Category: books

Honestly this book reminds me to “Do the work” that I read recently. This is more scientific but easy to digest.

It is about how to deal with being stuck, with its different meanings

• you can’t make progress
• you are fixes in a place long enough to feel discomfort.
• your existing habits and strategies are not solving the problem.

Th overall summary is that action is the bigger unsticker.

It mentions different strategies to move forwards. From breaking down the goal is smaller chunks. We will always face plateaus and lifequakes.

Most of the times, we quit to early, just a few steps from the breakthrough. So just ask you, can I keep going? You are more creative than you think, at the first sight of difficulty, persevere. But, in for me this is the difficult thing, you dont have to persevere forever. You need to make some markers and assess: ie, give you 50% more time that you thought you would need.

Novelty is overrated (Google search, Amazon, etc) Patience and persistence solve poor-timing and allow not-quite-ripe ideas to mature.

If something comes to you quickly, it’s likely to come to other people in your culture just as quickly: question every decision, three times.

Dont let the small or unimportant problems to grow. Do preventive maintenance like the airplanes (ABC + checklists)

Slow down, do less. A threat is a challenge, embrace failure. Think of the worst scenario and you will realise that life goes on.

Maximizer (got the best outcome?) vs satisfacer (good enough?): Maximizer got stuck as they can’t know if they have the best solution. Satisfacer know what is good enough and moves on.

Make it simple, be flexible, less is more, perfect is the enemy of done, 100% original is impossible. And add diversity to your strategy.

So take action (use a noun not a verb), micro-schedule and put some constraints on it, move your body (take walks), be nonjudgemental (failing is ok), be curious and learn.

This is a tiny book but important, for me. For a person used to be alone, not very sociable, looks like being alone is a curse, due to different social pressures. And it is easy to feel bad about it. And I am not the first one saying this. This is not to say that you must be alone, that being alone is the best thing ever. The contrary, it is making the most of it. We have only one life, alone or not, make the best of it.

Being happy with yourself, is being happy being with you, your thoughts

We dont hate being alone. We hate to believe that we have been left behind. But there is nothing wrong with us. Being alone is part of the game of life. Things come and go. You can control it, you need to be prepared for any outcome.

Loneliness means being yourself with sympathy and misery, but remember nothing is wrong with you.

This reminds me to El Quijote… we subconsciously (and I know I am there) are convinced that one day someone day will come to save us, rescue us, to love us. We choose to be rescued or being the victime (and that is cruel to ourselves), but life is not a movie, comic, book, etc. We have all the tools to rescue ourselves. No excuses.

You need to know-yourself, the good and bad things, nobody is perfect. And this interest is for your whole life. Define who you are and/or who you are not. That may you to realize that all those “social” things, are not up to your standard or definition.

Learn to define your definition of everything. Don’t make your life a wish list of what you think everyone has.

One thing at each time. Action is the cure for almost everything.

Make your alone time addictive. What is the one thing you do every day to make yourself happy? For this you need self-awareness. And learn a new skill, although if it just takes 15 minutes a day! And read books!

This is a tiny book, with the main focus to fight procrastination = Resistance.

If you have a big project in your hands, having this book and reading it often, can help you.

Don’t think. Act. Be Stubborn

Don’t prepare. Begin. Do a research diet, just 3 book about the subject.

Three Act Structure: beginning, middle, end. Work backwards, start with the end.

What is this about? Answer in a tweet style.

Get the full working drafts ASAP.

Work, Work, Work. Then Act/reflect = refine your “What is this about?”

You will hit a wall. You will crash. Then you have to grow, we need to solve the problems.

And when you are getting to the end, you need killer instinct, you need to ship! Resistance is strongest at the finish. When we ship, we are exposed.

Fear of success is the essence of Resistance.

And start again, before you are ready. Celebrate, put start again.

I read this book, for the idea to improve my public speaking, something I have done just a few times but I thought it is a good reminder and even better trying to add humor to one presentation

The first point is to start with a story. By nature we are attracted to stories, and you need to tell it in present, like you are living it in the moment. And get the public feeling that they could be there.

