"Tribe of Mentors" by Tim Ferriss
This book is a collection of interviews from experts in nearly every industry.
Learn how to become a writer, why failure leads to success and why being busy is a decision.
Book Summary:
“Tribe of Mentors” by Tim Ferriss, contains shortened interviews from many of the people Ferriss grew up viewing as idols or demi-gods. The book is similar to “Tools of Titans” but covers different guests and questions.
No matter your challenge or opportunity, something in these pages can help.
Among other things, you will learn:
More than 50 morning routines—both for the early riser and those who struggle to get out of bed.
The best purchases of $100 or less (you'll never have to think about the right gift again).
How to overcome failure and bounce back towards success.
How to meditate and be more mindful (and not just for those that find it easy).
Ways to thrive (and survive) the overwhelming amount of information you process every day.
And much more.
Author Bio:
Tim Ferriss is an early-stage tech investor/advisor in Uber, Facebook, Twitter, Shopify, Duolingo, Alibaba, and 50+ other companies. He is also the author of: The 4-Hour Workweek, The 4-Hour Body, The 4-Hour Chef, and Tools of Titans. He runs the Tim Ferriss Show, which has exceeded 200 million downloads and been selected for “Best of iTunes” three years running.
Author Timothy Ferriss.
Lessons:
1) If You Want To Be A Writer, Start Writing
“I had always wanted to be a writer. So I started writing that very evening. The next day I signed up for a class at NYU in creative nonfiction writing. ”
The quote above is from an interview Tim Ferriss did with Susan Cain, a New York Times bestselling author. However, Cain didn’t pursue her passion for writing for decades. She actually went to Harvard Law School and worked as a corporate lawyer on Wall Street.
One day a senior partner in the firm told Cain that she wouldn’t be promoted to partner and Cain started crying and left the office. She went for a bike ride around Central Park and contemplated her future. She remembered that she had always wanted to be a writer so that evening she went home to write and signed up for a class at NYU the next time.
Boom.
She wanted to be a writer, so she pursed writing. Just like that.
And you may not even need school to become a writer.
Neil Strauss, an eight-time New York Times best-selling author, got rejected from journalism school earlier in his life. He looks back on this with a smile since he ended up learning through experience rather than academics and eventually became a columnist for the NYT.
So if you want to be a writer, start writing–today.
Author Tim Ferriss talking about his book “Tribe of Mentors.”
2) Failure Is Part of the Path to Success
“Adversity. Everybody spends their life trying to avoid it. Me too. But the best things that ever happened to me came during the times when the shit hit the fan and I had nothing and nobody to help me. Who are you really? What do you really want? Get out there and fail and find out.”
That quote is from Steven Pressfield, an accomplished writer who has worked in advertising, screenwriting, fiction, narrative, non-fiction and self-help. But before he was a well-known writer, he wrote for 17 years before earning his first penny from writing.
That’s right, he worked on his craft for 15+ years before finally getting paid for his work.
During those years, Pressfield taught school, drove tractor-trailers, worked on offshore oil rigs, and picked fruit as a migrant worker. Instead of looking for a life-hack or shortcut to success, Pressfield advises college students to “Get out into the real dirt world and start failing” (pg 6).
And Kyle Maynard would agree.
Kyle Maynard.
Kyle Maynard is a best-selling author and entrepreneur. He is known for becoming the first quadruple amputee to reach the summits of Mount Kilimanjaro.
When Ferriss interviewed him, Maynard said “It’s almost more difficult to think of a time when an apparent failure didn’t set me up for success. Failure is inextricably connected to any major success I’ve ever had” (pg 15).
So if you do fail, don’t fret. Pick yourself up and keep moving. Just like Pressfield and Maynard have done.
3) Being Busy Is A Decision
“If we use busy as an excuse for not doing something what we are really, really saying is that it’s not a priority. Simply put: You don’t find the time to do something you make the time to do things.”
That quote comes from Debbie Millman, one of the most influential designers of today and founder of Design Matters, the world’s first and longest-running podcast about design.
Millman says that using “I am too busy” as an excuse to not do something, is pure nonsense. People do things that they want to do, period. People will make time to watch Game of Thrones, but will be ‘too busy’ to read a book or exercise.
The problem with these excuse is that is lies to people. It can make someone believe that they are justified for not doing something that they need to do. Millman says that “If you want to do something, you can’t let being busy stand in the way, even if you are busy. Make the time to do the things you want to do and then do them” (pg 26).
Conclusion:
“Tribe of Mentors” by Tim Ferriss is an interesting book because instead of diving deeply into one subject, readers get a little peek into many different topics and gain nuggets of wisdom from a wide-range of experts.
That said, this book is a jack of all trades, but master of none–which isn’t necessarily a good or bad thing. The best way to use this book is to skim through it, and if you read something that interests you, check out the full podcast on Tim Ferriss’ website or learn more about the guest by reading their books or watching their videos.
Rating: 4/5 Stars
If you’ve enjoyed this article and want to get the book, click here or on the image below!
If you already read “Tribe of Mentors” here are some additional books by Tim Ferriss:
For literally 5 bucks and a few hours of time, a book can give you an enormous amount of valuable information that will help you in life. It’s practically highway-robbery. So take advantage of this and read as much as you can.
If you want to check out my list of recommended books, you can find that here.
If you enjoyed this article, consider supporting our site or signing up for our monthly newsletter. Thank you!
"Smarter Faster Better" by Charles Duhigg
The best-selling author of “The Power of Habit” Charles Duhigg is back with another great book
The book teaches eight tips that will make you more productive in life and business
Here are three important lessons from Duhigg’s book.
Book Summary:
“Smarter Faster Better” examines eight key productivity concepts—from motivation and goal setting to focus and decision making—that explain why some people and companies get so much done.
Drawing on the latest findings in neuroscience, psychology, and behavioral economics—as well as the experiences of CEOs, educational reformers, four-star generals, FBI agents, airplane pilots, and Broadway songwriters—this painstakingly researched book explains that the most productive people, companies, and organizations don’t merely act differently.
Author Charles Duhigg.
Author Bio:
Charles Duhigg is a Pulitzer Prize–winning investigative reporter for The New York Times and the author of “The Power of Habit” and “Smarter Faster Better.” He is a winner of the National Academies of Sciences, National Journalism, and George Polk awards. A graduate of Harvard Business School and Yale College, he lives in Brooklyn with his wife and two children.
Lessons:
1) To become more motivated, make the task a choice not a chore
“The trick, researchers say, is realizing that a prerequisite to motivation is believing we have authority over our actions and surroundings. To motivate ourselves, we must feel like we are in control.
”
Charles Duhigg writes that motivation is more like a skill, such as writing, that can be learned and honed. An important lesson to learn is that taking control of the task and making it a choice instead of a chore, will increase your level of motivation to get it done.
Duhigg writes that “When people believe they are in control, they tend to work harder and push themselves more. They are, on average, more confident and overcome setbacks faster” (pg 19).
One of the best ways to prove that we are in control is by making decisions. Each choice reinforces our perception of control and self-efficacy. Interesting, even if making a decision delivers no benefit, people still want the freedom to choose what they do.
“Motivation is triggered by making choices that demonstrate (to ourselves) that we are in control–and that we are moving toward goals that are meaningful. It’s that feeling of self-determination that gets us going. ”
In a study by the Marine Corps, researchers found that “the most successful marines were those with a strong ‘internal locus of control’–a belief they could influence their destiny through the choices they made” (pg 23).
