I think it’s a blend of several books that explain the necessity of waking up early, regular exercise, reading books and writing reflection. I probably read too many similar books that I don’t think it’s impactful enough for me, but it does help me to reboot some of my muscle memories of living a healthy lifestyle.
Bible level book mandated on everyones bookshelf. • the young amateur CEO in you cannot win by brute force; it wins by generating nuanced waves of insight and ripples of influence • new things: consider emotional intuition, then deploy logic • master the switch between a god’s eye, retrospective and an underground view • yes, sophisticated and complex thinking can happen during low level entertainment • focus on the parts just beyond your immediate circle of competence
I have to admit that self-improvement books aren't really my cup of tea, but as a student of the Chinese language for several years now, I've made it my aim to read as widely as possible, drawing from different genres and authors. When I saw that this book sat at the top of bestseller lists and had a catchy cover and title, I decided to give it a chance.
Although this book suffers a bit from the usual flaws shared by other "maximize your productivity" books (it's often a rehashing of ideas from other similar books, it can be too generic to be applicable to specific situations, and a lot of the good advice just comes down to common sense), I found that the book had a nice structure and order in the way it presented its ideas. It "flowed."
The book sets forth the idea that we have three brains: an instinctive brain (the most primitive one, shared by all living things), the emotional brain (shared by all mammals), and the rational brain (which humans alone have). The rational brain evolved rather recently and isn't as well developed, so it can too often be overpowered by the other two brains. We can't think clearly, we seek maximum ease and comfort, etc. Such is the problem that causes us needless pain and worry in our lives. What we need is a "cognitive awakening" in which we harness all three portions of our brain in a way that helps us make wise decisions and delay gratification. No single part of the brain is inherently "good" or "bad." All three have their own advantages and can work in harmony with one another.
In accordance with those foundational ideas, the book goes on to offer a lot of practical advice. For instance, when we strive for improvement, we shouldn't do things that are too hard or too easy, but at the edge of our comfort zone. Also, when we seek to learn new information, we will be more likely to retain it if it's relevant to our daily lives and we "use" it. Thus, we should reflect on things more thoughtfully, take our ideas and apply them, be able to teach others, keep a journal, etc. In order to encourage our emotional brain to cooperate with our rational brain, we should convince our emotional brain that a certain activity is "fun," and it will comply. The list of tips and tricks is endless, but you get the idea.
Ultimately, it's not a revolutionary book for me, but it was a nice casual read that gave me some enjoyment.
A self-help book written for Chinese students. While it doesn’t bring anything new to the table in these areas, I wouldn’t be too upset if it was the only self-help book I could ever read. I disagreed with some of the author’s strong opinions (reading is only a tool to bring changes in your life; if it doesn’t achieve that, you’ve wasted your time), but it did make me think about some things in different ways and I was able to take somethings away from it — an extremely straightforward approach to taking notes and applying the idea of “desirable difficulty” to other parts of my life that I hadn’t thought about.
It is a meta collection of all principles the author read in other books. But it is nothing original but saves your time from reading many self-help books yourself. The author just summarizes the key points for you.