Category: books

This is the last book I read this week. I bought it after reading other book this Summer about focus. And to be honest, I was quite surprised. The main idea is if you believe your capabilities/skills are born with you or you can develop them. Dr Carol Dweck shows how is life when you think you can develop your skills. And that is useful for anything. As well, you can have a growing mindset for some things and a static mindset for others. My mindset for the book was that it was going to be all about career and hard work. But I was surprised that there were more subjects related to a growing mindset, like education (children), family and relationships. I was to narrow-minded initially to the idea of growing mindset but it makes sense to apply it for everything in life. Learn when you have static mindset and make the effort to grow. Drop by drop, the bucket gets filled, said my Golang instructor. I really liked the examples about teachers who went beyond anything to show their pupils they could learn, and they did. And reminded me to the Dangerous Minds movie. I have told myself millions times that some people are born smart and I am not. But I need to realize that I have been growing since I decided to study and advance in my life. So, keep applying it, keep growing. For study, for work, for sport and relationships…

I finished this book this week. My favourite part was the introduction as it gives a brief view of China’s history and the thought schools developed around 100-500 BCE. One of the main figures of that time is Confucius and his school of Confucianism. Other school developed in that time was Taosim. It looks back to an ideal time even before the origins of the first Chinese kingdoms, all based in a basic way of life: survive with the minimum and avoid problems. There are a lot mysticism and no much logic in the statements, but it seems that’s the goal. Follow life, it is not lead by logic (as we would like).

Some of my favourites:

Knowing others is intelligent.

Knowing yourself is enlightment.

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Conquering others takes force

Conquering yourself is true strenght

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Knowing what is enough is wealth

Forging ahead shows inner resolve.

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At the end, the book is small, but it can be tricky to understand. The philosophy is quite different from the Western one I am use to but I liked it. There are always small gems to take with you.

I finished reading this book last night. To be honest, it has been hard to read and digest. Very hardcore philosophical for my level. To put things a bit on perspective, the book was written on 1954… and half way the book you realize that things he talks about are still pretty valid nowadays. Without noticing, he is taking a approach to Easter philosophy (Buddhism) in contrast to the Western one. We are very focus in the “I”, in the material world, etc. We try to get things defined as something static and we need that for security. Our brain is the one leading the shots but taking a different approach, accepting the insecurity (you can’t control everything, you can’t know everything) you can live a less stressful and meaningful life.

Again, this is the typical book I should read 30 times to get really a full understanding.

Finished this week this book. ADHD is Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. I didnt know it was like your brain madurates more slowly than normal. of Something that is getting more diagnosed these days. Maybe we were like that when younger or even our parents still are. It quite interesting to see how strict is the society when you are not 100% fit for purpose. The education system is built for a common type of child even the interaction with others. If you are not one of that class, you are going to have a difficult time and the future is not going to be very bright neither. So quite challenging to be and live with ADHD. But there are ways to move forwards if you want. The author follows the 5 Cs to deal with this “challenge”:

• self-Control: If you lose your temper…. breath, meditate, step back.
• Compassion: Think how the person in the other side feels.
• Collaboration: Get the other side involvement in the decision making process.
• Consistency: The process is not just day. It is a long, slow process.
• Celebration: Yeah, acknowledge the good things. So the other Cs get stronger.

At the end of the day, you are not stupid, you have a different path for madurity and other skills.

At the same time I was reading this book, one day in the radio was this program about dyslexia. It was socking to know that about 50% of USA inmates were dyslexic… And again, it seems the end of the world… but in the program was an interview to one director from GCHQ saying that he was dyslexic and they were hiring for them. Why? Because they see and approach things in a different way.

So, at the end of the day, whatever you have, you can still move forwards in life. You dont need to be in the “normal” range of population/people.

No, it is not about cars. I just finished reading Drive from Daniel Pink. I quite liked it as it is mainly focus in the daily working life. And you can find a summary at the end of the book of each chapter. Plus specific advises for different circumstances.

The books is about what is motivation, what motivate us, etc. Funny enough, again, there is a reference to “Thinking fast and slow” as a proof that we are not as rational as we think making decisions. As well there are a lot of references to “flow” from Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi. Quite interesting and central to the book too.

Initially our motivations are survival and reproduction like any other animal. That heavily changed with the Industrial revolution and the move to a workforce based in offices were the motivation was based on carrot/stick policies. That works for repetitive tasks but not for creative ones.

And I feel identified about that. I am looking for that motivation, drive in myself. I want to enjoy my job, want to learn, want to see things happening due to my actions. And I dont want a massive salary, neither bonuses as it would be more a burden that a help. Just a decent salary (I am not going to become rich working) so you can remove the money from the table and focus in what is really fulfilling. But most of the work environments are not like this. Although the books shows some punctual places where they have applied a different approach and have produced results. This one is quite radical and motivating

As well, another thing I discovered in the book, it is the term B companies. Several links about it: definition1 definition2 example1 example2

So they are for profit-companies but with some soul. Really like it. And to be honest, as a consumer, want to support that. Even maybe one day work in one of those or even set up one (related to IT, but have no idea)

The author says the new motivation/drive for this century is based on your personality. If you are not influenced much for external things, then your drive is based on: autonomy, mastery and purpose.

If your goal is external things: money, promotions, power, sex, etc. Maybe you will not have enough.

You want to take responsibility if you want to give your best so you need to have the voice to choose how, when , with whom to achieve that. You want to master your task, that’s never a quick path, but slow and sometimes hard, but that makes it worth it. And finally, you want to see a meaning for all that.

You have those 3 ingredients in your life (and they are not going to come to your), you are in a fulfilling trip.

One day when I was a child, I recollect an interview (TV or radio not sure) about a basketball player who have been playing for a long time without an injury. And that was reported as something extraordinary. I think the interview said the moto of this player was “My body and mind are a temple so I look after them very well”. I can’t say who was the player, if it was NBA or something else. I dont think it was a famous player neither. Or maybe this is something that my mind made up from something. Not sure, but that sentence has been with me since them although it has taken years to fully understand. For many years, I have been trying to look after myself (body and mind) as best as I can. And there is always way to improve and things not to forget.

For that reason I read this book. I have already read Ross’ first book back in 2018, so the new one was appealing .

One of the central subjects of his adventure is taking stoicism as a philosophy base. And that is something I feel quite close lately.

Apart from the philosophy, there are many points important for succeeding in such a challenge (without being sick!)

• preparation: getting wintered
• control your pace
• strength training / stress
• manage pain
• manage fear
• humor
• importance of food (hunger)
• importance of digestion
• sleep
• your pyramid of needs (Maslow’s)

As the author says, there is no superpower or birth gift. It is just you and the cocktel above to achieve whatever you want.