The author goes on to say that people with an internal locus of control tend to assign responsibility for themselves, not to things outside their influence. For example, if a student with a high internal locus of control fails a test, he’ll think “I need to study harder” instead of thinking “This teacher is horrible.”
Internal locus of control has also been linked with “academic success, higher self-motivation, and social maturity, lower incidences of stress and depressions, and longer lifespan” (pg 23).
So what does this all mean?
It means you should think of ways to take control over a difficult task and take responsibility instead of doing nothing or putting the blame on outside influences.
Duhigg gives an example of when his email inbox was filled with a ton of messages, which caused him to feel overwhelmed and resulted in him procrastinating on the task. So what did he do?
He took control. He made the choice to reply to each email with just one sentence. That’s it. When he took control, he felt more motivated and the task of replying became easier and he finished his work in thirty-five minutes.
“Figure out how this task is connected to something you care about. Explain to yourself why this chore will help you get closer to a meaningful goal. Explain why this matter–and then, you’ll find it easier to start. ”
2) Use Both Stretch and SMART Goals
“SMART goals often unlock a potential that people don’t even realize they possess. The reason in part is because goal-setting processes like the SMART system force people to translate vague aspirations into concrete plans.
”
SMART goals, also known as Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Time-bound, actually work. Duhigg found that “Some 400 laboratory and field studies [show] that specific, high goals lead to a higher level of task performance than do easy goals or vague, abstract goals such as the exhortation to ‘do one’s best’” (pg 118).
Having the good intentions of completing a goal is good, but coming up with a timeline and a way to measure success is even better.
SMART goals work best when paired with stretch goals that are often unclear and large. Stretch goals can spark innovation, writes Duhigg, but it can also cause panic or convince people that the goal is too big.
Here are a few common stretch goals: writing a book, creating a website, learning to play the guitar. These stretch goals are both exciting and frightening.
That is why it needs to be paired with a SMART system. “Stretch goals, paired with SMART thinking, can help put the impossible within reach” (pg 127).
For example, let’s say you want to run a marathon. Here is how the stretch and SMART goals would look like:
Stretch goal: Run a marathon
What is a specific subgoal: Run 10 miles without stopping
How will you measure success: Finish the run without walking
Is this achievable: Yes, if I run 3 times a week
Is this realistic: Yes, If I wake up early on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays
What is the timeline: Run 3 miles this week, 4 miles next week, 5 miles...
Duhigg writes that the most important thing to take away is that people need to have a large ambitious goal and a system for figuring out how to make it into a concrete and realistic plan. By breaking a large goal into subgoals, a person can check off smaller tasks and see progress as they get one step closer to reaching their final goal.
3) Write Things Down To Better Absorb Information
“When we encounter new information, we should force ourselves to do something with it. Write yourself a note explaining what you just learned...the trick is getting ourselves to see the data embedded in those decisions, and then to use it somehow so we learn from it.
”
Duhigg writes about a 2014 published study with researchers from Princeton and UCLA that looked at the relationship between learning and disfluency by looking at the difference between students who took notes by hand while watching a lecture and those who used laptops.
The researchers found that taking notes by hand was both harder and less efficient than typing on a keyboard. Longhand is slower and hands are more likely to cramp up. Students that used laptops, however, spent less time taking notes, and yet they still collected about twice as many notes.
However, and this is a BIG however, when the researchers looked at test scores of the two groups, they found that the hand writers scored twice as well as the laptop note takers.
The research group was skeptical of the results and conducted similar experiments several times. But the answer remained the same.
“The students who forced themselves to use a more cumbersome note-taking method–who forced disfluency into how they processed information–learned more.” (pg 265). This is a useful lesson to remember for all aspects of learning in life.
Duhigg says that if a person wants to lose weight, instead of just stepping on a scale and having your weight sent to an app, physically write down your weight each day and plot it on a graph to track progress. Similarly, if you’re reading a book, write down notes in the book or on a post-it.
“When you find a new piece of information, force yourself to engage with it, to use it in an experiment or describe it to a friend–and then you will start building the mental folders that are at the core of learning. ”
Conclusion:
“Smarter Faster Better” is a book for readers who really want to know the science behind being productive. The author is an NYT reporter and writes about several scientific studies and stories based on other people’s experiences.
For that reason, readers may feel disconnected from the author because he doesn’t give much insight into how he uses the lessons learned from this book, except in the very last chapter. That’s not a knockdown, I’m simply saying if you’re looking for a personal story or journey, you might want to read “The Productivity Project.”
However, if you do like scientific studies with real science to back up lessons instead of personal experiences, then I recommend reading this book. Regardless of which book you choose to read, both will make you more productive!
Rating: 4/5 stars
If you’re interested in reading the book, click here or on the image below!
For literally 5 bucks and a few hours of time, a book will give you an enormous amount of valuable information that can help you in life. It’s practically highway-robbery. So take advantage of this and read as much as you can.
If you want to check out my list of recommended books, you can find that here.
If you enjoyed this article, consider supporting our site or signing up for our monthly newsletter. Thank you!
"The Productivity Project" by Chris Bailey
Accomplish more by managing your time, attention and energy
Learn the truth about multitasking and the importance of the Rule of 3
Become more productive and a better time manager by reading this book
Book Summary:
"The Productivity Project: Accomplishing More by Managing Your Time, Attention, and Energy" by Chris Bailey is a result of a year-long series of productivity experiments Bailey conducted on himself. He also continued research and interviews with some of the world’s foremost experts, from Charles Duhigg to David Allen.
Among the experiments that he tackled: Bailey went several weeks with getting by on little to no sleep; he cut out caffeine and sugar; he lived in total isolation for 10 days; he used his smartphone for just an hour a day for three months; he gained ten pounds of muscle mass; he stretched his work week to 90 hours; a late riser, he got up at 5:30 every morning for three months—all the while monitoring the impact of his experiments on the quality and quantity of his work.
In an eye-opening and thoroughly engaging read, Bailey offers a treasure trove of insights and over 25 best practices that will help you accomplish more.
Author Bio:
Chris Bailey, a graduate of Carleton University in Ottawa, wrote over 216,000 words on the subject of productivity on his blog, ayearofproductivity.com, during a year long productivity project where he conducted intensive research, as well as dozens of productivity experiments on himself to discover how to become as productive as possible.
To date, he has written hundreds of articles on the subject, and has garnered coverage in media as diverse as The New York Times, The Huffington Post, New York magazine, TED, Fast Company, and Lifehacker.
Author Chris Bailey.
Lessons:
1) Identify Your 3 Most Important Tasks
“That may seem like an arbitrary number on the surface, but it’s large enough to fit the main things you want to accomplish, and small enough to make you think hard about what’s important. ”
Author Chris Bailey writes that the Rule of 3 is “the absolute best technique I’ve found to work deliberately and with intention.” And the good news is that this technique is super easy to implement.
At the beginning of each day, ask yourself “If I could only accomplish three things today, what would they be?” Do the same at the beginning of each week.
That’s it.
This technique will give you direction as to what important tasks need to be completed and will keep you from getting distracted.
Here’s an example of my 3 goals:
Today:
Edit and publish a new article for Alex and Books
Go to the gym to lift weights
Watch Joe Rogan Podcast with Elon Musk (Highly recommend watching)
This Week:
Create, publish and edit a new YouTube video
Invite close friends over and catch up with everyone
Finish reading “Tribe of Mentors” by Tim Ferriss
The goals should be simple, clear, and aligned with your values. Also, it doesn’t have to be all work goals. It’s called work-life for a reason. Make sure you include things like spending time with friends, family or your significant other.
