#read4life

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Book #109: - Completed: The Buddha and the Badass – Vishen Lakhiani

This is the second book from Vishen after the code of extra-ordinary mind. He starts with disclaimer that ideas in the book may challenge the reader’s existing long held beliefs.

Awareness sets you free. New ideas that you never even had a clue of, are gateways to becoming a bigger, better, more powerful version of yourself.

I found Vishen’s claim accurate that more than business this book is about transforming the way you work from the inside out—and how that internal change can ripple out to change the world.

Few Key Points –

Two Worlds Outer & Inner – We pay way too much emphasis on the outer like our jobs, careers, culture, rituals, and shared meaning with others and pay way too less attention to inner world like our hopes, fears, aspirations, dreams, daily cascade of emotions.

Mental Models – Mental model is made up of your beliefs. And your beliefs are the master switch for your life. That’s because reality is subjective.

We don’t need to know how to achieve an outcome. Forget knowing HOW. All we need to know is WHY and WHAT for doing it or at least to begin.

Three Questions while building Goals – 1) What Experiences do I want to have? 2) How do I want to grow? 3) What can I contribute from my experiences and growth?

Real success is actually much simpler than most of us have been led to believe. There is nothing you have to get to or be in order to have finally made it. The secret formula is this.  Growth = Success

Few Quotes –

As long as you are growing (by your own measure) you’ll be fulfilled.

Suffering ceases to be suffering at the moment it finds meaning. – Viktor Frank

You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete. - Buckminster Fuller

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#Read4Life Get in tough to set up community library for children to enhance their reading abilities. +233542882836 ametepey.francisya@yahoo.com @techsoup @Microsoft

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Book #109: – The Buddha and the Badass – Vishen Lakhiani

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Book #108: - Completed: Reality Transurfing – Vadim Zeland I am back with the book summary. This one is the lengthiest I have read so far and it was worth the time. There is enormous information, and books available on the concept of the law of attraction, and positive thinking, however, this book summarizes them well, especially why these things don’t work for most people. And what is common among people who successfully use such concepts. The book not only focuses on things like thoughts becoming things but also balances with the need of putting in the work. We become so attached to how we want things to turn out and, in the process, block nature to take its course and restrict things to come to us. Transurfing is a powerful technique aimed at giving you the power to create aspects of your life in a way that would ordinarily seem impossible. Few Key Points – • You get what you do not want – To actively fight against what you do not want in your life is to make every effort to ensure that it is present in your life. • The highest level of efficiency in any action is achieved when a person manages to shift the focus of their attention from self and the end goal, to the process of performing the action. • The reason you are tense in the first place is because of the excess meaning you attribute to whatever is bringing you down. • Every time you experience a feeling of unease ask yourself why. Where has meaning been inflated? • People tend to have a very clear view of the obstacles in their way but a very dim view of the foundation on which those obstacles are constructed. • Begin placing one foot in front of the other in the direction of your goal in whatever way you can. Your actions will become more effective in the process of doing. • Do not try to overcome obstacles; reduce their level of importance. Indulgently repenting one’s sins and mistakes in life is the same as showing off one’s virtues and accomplishments. • Everything can be done a lot more simple than you think. Yield to simplicity. Few Quotes – 1. The hardest role to play is the one where you play yourself and allow yourself to remove the mask and be yourself. 2. It is very difficult to shift to a life of prosperity if you despise your own poverty, envy the wealthy, and constantly wish you were better off. 3. People usually have an excellent idea of the things they do not wish to experience and only have a vague sense of what they desire. 4. Once you have accepted the possibility of failure, do not think, just move in the direction of your goal.

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Book #107: – The Knowing-Doing Gap – Jeffrey Pfeffer & Robert I. Sutton

Knowing what to do, and not doing the same is as good as not knowing what to do – Robin Sharma

As the above adage goes, most of the time we know what we are supposed to do for anything we want to accomplish, yet we find ourselves not doing it or worse, doing the opposite.

The Knowing-doing Gap shares a few important ideas about why we don't act on what we know, and more importantly how we can close or narrow the gap.

The book discusses the knowing-doing gap mainly keeping corporates in mind; however, it applies to individuals equally and we can learn from it.

Few Key Points –

• One of the main barriers to turning knowledge into action is the tendency to treat talking about something as equivalent to actually doing something.

• One of the main recommendations is to engage more frequently in thoughtful action. Spend less time just contemplating and talking about the problems.

• Competitive advantage comes from being able to do something others can’t do. Anyone can read a book. The trick is in turning the knowledge acquired into action.

