A&B #15

Hey friends,

I'm writing to all 3,366 of you today.

• This newsletter just keeps growing! It makes me super happy to see so many people joining our reading community!

• If you're new here and want to read previous newsletters, you can find them all here.

Last week a lot of people were inspired by my thread on how Malcolm X taught himself to read books while in prison. So, I wrote another inspirational thread–this time about Frederick Douglass and how he taught himself to read and write.Although Douglass didn't have a formal education, he went on to become an influential writer, a respected American diplomat, and a counselor to 4 Presidents.Sidenote: I'm building my reading course (The Art of Reading) in public and sharing the process on Twitter. You can follow along my journey here.

• If you want a discount for the course, just reply to this email.

Alright, let's dive into this week's newsletter!

🎧  Podcast Update:

No new podcast this week, BUT...If you want to catch up on previous episodes, here are summaries of a few of my most popular episodes (courtesy to Podcast Notes):  How To Choose Yourself & Live Your Dreams | James Altucher  Health, Wealth, & Wisdom from Naval Ravikant | Eric Jorgenson  How To Stop Being Mr. Nice Guy & Improve Your Dating Life | Dr. Robert Glover PS: You can watch all of my podcasts on YouTube here.

📚 Book Lessons:

The books that change your life are packed with so much wisdom that you have to read it more than once to get the most out of it. One book I revisit quite often is the classic self-help book How To Win Friends & Influence People by Dale Carnegie.Here are 3 timeless lessons from the book:1) Don't Criticize, Condemn or ComplainThese are 3 C's you never want to forget. In the book, Carnegie talks about the famous psychologist B.F. Skinner and how his experiments provided that animals rewarded for good behavior learned much more rapidly than animals pushed for bad behavior. Later studies proved that the same applies to humans.By criticizing, you hurt a person's pride, make them go on the defensive, and increase their level of resentment. President Lincoln was known to write letters criticizing or condemning his military officers, but he would never send them because it would "arouse hard feelings, impair all his further usefulness as a commander, and perhaps force him to resign." Quote to remember:

• "Any fool can criticize, condemn and complain–and most fools do. But it takes character and self-control to be understanding and forgiving."

2) Become Genuinely Interested In Other People Here's a secret that will change your life: Most people are not interested in you or me, they're interested in themselves. When you see a group photo that you're in, who do you look at first? Yourself, of course. If we want to make friends, we must greet people with enthusiasm and an open mind. Everyone you meet will have at least one interesting story or trait about themselves that you will find intriguing. It's our responsibility to find that commonality. This advice is nothing new. The famous Roman poet Publilius Syrus remarked: "We are interested in others when they are interested in us." Quote to remember: 

• "You can make more friends in two months by becoming genuinely interested in other people than you can in two years by trying to get other people interested in you."

3) SmileWhen you meet a dog, you can't help but feel a positive surge of emotions. Why? Because dogs are always glad to see us, so naturally, we are glad to see them. Humans work the same way. We humans are social creatures and enjoy spending time with people who make us feel happy. And giving someone a smile is one of the easiest ways to send a message of good will.Smiling is also a must when interacting with customers. There's an ancient Chinese proverb that says, "A man without a smiling face must not open a shop." Smiling costs nothing and yet it creates so much value for the giver and receiver.  Quote to remember:

• "Actions speak louder than words and a smile says, 'I like you. You make me happy. I am glad to see you.'" 

✅ Actionable Advice:

• Never criticize, condemn, or complain:

  • Although it may feel good in the moment, any three of these actions will backfire in the long run.

  • Instead, write a letter or email letting your emotions out, but never send it.

• Before we can get others to like us, we must first show a genuine interest in them:

  • Everyone you meet will have at least one interesting thing about themselves. It's your job to find what that is. Once you do, the conversation will flow much more smoothly and you'll be strengthening your friendship with the individual.

• Smile more:

  • This is such a simple yet effective piece of advice. Smile at your partner, at your friends, the cashier, anyone and everyone you see.

    • If you feel this is somewhat embarrassing to do, now is the perfect time to practice because everyone's wearing a mask. 

  • A trick I learned from an HR executive a while back: Even if you're on a phone call and won't see the person, smile right before you pick up the phone. That way you'll sound happy and invoke a positive response in the person calling you.

📖  Reading Lesson:Write in your books people!Books are just pieces of dead wood with ink on them. They aren't sacred. It's the message inside them that is. The book is just the vessel for the message. It's totally acceptable (and encouraged) to mark up your books.

⭐️  Weekly Quote:"Instead of condemning people, let's try to understand them. Let's try to figure out why they do what they do. That's a lot more profitable and intriguing than criticism; and it breeds sympathy."  –Dale Carnegie 

📸  Photo of the Week:

I asked A&B followers what are some amazing books that are under 200 pages and put together a master list of the 30+ most popular answers. 

The list covers multiple genres including: business, psychology, fiction, writing, and many more.

You can download it for 

free here.

🙏  Hey everyone, this week's newsletter is brought to you by: Podcast NotesPodcast Notes makes it possible to learn the best ideas from the world's best podcasts in minutes. In other words, they write summaries on your favorite podcasts so you don't have to listen to a 3-hour Joe Rogan conversation to learn what was covered.They have notes on over 1000+ podcast episodes. By becoming a member, you'll get an ad-free experience and access to all of their notes, including 100+ member-only posts.Use code "books" to save 10% on any of their membership options. 👈(PS: Their membership prices are going up at the end of this month!)

Thank you for your support everyone, I'll see you next week!Read on,Alex W.PS: If you enjoy this newsletter, please share it with a friend. They can subscribe here.