A&B #30

Hey friends,

I'm happy to share that we passed 5,000 A&B newsletter subscribers! Thank you so much for joining our reading community (seriously, thank you).

As I mentioned last week, Alex & Books is now 4-years old. Being a content creator may seem like a fun job (and it does have its perks), but there's also a lot of downsides to it. I wrote a thread about

.

• Bonus: Here's a mega-thread with advice for all the content creators out there.

One of the best parts of being a book influencer is giving away free books. I'm happy to share that I've given away 150+ books to date. If you'd like to enter the next giveaway, make sure to

follow A&B on Instagram

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

📚 Book Lessons:

This week I published a podcast with James Altucher about his new book Skip The Line. Here are 3 lessons from the book: 1) Breakdown Skills Into MicroskillsThere is no such skill as business, investing, or writing. Any skill worth getting good at is really a collection of microskills. To truly get great at something, you need to get good at those microskills.If there's a skill you're interested in learning, list 5-10 microskills needed for success in that field. For each skill, think of some experiments you could do to learn each of those microskills. 2) Become A Master Networker In Just 6-minutes A DayTo be successful in life, you need to a strong network. Here's a great networking tip James learned from Jordan Harbinger that you could do in just six minutes:  Scroll through your texts and find 1-4 people you haven't texted in a while. Text them to ask them how they're doing or just to wish them well (don't ask for anything). Repeat this every day.The key here is to "dig the well before you're thirsty." By staying in touch with people, you'll increase the chances of coming across more opportunities and if you ever need to ask for a favor, it won't be coming out of the blue or from a stranger.3) Write Down 10 Ideas A DayWriting down 10 ideas a day may not seem like a huge deal, but it's a life-changing practice. You'll become so abundant with ideas that you'll have no problem sharing them and giving them to others will create new opportunities and connections for you. Don't worry about coming up with amazing ideas. If you jot down 10 ideas a day, you'll have 3,650 ideas at the end of the year and even if only 5% of those ideas are incredible, that means you'll have 180+ powerful ideas to act on or share.

✅ Actionable Advice:

1) Break down the skill you want to learn into microskills.

• Writing isn't just one skill, it's:

  • Storytelling, character development, editing, selling and marketing your work, etc.

• The same is true for business:

  • Learn sales, marketing, product development, networking, management, etc.

2) Practice 6-minute networking.

• Scroll through your texts and find 1-4 people you haven't texted in a while.

• Text them to ask them how they're doing or just to wish them well (don't ask for anything).

• Repeat this every day.

3) Write down 10 ideas a day.

• Buy or notebook or start a Google Docs page where you write down 10 ideas every day.

• Come up with ideas on a new topic each day.

  • One idea: come up with ideas for people you admire and send it to them. James sent 10 article ideas to Jim Cramer and Jim loved the ideas so much he hired James to work for him.

🎧 Podcast Update:

My podcast with James Altucher is up. In our conversation, James talks about:

• Why his 10,000 experiment rule is a better alternative to the 10,000 hour rule

• Why you should aim to learn micro-skills over general skills

• Writing tips he's learned over the years

• How to monetize your passion

And much more. Listen here!

📖 Reading Lesson:How many books should you read at one time?Two, maybe three max.Here's why.

⭐️ Weekly Quote:All book mediums (print, ebook, audiobook) count as reading.All book lengths (long, average, short) count as reading.All book genres (poetry, fiction, etc) count as reading.All books count as reading.(source)

Thank you for reading this week's newsletter, I'll see you next Sunday!Read on,Alex W.PS: If you enjoyed this newsletter, please share it with a friend. They can subscribe here.