3 lessons learned from reading over 15+ books in the past year.
A single thought-provoking idea is enough to change one’s perspective on life, and one of the best ways to come across such ideas is through reading books. With lots of free time in hand because of the covid restrictions, I developed the habit of reading books last year. Each book had certain elements that inspired me in some way or another, and here I will share the 3 lessons that completely changed my perception of how I will approach things in the future:
Knowledge can be communicated, but not wisdom. ― Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse
Before you get thrown off, let me quickly explain the differences between Knowledge and Wisdom. Knowledge is about simply having information about a subject while wisdom goes a step deeper. Wisdom is the ability to make sound judgments about a subject based on the experience, and lessons learned.
The above-highlighted maxim comes from the interaction of the protagonist Siddhartha with the founder of Buddhism, Gautama Buddha. Siddhartha is in the search for enlightenment and becomes restive with every passing day. However, he repudiates following the teaching of enlightened Buddha. He challenges Buddha and claims that his teaching can never make enlighten a person as the path of enlightenment cannot be taught through lessons. He adds that one can impart knowledge but the ultimate enlightenment (or wisdom) had to become from within and through one’s experience.
And now, the more I think about the above words, the more logical it sounds, even from the day-to-day life events. One cannot simply become a great designer by gaining knowledge through reading books or watching tutorials. One cannot simply comprehend the satisfaction of running a Marathon by listening to someone else’s experiences. So, next time I aspire to not just fall for knowledge but rather for wisdom and the trick here is no one can actually teach them. One has to discover it by themselves by experiencing it.
Trade money for time, not time for money. You’re going to run out of time first — The Almanack Of Naval Ravikant by Eric Jorgenson
I come from a typical middle-class family, and the frugality to save money was somewhat inherently ingrained in me. I would look at the myriad of options to save money in every circumstance whether walking extra miles, or endlessly comparing costs at different websites, or using the freemium account with compromised features. I would get so immersed in finding opportunities to save some bucks that I would waste indefinite time without realizing it. Time would never be used to be a parameter to make such a decision. However, after reading the book, my thought process began to morph.
Naval mentions that one should spend money to save time rather than spending time to save money. He adds to analyze the hourly rate, based on the monthly income. With that, If a monotonous non-essential task can be delegated to others, with an amount significantly lesser than one hourly rate, one should prefer to opt-in for that service. For instance, I would now prefer to buy a subscription to a website that would help me find a rental apartment with ease so I don’t end up consuming too much of my time. With the increased time, I can invest in so many different self-improvement habits such as planning long-term capital investment, writing, learning musical instruments, and whatnot. After all, time is a non-renewable source, and that makes it one of the most valuable things on the earth.
Success fuels passion more than passion fuels success — Deep Work by Cal Newport
Hear out any motivational career talk, and the speaker will lay strong emphasis to identify one’s passions, one’s *true passion* and once, *true passion* is discovered, then start working out and you would be all successful. I used to be sceptical of the word passion and after reading the book I realised those words are indeed too overrated.
Consider an example of a potter who loves making pottery. Do you think, the person would be passionate about pottery from day one, probably not. The idea of working long monotonous hours, and soaking the hands in the wet mud is not something one would strive for. Then, what would make him/her passionate about pottery? Perhaps, like most people, it would have resulted from the feeling of completion after enduring all such difficulties, the feeling of creating some unique art, and the satisfaction after getting an appraisal from people. The small achievements tend to catalyze the feelings for being passionate about that particular thing, even though he/ she was not inclined towards it from the start.
So, next time I am not going to undermine any learning path. Rather I will give try things that I’m not even passionate about, and hopefully, the success I will achieve after hard work might turn it into a passion.
That’s all!! Though many other ideas had an impact on me, the above three ideas added a completely different perspective to my line of thought. Which of these ideas impacted you the most? Let me know in the comment section.
