The War of Art by Steven Pressfield is a book about fighting Resistance with a capital R – the most dangerous force that any creative person can encounter. Pressfield spent most of his life doing odd jobs while working on his writing. While life forced him to take several paths that were unrelated to his … Read more
10% Happier is a book about Dan Harris and his discovery of meditation. He takes us through his personal journey, starting with his addiction to the rush of adrenaline from covering live news events in dangerous locations to his subsequent breakdown on live TV as a news anchor. This prompted him to seek out the … Read more
Deep Work is a book about prioritization. It’s about structuring your day more thoughtfully and getting the most out of the finite attention you have. Things like social media and the many internet tools and distractions that exist today are a media junkie’s dream. And if you’re someone who uses those tools for work, you … Read more
Why is Stoicism suddenly mainstream? I wouldn’t have imagined that in 2018, ancient philosophies would become more relevant. I decided to put some books on Stoicism on my reading list. to see what the hype was about. Meditation is the first book that introduced me to Stoicism. (Stoicism translates to Stoa or “porch”, which is … Read more
“I care not so much what I am to others as what I am to myself.” – Michel De Montaigne Self-Determination Theory When something is intrinsically motivating, you don’t care about the external reward. If you intrinsically enjoy playing music, you will do so even if you are not paid to and there is no … Read more
The most painful death is the ego death. It requires you to take stock of who you are and what you believe in and make a conscious effort to destroy the fundamental constructs of your mental models about the world. But what is the ego? Unlike the Freudian definition – which situated the ego as … Read more
Character to Personality “We are social creatures” – true, but what happens when we care too much about what people think? In her book Quiet, Susan Cain describes how the US moved from being a character culture to a personality culture. Qualities such as honor, hard work, and loyalty were common ideals, but eventually were … Read more
There’s a universal urge to be involved in some kind of race against time. People race to get an education, to make money, to get into relationships, to get a job, and to find happiness. Oftentimes, they end up with an education they never even wanted, money that made them more miserable, doomed relationships, and … Read more
Write Everything Down Forget spending half your time online looking for ways to be more productive. There is just one thing you should do that will bring you the most results. Write things down. He is supported on crutches, but lacks so much support of muscle. He has a fine Geneva watch, but he fails … Read more
“For a man to achieve all that is demanded of him he must regard himself as greater than he is.” Van Goethe The names that are inscribed in history books, and who’s teachings and legacies are religiously celebrated and tirelessly echoed by school teachers, professors, parents, and students are remarkable and exceptional people. But the … Read more