Now why is it called the Rule of 3 and not the Rule of 2 or 5?
It’s because brains are trained early on to think in threes: the beginning, middle and end; the three bears; the three musketeers; gold, silver and bronze; our minds are wired to think in groups of threes.
Try to make this a daily ritual before you go to sleep each night. I find this works best on a calendar or you can also do it on your phone. At the end of each day and week, reflect on how realistic your three goals were.
Were they too small and easy? Or were they too large and intimidating? Reflecting on your goals and accomplishments will help you become better at using the Rule of 3 and will make you more productive than ever before.
2) Identify Procrastination Triggers
“The reasons you feel so much less mental resistance to watching Netflix than you do with doing your taxes is Netflix is far less boring, frustrating, and difficult, and it’s more stimulating and structured. Because watching Netflix has almost no procrastination triggers, we don’t put it off. ”
Procrastination is human. Simply put, the more unattractive a task or project is to you, the more likely you are to put it off. There are 6 main triggers that lead to procrastination:
Boring
Frustrating
Difficult
Unstructured or ambiguous
Lacking in personal meaning
Lacking in intrinsic rewards (i.e. it’s not engaging)
The more of these attributes a task has, the less attractive it becomes and the more likely you are to procrastinate.
For example, doing your taxes likely hits at least half of these triggers. That’s probably why about 7 million taxpayers fail to file their taxes on time each year.
Here are a few ways the author fights back against these procrastination triggers:
Boring: Go to my favorite cafe and have a fancy drink while working.
Frustrating: Work for 30 minutes then take a break.
Difficult: Research ways to make the work easier.
Unstructured or ambiguous: Make a detailed plan that lists very next steps needed to finish the task.
Lacking in personal meaning: Think about how this tasks will benefit you.
Lacking in intrinsic rewards: Reward yourself $5 to spend on anything for every 30 minutes of work.
Bailey finishes the chapter by saying that readers should also be aware of the costs of not doing the thing they are procrastinating. Not doing a project will lower your GPA, not doing your taxes will result in fines, etc.
Also keep in mind that every task, no matter how intimidating, can be broken down into smaller ones, which makes it a lot easier to get started. Cleaning an entire basement can be daunting, but cleaning one-tenth of it can be easy.
So remember to ask yourself why you are procrastinating, find out your procrastination trigger, and look for ways to flip that trigger and get started on the task.
3) Have A Maintenance Day
“My Maintenance Day ritual is incredibly simple, and incredibly powerful: throughout the week, I simply collect all of my low-return maintenance tasks on a list–everything from going grocery shopping to cutting my nails–and instead of doing them throughout the week, I do them all at once.”
Similarly to the Rule of 3, this productivity technique is easy to do and very beneficial to your life. You simply collect a list of little household chores, errands, and tasks, and do them all in one day.
This can include:
Grocery shopping
Meal prepping
Trimming beard and shaving
Cutting nails
Doing laundry
Watering plants
Reviewing Rule of 3 goals
Cleaning the bathroom
Vacuuming the house
To make it even easier, you can perform your maintenance tasks while listening to music or a podcast. For me, my maintenance day is usually Saturday mornings. I like to get all of these small tasks out of the way so I can enjoy my weekend and get a fresh start for the new week.
4) Have A Brain Dump
“To summarize decades’ worth of complex neurological research in one sentence, our brains are built for solving problems, connecting dots, and forming new ideas–not for holding on to information that we can simply externalize.
”
Through his research, Bailey concludes that the brain isn’t meant to store information but rather it’s meant to solve problems. Think about it, people would rather write down phone numbers on paper or save it on their phone rather than memorize the contact info of all of their friends and family members.
Readers should apply the same method to their work. A few simple examples include:
Making a to-do list to get the information out of your brain and onto paper to give your brain more room to solve problems
Putting appointments and meetings on calendars so you don’t have to memorize the person, place and time of the event
Writing down the grocery list so you don’t forget to buy the things you needed
This is what Bailey calls a “Brain Dump.” Write down all of the things that you need to get done, it can be on a notepad, phone, or laptop. And if something new pops into your head during the day, add it to your list. Instead of memorizing that you need to buy milk, eggs and paper towels after work, just write it down to remind yourself. Your head is not for holding ideas–it’s for having ideas and solving problems.
By externalizing your tasks and writing them down, you’ll free up mental space, get organized, reduce stress and increase your focus on important tasks.
5) Multitasking Is A Myth
“Unless you’re doing totally mindless work...your brain is simply not built to focus on more than one thing at once. In fact, your brain can’t focus on two things simultaneously–instead it rapidly switches between them, which creates the illusion that you’re doing more than one thing at a time.
”
Here’s a counterintuitive truth people need to understand, just you feel productive doesn’t mean you are–and the opposite is often true. Multitasking may make you feel like you’re completing four tasks at once, but the truth is the brain doesn’t work that way.
What is actually happening, is that your brain is rapidly switching between each task which creates the illusion of doing more than one thing. The only exception where multitasking works is if the other task requires very little attention. Such as doing chores and listening to music or watching a movie and eating.
Bailey points out that several research studies all come to the same conclusion: multitasking actually makes people less productive, more prone to errors and takes longer because it costs time and attention to switch between tasks.
However, when you only do one thing at a time, you give your work the attention it deserves.
Think about it, when you finished a project or assignment that did really well, you were likely completely focused on it and not listening to music, texting a friend, watching YouTube videos and working on the project at the same time.
This can be a difficult habit to develop because of all the external stimuli in the world: social media, text notifications, emails, and other things that try to steal your attention, but remember when you invest all your attention to one task, you’ll be able to accomplish a lot more in a shorter amount of time.
Make a conscious effort to push back against a wandering mind and continually bring your attention back to your most important activity. This will actually strengthen your attention muscle over time and help you control your brain instead of it being the other way around.
Conclusion:
This is one of the best books about productivity books that I’ve read for two reasons. First, the author has put in a lot of research and talked to several experts in the field and secondly, he has a Tim Ferriss-like style where he actually performs the experiments on himself to test the research.
The author also starts each chapter with a takeaway and ends with a summary and actionable item for the reader. Both are extremely helpful to readers and make it easier to absorb the important information found in the chapter.
The book is less than 300 pages and can be read in two or three days since it is told as a story rather than a textbook style work. If you’re looking to become more productive, I’d highly recommend reading this book. And make sure to apply what you learn!
Rating: 5/5 Stars
You can get the book here or by clicking on the image below.
If you've enjoyed "The Productivity Project" or are looking for another book about productivity, I highly recommend reading "The ONE Thing: The Surprisingly Simple Truth Behind Extraordinary Results" by Gary Keller & Jay Papasan.
For literally 5 bucks and a few hours of time, a book will give you an enormous amount of valuable information that can help you in life. It’s practically highway-robbery. So take advantage of this and read as much as you can.
If you want to check out my list of recommended books, you can find that here.
If you enjoyed this article, consider supporting our site or signing up for our monthly newsletter. Thank you!
"Discipline Equals Freedom" by Jocko Willink
Life advice and thoughts from Jocko Willink–a 20 year Navy SEAL veteran turned business consultant and podcaster.
This manual will tell it to you straight, it cares only about making you better.
Book Summary:
“Discipline Equals Freedom: A Field Manual” by Jocko Willink is unlike any motivational or self-improvement book I’ve read. This manual will tell it to you straight–it doesn’t care about your feelings or about making you feel good. It cares only about making you better. Jocko doesn’t waste time talking nonsense or using filler words, he gets to the point and then moves on.
