A&B #62

Hey everyone,

I'm making a BIG announcement tomorrow (Monday 9AM EST), but because you ladies and gents are true supporters, I'll tell you today (just don't post about it publicly until Monday).

I self-published my first book on Amazon! 🥳

It's called

Learn To Love Reading

.

It contains 365 powerful quotes from successful individuals that will motivate and inspire you to read more books. I'll talk about it more on social media on Monday and in next week's newsletter.

It would mean the world to me if you bought a copy. You can

learn more about the book and order it here.

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

📚 Book Lessons:

This week's book is 9 Things Successful People Do Differently by Heidi Grant Halvorson.Motivational psychologist Heidi Halvorson shares nine strategies she found that the world's most successful people have in common. If you're looking for a short and sweet self-improvement book, this is perfect for you.Here are 3 lessons from it:1) Get SpecificWhen setting a goal, you want to be as specific as possible. "Lose 5 pounds by the end of the month" is better than "lose some weight" because it gives you a clear idea of what success looks like. Knowing exactly what you want to achieve keeps you motivated until you get there.Being specific about what you want is the first step, the second step is to be specific about what obstacles will get in your way. List them out. The third and final step is to figure out how you'll overcome those obstacles. Once you've done all three steps, it's time to get to work.2) Be A Realistic Optimist It's good to be opportunistic–believing in your ability to succeed is enormously helpful for creating and sustaining your motivation. But...You also have to be realistic about the effort required to achieve your goal. Most goals worth achieving will require A LOT of time, planning, and persistence. Studies show that thinking things will come to you easily and effortlessly leaves you ill-prepared for the journey ahead and significantly increases the odds of failure. That's why you want to be a realistic optimist–someone who believes they will succeed but also knows that success will require time and effort.  3) Focus on Getting Better, Rather Than Being GoodStudies show that people whose goals are about getting better, rather than being good, appreciate the journey as much as the destination, and end up doing a better job.When you have a be-good goal and you come across something unfamiliar or difficult, you'll start feeling like you don't know what you're doing or that you lack the ability to do it. This will create a lot of anxiety and kill your productivity.But when you have a get-better goal, you accept that mistakes will be made along the path to mastery and will stay motivated despite any setbacks that might occur. So by giving yourself permission to not do everything perfectly from the start and by acknowledging that there is a learning curve, you'll be taking the anxiety out of the equation. As a result, your motivation to succeed will increase and you'll dramatically reduce the chances that you will make any mistakes at all.

✅ Actionable Advice:1) To achieve your goals, be more specific: Get specific about your goals and define what success looks like. Get specific about the obstacles standing in your way. Get specific about how you'll overcome those obstacles.Example: I want to read 2 books this month > I want to read more My phone, social media, and TV will distract me from reading books. I will leave my phone on silent in another room, I'll put screentime limits on social media, and I'll unplug my TV to be less tempted to watch it.2) Be a realistic optimist: Combine your optimism with a dose of realism. Think about all the time, energy, and effort that will be required to achieve your goal. If you think success will be easy, you'll give up when things get hard. But if you know the road ahead will require work, you'll keep going when you hit obstacles.3) Focus on getting better rather than being good: Get-better goals > Be-good goals The pressure to be good leads to more anxiety and mistakes. But when your goal is to get better, you'll decrease your anxiety and enjoy the experience of working and learning.

🎧 Podcast Update:

I took my favorite lessons from my podcast with Sahil and made them into clips. Watch them here:

• Why Community Is Key For A Successful Business

• Why You Should Build Your Business In Public

• What Sahil Lavingia Learned From Naval Ravikant

📖 Reading Lesson:Instead of a reading lesson, this week you're getting a reading challenge: Set a goal this week to read for 5 minutes every morningJust 5 minutes of reading before you: Scroll social media  Check your email Turn on the TVAre you in?

⭐️ Weekly Quote:Stop trying to read as fast as possible.No one’s life was ever changed by skimming a book.(share here)

🙏 Support:This week's sponsor is Podcast Notes.They have summaries on 1,500+ podcasts and 100+ exclusive member-only articles, such as their Guide to Reading More & Becoming A Better Reader. If you love podcasts and want to save yourself hundreds of hours of listening time, sign up for their membership.Use code "BOOKS" to save 10% on your subscription here.

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