear shows us that it is possible. This book will tell you exactly what you need to do in order to break old habits and/or make new ones.
Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl: This one is the story of the survival of a man in the most unfortunate times. Viktor Frankl tells us about his suffering and the process of finding meaning even in death camps.
7 Strategies for Wealth & Happiness by Jim Rohn: I don’t remember reading this one last year, I might have read it very early. Even so, I have read this very short book more than once. It comes with simple, practical strategies for wealth and happiness. Jim Rohn, in his simple language, explains what, why, and how of success; and he speaks from experience.
How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big by Scott Adams: Matt Grimes (check him out on Actualization Hub for great improvement tips), one of my friends on social media, recommended this book to me, for which I am grateful. In this book, Scott Adams tells us about systems and how to create them: Goals are for losers, systems are for winners, he says.
Discourses and selected writings by Epictetus: Even if you aren’t looking for a philosophical book, you should read this one; it’s really a self-help book, in my opinion. Stoic master Epictetus’s paradigm-shifting lectures from this book will help you in every situation you face.
That’s it for this week.
What books do you think everyone should read? Let me know on Instagram or Twitter.
Be well,
Pooran
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