• The author makes a good point in differentiating the smart talker and the better performer. As talk is immediate and action is later. We often don’t have time to follow through on what people do, we often judge people on what they say or know, which barely assures a good performance.

• Fear is one of the reasons, people often hesitate to act on their knowledge, as the outcome may not be well received if it is not as expected.

• Knowing comes from doing and teaching others how – Knowing by doing develops a deeper and more profound level of knowledge and virtually by definition eliminates the knowing-doing gap.

Few Quotes –

1. Taking action will generate experience from which you can learn.

2. If You Know by Doing, There Is No Gap Between What You Know and What You Do.

3. Treat failure to act as the only actual failure; punish inaction, not unsuccessful actions.

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Book #107: – The Knowing-Doing Gap – Jeffrey Pfeffer & Robert I. Sutton

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Book #106: - Completed: 101 Essays That Will Change the Way You Think – Brianna Wiest I take book suggestions from the books, and articles I read. Titles of chapters of this book got my attention and so I got it. The book contains ideas in form of short 101 essays. Our beliefs form as we grow and learn from instruction, observation, or first-hand experience. The best advantages of reading books are, it allows us to question those beliefs and encourage us to retain only what serves our growth. This book provides many great ideas and encourages us to question many things we believe. Few Key Points – • So much of our inner turmoil is the result of conducting a life we don’t inherently desire, only because we have accepted an inner narrative of normal and ideal without ever realizing it. • People delay action once they know the truth, and the interim between knowing and doing is the space where suffering thrives. • Everything is hard, but you choose your hard. You choose what’s worth it. You don’t choose whether or not you’ll suffer, but you do choose what you want to suffer for. • We don’t remember years, we remember moments. The things I’m meant to have will simply come to me. All I am responsible for is making sure I’m ready. • Unfortunately, nothing and nobody can hand you your happiness. Fortunately, nothing and nobody can take it away. • We take our lives way too seriously. In a few hundred years, most people will be completely forgotten. That’s not depressing, that is liberating. Few Quotes – 1. Accomplishing goals is not success. How much you expand in the process is. 2. Nobody wants to believe happiness is a choice, because that puts responsibility in their hands. 3. The heart will tell you what; the mind will tell you how. Let them stay in their corners of expertise. 4. Unfortunately, nothing and nobody can hand you your happiness. Fortunately, nothing and nobody can take it away.

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Book #106: –101 Essays That Will Change the Way You Think – Brianna Wiest

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Book #105: - Completed: The 4 Discipline of Execution –Chris McChesney, Sean Covey, and Jim Hulin We all set goals, and reason out our WHY, yet most of the time we don’t achieve the desired outcome or achieve them with difficulties. The Authors claim that we can achieve any goals be it personal, or in the office with small or large teams with the 4 Discipline of Execution or as the Authors call it “4DX” The book not only describes the importance of having ‘HOW’ figured out as much as ‘WHY’, but also provides information in small bites that makes it easy to absorb and implement. The 4 Disciplines of Execution (4DX) is a simple, repeatable, and proven formula for executing your most important strategic priorities in the midst of the whirlwind. Here are the Four Discipline – 1. Set your WIG (Wildly Important Goal) two max at a time. (Simple Rule – X to Y by When) 2. Set Lag Measure (Results) and Lead Measure (daily action again one or two acts we can perform) 3. Create a Scoreboard (What gets measured, gets done) Period. 4. Set Accountability (Set weekly Meet). This meeting helps in reporting last week’s task result, reviewing success and failure, and setting next week’s task). Few Key Points – • People don’t lack goals. They lack clarity of what to do about it specifically and aren’t being held accountable for it. • 4DX is habit forming: Once the new behaviors become ingrained in the day-to-day operation, you can set new goals and still execute with excellence again and again. Few Quotes – 1. If you ignore the urgent, it can kill you today. It’s also true, however, that if you ignore the important, it can kill you tomorrow. 2. There will always be more good ideas than there is the capacity to execute. 3. Whenever you see a man on top of a mountain, you can be sure he didn’t fall there.

