📚 A&B #187

👋 Hey everyone,

Here are a few popular posts you may have missed:

• 25 Best books in 25 different industries.

• 10 Mental models that will help you read more.

• 10 Visuals that will motivate you to read more books.

PS: We passed 15,000+ followers on LinkedIn (follow me there if you aren’t on Twitter)!

🤓 Course Update:

A big thank you to the 400+ people who signed up for The Art of Reading!

Now I’ll spend the next few months talking with students and upgrading the course.

If you missed the enrollment date, you can join the waitlist here.

📚 Book Summary:

This week’s book is “Slow Productivity” by Cal Newport.

There’s an anti-hustle culture movement going on in the world right now. This new movement focuses on balanced productivity–doing great work without burning out.

If you enjoyed “Deep Work” or “Four Thousand Weeks” you’ll enjoy this book.

Here are 3 lessons from it:

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1) One Project, One Priority

To do great work you need to do deep work.

And to do deep work, you need to focus on one thing at a time.

Cal talks about the mistake he made early on in his career when he would try to work on an academic paper early in the day, then work on writing a book, and then switch to working on his computer science assignments.

Looking back, he wishes he focused on just one project a day. “I was too young to appreciate this reality as a graduate student in my twenties, but I for sure recognize its wisdom today,” he writes.

A much more productive schedule would’ve been:

• Mondays = Work on academic papers

• Tuesdays = Do research for the book

• Wednesdays = Write a rough chapter for the book

• Thursdays = Edit the chapter

• Fridays = Work on computer science assignments

This way you’re able to give all of your concentration into one project at a time, and thus go deeper into each subject.

So instead of trying to multitask or work on multiple projects on the same day, pick one project and obsess over it for the entire day.

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2) No Meeting Mondays

This is a simple, yet effective tip: Don’t schedule any meetings on Mondays.

If you don’t work for yourself, you can still implement this tip by suggesting any other day when someone tries to set up a meeting with you.

The benefit of this is that it allows a more gradual transition from the weekend into the work week.

Sunday scaries tend to decrease and get to start your week by working on the project you find meaningful without distractions.

I’ve been following this rule for some time now and I love it. Mondays tend to be my most creative days so I want to spend it writing and creating content instead of talking to people.

Other days, of course, could also work just as well. Perhaps keeping Fridays clear of meetings works better for you.

The key to this idea is maintaining some block of peace amid an otherwise cluttered and chaotic calendar.

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3) Pursue Your Passion Project

The old productivity movement encouraged spending every hour of your day working to make as much money as possible.

But slow productivity encourages people to pursue projects for passion, not profit.

Stephenie Meyer got the idea for a book from a dream in the summer of 2003. The experience was so vivid that she felt she had to write a book about it.

Even though she wasn’t an author and had 3 kids to take care of, she committed to writing every day whenever she had a bit of free time (usually after the kids went to sleep).

It took her a few years, but eventually, her book was published in 2006–it was “Twilight.”

Another example is Michael Crichton.

During his final year at Harvard Medical School, Michael realized he didn’t want to practice medicine after earning his degree.

So he spent the last year of medical school writing a book whenever he had some spare time between patients and lectures.

Michael would go on to write several bestselling books including “Jurassic Park.”

Now chances are pursuing your passion project won’t turn into a bestselling book that makes you millions of dollars (it might), but that’s not the point.

The goal is to spend your free time doing something fun or enjoyable, rather than doing something you consider “work.”

✅ Actionable Advice:

1) Pick only 1 project to work on a day and make that your priority.

2) Avoid scheduling meetings on Mondays so you can ease into the work week.

3) Spend your early mornings or late evenings pursuing your passion project even if it doesn’t make you any money.

📖 Reading Lesson:

If you want to improve your reading comprehension, read print books instead of ebooks.

💎 Weekly Gem:

Podcast: Mind the Game Pod with LeBron James

If you’re a basketball fan, you’ll love this podcast–it with LeBron James and JJ Redick.

Yes, you read that right, one of the greatest basketball players of all time is now sharing everything he knows about the game of basketball on his podcast.

PS: I recommend watching it on YouTube instead of listening to it because the channel includes clips of games to show what they’re talking about.

Thank you for your support, read on everyone!

-Alex W.