Adding humor is hard bit for me, as well, depends on the time of humor you want to add, at the end of the day, I want to make good presentations, but it is clear if you add something funny, the audience will be more engaged with it and remember it!

For the jokes perspective, it is important to trim them to the max, remove the unnecessary. Three phases: Preparation, anticipation and punch line! And you need to write the jokes. This is very critical step. The most funny comedians work a lot in their set and jokes, it is all preparation, rehearsal and improvement of your lines

You need to be sure, you memorize your set, like using the memory palace method. And be familiar with the audience.

I should have taken more notes from the book, it is small and easy to read. So I should give it another go (when I have a presentation or job interview)

This was a book that wanted to read for some time as Robert Green is mentioned a lot by Ryan Holiday.

I haven’t read “The Prince” from Machiavelli but one of the most interesting things I found in the book is the several references to Baltasar Gracian. So I have a new author to read about.

This is not a book about how to be a good person, it is about characteristics you need to achieve power. I am not an expert but I think many points are valid. If they are ethical, it is a different topic.

My favourites:

Always say less than necessary, reputation, win through actions not arguments, avoid the unhappy, crush your enemy, unpredictability, isolation is dangerous, Disdain things you cannot have and free lunch, aim to the head, seem effortless, not look perfect, learn when to stop.

1- Never outshine the master

2- Never put too much trust in friends, learn how to use enemies

3- Conceal your intentions

4- Always say less than necessary

5- So much depends on reputation – guard it with your life

6- Court attention at all cost

7- Get others to do the work for you, but always take the credit

8- Make other people come to you – use bait if neccesary

9- Win through your actions, never through argument

10- Infection: avoid the unhappy and unlucky

11- Learn to keep people dependent on you

12- Use selective honesty and generosity to disarm your victim

13- When asking for help, appeal to people’s self-interest, never to their mercy or gratitude

14- Pose as a friend, work as a spy

15- Crush your enemy totally

16- Use absence to increase respect and honor

17- Keep others in suspended terror: Cultivate an air of unpredictability

18- Do not build fortresses to protect yourself – isolation is dangerous

19- Know who you’re dealing with – do not offend the wrong person

20- Do not commit to anyone

21- Play a sucker to catch a sucker – seem dumber than your mark

22- Use the surrender tactic: Transform weakness into power

23- Concentrate your forces

24- Play the perfect courtier

25- Re-create yourself

26- Keep your hands clean

27- Play on people’s need to believe to create a cultlike following

28- Enter action with boldness

29- Plan all the way to the end

30- Make your accomplishments seem effortless

31- Control the options: Get others to play with cards you deal

32- Play to people’s fantasies

33- Discover each man’s thumbscrew

34- Be royal in your own fashion: Act like a king to be treated like one

35- Master the art of timing

36-Disdain things you cannot have: ignoring them is the best revenge

37- Create compelling spectacles

38- Think as you like but behave like others

39- Stir up waters to catch fish

40- Despise the free lunch

41- Avoid stepping into a great man’s shoes

42- Strike the shepherd and the sheep will scatter

43- Work on the hearts and minds of others

44- Disarm and infuriate with the mirror effect

45- Preach the need for change, but never reform too much at once

46- Never appear too perfect

47- Do not go past the mark you aimed for: In victory, learn when to stop

48- Assume formlessness

This was a recommendation from a very good friend that was sitting in my kindle for a while. I dont normally read Sci-Fi. Apart from Foundation, Dune and Three body problem. And honestly I liked the book. It was engaging, you wanted to know how things were going to finish, and I really like the end twist, the different personalities, etc.

And with all the new rocket companies trying to reach the moon, mars, etc. Maybe we will have a situation like the book in the long future: Earth, Mars and the Belt.

I will read the next book.

I bought this ebook as an offer and I was surprised about how short it was. It is easy to digest as it is not a hardcore science book

The most interesting lesson was the last one about “Probability, time and heat”. “the difference between past and future only exists when there is heat”. And the reason the heats from from hotter to cooler things is just probability…

And I dont mean I fully understood everything but It was a nice and light read.