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Book #105: – The 4 Discipline of Execution –Chris McChesney, Sean Covey, and Jim Huling

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Book #104: - Completed: Never Split the Difference – Christopher Voss & Tahl Raz Even though the word “Negotiation” relates to sales or bargaining more, it has way too much power in our overall communication. Negotiation is not only to get our way but also to explore creative solutions, which benefit all the parties involved. The reason we avoid negotiation is our innate human desire to get along with other members of the tribe. It’s not the guy across the table who scares us: it’s conflict itself. The author claims that to excel in any relationship or career, you must embrace regular, thoughtful conflict as the basis of effective negotiation and life. Few Key Points – • The first step to mastering daily negotiation is to get over your aversion to negotiating. You don’t need to like it; you just need to understand that’s how the world works. • Negotiation serves two distinct, vital life functions. First, information gathering, and Second behavior influence. This includes almost any interaction where each party wants something from the other side. • We are easily distracted. We engage in selective listening, hearing only what we want to hear, our minds acting on a cognitive bias for consistency rather than truth. • The language of negotiation is primarily a language of conversation and rapport: a way of quickly establishing relationships and getting people to talk and think together. • There is nothing more frustrating or disruptive to any communication than to get the feeling you are talking to someone who isn’t listening. Few Quotes – 1. Contrary to popular opinion, listening is not a passive activity. It is the most active thing you can do. 2. Don’t commit to assumptions; instead, view them as theories and use the negotiation to test them rigorously. 3. Negotiation is not an act of battle; it’s a discovery process. The goal is to uncover as much information as possible. 4. When the pressure is on, you don’t rise to the occasion; you fall to your highest level of preparation.

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Book #104: – Never Split the Difference – Christopher Voss & Tahl Raz

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Book #103: - Completed: Believe it to Achieve it – Brian Tracy & Christina stein Ph.D. Whatever we accomplish or fail to accomplish always begins with believing in our ability or lack of it. Brain Tracy, one of the Titans of the personal development industry shares his expertise in this small book and inspires us to begin by checking what we believe in. The greatest obstacles to happiness and success are usually contained within our self-limiting beliefs, those negative beliefs about ourselves are not based on fact, but that we have accepted nonetheless. The key to unlocking your full potential is to challenge these beliefs and replace them with new, life-enhancing views. Few Key Points – • Your self-concept comprises the bundle of beliefs, primarily from others, that you have taken in about yourself and accepted as true. • Even If it isn’t your fault, you are responsible for your responses. You may not be responsible for what happened, but you are responsible for the way you behave afterward. • Perhaps the worst thing you can do if you want to be financially successful is to criticize other people who are doing well and earning more than you are. • You are mentally healthy to the degree to which you can freely forgive, forget, and let go of any negative experience. • Choice of words can greatly help change our thought process. For example, changing the word problem with the situation. The problem sounds negative whereas the situation sounds neutral. • By their very nature, crises come unbidden and unexpected. The only part of a crisis that you can control is your response to it. Few Quotes – 1. Circumstances do not make the man; they merely reveal him to himself. – Epictetus 2. The most powerful words you can use to build your self-esteem are “I like myself!” 3. By their very nature, crises come unbidden and unexpected. The only part of a crisis that you can control is your response to it. 4. The mind is its own place, and in itself can make a heaven of hell and a hell of heaven. – John Milton

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Book 103: – Believe it to Achieve it – Brian Tracy & Christina stein Ph.D.

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Book #102: - Completed: Get Out of Your Own way – Mark Goulston, M.D, & Philip Goldberg

Most of the time it is us than others who get in our own way and deprive ourselves of the good life we often think about. Get out of your own ways share 40 self-defeating behavior and suggests ways to overcome them so that we can lead the life we expect and deserve. If you are familiar with statements like “I can't believe I did that again”, “I should have known better”, and “I'm my own worst enemy” this book will be of great help. Few Self-defeating Behaviors – • Expecting others to understand how you feel – "You don't understand!" is one of the most frequent accusations hurled between people. • Waiting Until it’s too late – Don’t wait for something chronic to realize you have a life better than you think. Enjoy little moments. No dying man ever wished he spent more time in office. • When People Stop Listening, Stop Talking – If you want to know if you're talking too long, keep your eye on the other person's body language. • Putting on an act to make a good impression – The next time you find yourself putting up a false front, ask yourself why you would want to be around someone who likes what you're not. • Feeling sorry for yourself – Self-pity feeds on itself. When you project a sorrowful image and a lack of faith, things tend to go wrong, which only gives you more reason to feel sorry for yourself. • Assuming the hard way is the right way – Our society reveres hard work so much that we often consider ourselves lazy or escapist when we choose what is pleasurable or comfortable. Few Quotes – 1. Obsessions and compulsions can help you get past pain and fear, but they won't help you get over them. 2. Self-defeating behavior occurs when we fail to learn the lessons that life tries to teach us. 3. If you expect people to change, you can drive yourself crazy waiting for it to happen. 4. You have more control over trying or quitting than you do over succeeding or failing. 5. Failure is not falling down, but staying down. – Mary Pickford

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Book #102: –Get Out of Your Own way – Mark Goulston, M.D, & Philip Goldberg