A&B #18

Hey friends,

I'm writing to all 4,124 of you today (that's right we passed the 4k mark 🥳)Happy New Year everyone, let's make 2021 the best year of our lives. As Leo Tolstoy said, "The future does not really exist. It is created by us in the present." PS: If one of your goals in the future is to read more books, don't do the 52 Book Challenge–it's flawed and outdated. Instead, try the 25x250 Challenge.

• Get the free worksheet for the 25x250 challenge here.

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

🎧  Podcast Update:

No new podcast this week, but here are my top 5 most downloaded episodes of 2020:  5) Greg McKeown: How To Master Essentialism & Focus On What Matters   4) Nir Eyal: How To Become Indistractable & Control Your Attention   3) James Altucher: How To Choose Yourself & Live Your Dreams   2) Eric Jorgenson: Health, Wealth, & Wisdom from Naval Ravikant   1) Morgan Housel: The Psychology Of Money & How To Become A Better Investor 

📚 Book Lessons:

I've still been reading this week, but I took a little break to do some reflecting on 2020 and spend NYE with friends and family.So, after reading 55 books in 2020, here are my top 10 favorite reads (in no particular order):

• 10) “The Psychology of Money” by Morgan Housel

• 9) “Ultralearning” by Scott Young

• 8) "The Go-Giver” by Bob Burg & John David Mann 

• 7) “Steal Like an Artist” by Austin Kleon

• 6) “How To Read A Book” by Mortimer Alder & Charles Van Doren

• 5) "Tiny Habits” by BJ Fogg

• 4) “Nobody Wants To Read Your Sh*t” by Steven Pressfield

• 3) “Limitless” by Jim Kwik

• 2) “Indistractable” by Nir Eyal

• 1) “The Almanack of Naval Ravikant” by Eric Jorgenson

Here's a short summary of each book and why it made my top 10 list.

✅ Actionable Advice:1) Spend some time reviewing all the books you read in 2020 and come up with your own top 10 favorite books list.2) Make of list of 10 books you want to read in 2021.3) Conduct a 2020 annual review, ask yourself: What went well this year? What didn’t go so well this year? What did I learn?

⭐️  Weekly Quote:"Life is our resume. It is our story to tell, and the choices we make write the chapters. Can we live in a way where we look forward to looking back?"–Matthew McConaughey 

📸  Photo of the Week:

A LOT can change in a year, more than I could've ever imagined.

Here's a

• Grew from 800 to 16k+ followers on Twitter

• Grew from 22k to 74k+ followers on Instagram

• Started a podcast that has received 30k+ downloads

However, I didn't accomplish this alone. A&B would not have grown this fast if it wasn't for everyone here who liked, commented, and shared my content. So I just want to take a second to give a big THANK YOU for coming along this journey with me and helping build A&B into what it is today.

Seriously, thank you! 

PS: Here's a thread of my

🙏  My Top 10 Favorite Podcasts:I've been working at Podcast Notes for almost 2 years and have taken notes on 400+ podcasts.Here are my top 10 favorite podcasts of all-time!If you'd like to get access to all 1,000+ Podcast Notes posts and get exclusive access to 100+ member only posts, I'd recommend signing up for their premium membership. The membership costs $99 a year BUT... You can use code "BOOKS" to save 10% of the membership!Learn more about Podcast Notes premium here.

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.