Quotes, Books, and Lessons
What I Read and Learned This Year
Quotes
On Growth and Transformation:
…the world will break us with all kinds of calamities—but if we survive them, we have a choice in how we respond.
- Prompt 291. What Breaks & Remakes Us
Choosing to be intellectually alive has become my only marching order. It’s my primary job. Everything I do revolves around it. Everything else is meaningless without it.
“The basis for any approach to self-transformation is an ever-increasing awareness of reality and the shedding of illusions,” writes Erich Fromm in The Art of Being. He refers often to awakeness, to making conscious what is repressed. To not just hearing, but listening. Not just seeing, but looking, watching. You can do this anywhere, with anything. A ritual in its own right.
On Intentionality and Focus:
Goals are often nothing more than distractions designed as bragging rights, and shiny objects that, once you get them, make you feel nothing.
Real freedom is making lifestyle design a reality.
- How to Change Your Life in the Next 12 Months (Without Extreme Discipline)
When you’re focused you can achieve what society says is impossible. I’m not the most skilled writer, but my ruthless focus has helped me reach the top 1% in my field.
You must become so ruthless with your time that it borderline pisses people off.
- The Power of Deleting 99% of Your To-Do List
On Relationships and Community:
Empathic engineers are the real 10x engineers to me
It’s really important to write in a way that the reader will use as little amount of mental energy as possible to understand it → that’s how you get the best results.
- Empathy is a superpower in the engineering industry
Get into consistency and rituals. Place-based connections require physically being somewhere and doing the same kinds of things week to week. If you want this, you might have to change your life so there is a bit more air in it. Traveling all the time may be aspirational and fun, but I think it definitely comes at the expense of building community.
When people fail to find their niche, and when we fail to help them find it, we don’t just suffer from their absence. We also suffer from their presence in the wrong place.
- There’s a place for everyone
On Practical Advice:
Does this need to be said?
Does this need to be said by me?
Does this need to be said by me right now?
- The Next Time Someone Annoys You, Remember This Story
Some problems are like getting a diploma: you work at it for a while, and then you're done forever. Learning how to ride a bike is a classic diploma problem.
But most problems aren’t like that. They’re more like toothbrushing problems: you have to work at them forever until you die. You can’t, as far as I know, just brush your teeth really really well and then let ‘em ride forever.
- So you wanna de-bog yourself
If something bothers you, communicate it. Request the exact haircut you want. Ask the person loudly listening to music in the plane seat next to you to turn it down. Don’t sit there fuming when you could just open your mouth and fix it in five seconds.
On Philosophy and Perspective:
a life that looks good is not the same thing as a life that feels good. Maybe no one can tell the difference except for you, but you’ll struggle to fool yourself.
…I encounter my beloved on the street as they are a manifestation of the world that I love. And they love the world through me.
A lot of people trying to date seem to forget this. If I could give advice, I’d say: get out in the world and find love right where you are! Love your friends, your activities, your challenges. Love yourself. And then love will come searching for you!
- A comment under what's up with modern love?
“Never let the future disturb you. You will meet it, if you have to, with the same weapons of reason which today arm you against the present.”
—Marcus Aurelius
- Stoicism: The Ancient Remedy to the Modern Age
On Work and Productivity:
While not every project will succeed, staying engaged, asking questions, and understanding the deeper purpose behind your work can make all the difference.
- Lessons from Projects That Didn’t See the Light of Day
If you do something even moderately useful and you do it no matter what, then people will realize you’re going to be around a while, and they can start building things on top of you.
- Underrated ways to change the world
Some Books I Enjoyed
Reading one of Matt Haig’s books(The midnight library) for the first time, felt serendipitous. I think he’s a really brilliant author. He’s able to address hard topics with compelling fictional stories that have characters that are both believable and relatable. I can’t recommend his work enough. Here are some of his books I’ve read, in the order of how much I enjoyed them.
The Midnight Library - A poignant exploration of regret and possibility.
How To Stop Time - A brilliant exploration of immortality and it’s emotional toll.
The Humans - A witty and heartfelt exploration of what it means to be human.
The Life Impossible - Touches on the joys of being human and the beauty to be found in persistence and self acceptance.
Some Lessons Learned
Read: It doesn’t matter what you read, just read. Especially long form reading, because it allows you to see the chain of thought that shaped the authors assertions.
A good rule of thumb when looking for something to read is, follow your interests. I’ve learned so much about music this year from reading. From discovering songs I wouldn’t normally lookout for, to learning more about the fundamentals of music. And bonus, reading can also be a good source of inspiration.
Copy someone you admire: You find someone you admire, copy the habit you like. It might seem silly at first, but there’s something there. M.I. used to sound like Lil Wayne, Ayra Starr used to sound like Tems, & Rema used to sound like Wizkid. Eventually you’ll figure out what works for you, using them as an inspiration and foundation.
Be intentional: You’ve got the one life, don’t vibe through it or vibe through it, as long as you are making the conscious decision to do so. If something matters to you, then it should show in the way you move through life. You want to be closer to your parents? How often do you spend time with them? You want to be more present? How often do you put your phone down and stay engaged in the moment?
Thanks for stopping by, and here’s to a new year filled with wisdom, great reads, and intentional living. Happy New Year!!!
Really loved these. Lots of lessons to be learnt just from your highlights.
Will definitely check out some of the posts and books you linked. Happy new year!