Reading

The Advantages and Disadvantages of Audiobooks

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The Advantages and Disadvantages of Audiobooks Listen here folks—off to a great start with the audio puns—we need to talk about audiobooks; my concerns can be summed up in one sentence. Audiobooks are supplementary, not substitutional to reading    Like any other medium we use to acquire information, audiobooks have some caveats that you best consider before pressing play. But I don’t mean to sound like a book purist, there are numerous benefits to come from audiobooks when done right. Here are the advantages and disadvantages of audiobooks that I […]

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Book Summary: Iconoclast by Gregory Berns | Forces of Habit

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Iconoclast: A Neuroscientist Reveals How to Think Differently by Gregory Berns Print The Essence An Iconoclast is an innovator. Someone who achieves what the majority saw as unfeasible. Neuroscientist Gregory Berns has isolated the three mental barriers that separate most people from being an iconoclast—perception, fear response, and social intelligence. Iconoclasts have used these neuro advantages to escape conventional thinking, reaching never before seen heights of creativity and nonconformity. But recent findings in neuroscience have allowed us to notice a rate of neural plasticity far greater than ever assumed. Because […]

Reading

Read More: How I Read 50+ Books Per Year

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Read More: How I Read 50+ Books Per Year Warren Buffet was once asked by a student how to get to his level of expertise in investing. Buffet paused, and reached into his bag for a pile of reports, trade publications, and selected works stating he should “read 500 pages like this every day” He continued, “That’s how knowledge works. It builds up, like compound interest. All of you can do it, but I guarantee not many of you will do it.” Read more because it is the best investment […]

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Book Summary: How Adam Smith Can Change Your Life by Russ Roberts | Forces of Habit

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How Adam Smith Can Change Your Life: An Unexpected Guide to Human Nature and Happiness by Russ Roberts Print The Essence Russ’ spin on a classic. Taking experts from Adam Smith’s The Theory of Moral Sentiments, Russ reignites the lesson from a timeless piece which prescribes how to live with respect for others and oneself. How humans morally treat one another is based on the actions each of us takes in our daily lives. We all have a role in developing the culture of the time. How we act forms […]

Meditation

Common Misconceptions About Meditation

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Common Misconceptions About Meditation Meditation can’t be all I talk it up to be. How could ‘doing nothing’ seemingly be helpful in any realm of our lives? Please, be a skeptic. I certainly was. Consistently when I started, I found numerous holes in what I thought meditation actually entailed—when will I be able to float again? But I can say that meditation became nothing like what I thought it was going to be when I started. As meditated more, I stumbled upon experiences no one had ever cared to share, lessons […]

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Book Summary: Mindfire by Scott Berkun | Forces of Habit

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Mindfire: Big Ideas for Curious Minds by Scott Berkun Print The Essence A collection of various tidbits about life. After years of experience as a writer and public influencer, Scott address the questions we ponder in our everyday lives. Mindfire is a collection of Scott’s best digitally published works, made to challenge our conventionally driven minds to start thinking the ‘right’ way. And the right way is to reevaluate how you spend and think about the concepts of time, creativity, and criticism. Become intentional with your time, set limits on […]

Meditation

Vipassana Meditation: How to Prepare for a Silent Retreat

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Vipassana Meditation: How to Prepare for a Silent Retreat I’d love to say a silent meditation retreat is for everyone. But there are exceptions. Here’s why: If you’re like me, you’re probably thinking this doesn’t look relaxing at all; that’s because it’s not. A meditation retreats purpose—or at least one in the Vipassana tradition—is not to calm the mind; we are seeking insight and that does not necessarily mean a good time. When you sign up for a retreat, you come to work. The introspective work done during a meditation retreat […]

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Book Summary: The Black Swan by Nassim Nicholas Taleb | Forces of Habit

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The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable by Nassim Nicholas Taleb Print The Essence Using his experience as a day-trader and qualitative analyst, Nassim Taleb urges us to stop using the observable past as an indicator of the future. Humanity as a species have used data about the past to justify the narratives of the up and coming; this is inherently flawed and seeded in our predisposition for the sensational. Taleb pinpoints a variety of cases, showing that nothing we know or understand about the world at that […]

Meditation

Vipassana Meditation: What Ten days of Silence Can Do

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We are worrisome people. We worry about what we will eat tomorrow, where we will sleep, what she thinks of me, will I be accepted, can I be loved? Now imagine a place where you can learn the answers to these questions and many more without having to utter a single word. Were you are fed, and sheltered. A place of no words, only love and compassion; welcome to the Dharma teachings. I’d like to share an account of my first silent meditation retreat. From nonverbal wars over bananas to […]

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Book Summary: Fooled by Randomness by Nassim Nicholas Taleb | Forces of Habit

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Fooled by Randomness: The Hidden Role of Chance in Life and in the Markets by Nassim Nicholas Taleb Print The Essence Nassim Nicholas Taleb aims to change our preconceived notions of what chance is and how it is more widespread in each of our lives then we care to realize. We are predisposed to be fooled by the randomness of events, and our emotional coloring of events is what the basis of most, if not all, our decision are made. Mathematical models and empirically identified psychological bias are evidence for […]