This book covers strategies and tactics for conquering weakness, procrastination, and fear, and specific physical training workouts for beginner, intermediate, and advanced athletes, and even the best sleep habits and food intake recommended to optimize performance.
Within these pages, readers will discover the keys to becoming stronger, smarter, faster, and healthier. There is only one way to achieve true freedom: The Way of Discipline. Read this book and find The Way.
Author Jocko Willink at TEDx. He gave an awesome talk, you can watch it here.
Author Bio:
JOCKO WILLINK is a decorated retired Navy SEAL officer, author of the book Extreme Ownership: How U.S. Navy SEALs Lead and Win, and co-founder of Echelon Front, where he is a leadership instructor, speaker, and executive coach. Jocko spent 20 years in the U.S. Navy SEAL Teams, starting as an enlisted SEAL and rising through the ranks to become a SEAL officer.
As commander of SEAL Team Three's Task Unit Bruiser during the battle of Ramadi, he orchestrated SEAL operations that helped the "Ready First" Brigade of the US Army's First Armored Division bring stability to the violent, war-torn city. Task Unit Bruiser became the most highly decorated Special Operations Unit of the Iraq War.
During his career, Jocko was awarded the Silver Star, the Bronze Star, and numerous other personal and unit awards. In 2010, Jocko retired from the Navy and launched Echelon Front where he teaches the leadership principles he learned on the battlefield to help others lead and win.
Lessons:
1) Discipline Equals Freedom
The title of this book is also one of its most important lessons. It may seem like a contradiction at first, but having more discipline in your life will give you more freedom.
When you have discipline, you don’t let outside factors influence your life. You will be in control of your life, not your impulses, addictions or anything else.
For example:
If you want financial freedom, you have to have financial discipline.
If you want more free time, you have to follow a disciplined schedule.
If you want to have high levels of energy and be free to go hiking or rock climbing, you need to have the discipline to eat a healthy diet.
So discipline is good, but where do you get it?
Discipline comes from within. Sure you can have someone like a drill instructor or coach force discipline on you, but that will go away once the person leaves. Instead, you need self-discipline. You need to create a fire inside you that won’t go out.
Now you might be asking, “How do I do that?”
The answer is simple. Every action you take, gives you a chance at building self-discipline.
Do you eat an apple or chocolate bar for a snack?
Do you go to the gym or stay home and watch TV?
Do you read a book before bed or do you scroll through social media?
Every decision you take, gives you a chance to build your self-discipline muscle.
2) Sugarcoated lies
Don't fall for the lies (source).
This is one of my favorite lessons and it has reached meme status on the internet.
Jocko writes about how sweet and soft donuts can be and how a lot of the time they are free. Birthday celebrations, office parties, free breakfast Fridays, free donuts are everywhere.
So if someone offers you a nice sugary donut for free, it’s basically a sign from the universe that you should eat it right?
Wrong. Dead wrong.
Jocko says that donuts aren’t food. They are poison.
It’s the same with chocolate chip cookies, cake, soda...all junk food is JUNK. It doesn’t fuel you, it literally kills you. One bite at a time.
Think about it. You get a short ‘high’ feeling, but junk food won’t help you get stronger, faster, smarter, healthier or in any way better in life.
You don’t need junk food in your life. It will tempt you, but remember, these are SUGAR COATED LIES. Use your self-discipline to say NO to junk food.
3) GOOD Mindset
How does Jocko deal with a setback, failure or defeat?
Simple, he says the word “Good.”
Jocko tells a story of when he was in the SEAL teams and one of the younger guys came to Jocko to tell him about a problem or issue, and Jocko would just say to him: “Good.”
This happened a couple of times, but then one day as the young soldier was telling Jocko about a problem, and he said “I already know what you’re going to tell me.”
So Jocko asked, “What am I going to say?”
And the young soldier replied, “You’re going to say good. That’s what you always say.”
Jocko said “Well I mean it.”
Mission got cancelled? Good. We can focus on another one.
Didn’t get the new high-speed gear we wanted? Good. We can keep it simple.
Didn't get promoted? Good. More time to get better.
Didn’t get funded? Good. We own more of the company.
Got injured? Good. Needed a break from training.
That’s it says Jocko. When things go bad, don’t get frustrated–that won’t do anything–instead say “Good.”
Jocko makes a distinction to say that being positive is better than being negative, but that still isn’t enough to solve the problem. What will solve the problem, is action.
So whatever you may be going through, if you can say the word “Good,” then guess what? It means you’re still alive and you still have the energy to fight and make things better.
“So get up, dust off, reload, recalibrate, re-engage–and go out on the attack. ”
Conclusion:
This book doesn’t have any secrets to life, but that’s the point. THERE ARE NO SECRETS or SHORTCUTS. It’s just hard work, day-in and day-out.
The entire book is also in black and white, perhaps to convey the fact that the world isn’t all sunshine and rainbows. I believe it’s also to show that there is darkness and light in the world, and it’s up to you to decide which one you will follow.
People already know a lot of lessons in this book, such as work out often and don’t eat sugar, but when it comes from Jocko, there’s a much higher chance of it sticking in your mind. I think part of it is the amount of respect people have for him. This guy wakes up a 4:30 AM every day–even on Christmas and New Years– and works out, and posts a picture on social media as proof for everyone to see.
In the end, readers will have learned at least two valuable lessons from this book. The need to build self-discipline and the need to do. Don’t just read this article and read his book, but go and do. Do the work, do what needs to be done even if you don’t feel like doing it, do what will make you a smarter, stronger and a better person in life. Now, go and GET AFTER IT!
Rating: 5/5 Stars
You can get the book here or by clicking on the image below.
If you enjoyed this book or you're a fan of Jocko, I recommend reading his other book "Extreme Ownership."
For a ten bucks and a few hours of reading, a book will give you an enormous amount of valuable information that can help you in life. It’s practically highway-robbery. So take advantage of this and read as much as you can.
If you want to check out my list of recommended books, you can find that here.
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"Mastering Fear" by Brandon Webb & John Mann
Brandon Webb, an ex-Navy SEAL, pilot, and media CEO draws on his personal experiences to demonstrate how people can master fear in everyday life
Fear is often the obstacle blocking people from success, read this book to learn how to overcome it and achieve a new level of growth
Summary:
"Mastering Fear: A Navy SEAL's Guide" by Brandon Webb and John David Mann is a book aimed mastering the natural instinct of fear. Webb draws on his experience as a Navy SEAL, pilot and media CEO as well as several successful figures to demonstrate how people can overcome fear to reach new levels of success.
For those unfamiliar with the authors: Brandon Webb is a former United States Navy SEAL and was the Head Instructor for SEAL snipers. He was deployed to both Afghanistan and Iraq. After his military career he started a media and e-commerce company that is now worth millions. He is also a New York Times bestselling author and has written several books.
The co-author, John Mann is an award-winning author whose written over 20 books that have been published in more than two dozen languages and sold more than 2 million copies. He’s also built a multi-million dollar business and has worked with Brandon Webb on several of his book.
Authors Brandon Webb and John David Mann.
Lessons:
1) Prepare More Than You Need
“In the course of one season an oak tree will drop thousands of acorns. Why? All it takes to safely reproduce itself and continue to oak species is a single acorn. So what are all those others? Rough drafts.”
When directors film a movie, they spend many hours and sometimes days filming a 1-minute scene over and over again. The same scene can be shot over twenty times, but eventually, only one clip is chosen.
