This is a self-improvement book. I originally thought it was a sales book, like
how to write marketing ad copy to trigger consumers to buy. Completely off. This is a book about how our surroundings
triggers us to make certain calls and behave certain way. We are less aware of how much we really are “ourselves”
and not our “environment.”
This
book. Is awesome. At least I think so.
One reason I believe I like this book so much
because it is a self-improvement book with tools aimed specifically with my
personality type. I don’t see this
working for everybody because of different levels of discipline and how turned
on people get from playing with spreadsheets.
Right off top, I love how the book started:
“It’s
common sense. I didn’t read anything
here that I don’t already know.”
“True,
but I’ll bet that you read plenty here that you don’t already do.”
This is a core philosophy I live by: You don’t know it if you don’t live it.
Few main points I loveeee:
1.
Ego depletion
This is a term coined by social psychologist Roy
F. Baumeister. Basically, how small, daily
decisions throughout the day distract and wear us out. We end up not being able to make solid/accurate
decisions.
This is the same reason why Albert Einstein,
Steve Jobs, Mark Zuckerberg, and even Obama wear the same thing all the time:
Not to waste brainpower, saving that power for important decisions. The article could be found here:
This is also the same reason I pre-plan my week
by using Habitica.com. I wake up in the
morning, and I go to war with my To Do List. I don’t think about what I’m going to do, or
debate if I should do it. I just do
it. It saves a lot of energy. Prior to habitica, I would spend 3-4 hours
debating a task. Now I’m done with most
of the list in 3-4 hours.
When
we have structure, we don’t have to make as many choices; we just follow the
plan.
2.
Tracking Tool
Basically list important questions to you (be
very truthful). Ask yourself each day
starting with, “Did I do my best to…” and rate yourself. For example,
Did I do my best to
say something nice to mom today?
Did I do my best to
control my alcohol consumption today?
Rate yourself every day, track this every week. The constant reminder and the qualitative reflection
“Did I do my best to” will either push you to change, or give up the goal. I think either outcome is better than constant
depletion of energy and wishing the change away.
This makes us
take a hard look at ourselves, quoting the book: “When the questions begin with
“Did I do my best to…” the feeling is even worse. We have to admit that we didn’t even try to
do what we know we should have done.”
3.
Professional at Work / Amateur at Home
More often than not, we are more professional at
work than at home. Or least I am. My parents are. My wife is. We “let loose” when we go home. We hold ourselves to a lower standard when
interacting with our loved ones. We
think they understand. We think we
should show them “our real and true” selves.
This was a constant struggle I had for years. Mostly because I have a horrible temper.
There was a specific case regarding this in the book
that struck a chord with me: So you think your family deserves you being an
amateur at home?
I really like this book. It identified many problems and struggles I had,
many of which I wanted to change but didn’t really know how to… Besides “try harder.” It introduced a simple tool to use… I spent the last week pondering and making the
tool tracker for my use.
I aim to better.
Be the person I want to be. I’m
taking on smoking, drinking, exercising, anger management… Let’s see if I consciously give up or I can
make some change!
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