š§ Zettelkasten | Idea Machine | Power of Writing | Saturated Fat - The Week's Best Links
Hey :) How are you doing today?
**Announcement**
1) I just published a new video on My Note-Taking System š
2) I added more notes to my mind garden. Check it out if you havenāt yet. Iām adding new notes every week :)
Anyways, here are the best articles, books, podcasts, tweets I found this week in Mind | Money | Relationships | Health.
Itās a long list, so Iād recommend using a read-later service like Pocket Instapaper or mymind, which is the app I use ;)
Save them š Read them later š Take notes š Create your own content!
Mind
1. The Ultimate Guide For Becoming an Idea Machine by James Altucher
How can we constantly come up with good ideas? James Altucher says you can train your āidea muscleā.
How?
Write 10 ideas every day.
It can be about anything - book ideas, blog ideas, video ideas, business ideas etc. It doesnāt matter how silly or unrealistic they are. The point is to force yourself to come up with 10 ideas.
Why 10?
If I say, āwrite down ten ideas for books you can writeā I bet you can easily write down four or five. I can write down four or five right now. But at six it starts to get hard. āHmmm,ā you think, āwhat else can I come up with?ā
This is when the brain is sweating.
Note that when you exercise in the gym, your muscles donāt start to build until you break a sweat. Your metabolism doesnāt improve when you run until you sweat. Your body doesnāt break down the old and build the new until it is sweating.
The poisons and toxins in your body donāt leave until you sweat.
The same thing happens with the idea muscle. Somewhere around idea number six, your brain starts to sweat. This means itās building up. Break through this. Come up with ten ideas.
He recommends using. a simple waiterās pad, but Iād rather do it digitally using apps like Roam or Obsidian :)
Like Max says here š
Writing down 10 problems in @RoamResearch each day is a game changer for entrepreneurs and creatives
It doesn't matter if they are your own or those of others
Watch out for patters and connections
Link them using block references
š your next start-up or product idea
#roamcult https://t.co/Nt2tnQgUEF
2. Sahil Lavingiaās Recommended Books
Iām a huge fan of Sahil, the founder of Gumroad. Simply put, he supports creators so they can make a living doing what they love.
I follow him on Twitter, and this thread is epic and worth diving into!
I believe virtually everyone can make a living doing what they love. I discover new creators doing it in new ways almost every day.
Do you want to create full-time but don't see a path towards doing it? Reply with what it is and let's see if I can help you outline a plan!
Anyway, he shared his favourite books he recommends you to read in this page. I added some of the books to my reading list šŖ
3. āEvery man I meet is my superior in some way, in that I learn of himā
I really liked this Tweet by Conor and his mantra. I think this is important to keep in mind - everyone has something you can learn and something interesting.
Also, it helps you stay humble and appreciate more, as Conor says.
@azlenelza @thepericulum @TomLisankie Reminded of the Emerson quote
"Every man I meet is my superior in some way, in that I learn of him"
For a long time this was a mantra I'd repeat to myself everytime I met anyone - I'd look for where they were better than me and try to absorb that... leads you to appreciate more
4. This simple but powerful analog method will rocket your productivity by Jack Beaudoin in Fast Company
I enjoyed reading this piece about the Zettelkasten note-taking method.
It clearly explains what it is about, its benefits and how to do it.
Luhmann never suffered from writerās block. Even with a relatively small number of notes, he always had something to start with when undertaking a new project. And by connecting related notes together, he often had an outline of a project before he started it.
His system also offers a low barrier to entry. Psychologists have found that one reason we procrastinate is self-doubt and efficacy issuesāthe upfront costs of a new project often loom large when future outcomes are so uncertain. But the costs of jotting down just one well-formed note isnāt a deal-breaker. If an idea has value, it will rise to the surface as more related notes emerge.
5. Why You Should Write by James Clear
Writing is like weightlifting (I know, everyone loves weightlifting analogies). Itās good for you because itās hard!
A great tweet by James Clear as always.
Many people assume they are bad at writing because it is hard. This is like assuming you are bad at weightlifting because the weight is heavy.