So does this mean that everything else was a waste?
Not at all.
That is what it takes to make a great movie: Practice, practice, practice.
Brandon tells a story of when he was flying with his old flight instructor in a little plane he had just bought. He planned to fly it from Fort Lauderdale to Miami.
Brandon went through all the safety checks and took off. While taking off, something didn’t sound right to him. Something also smelled funny. Brandon then looked down and saw that his leg was soaking wet and fuel was squirting out into the cockpit.
This meant that Brandon and his friend were sitting in a puddle of highly flammable plane fuel in a 50+ year old plane. If even one of the radios decided to spark, Brandon and his co-pilot would be stuck in a cockpit fire.
Brandon writes that part of pilot training is the mastery of contingency plans. This means pilots run dozens or even hundreds of what-if scenarios: What to do if an engine goes out; if there’s an electrical problem; if communications go down and more.
It took Brandon only a couple of seconds to react, he immediately shut down all electrical systems, the plane was mechanical so it could still fly without it and turned the plane around towards their starting point.
Brandon writes that he didn’t have to spend time thinking about what to do because he had rehearsed this situation several times.
The same thing was done during the Osama bin Laden raid. When one of the helicopters crashed during the mission, the SEALs had planned and practiced what to do in case such a situation happens.
They had timed the mission to exactly 40 minutes, and during the actual operation, they got in and out in 38 minutes.
When you prepare more than you need and rehearse worst-case scenarios, you get one step closer to mastering fear.
The helicopter that crashed during the bin Laden raid. The SEALs still completed the mission ahead of time because of their countless hours of practice.
2) True Safety is an Illusion
“Fear is awareness of danger, right? And naturally, you want to keep yourself safe, correct? Ah, but that’s a trap! And within that trap is a secret, one that might be uncomfortable to hear but will liberate you if you let it: You’re never safe.
”
Everyone has a natural impulse for self-preservation. Fear makes us believe danger is right around the corner and we should do everything possible to protect ourselves from it. However, this isn’t possible.
There is no such thing as absolute safety. And if you try to live life as safely as possible, you’ll never really live.
Webb recalls the 2017 NYC terrorist truck attack that plowed down joggers and pedestrians and killed eight people. Webb points out that he lives just a few blocks from there and he could have been walking his dog that day. One second he could have been on the phone and hanging out with his dog, and the next boom! He’s gone.
It doesn’t even have to be a terrorist attack, people get hit by distracted drivers all the time. There are a million different ways a person’s life can end just by leaving their house.
At the end of the day, humans have no genuine control over the outcome, we all end up in the ground eventually. This doesn’t mean you don’t look both ways when crossing the street, but it does mean staying home because you’re afraid of crossing the street isn’t the solution.
“Every great gain, for humanity as a whole or for you or me in our own lives, has come about only through risk.
”
Brandon Webb with one of his planes.
3) Trust Your Gut and Jump
“Sometimes when it comes time to jump, even though you may feel the universe giving you a nudge in the ass, the world around you may be shouting at you that you’re wrong, you’re not ready, you can’t do it. Sometimes the world is right. Sometimes, though, it’s wrong. That’s a judgment call that only you can make.
”
A lot of times in life people find themselves in a situation where they know what they have to do and it feels like the universe is telling them to do it, but the people around them may try to stop them. This is why it’s important to trust your gut and jump when things feel right.
Brandon tells the story of a young mechanic named Douglas Corrigan who was inspired to fly after Charles Lindbergh flew his plane across the Atlantic. Lindbergh became an American hero and became Time magazine’s first “person of the year.”
Douglas Corrigan, on the other hand, worked for the company that built Lindbergh’s plane. He too wanted to fly solo across the Atlantic. However, the young man faced many problems. For one, he didn’t have a plane. He also didn’t have a pilot’s license or money.
So he worked on getting his license and then started working as a pilot taking people up for rides. He saved up his earnings and eventually bought himself a little plane.
Once he had his plane, he asked the Bureau of Air Commerce to approve his trip from New York to Ireland. However, they said his plane wasn’t in proper condition for the flight and denied him.
So Corrigan worked on his plane and applied again. Once again he got denied. He went on to apply five more times and got turned down each time.
But that didn’t stop Douglas Corrigan.
On July 1938, Corrigan was approved for a flight from New York to California. Except that he flew in the other direction, ‘accidentally’ of course.
Eight hours later he landed in Dublin. When flight officials questioned him, he said he must have misread his compass and simply flown in the wrong direction. When Corrigan returned to New York he was greeted as a hero and the New York Post printed a giant headline saying “HAIL TO WRONG WAY CORRIGAN!”
Corrigan is a great example of someone trusting their gut, ignoring fear and naysayers, and taking the jump into greatness. And as it turns out, Brandon Webb is actually related Douglas Corrigan (he was his great-grandmother’s cousin).
Conclusion:
"Mastering Fear: A Navy SEAL's Guide" by Brandon Webb and John Mann went above and beyond my expectations. The authors have done an excellent job with this book. Webb outlines the five steps needed to master fear and gives examples that demonstrate each step. He finishes each chapter with practice points that gives readers actionable advice and tips.
Webb does a wonderful job drawing on his combat, business, and personal experiences to illustrate his lessons and keep readers hooked. Fear will always be a part of our lives, heck it’s even part of Webb’s life and he’s a former US Navy SEAL, that is why it’s important to understand the tactics needed to overcome it.
This book is a must-read a manual to mastering fear. Each and every one of us is able to grow as a person and achieve more than we ever thought possible by triumphing over fear.
Rating: 5/5 Stars
You can get the book here or by clicking on the image below.
If you liked "Mastering Fear" or are interested in learning about Navy SEALs and Brandon Webb's life, I recommend the two books below.
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"This Way for the Gas, Ladies and Gentlemen" by Tadeusz Borowski
180 Pages
A series of short stories based on Tadeusz Borowski’s experience in the Nazi concentration camps
Step into the shoes of not just one, but multiple prisoners as well as S.S. guards in this masterpiece of literature
Summary:
“This Way for the Gas, Ladies and Gentlemen” by Tadeusz Borowski is a series of short stories based on Borowski’s personal experience in the Nazi concentration camps.
Tadeusz Borowski was born in Ukraine to Polish parents and was imprisoned in Auschwitz and Dachau from 1943 to 1945. He was arrested in April 1943 and was held in the Pawiak prison, Auschwitz, Dautmergen-Natzweiler, and finally the Dachau-Allach camp, which was liberated by the US Army in May 1945.
While much of his pre-war work was comprised of poetry, his subsequent works detailing life in concentration camps were written in prose.
His most famous work, a series of short stories called Farewell to Maria, was given the English title “This Way for the Gas, Ladies and Gentleman”. He published the book in Poland after the Second World War and since then, the stories have been classified as a masterwork of literature.
Borowski committed suicide in 1951, at the age of 28.
Author Tadeusz Borowski.
Lessons:
1) Hope Is A Double-Edged Sword
“It is hope that breaks down family ties, makes mothers renounce their children, or wives sell their bodies for bread, or husbands to kill. It is hope that compels a man to hold on to one more day of life, because that day may be the day of liberation.”
Borowski writes that although the prisoners were aware they were living in hell, they longed for a better world and hung on to that idea. Hope helped many prisoners hang out to life and not quit even though they didn’t know if they’d ever make it out of the concentration camps.
That hope is also what made wives sell their bodies for bread and husbands to kill; because they believed tomorrow may be the day of liberation.
