On Lifelong Learning, Getting Richer, Wiser, and Happier, and Managing Oneself
Books that changed my life
Hello all!
Here is your weekly dose of books that changed my life.
1. Living a full life
The Joys Of Compounding: The Passionate Pursuit Of Lifelong Learning
Summary
Huge shout out to a Three Book Thursday subscriber, Anthony Sciascia, II. Anthony suggested I read The Joys of Compounding and I am so glad I listened. If you are a Charlie Munger or Warren Buffett fan, this book is right up your alley. It is packed with wisdom and is such an engaging read. This is a book that I will probably revisit once a year.
Insight: It is not that we have a short time to live, but that we waste a lot of it. Life is long enough, and a sufficiently generous amount has been given to us for the highest achievements if it were all well invested. But when it is wasted in heedless luxury and spent on no good activity, we are forced at last by death's final constraint to realize that it has passed away before we knew it was passing. So it is: we are not given a short life but we make it short, and we are not ill-supplied but wasteful of it...life is long if you know how to use it. –Seneca
Principle: Your beliefs become your thoughts. Your thoughts become your words. Your words become your actions. Your actions become your habits. Your habits become your values. Your values become your destiny. -Gandhi
Quote: We have two lives, and the second begins when we realize we have only one. -Confucius
Author: Gautam Baid
Themes: Living a full life, Entrepreneurship, Human psychology, Decision making, Personal finance, Wealth management, Investing
My personal notes from the book
2. Personal finance
Richer, Wiser, Happier: How the World's Greatest Investors Win in Markets and Life
Summary
Sticking with the finance theme, this is an excellent book by Green who shares his insights from interviews with some of the most successful investors of the past twenty five years. What is most interesting is not the financial advice, but the life advice that is transferrable to people of all backgrounds.
Simple rules: Eat well, move more, stress less, love more.
Insight: When you look at all of the mistakes in life, private and professional, it's almost always because you reached for some short-term fix or some short term high.
Quote: Stare too long into the abyss and you become the abyss -Nietzsche
Author: William Green
Themes: Personal finance, Wealth management, Investing, Living a full life
My personal notes from the book
3. Entrepreneurship
Managing Oneself
Summary
Drucker is a must read for anyone who runs a business, is in a management position, or simply wants to grow in their career. The nice thing about this book is that it is quite manageable relative to Drucker’s other books, which I find dense and difficult to finish. In Managing Oneself you get the best of Drucker and a distillation of many of his greatest ideas.
Behavior challenge: The only way to discover your strength is through feedback analysis. Whenever you make a key decision or take a key action, write down what you expect will happen. Nine or 12 months later, compare the actual results with your expectations. Practiced consistently, this simple method will show you within a fairly short period of time, maybe two or three years, where your strengths lie.
Insight: One should waste as little effort as possible on improving areas of low competence. It takes far more energy to mediocrity than it takes to improve from first-rate performance to excellence. And yet most people concentrate in making incompetent performers into mediocre ones. Energy, resources and time should go instead to making a competent person into a star performer.
Quote: Bulldozers move mountains; ideas show where the bulldozers should go to work.
Author: Peter Drucker
Themes: Entrepreneurship, Running a business, Management, Work hygiene, Productivity
My personal notes from the book
That’s a wrap. Thanks for reading!
Please continue to share with me the books that changed your life!
Best,
Adam
P.S. If you enjoy receiving Three Book Thursday, please share the joy with a friends, family members, or co-workers (or all three!).
Previous Three Book Thursday editions
All Three Book Thursday Book Links
All Three Book Thursday Personal Notes