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The Good Heart by the Dalai Lama.
The 3.5 million public school teachers in the U.S., who make an average of $38,000 a year, need our help and our support to prepare our children for the future.
Marie Forleo TW/IG: @marieforleo marieforleo.com
The War of Art by Steven Pressfield
Show up in every moment like you’re meant to be there, because your energy precedes anything you could possibly say.
Whenever I feel unfocused or stuck on a particular issue, I do some kind of intense physical workout.
Drew Houston TW: @drewhouston FB: /houston dropbox.com
Poor Charlie’s Almanack by Charlie Munger is one of my favorite examples.
I’ve found the Enneagram to be incredibly helpful. At first glance it’s a personality typing tool like Myers-Briggs. There are nine Enneagram “types” and every person has one dominant type. But I’ve found it to be much more useful and predictive of how people actually behave.
The Effective Executive by Peter Drucker, one of my all-time favorite management books)
Don’t rely on wishful thinking (e.g., “I’ll get that workout in when I have some downtime”); if you can’t see your rocks on your calendar, they might as well not exist.
Scott Belsky TW/IG: @scottbelsky scottbelsky.com
When I need to do something mundane, or when I need to do something especially difficult like deliver bad news or fire an employee, I just tell myself to stop screwing around and “do your fucking job.” I find that self-directive hard to argue with.
Tim McGraw TW/IG: @TheTimMcGraw FB: /TimMcGraw
I give Jayber Crowe (by Wendell Berry) as a gift all the time.
We all should reassess what we think and believe constantly—in politics, in life, and in our thinking. Otherwise, we get too rigid.
I would do something called the “bar complex.” It’s 12 barbell exercises done in a sequence.
10 reps x barbell (for each of the 12 exercises; same for the below) 8 reps x barbell + 5 lbs 6 reps x barbell + 10 lbs 4 reps x barbell + 15 lbs and (at heaviest) 2 reps x barbell + 20 lbs Then I reverse the whole process and come back down over five rounds, removing five pounds and adding two reps each round, finishing where I started: barbell x ten reps for each of the 12 exercises.
Muneeb Ali TW: @muneeb muneebali.com
Neal Stephenson TW: @nealstephenson FB: /TheNealStephenson nealstephenson.com
NEAL STEPHENSON is an author known for his speculative fiction works, variously categorized as science fiction, historical fiction, maximalism, and cyberpunk. His bestsellers include, among others, The Diamond Age, Cryptonomicon, The Baroque Cycle, and Snow Crash, which was named one of Time magazine’s “Top 100 All-Time Best English-language Novels.”
Craig Newmark TW/FB: @craignewmark craigconnects.org
In 2017, he became a founding funder and executive committee member of the News Integrity Initiative, administered by the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism,
Leonard Cohen,
Book of Longing,
Steven Pinker TW: @sapinker FB: /Stevenpinkerpage stevenpinker.com
Don’t think that the arts and verbal professions are the only respectable occupations (a common mindset of grandchildren of workers). The elites sneer at commerce as tawdry, but it’s what gives people what they want and need, and pays for everything else, including the luxury of art.
36 Arguments for the Existence of God: A Work of Fiction by Rebecca Newberger Goldstein (full disclosure: I am married to her, but that puts me even more firmly on the hook, because my judgment would be even more discredited if this turned out to be an unworthy recommendation).
The Strategy of Conflict by Thomas C. Schelling The Science of Words by George A. Miller Retreat from Doomsday by John Mueller The Nurture Assumption by Judith Rich Harris The Evolution of Human Sexuality by Donald Symons Knowledge and Decisions by Thomas Sowell Clear and Simple as the Truth by Francis Noël-Thomas and Mark Turner
Gretchen Rubin TW/FB: @gretchenrubin gretchenrubin.com
I frequently give the book A Pattern Language by Christopher Alexander.
Whitney Cummings TW/IG: @whitneycummings whitneycummings.com
Getting the Love You Want by Harville Hendrix.
The Fantasy Bond by Robert W. Firestone.
The Female Brain by Louann Brizendine.
Most likely, the problem won’t be around in a year, but my reputation of how I dealt with it will.
“Boxing is a sport of self-control. You must understand fear so you can manipulate it. Fear is like fire. You can make it work for you: it can warm you in the winter, cook your food when you’re hungry, give you light when you are in the dark, and produce energy. Let it go out of control and it can hurt you, even kill you. . . . Fear is a friend of exceptional people.” –Cus D’Amato Legendary American boxing trainer and manager
Rick Rubin
Stephen Mitchell’s translation of the Tao Te Ching: ancient Taoist wisdom applicable to anything.
Remember, though, when people give you advice, they’re giving you advice based on their particular skills, experiences, and perspectives. So know that when you get expert advice, it’s often people telling you about their journey, and every journey is different.
Ryan Shea TW: @ryaneshea shea.io
Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson The Sovereign Individual by James Dale Davidson and Lord William Rees-Mogg
Ben Silbermann PI/TW: @8en pinterest.com
For instance, I left Google in 2008 to start a company, and the first two or three things didn’t work out. Pinterest launched in 2010. It didn’t really start growing quickly for another year or two, and it really took off around 2012. That’s a four-year period where things weren’t going awesome. But, I thought: “That’s not that long. That’s like med school before you go into residency.”
The Better Angels of Our Nature by Steven Pinker
If regular exercise could be bottled, it would be a miracle drug. Basically, everything in your life gets better if you find time to exercise regularly.
It sounds kind of cheesy, but I started to keep a gratitude journal. If you [have a habit of writing] things down that you’re grateful for, then some part of your brain is constantly looking for those things, and you feel happier. It’s absurd in its simplicity.
Vlad Zamfir TW: @VladZamfir Medium: @vlad_zamfir vladzamfir.com
Introduction to Mathematical Philosophy by Bertrand Russell Complexity and Chaos by Dr. Roger White The Lily: Evolution, Play, and the Power of a Free Society by Daniel Cloud
I have found absurdism to be unreasonably effective for doing mathematics, maintaining relationships, dealing with ignorance, reasoning about ethics, dealing with depression, and living a happier life. Whenever I don’t know what to do, I defer to absurdism for guidance.