However, Borowski says that hope had a dark side.
People didn’t want to give up hope when they’ve heard most people would end up in the gas chambers. Even while walking with hundreds of others towards the chambers, people still believed they were going someplace else other than the gas chambers.
They weren’t.
Hundreds, and later on thousands, of people, were sent to the gas chambers to be killed every hour. At its peak, Auschwitz alone killed 2,000-3,000 people every hour.
“It is camp law: people going to their death must be deceived to the very end” (pg 37) writes Borowski.
The majority of those people never rebelled, never attempted escape, and never fought back. They hoped for a better tomorrow, but for many, it never came.
Prisoners at the Dachau concentration camp. Borowski was held here and at Auschwitz.
2) Nazis Ran Concentration Camps Like An Assembly Line
“A number tattooed on it to save on dog tags, with just enough sleep at night to work during the day, and just enough time to eat. And just enough food so it will not die wastefully.
”
As Borowski writes, prisoners were given tattoos instead of dog tags to save money and got just enough sleep and food to survive. Everything was done in an assembly line method to maximize efficiency. The Nazis applied this strategy in the worst way possible, to kill as many people as efficiently as possible.
The Nazis rallied Jews and other ‘lesser races’ into train carts and shipped them to concentration camps. They overfilled the carts on purpose because if the people died from heat exhaustion or suffocation, it contrinbuted to their final goal.
Once at the camps, people were advised to leave their luggage in the correct pile. This way the Nazis didn’t have to spend time organizing the items. The prisoners were split up into two groups, those that could work and those that couldn’t.
The non-workers were told they were going to take a ‘shower’ and asked to undress and put their clothing and personal belongings in a pile. Again, it was easier for the guards to have the prisoners organize their own items than it would have been for the guards to organize the items from each dead prisoner.
The prisoners were collectively gassed and for maximum efficiency, furnaces were built in the same building as the gas chambers so bodies would not have to be carried far for disposal.
The Nazis then used the ashes to “fertilize the fields or fill in the ponds” (pg 131). Then, the process started over again.
Prisoners sort their belongings before being led to the gas chambers.
3) Nazi Guards Were Blind To Their Actions
““O Gott, mein Gott, was hab’ ich getan, dass ich so leiden muss?”, which means–O God, my God, what have I done to deserve such suffering?
”
This quote is from the story “The Death of Schillinger” who was the chief commander of Auschwitz. In the story, new prisoners are told to strip naked, including the women. One attractive naked woman caught the eye of Schillinger and he took her hand in hopes of having his way with her.
However, the woman grabs a handful of gravel and throws it in his face. Schillinger cries out in pain and drops his revolver; the woman then picks it up and fires several shots into him.
The entire crowd of naked prisoners goes wild and the S.S. guards beat the prisoners with clubs and drive them into the gas chambers. They then lock the doors and yell at the other guards to administer the gas.
The guards then go back to Schillinger and carry him to a car. As they are doing so, Schillinger is asking God what he did to deserve such suffering.
The story ends with the narrator talking about a prisoner revolt that occurred not too long ago. The prisoners managed to cut the barbed-wire fence and attempted to escape the camp, but the S.S. guards turned on the machine guns and killed every person without exception.
The guards that worked in these camps never thought that they were doing anything wrong. Stealing, raping and killing people became normal for the Nazis. They believed they were doing the right thing and that they didn’t deserve to get attacked by prisoners, even when they were on the edge of death.
Borowski sums it up quite well, “That man didn’t understand even to the very end...What strange irony of fate.”
Concentration camp prisoners at Dachau.
Conclusion:
“This Way for the Gas, Ladies and Gentlemen” by Tadeusz Borowski is a hard book to talk or even write about. Although the book is technically fiction, it is with no doubt based on Borowski’s personal experience in the concentration camps.
He spent two years there and saw unimaginable horrors. Children taken from mothers and led to gas chambers, young women being raped, men murdering one another, and more. Borowski manages to transport readers into the shoes of not just one Auschwitz prisoner, but many.
That is what makes this book so challenging to read. It’s only 180 pages but it took me two weeks to read. Why would anyone want to put themselves in such a horrible place?
I think it’s to remember what occurred in the past and to make sure these horrors are never repeated. Yes, reading the book is hard, but think about how hard life was for camp prisoners. Reading this book will give you a better understanding of what happened in the camps and will make you a hundred times more grateful for the life you have now.
Read it. Remember it. And make sure it never happens again.
Rating: 5/5 stars
If you’re interested in reading this book, click here or on the image below.
If you liked “This Way for the Gas, Ladies and Gentlemen” I'd recommend reading "Man’s Search for Meaning" by Viktor Frankl.
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"The Aquariums of Pyongyang" by Chol-Hwan & Rigoulot
Pages: 238
For: People interested in learning about life in North Korea, concentration camps, and stories of survival
Lesson: Learn how one man spent ten years in a North Korean concentration camp, escaped and lived to tell his story
Summary:
“The Aquariums of Pyongyang” by Kang Chol-hwan and Pierre Rigoulot is a memoir that reveals the truth about North Korea’s concentration camps, government and life inside the hermit kingdom.
Author Chol-hwan was born in 1968 in Pyongyang, North Korea. At age 9, he was sent, along with his family, to Yodok Concentration Camp after his grandfather was accused of treason. He spent 10 years in the prison camp. Inside, he suffered from brutal living conditions, starvation and hard labor. To survive he had to eat whatever he could, including rats, insects and worms. As a child at camp, he witnessed unimaginable horrors and saw both children and adults die from work accidents and public executions.
After being released, Mr. Kang was suspected of illegally listening to South Korean radio stations and decided to escape to North Korea. He crossed into China in 1992 and eventually reached South Korea. In 2000, he published the autobiographical “The Aquariums of Pyongyang.”
Pierre Rigoulot is a journalist, historian, and human rights activist. He is the author of numerous books on the history of political repression and contributed the North Korean chapter to the bestselling “The Black Book of Communism.”
Authors Kang Chol-hwan (left) and Pierre Rigoulot.
1) North Korea is filled with police, Informants & surveillance
“In North Korea, a country of 22 million, the police survey every aspect of the citizenry’s life. No travel without authorization. No news that’s not vetted first. A single, mandated ideology, exalting self-sufficiency–even when calling for international aid. Extensive prisons and camps scattered throughout the country. Its economy, modeled after Stalin’s Soviet Union–controlled, centralized, collectivized.”
When I read this quote, “The Gulag Archipelago” by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn popped into my mind, and it turns out these two books have a lot in common. Both authors talk about the constant state of surveillance and policing in their countries.
Chol-hwan writes that “Since North Korea has always maintained that war is imminent and that enemies are everywhere...little surprise, then, that our school buildings were under twenty-four-hour surveillance” (pg 64).
Even after being released from the concentration camp, Chol-hwan and his family were constantly being watched, by both security agents and “ubiquitous snitches, who were just as plentiful on the outside as they had been in the camp. Everyone in North Korea, of course, is under surveillance; as for former prisoners, ours was just a little tighter” (pg 162).
Just as in the Soviet Russia where Solzhenitsyn said one in four people were informants, Chol-hwan writes “informants were at every turn. There was no one to confide in, no way to tell who was who” (pg 77). Chol-hwan continues by saying that within a few months, he had developed a sixth sense–a snitched radar if you will.
He also says that prisoners were usually picked for the job of being an informant without being asked for his or her opinion and in most cases, the person is not proud of having that job. It took Chol-hwan some time to realizes that these snitches were more victims of the systems rather than agents of voluntary evil.
