
Kaizening my life — Levelling up my attributes
Doing an inventory of my skills and attributes, I highlighted areas in which my life was lacking knowledge. By narrowing down what I needed to improve, I went on a search on Amazon.ca to search for books that would help me improve. I was never a reader and actually hated reading but then I realized that it wasn’t the hate of reading, but the subjects that I was reading. Anyone can write a book like anyone can take a picture, but there are better writers that write books where you can’t stop reading. Generally, the reviews on Amazon are pretty accurate but with that said, I’ve read books that were horrible even with a 4/5 rating.
For myself, I love self-help books that introduce ideas and concepts that I can experiment with. For example, Tim Ferriss’ books offer so many experimental ideas for one to try and two of my favourite books are The 4 Hour Body (http://amzn.to/2tXVV6s) and Tools of Titans (http://amzn.to/2u7NPsA). The 4 Hour Body introduced me to the Slow Carb Diet where I lost 30+ lbs and has really changed my life physically. The Tools of Titans introduced me to what successful people do in their daily routines such as morning journaling, meditation, exercise, and waking up early every day to accomplish these things. It’s an interesting read because it’s a transcript of Tim’s podcasts and this book actually improved my skills in terms of interviewing people or getting to know people.
Another book that I refer back to a lot of Captivate: The Science of Succeeding with People by Vanessa Van Edwards (http://amzn.to/2sF8fEV). I’ve re-read this book three times now and perhaps is one of the greatest books I’ve ever read. I’ll go into more details in Chapter four in the Introvert-Extrovert Chapter but it’s really helped me in social situations and crush my social anxiety. It’s insane how my outlook has changed and now I’m fully addicted to meeting new people and also developing existing relationships. I could go on and on with books and I’ll include a list in the appendix on books that I highly recommend.
Books can add up in costs and one way I get around this is through an e-reader such as a Kindle (http://amzn.to/2tXVPvC). My Kindle is probably one of the best purchases I’ve made for under $200 in the past year and I’ve recommended this device to most of my friends. A huge benefit with a Kindle is because you can carry so many books in a tablet smaller than an iPad. Another benefit is that some books are cheaper as a Kindle edition and you instantly get the book on your Kindle as they connect on to wifi. The only negative things I can think say about the Kindle is the texture of the screen and the functionality of the e-ink screen. I’m very texture based and the Kindle has a rough surface as a screen, it reminds me of a chalkboard. As for the functionality of the e-ink screen, it really brought me back to the Palm Pilot response times. The Kindle definitely does not function as well as a smartphone but it is easier on the eyes.
Knowledge can be found for free nowadays with more and more avenues being created for content creators to contribute to. For example, Medium.com is an awesome resource for information where the articles are around 4–10 minutes long. There are some really awesome writers and I focus on topics such as self-improvement, motivation, personal development, introvert/extrovert and life hacks. I also use a lot of “list” type articles to find my next books but just beware of click bait. Like most things in life, you’ll have to sift through the garbage articles but eventually, you’ll find gems where the writers fit your style of consumption and digestion of information. The fact that this service is mainly free, I highly recommend people to be on Medium daily to consume information.
Podcasts are such a time savings activity but depending on what you’re doing, information retained may be lower compared to reading. I primarily use podcasts when I’m doing something else that requires my attention such as writing, walking, driving, working and in the gym. In contrast to reading, most people can’t do the things I just listed with a book or e-reader. Podcasts are popular because it introduces the element of saving time so that you can do something else. I’m not a huge fan of multi-tasking but in my experience, I replay podcasts just in case I missed information. Some people could argue that reading a book doesn’t mean you would retain the information at 100% either. There are more and more podcasts and it’s beginning to pick up speed in terms of popularity. Some recommendations I have are again, Tim Ferriss’ podcast, the Gary Vee audio experience, and the Optimal Living Daily podcast.
Tim Ferriss’ podcasts introduce a lot of new ideas that his audiences can try, similar to his books but most of his suggestions are net-new. The thing I love the most about his podcasts are the interviews that he conducts because his guests contribute interesting stories and experiences. I feel it’s important to be exposed to ideas and stories so that I can gain a better-rounded perspective.
The Gary Vee (Gary Vaynerchuk) audio experience is a great motivation audio based on the blunt way he delivers it. But for me, his values of hard work, doing, no complaining, self-aware and self-reflection resonates with me at 100%. The points that I love from his podcasts are learning about marketing and how one can explore new ways of marketing through social media. His knowledge and outlooks seem to be several steps ahead of the general population hence why I’m a huge fan. It’s also just framing your mind differently so that you can see through the obstacles.
The Optimal Living Daily podcast is interesting because the host narrates blog posts from different bloggers. It’s like consuming blog posts quickly through audio but also it introduces new authors and ideas in under 15 minutes. I’m a big fan because I’m always looking for new authors to read, new blogs, and new ideas. Sometimes they’ll read one chapter from a book that may be a sponsored episode but it’s also beneficial for a buyer to preview a book before spending the money on the full version.
YouTube is the next best search engine besides Google. Need to change a toilet? YouTube that. You can almost find any possible how-to video on YouTube. Kids should skip college and just go to the school of YouTube by just watching informative videos instead of prank videos. For myself, I’m mostly self-taught in many things that I do so YouTube has been a great source of information. I bought a 1997 Mazda Miata and used YouTube to basically restore and learn how to work with cars.
If you want to begin expanding your knowledge, there are so many options where you can begin you 0.1% improvement. By consuming books, Medium articles, podcasts, and YouTube videos, you’ll begin to gain a new perspective on so many facets of life. It has for me and I hope it will for you as well.
