A&B #42

Hey friends,

Happy Sunday and happy Father's Day to all the dads out there.

I spent this week working on my reading course. Building a course is much harder than I thought, it involves writing scripts, designing slides, making worksheets, recording and editing videos, and so much more.

If you bought the

Art of Reading

course, I apologize for the delay and thank you for your support and patience (I'm aiming to get the first section of three out by next month).

I truly believe this course will transform you into someone who not only knows how to read efficiently and effectively, but loves reading and views themselves as a lifelong reader. Stay tuned for more updates.

I also spent the week writing Twitter threads. Here are two must-read posts: 

1. How to focus on the book you're reading.

2. 15 Must-watch TED Talks for people who love books.

Alright, let's talk books.

📚 Book Lessons:

This week's book is Beyond Order by Jordan B. Peterson.I could write a one-page essay about why you should read this book but instead, I'll write just one word: life-changing. Here are 3 lessons from it: 1) A Great Relationship Requires Trust & TruthRelationships aren't easy. Letting someone into your life and telling them all about yourself is both scary and risky. There's always a possibility that they can use your deepest fears against you to hurt you. That's why you need trust and truth.You need to be able to trust your partner. Trust that they have your best intentions at heart and trust that they won't hurt you (at least not on purpose). However, trust isn't just handed out to anyone, it must be earned through truth.You cannot maintain trust in your partner if he or she lies or betrays you with actions or even words. You and your partner must strive to tell one another the truth so that a strong level of trust is established. The deeper the level of trust you have with one another, the deeper level of intimacy you two can develop. 2) Negotiate, Negotiate, & Negotiate Some MoreBeing with someone is hard (and living with them is even more difficult). You aren't perfect and neither is your partner. You are two imperfect people, and because of that, there will be conflict and fights.That's why you need to be able to negotiate. Now negotiation isn't easy, in fact, it takes courage to speak up and stand up to your partner. But it's necessary. You do not want your partner to walk over you–it will build up resentment, and over time, erode your love for them. 

So, negotiate how you both want the relationship to work. Discuss who does the cooking, who cleans the dishes, who takes out the trash, and so on. Negotiating these tiny details may seem irrelevant, but because they happen every day, it compounds and eventually dictates the type of life you'll have.  3) Talk Often & Have More SexIf you want to maintain your romantic relationship, you need to talk to your partner for at least 90 minutes a week. A healthy relationship requires a joint story,  one where you know what's going on in your partner's life and vice-versa. Everyone has a story that is slowly evolving and if you don't keep in touch with what's going on in your partner's life, you will begin to lose track of who they are and gradually drift apart. You also need to keep the relationship romantic, which requires sex. Peterson suggests that the typical adult couple (a couple that has jobs and children), should aim to have sex three times a week. If you're doing it more than that, great. But if you're doing it zero times a week, there's a serious problem.When a couple is at zero, then it's only a matter of time till one of you has an affair–physical, emotional, fantastical, or some combination of the three. If you're at this point, you need to start dating your partner again. Plan romantic date nights, get to know their personal story and work on seducing them once again.   

✅ Actionable Advice:

1) Be truthful with your partner.

• Intimacy requires trust and trust comes from being truthful.

• If you want to develop a deep connection with your significant other, be truthful with them and avoid lying to them (even small ones).

2) Negotiate your relationship with your partner.

• Discuss how you two want to be treated.

• Talk about how you two will split up household chores.

• Anything that happens every day is work negotiating because daily actions will compound and dictate how you live your life in the long run. 

3) Talk often and have more sex with your partner.

• Aim to talk for at least 90 minutes about each other's lives so you two know what's going on in each other's lives.

• Have sex at least 3 times a week (schedule it if you need to).

• Keep your romantic relationship romantic by continuing to date your significant other. 

🎧  Podcast Update:

No new podcast this week. Instead, here's my most popular video on Youtube ( t's about the book On Writing Well by William Zinsser).

📖  Reading Lesson:5 Reading tips from Morgan Houseland...5 Reading tips from Naval Ravikant.

⭐️  Weekly Quote:“If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need.” –Cicero

🙏  Support:This week's newsletter is made possible by Scribd.Scribd is the Netflix of books. You get unlimited ebooks AND audiobooks for just $9.99 a month. That's right, you can read all the ebooks your heart desires and listen to as many audiobooks as you wish. This is an incredible offer for anyone who wants to read more while balling on a budget.Sign up for a FREE 30-day trial here.

Thank you for your support everyone, I'll see you next Sunday!Read on,Alex W.