Political prison camps throughout North Korea (source).
2) Education in North Korea is Radically different from the West
“Training the revolution’s little soldiers was given first priority. Like students everywhere in the world...we studied arithmetic, drawing, music, performed gymnastics, and so on. But above all, we were taught about the morals of communism and the history of the revolution of Kim Il-Sung and Kim Jong-il.”
In addition to learning about communism and the history of the revolution, Chol-Hwan and his classmates were demanded to learn ‘important dates’ such as on what hour and day their leader was born and which speeches he gave on certain dates.
Chol-hwan and his friends were taught that “Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-il were perfect beings, untarnished by any base human function.” He goes on to say that “I was convinced, as we all were, that neither of them urinated or defecated” (pg 3).
“I had been made to believe–and indeed wanted to believe–that the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea was the best country in the world. I looked up to Kim Il-sung as a god.”
For afterschool activities, students could join the Pupil’s Red Army, where students were given fake machine guns and learned how to form ranks and march. In high school, students were taught how to hide from enemy planes, memorized emergency air-raid instructions and how to steer the population to the nearest air-raid station.
However, once Chol-hwan entered the concentration camps, things got much worse. Teachers often beat the students for almost any reason. One teacher, sometimes punished his students by making them stand naked in the courtyard all day with their hands behind their backs. Another form of punishment was latrine duty where students had to empty and clean the septic tanks for a week.
Chol-hwan remembers an event when an instructor beat up a student so savagely that the student wobbled when he tried to stand up and fell into a septic tank. The student was so weak after being punched and kicked by the instructor, that he couldn’t get out of the tank. None of the students helped the poor kid, and after a long struggle, the student finally managed to crawl out. However, even when he got out, no one came to help him wash up or bandage his wounds. A few days later the student died.
When the student’s mother came to see the teacher, the teacher replied by saying her son deserved the punishment he got and that he wasn’t responsible for the child's death. Chol-hwan remembers that same teacher saying “Since your parents are counter-revolutionaries, they deserve to die, and you, their children, along with them” (pg 68).
Chol-hwan meets to President George W. Bush to discuss human rights abuses in North Korea.
3) A Strong Will Is Needed To Survive The Camps
“The key was to take advantage of the fall, when fruit and vegetables could still be found, to consume like bears in hibernation, eating enough to get through winter and fight through spring. That’s the most important thing I learned in school.”
Chol-hwan goes on to say that he didn’t learn that from his teachers, but rather from his fellow students, some of whom had been in the camp for close to three years. They also told him that to survive, he should steal corn and soybeans during the fall and save them for winter and spring.
The author and his classmates would eat whatever they could find in the camps. This included frogs and their eggs, salamanders, and rats...lots of rats. Since they reproduced so quickly, rats were the only food product in the camp that was never in short supply.
Chol-hwan writes that fighting malnutrition was more punishing than mistreatment by the guards, likely because guards would strike fast and quick while hunger was slow and lasted for days if not weeks.
To survive in the camps, Chol-hwan had to develop a strong will to live. He says that the more he rubbed shoulders with death, “the more I desired to stay alive, no matter the cost” (pg 103). He adds that he developed “a savage will to live” and although he was faced with constant hunger, cruelty from the guards and horrendous work conditions, his desire to live remained strong and he went on to survive life in the camp.
4) Corruption is rampant in North Korea
“North Korea is a total sham. Officially, it outlaws private business, but in the shadows it lets it thrive. Since there are hardly any markets, merchants warehouse their Chinese products at home and sell them to their neighbors and acquaintances. This farce is the only thing preventing the bankruptcy of the North Korean state and the pauperization of its citizenry.”
Throughout the book, Chol-hwan gives several examples of corruption in North Korea and how both residents and government authorities turn a blind eye to the matter.
When Chol-hwan’s family members from Japan came to visit North Korea, the government would have Security Force agents monitor the family to make sure no mention of the camps were made. However, Chol-hwan writes that if he wanted to have a private discussion, he “only needed to give the agent a little money to go for a walk” (pg 181).
Chol-hwan even had a connection with a certain Security Force agent that “usually took care of my bureaucratic needs in exchange for gifts and loans”. He goes on to say that the agents enjoyed sending people back to the camps and that “Gifts were the only way to keep the agents at bay, and by this point the gifts had to be both lavish and plentiful” (pg 184).
Not only could gifts buy agents, it could also buy judges.
Chol-hwan’s friend once ran over a group of soldiers while speeding in a car going 70 mph. He was then arrested and sentenced to death but was released after serving three months in prison. Chol-hwan writes that with the aid of refrigerators, color televisions, and large envelopes of cash, his friend was able to bribe the judge and get the case dismissed.
Chol-hwan talks about his time in North Korea's gulags.
5) Even concentration camps can be somewhat nostalgic
“I think I was actually afraid of leaving that place, of no longer seeing those mountain ridges all around me. Deep down, I had come to love them. They had been the bars of my prison and the framework of my life. They were my suffering and my being, bound indissolubly together.”
This was one of the most shocking parts of the book. In all of the books I’ve read about concentration and POWs camps, no one said they felt sad about leaving the camp. But for Chol-hwan I think it was different because he literally grew up in the Yodok concentration camp. He was sent to the camp at 9 years old and spent 10 years of his life there.
The camp contained many of his childhood memories.
He goes on to write, “My most poignant memories were attached to the place where I had suffered the most. It was a strange, complicated feeling, for Yodok was still a hellish, inhuman place” (pg 159).
Upon further contemplation, Chol-hwan identifies that “the day-to-day struggle for life at camp number 15 was no cause for nostalgic sentimentality” but “I was going to miss the places, the people, the friendships, the shared moments” (pg 159).
BONUS: North Korea’s National Soccer Team Was Sent To Camps
The 1966 North Korean soccer team.
Yes, you read that right.
Chol-hwan writes that he met Park Seung-jin–a North Korean soccer player who played in the 1966 FIFA World Cup–at the Yodok concentration who told him the story of the 1966 World Cup in England.
At the tournament, the North Korean team won 1-0 against Italy and the players went out on a wild drinking binge to celebrate their victory. The players drank long into the night and were seen out in public with some girls.
Two days later, the team hadn’t fully recovered and lost 5-3 to Portugal.
Upon arriving in Korea, the whole team–except for one player who was sick and stayed in the hotel that night–was sent to the camps. Chol-hwan writes that by the time he arrived at Yodok, the former soccer player had already been there almost twelve years.
The worst part is that he was still there when Chol-hwan left the camp. Meaning he was in a concentration camp for over 20 years. That’s 240 months of hell for losing one soccer game...
Conclusion:
“The Aquariums of Pyongyang” (2001) by Chol-Hwan and Rigoulot is an incredibly insightful book that reveals the truth about life in North Korea and its concentration camps. Overall, this book is packed with interesting stories and lessons. It’s well-written and the 230 or so pages fly by. There aren’t any dull moments and the author even manages to sprinkle humor throughout the book.
One of the most mind-numbing parts of this book is that the author was sent to the camps as a child and spent ten years of his life there. He literally grew up in the camps.
Most of us have fond memories of our childhood home, playing with kids in the neighborhood and going to school. Chol-Hwan had the same experiences, but his childhood took place in the Yodok concentration camp of North Korea.
Although I’ve read other books about concentration camps, this book offered new insights and a unique look into life in North Korea and how the state functions. The book also teaches readers how propaganda, education, and surveillance are all controlled by the state and used to keep North Korean leaders in power. Readers will also learn about the extreme corruption and poverty in the country.
