📚 2024 Annual Review, 10 Exciting Books In 2025, and more.

👋 Happy New Year everyone,

Here are a few popular posts you may have missed:

• Here’s the right way to use book summaries.

• 12 Most popular books of 2024 (according to my audience).

• If you’re a guy in your 20s, don’t buy a Rolex–buy these books instead.

📚 How To Read More Books In 2025:

If one of your New Year’s resolutions is to read more books in 2025, consider checking out my flagship course The Art of Reading.

It’s been taken by 600+ students and recommended by Morgan Housel, Tiago Forte, and many more incredible people.

In it, you’ll learn my proven system that will help you:

• Read 25-50+ books a year

• Remember more of what you read

• Develop a consistent reading habit

• Easily and effectively take notes in books

• Find 1-2 hours to read daily even with a busy schedule

And much more. Here’s what one student had to say:

There’s a 100% money-back guarantee so there’s nothing to lose and everything to gain.

Make 2025 the year you become a better reader and the best version of yourself.

Use code “READ2025” to get the course for 40% off (promo expires in 36 hours).

🗓️ 2024 Annual Review:

This week I wanted to take a few minutes to reflect on the year (and encourage you to do the same).

Instead of sharing some exaggerated polished success story (like the many fake ones floating around online), I want to open up and share my raw feelings and experiences this past year.

So here’s the good and the bad without any filler:

📖

Health (The Good):

This year I made several health changes that have improved my quality of life.

I start each day with a 15-minute morning walk outside (rain or shine) which has helped me combat seasonal depression and start each day feeling great.

I do pilates once a week with my girlfriend which has been an awesome core workout.

I switched to a low-carb diet that has helped me maintain consistent levels of energy and focus throughout the day.

I bought a water filter which has helped me stay hydrated and avoid microplastics from bottled water.

I take creatine every day which has helped me build more muscle (and may also have some antidepressive benefits).

And I cut out 99% of alcohol from my life (I’ll have the occasional glass of wine every now and then during date nights), which has helped me be social at events without using alcohol as a crutch.

Health (The Bad):

This year I had my most serious injury yet–a full ACL tear.

Surprisingly, the surgery wasn’t the hard part. The difficult part was the incredibly painful recovery (especially the first few days even with painkillers).

It was difficult mentally because the injury resulted in a loss of freedom and sports. I become dependent on others to do simple tasks like cook food or drive me to the doctor. I also lost my ability to play basketball with friends and jog outside (two things I loved doing).

Physically it was difficult because any time I tried to stand up, blood would rush to my leg which felt like a hundred needles were stabbing me. I had to relearn the simplest of movements such as how to lift my leg, bend it, and walk properly.

For weeks I felt weak, useless, and defeated.

I never thought a serious injury would happen to me. I always felt fit, young, and strong.

But even if you’re in great shape, freak accidents happen. I miss playing basketball competitively, but I’m not yet sure if I’ll return to it.

I’ve made a lot of progress in my recovery, but I still have several months of rehab ahead.

📖

Relationships (The Good):

The most important relationship you’ll ever have is with your partner.

They’re the person you’ll spend the most time with in your life and their habits will rub off on you (which is why you want to be with someone who has similar goals as yourself).

I’m fortunate to have found an amazing partner who’s smart, fit, and eats incredibly healthy.

We moved in together this year which is great because it’s like hanging out with your best friend all the time.

We work out 2-3x a week together and often go on hikes during the weekend.

And because she doesn’t eat meat, she makes a lot of salads which has helped me get a lot more vegetables into my diet.

She’s also a reader, so we often have reading dates at the park, beach, or even at home.

We also got to travel to Dubai, Poland, and Spain together this year which was a ton of fun.

Relationships (The Bad):

The worst part about getting older is that you see your friends less and less.

Some of my friends moved away because the cost of living in a city got too expensive.

Others moved away because they needed more room to start a family.

And those who stayed either have a busy job or kids to take care of.

It’s also much harder to make new friends when you’re 30, especially when you’re a remote worker and a solopreneur.

It’s funny that I have over one million followers on social media, but sometimes feel like I have no friends at all.

I get that everyone’s busy and has things going on in their lives, but it’s just a bit of a bummer that the older you get the less time you get to spend with friends.

📖

Career (The Good):

My main focus for 2024 was creating my own product (that way I could sell something I made instead of selling a product some other company or brand created).

So I condensed all of my best reading tips, tricks, and tactics and turned that into my flagship course The Art of Reading.

Over 600 people bought it and it’s received dozens of 5-star reviews. People from all walks of life have found it helpful–from high schools to CEOs and from people who read 0 books a year to those who read 50+ books a year.

Hearing people say they found a new love for reading or discovered an amazing book from my work always makes me smile.

I also grew my audience to 18,000 on LinkedIn and 337,000 on X/Twitter.

I got to meet several cool people including Jocko Willink, Sahil Bloom, Robin Sharma, and others.

Career (The Bad):

The hardest part about being a content creator is not getting addicted to social media.

When your income depends on getting people’s attention, likes, and approval, it’s difficult to not become a slave to the algorithm.

Setting up screen time limits and using apps/devices that temporarily block social media has been helpful, but it’s impossible to completely eliminate social media from my life. The best I can do is limit it.

Another difficult dynamic is choosing between growing your audience and monetizing it.

You don’t want to be constantly selling something to your audience, but if you never ask them to buy your products or support you, you can’t make a living from your work.

You don’t want to annoy your audience, but also I’d bet 95% of my audience has never even heard of my course (or if they have, they haven’t watched the trailer for it).

The last difficult part is being your own boss.

When there’s a problem, there’s no one I can turn to for advice except for Google. I don’t have a manager, boss, or mentor who can teach me exactly what to do next.

I also don’t get paid sick days, vacation days, health insurance, or retirement benefits. Everything is my responsibility–which at times can become overwhelming and stressful.

Fortunately, a long walk or hard workout usually does the trick to help me get into a better mindset.

📖

Rapid-Fire Review:

What did I not do because of fear?

Make more YouTube videos. I’m self-conscious about my voice and being on camera so I still haven’t focused on making long-form YouTube videos.

What gave me energy in 2024?

My belief is that life is most enjoyable when it’s shared so it’s no surprise that the activities that gave me the most energy always involved other people. Whether it was traveling to new countries with my girlfriend or going to a gun range with the guys, everything was more fun with people in it.

What drained my energy this year?

The biggest drain of energy (aside from social media mentioned above) was having a close friend become mentally ill. Seeing someone you’ve known for years start to lose their mind and themselves was incredibly difficult. I and the people close to her all tried to help her, but it’s hard to help someone who doesn’t want to see a doctor, talk with a therapist, or talk to family members.

What did I change my mind about this year?

Engineering is the closest thing we have to magic. After visiting Dubai and seeing man-made islands, the world’s tallest skyscraper, and dozens of other remarkable buildings that you would never see even in New York City, I believe humans can build basically anything.

What new activities do I want to try in 2025?

Several: Cutting out sugar for 30 days, doing a 24-hour and 72-hour water-only fast, trying combat sports like boxing or BJJ, and joining a gym with a sauna and pool so I can sweat and swim more often.

💎 Weekly Gem:

Here are a few books I’m looking forward to in 2025:

• “Protocols” by Andrew Huberman

• "What's Your Dream" by Simon Squibb

• “The 5 Types of Wealth” by Sahil Bloom

• “Tiny Experiments” by Anne-Laure Le Cunff

• “The Obvious Choice” by Jonathan Goodman

Check out the full list of 10 books and details here.

Thank you for your support, read on everyone!

-Alex W.