Writing is useful because it is hard. It's the effort that goes into writing a clear sentence that leads to better thinking.
6. Quantity matters more than quality by Ryan Stephens
This old tweet resurfaced recently, and I still think itās great and worth sharing!
If youāre thinking of starting creating online (e.g. starting a blog, Youtube channel or a newsletter), just get started and create no matter how terrible you think your content is!
Picasso created more than 50,000 works of art.
How many are considered masterpieces that we still admire today?
About a 100.
Less than 1% of his creations are still relevant.
Stop trying to be perfect.
It's a numbers game.
Start creating.
Be courageous enough to share.
7. Top 10 Actionable Lessons from the Worldās Most Successful People by Polina Marinova
Iāve introduced Polina Marinovaās newsletter āThe Profileā before, but itās so good!
Sheās excellent at analysing successful people and companies and extracting actionable lessons from them.
This Twitter thread is a great exampleš
Here are the top 10 actionable lessons I've learned from the world's most successful people by working on the @ProfileRead every week:
š
4. Normalize your life
Shonda Rhimes says: āYou donāt want a baby? Donāt have one. You want to love someone? Love someone. Happiness comes from being who you actually are instead of who you think you are supposed to be.ā Normalize your life.
https://t.co/fyYrfuCDUV
Money
1. The 4 Qualities of a Great Career by James Clear
Another tweet by James Clear!
What makes a job great for you? And how can we find a job that we love?
The 4 qualities of a great career:
1) I enjoy it
2) Iām good at it
3) I make good money
4) Iām around fascinating people
Answer in reverse order:
1) Where are fascinating people?
2) In what ways can I make money with them?
3) Which ones am I good at?
4) Which ones do I enjoy?
2. How to Make $1,283,167+ Yearly As A Writer in Less Than 5 Years by Ben Hardy
Ben Hardy is one of my favourite bloggers/authors.
His journey of becoming a successful writer is so inspirational. In this post, he shares exactly how he built his writing career in 5 years in detail.
Itās a long read, but full of great pieces of advice for creators!
Always be creating (and āfinishingā) something:
If youāre not actively creating something, then your brain isnāt working as hard as it could be. Your brain thrives when you give it something to work on. This is why writing is so fun. You give yourself a goal and a topic and then let your brain start obsessing, researching, processing, and connecting new dots.
If you donāt actively create (and finish) projects, then itās like leaving tabs open on your computer. It slows the processor down.
Relationships
1. LANDMARK STUDY ON 11,196 COUPLES PINPOINTS WHAT DATING APPS GET SO WRONG by Emma Betuel
What makes relationships successful? This study shows relationship characteristics (the relationship we build) are far more important than individual characteristics (the person we choose).
Individual characteristics (e.g. income, age and life satisfaction) are much less important than relationship characteristics (e.g. affection, sexual satisfaction and appreciation) when it comes to cultivating happy relationships.
āIt really seems that having a great relationship is less about finding the perfect partner or changing your current partner, and more about building that relationship itself ā setting up the conditions that will allow the relationship to flourish,ā
Health
1. What made the Ancient Egyptians Fat and Sick? by What Iāve Learned
What Iāve Learned produces top quality videos about nutrition and psychology.
In the latest video, he explains why eating grains/carbs (e.g. pasta, bread and rice) makes you sick and why saturated fat is actually good for your health.
Itās a long video, so I recommend listening to it x2 š
What made the Ancient Egyptians Fat and Sick?
Idea Sketch of the Week
The Collector's Fallacy
Notes
The Collectorās Fallacy refers to the fact that collecting materials makes us feel like we learned something when, in fact, we havenāt.
Collecting information is easy - all you need is just one click and then you can save any article, podcast, PDF in your phone or laptop.
Some people buy a lot of books but never actually read them. We do this because collecting materials feels good. It makes us feel weāre learning.
But, understanding requires effortful engagement. Without spending time to actually think about the content of the materials and writing about them, you cannot understand them fully.
As Christian Tietze says: ārealise that having a text at hand does nothing to increase our knowledge.ā
See more idea sketches here: https://www.shuomi.me/sketches
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Hope you have a great week!
Shu
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