A&B #89

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👋 Hey everyone,

Here are a few popular posts you may have missed:

• 20 Free online learning platforms.

• 20 Books Elon Musk recommends reading.

• 20 Books Naval Ravikant recommends reading (Naval responded with his favorite book of all time).

PS: My friend Hassan Osman is launching a course about how to create & sell an online course.

He's a bestselling author and has created multiple online courses. I found his advice valuable in starting my own course (The Art of Reading). If you want to

learn more about Hassan's course and SAVE $100 on it, click here.

📚 Book Lessons:

This week's book is The Daily Stoic by Ryan Holiday.This book contains 366 pages of ancient stoic wisdom. It's meant to be read 1 page per day which makes it easy to read and helpful if you're trying to build a reading habit. I highly recommend this book. Here are three lessons from it:1) Count Your Blessings"Don't set your mind on things you don't possess...but count the blessings you actually possess and think how much you would desire them if they weren't already yours." –Marcus AureliusThe best and worst aspect of humans is that we're never content.Our dissatisfaction drives innovation and fuels us to make things better and achieve more, but it also makes us unhappy. We can work hard to make our lives 10x better, but then it only takes 10 seconds to look at someone doing better than us to become unhappy.So today, take a moment to stop comparing yourself to others. Instead, take a minute to appreciate how many blessings are in your life and 5 or 10 years ago, you only dreamed of being in the position you are in today. Ex: I recently hit 200k followers on Twitter but was only happy for a few minutes until I saw that my friend hit 350k followers. Then I realized how silly and unproductive it was to compare myself to someone else, and instead I should celebrate this moment since I never thought I'd get this far.  

2) Guilt Is Worse Than Jail"The greatest portion of peace of mind is doing nothing wrong. Those who lack self-control live disoriented and disturbed lives." –SenecaHave you ever heard about a criminal or fugitive who willingly turns themselves in after years of being on the run?Why would they do that though? They were free and always a step ahead of the law.It's the same reason why a partner will one night confess voluntarily that they had an affair. It's because of guilt. Sure they "got away" with the crime, but they couldn't get away from their guilt. It slowly ate at them, day after day.Unless you're a sociopath, you have morals and ethics. And when you do something extremely wrong, the act will constantly hurt you and take away your peace of mind. That's why people confess to their wrongdoings. So the next time you're thinking about doing something that crosses the line, remember that you will pay the price for it every day–even if you don't get caught. 

3) Read Quality Over Quantity

"What's the point of having countless books and libraries, whose titles could hardly be read through in a lifetime...it's better to plant the seeds of a few authors than to be scattered about by many." –SenecaThere's no prize for reading more books than your friends or strangers on the internet.And even if you spend you manage to read 2 books a week, you'll only read 104 books a year–that may seem like a lot until you realize millions of new books are published every year. Since they'll always be more books to read, trying to read them all is a foolish goal. Instead, you should focus on reading and rereading the best books. Your shelves might be emptier, but your brain and life will be fuller.PS: If you're looking for an amazing book but don't know what to read, here are 20 amazing books in 20 different genres.

✅ Actionable Advice: 

1) Take a few minutes to count your blessings:

• Grab a piece of paper, set a timer for 5 minutes, and write down as many things you're grateful for in your life.

• I guarantee this 5-minute exercise will make you 5x happier for the rest of the day.

2) Think twice before committing a crime:

• Even if you know you can "get away" with a crime, remember that you'll always be on the run from two things: the law and your conscious.

3) Focus on quality, not quantity when it comes to reading:

• Spend today rereading a book that changed your life instead of picking up a new book.

🎧 Podcast Update:No new pod, but here are 20 YouTube channels that will make you smarter. (#21 is my favorite 😉)

📖 Reading Lesson: 11 Reading tips I learned from Ryan Holiday.

⭐️ Weekly Quote:The decision to read a book today won't change your life.But the decision to become a reader today will change everything.(share here)

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