📚 A&B #171

Speedreading 101, Ryan Holiday's Reading Tips, 2023 Holiday Gift Guide, and more.

December 10, 2023

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No sponsor this week, instead all I ask is that if you’ve found my newsletter valuable, please forward it to 1 friend today.

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👋 Hey everyone,

Here are a few popular posts you may have missed:

🤓 Course Update:

This week I worked on the bonuses for the course.

They include a:

7-Day Habit Tracker
30-Day Reading Tracker
365-Day Reading Tracker
10 Notion Templates for readers
List of 50+ short & sweet fiction books
List of 50+ short & sweet non-fiction books
Ebook copy of my book “The Reader’s Journey”
Ebook copy of my book “Learn To Love Reading”
And my personal favorite: 150+ book summaries

These bonuses alone are worth $200+ but you’ll get all of them for free if you buy the course.

Click here to preorder the course for 40% off.

PS: If you have any questions about the course, reply to this email and I’ll be happy to help.

📚 Book Summary:

This week's book is “Clear Thinking” by Shane Parrish.

Shanes combines stories, mental models, and behavioral science research to teach readers how to make better decisions in business and life. If you’re a fan of Shane’s blog Farnam Street, you’ll enjoy this book.

Here are 3 lessons from the book:

📖

1) H.A.L.T. Before Making A Key Decision

One of the biggest things that impacts our decision-making process is our emotional state.

Oftentimes, we make bad decisions because we’re in a bad mood. That’s why you want to HALT before making a key decision.

HALT stands for hungry, angry, lonely, and tired.

So before you make an important decision, HALT and ask yourself:

Am I hungry?
Am I angry?
Am I lonely?
Am I tired?

If you answer yes to any of these questions, avoid making the decision if you can. Deal with the root issue first and only then make the decision.

📖

2) If You’re Decision Fatigued, Set Up Life Rules

It’s estimated that the average adult makes about 35,000 remotely conscious decisions each day.

If you have to think about each one, you’ll soon become mentally drained and physically exhausted. That’s why it’s helpful to set up rules for your life ahead of time that require no decision-making energy.

For example, suppose your goal is to drink less soda.

Having a rule that you don’t drink soda would be ideal, but let’s say you’re struggling to give it up completely.

A good rule would be that you only have soda at dinner on Fridays.

That way instead of having to decide whether or not you can drink soda on a case-by-case basis (something that will require a lot of mental effort), you have a simple rule to follow that makes the decision much easier.

I’ve been a big fan of this rule concept so here are a few rules that have made my life better (and might be helpful for you):

Only drink 1 cup of coffee max a day
- And no coffee if it’s after 12pm
Drink at least 3 bottles of water per day
Exercise for at least 30 minutes every other day
Have at least 1 dinner date with my girlfriend every week
Brush your teeth every night no matter how tired you are
Wash the bed sheets and pillowcases at least once per week
When eating a meal start with the greens then protein then carbs
No alcohol during the week and 2 drink-limit max on Friday & Saturday

📖

3) How To Stop Overthinking Decisions

One of the biggest mistakes people make is overthinking decisions that don’t really matter.

When thinking about a decision, there are two questions you want to ask:

How consequential is this decision?
How reversible is this decision?

Decisions that aren’t consequential and are easily reversible shouldn’t require a lot of time or mental energy.

For instance, deciding where to put a new piece of furniture in your house is low in consequence and easily reversible. If you don’t like how a chair or coffee table looks in one room, you can pick it up and move it into another in a minute.

When the cost of a mistake is low, you want to move fast.

A few examples of when it makes sense to move fast:

Deciding what to wear when you work from home.
Deciding what to order at a restaurant.
Deciding what to watch on Netflix

If on the other hand, the decision is highly consequential and irreversible, then the stakes are high and you want to move slowly and gather as much information as you can before deciding.

Something like moving into a new house is high in consequence and hard to reverse (requires a lot of time, effort, and money). So it makes sense to spend time doing research and collecting information.

So if you find yourself overthinking a decision, evaluate how important it is and invest your time and energy into it proportionally to its significance.

✅ Actionable Advice:

1) Before you make a big decision HALT and ask yourself:

Am I hungry?
Am I angry?
Am I lonely?
Am I tired?
- If you answer yes to any of these, solve it before making the decision.

2) Take 5 minutes today to write down 3 rules for your life.

A few rules to think about:
- What’s your diet rule?
- What’s your fitness rule?
- What’s your alcohol rule?

3) Stop overthinking low-value decisions:

If you're overthinking a decision, assess its importance and allocate your time and energy accordingly.

📖 Reading Lesson:

38 Reading tips Ryan Holiday learned from reading 3,000+ books.

🎁 2023 Holiday Gift Guide:

If you’re looking for a gift idea this holiday season, here are 10 awesome products under $100 that I’ve come across this year:

Pocket notebook for writing on the go.
Laptop stand to make working at a desk more comfortable.
Blackout curtains to reduce light and noise to help sleep better.
Catan is a fun strategy board game to play with family or friends.
Jocko Greens a super tasty way to get more greens into your diet.
Massage gun for warming up your body and treating tight muscles.
LMNT packets to help you stay hydrated, avoid cramps, and be more active.
Hostage tape to stop sleeping with your mouth open and get a better night’s sleep.
Create gummies to build more lean muscle, increase strength, and improve cognition.
The new Waterpik will make flossing easier, more effective, and help you avoid going to the dentist.