11 Months, 11 Books, 11 Lessons
Lessons and takeaways from books I‘ve read this year. Facts, Findings, and how I‘ll apply those in the Future.
What A Year! I won‘t go through and complain about this year, we all know what happened (spoiler alert, a global pandemic). We all experience the same thing however,in different ways.
My cope mechanism was to read books and here are some lessons and takeaways I would like to share, hoping to inspire you and why not, invite you to a conversation to share your opinion. Just to make it clear, these are my opinions and what I‘ve learned and taken away from these books, based on my experiences, belief system, and reality.
So, here they are.
1.Homo Deus
Technology is taking over, but we are not Gods. We are not more important on this planet than the trees and animals and we have to remind ourselves that we are part of the ecosystem, not above it. We might have concreated the world, but we are still mortals. We have lost our connection with nature and living in our virtual world of technology and media. The loss of control of Homo Sapiens and the arrogant behavior we adapted throughout time.
Takeaway: Stop messing up with nature and detach yourself from technology.
Every story, from Auschwitz survivors, is a story worth knowing. I‘ve been there, I‘ve read books and I‘ve met people whose grandparents had been prisoners in the concentration camps. What this story reminded me of is, how easily can we hit a bottom rock, and instead of fallen angels, as we want to describe ourselves, we are more rising apes. It also reminds me of how lucky I am to have my freedom, and all these opportunities, and all the potential in the world to do whatever I want. We get trapped in our everyday reality and routine and we take our freedom for granted. Be appreciative of life every single day.
Takeaway: Don‘t take your freedom for granted.
Notifications, deadlines, urgent emails, to-do lists, and so on and on. We‘re suffering from anxiety, stress, and depression. Trying to maintain a career, to reach our financial goals, to keep up with modern life‘s standards, can exhaust us and lead us to a mental breakdown. We‘re busy, busy, busy, lacking sleep, feeling stressed, for what? We forget that wealth is not money, happiness is not about owning more things. Success is not defined by our job title. The purpose of life is just to remain alive, do the best for your health, create long-lasting relationships, feel good where you are now. Our time is limited and we forget that as well, when we‘re stressed over a job, over a demanding boss, over a toxic relationship. We have to relax and remind ourselves what actually matters.
Success and failure are the results of our everyday habits and rituals. We can‘t suddenly expect to have a great body, if we don‘t get to the habit of working out every day, we can‘t expect to achieve our career goals without getting into the habit to learn new skills. Habits are easy to make and difficult to break, but we can change them.
In fact, I changed mine! I went from not eating cookies and pancakes most of the days (especially in quarantine) to working out daily the past 5 months. I changed the reward- instead of a sweet treat to a strong looking body and better health.
What I‘ve learned from the power of habit is that I can reprogram my autopilot to work in my favor. With repetition (and I don‘t say it is easy, especially when you‘re old habits kick in and sabotage you), I‘ve managed to make exercise a priority and even felt guilty if I missed a day. I‘ve also managed to read more instead of scrolling on social media (I haven't used FB or Instagram since July 2020).
Habits CAN change! You just need to maintain your willpower. Don‘t spend it mindlessly. Willpower is not unlimited. If you spend all of it on one task, you won‘t have any to do another important task. So, what do you do? You prioritize. First things first, second things, not at all (as Wyatt Woodsmall would say). Spend your willpower on the things you really want to do. If for example, you exhaust yourself at work, you have no willpower left to work out, and you‘re more vulnerable to give in to an unhealthy sugary treat.
Everything is a matter of perspective, and understanding the differences between assets and liabilities. What Rich Dad, Poor Dad taught me is that academic knowledge is not the only one that would make us wealthy. Knowing how to do our finances, learn how to invest, and be aware of taxes and business laws is important as well and should be taught to children from a very young age. Wealth is not running the rat race, and retire at the age of 65 (!) is about setting the right conditions, learning how to manage your finances from the very beginning of your career, and value time more than money. Invest in things that would increase your income, do your research, learn accountancy, finances (at least the basics, or find someone reliable to do it for you).
Takeaway: Where you‘re coming from doesn‘t determine where you can go.
6.Don't sweat the small stuff(and it‘s all small stuff)
Similar to the book “Note on a nervous planet” this book reminds me how stressed I become over silly stuff, over-imaginative situations, and worry about things that have happened yet. You are what you focus on, and If you focus on small things and stress over them, you‘re missing out on the big picture. Life is what happens when we‘re busy doing other things.
Takeaway: Chill, life shouldn‘t be a completion about who‘s successful by the age of 30.
7. What color is your parachute.
This book made me think deeply about the things I enjoy doing professionally. It made me realize why I was not happy in my previous roles. We all wish to know what we want to do, but defining that is not easy. We have to take into account many factors and to be honest a job it‘s not going to be the 100% dream job. Why? Because we grow, we develop and we change preferences, values, and ideals in our lifetime. So, don‘t aim for the perfect job, aim for something that aligns with your life values and things that really matters to you.
A must-read book! Reading this book I‘ve started to notice how many things I don‘t know and how delusional we are in our everyday lives. What invisible gorilla taught me, is NOT to believe everything too much because most probably I‘m missing something, or I would have an illusion of knowledge. It made me think twice about my actions and the information I received from the external world. We suffer from inattentional blindness and the only way to help ourselves is to give everything and everyone the benefit of the doubt before we jump to any conclusion. Our memory is not reliable, our vision is not reliable, what we know is not always reliable and expectations can truly manipulate our experiences or opinion. WAKE UP, and try to see things from multiple perspectives before you decide what is real.
Takeaway: Be aware of the Gorillas you don‘t see in your daily life.
And that‘s okay! Similar theme to the Invisible Gorilla, this book showcases all the things we miss out, while we think we have all the answers. We are not so smart at the end of the day, we think we make our decisions based on our rationality, but 95% of the time they come from our emotional brain. All these confirmation biases, belief systems we carry, and cognitive dissonance, shape our reality. But is that reality real? This book is very challenging. Its purpose is not to make you feel stupid or whatsoever, but to bring into the awareness things that you don‘t know. Why is this important? Well, for me is the fact that I will try to see beyond “the obvious” and accept the fact that probably my actions and my behavior come to form some belief systems that I have to acknowledge, accept, and if necessary, change.
Takeaway: “One thing I know, that I don‘t know” (Socrates the Great)
We think we have control over our thoughts, but most of the time we run on an autopilot which helps us survive everyday life. This book is a neuroscientific approach to our subconscious mind. Our motives are hidden from ourselves, how we justify things, most of the time is made up excuses to explain things, to make sense of the world around us according to our expectations. Again, it comes to belief systems, we shape our reality according to what we believe is real.
Takeaway: “Who hurt you?” -” My expectations” (Unknown)
11. Changing Belief Systems (NLP)
We can do it, we are totally capable of doing it, but we don‘t do it. What‘s the problem? said Wyatt Woodsmall. The beliefs we have can sabotage us, take us down and make us believe we don‘t deserve the good things that happened to us, or that we can‘t get what we want, because “that‘s bad”.
However, you decide to live your life is based on the belief system you have and how you justify the world around you. You are what you believe.
If you think you can do a thing or think you can’t do a thing, you’re right.
- Henry Ford.
At the moment I‘m reading the book “Mistakes are made (but not by me), which I find very interesting so far.
How about you? Which books did you read recently, that blew your mind?