Concentration camps are a horrible creation. Whether it is a Nazi, Soviet, or North Korean camp, it should not exist. I’m not suggesting we go fly to North Korea to protest or go to war with the country, but as Chol-Hwan writes in his book, the first thing we can all do is educate ourselves about the truth of North Korea and spread the facts about the country to as many people as possible.
People can also help by supporting Chol-hwan’s charity North Korea Strategy Center, that’s focused on providing a platform for North Korean voices. Their programs empower North Koreans within the country with access to information, while supporting defectors outside of North Korea with leadership development programs and international support networks.
Rating: 5/5 stars
If you're interested in getting the book, click on the book below!
- Book: “The Aquariums of Pyongyang”
- Pages: 238
- For: People interested in learning about life in North Korea, concentration camps, and stories of survival
- Lesson: Learn how one man spent ten years in a North Korean concentration camp, escaped and lived to tell his story
If you enjoyed "The Aquariums of Pyongyang" I recommend reading "The Forgotten Highlander" by Alistair Urquhart. Click on the book below to learn more.
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"The Power of Myth" by Joseph Campbell
Pages: 293
For: People that are interested in history, myths, religion, and the structure of stories
Lesson: Learn the meaning behind classic myths and symbols
Summary:
“The Power of Myth” by Joseph Campbell with Bill Moyers reveals how the themes and symbols of ancient narratives continue to bring meaning to birth, death, love, and war. From stories of the gods and goddesses of ancient Greece and Rome to traditions of Buddhism, Hinduism, and Christianity, a broad array of themes are considered that together identify the universality of human experience across time and culture.
Based on a six-part PBS television series hosted by Bill Moyers, this classic book is especially compelling because of its engaging question-and-answer format, creating an easy, conversational approach to complicated and esoteric topics.
Joseph Campbell (1904–1987) was an American Professor of Literature at Sarah Lawrence College who worked in comparative mythology and comparative religion. His work covers many aspects of the human experience.
Bill Moyers is an American journalist and political commentator. He served as White House Press Secretary in the Johnson administration from 1965 to 1967. He also worked as a network TV news commentator for ten years.
Bill Moyers (left) discusses mythology with Joseph Campbell.
Lessons:
1) Modern People Can Still Learn A Lot From Myths
“The ancient myths were designed to harmonize the mind and the body. The mind can ramble off in strange ways and want things that the body does not want. The myths and rites were means of putting the mind in accord with the body and the way of life in accord with the way that nature dictates.”
In the 21st century where people have virtual reality, autonomous vehicle, and smartphones, myths seem antique and useless, right?
Perhaps not.
Campbell writes that “Myths are stories of our search through the ages for truth, for meaning, for significance. We all need to understand death and to cope with death, and we all need help in our passages from birth to life and then to death. We need for life to signify, to touch the eternal, to understand the mysterious, to find out who we are” (pg 4).
Myths serve an important role in our lives by teaching us two main lessons: how young people should act in the world and how old people should handle death.
Campbell writes that reading myths teach people to turn inward to understand the message of the symbols. He also advises readers to read other people’s myths, and not just their own religion because people tend to interpret their religion in terms of facts–but if they read other myths, they will begin to understand the message in the story.
Campbell also says that myths are bits of information from ancient times, that have helped support human life, build civilizations, and informed religions over the millennia, and if you don’t know what the guide-signs are along the way, you have to work it out yourself.
It’s important to note that myths are not lies, but rather metaphorical truths. Myths come from realizations of some kind that then find expression in symbolic form.
The sea often represents the unconscious mind. The whale represents the energy of the unconscious which must be controlled. The serpent eating its own tail represents an image of life, one generation must eat the other to survive. The dragon represents one's greatest fear or enemy. The list goes on.
2) The Hero’s Journey AKA The MonoMyth
“The usual hero adventure begins with someone from whom something has been taken, or who feels there’s something lacking in the normal experiences available or permitted to the members of his society. This person takes off on a series of adventures beyond the ordinary, either to recover what has been lost or to discover some life-giving elixir. It’s usually a cycle, a going and a returning.”
Drawing of the hero's journey (source).
Once a person learns about the structure of the hero’s journey, it starts to appear everywhere. Just look at Harry Potter, Luke Skywalker or Hercules. All three felt as if something was lacking in their lives and then go off on a series of adventures. The hero's all get a mentor: Potter has Dumbledore, Luke has Obi-Wan Kenobi, and Hercules has Phil. Each one dies or gets close to dying, but come out stronger than ever before.
Campbell writes that these stories usually happen to characters that are going through puberty and must make the shift from childhood to adulthood. It is essentially a test to make sure the character returns as a wise and responsible adult.
He adds that “In order to found something new, one has to leave the old and go in quest of the seed idea, a germinal idea that will have the potentiality of bringing forth that new thing” (Pg 167).
Myths about the hero’s journey describe the archetypal adventure–the story of a child becoming an adult or awakening the new world that opens at adolescence–to provide people with a model for handling this development.
At the end of Star Wars, Luke has mastered the Force and is now a Jedi. At the end of Harry Potter, Harry has mastered magic and has become a leader. By the end of Hercules, he has found his true strength and has earned a place among the Gods.
3) Reincarnation As A Metaphor
“[Reincarnation] suggests that you are more than you think you are. There are dimensions of your being and a potential for realization and consciousness that are not included in your concept of yourself. Your life is much deeper and broader than you conceive it to be here.”
Campbell believes that people live in terms of depth and that their life is much deeper than they realize. “What you are living is but a fractional inkling of what is really within you,” he writes.
However, to get to the next level, people often have to die. Think of Harry Potter, when Voldemort ‘kills’ Harry and then Harry comes back stronger than before. Or in “The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers” when Gandalf dies and comes back as Gandalf the White.
However, more often than not, the reincarnation is a metaphorical death.
“You don’t have to die, really, physically. All you have to do is die spiritually and be reborn to a larger way of living” (Pg 141).
Think about your own life.
You had to ‘die’ as a child to become an adult. You had to ‘die’ as a High School student to become a college student. Death can take many different forms, but after each one, the person unlocks a new level of consciousness and becomes better equipped to handle themselves in the world.
Author Joseph Campbell.
Conclusion:
“The Power of Myth” (1988) is an eye-opening book that reveals how the symbols of mythology are all around us in the fabric of our daily lives. Once you read this book, you’ll look at movies, books, and even plays differently, because you’ll be able to understand the deeper meaning in the story and how it relates to classic myths.
That being said, this book is very interesting, but it teaches a very specific topic that not many people may want to learn about. Some people may just want to watch a movie to see some action and don’t really care about the meaning of reincarnation when the main character dies and comes back to life. The book does, however in my opinion, have an awesome cover that looks great in your library.
Overall, if you’re enjoy art, film, or theater, I’d recommend reading this book. It’s less than 300 pages long and the interview style of it makes reading it a breeze. I’m reading “The Hero With A Thousand Faces” next, so in my next article I’ll report back to see which book provides more value.
Rating: 4/5 Stars
If you’re interested in reading the book, click here or on the image below!
- Book: “The Power of Myth" by Joseph Campbell with Bill Moyers
- Pages: 293
- For: People that are interested in the symbols found in art, literature and films
- Lesson: Learn the meaning behind classic myths and symbols
If you enjoyed "The Power of Myth" you'll likely reading "The Hero With A Thousand Faces" by Joseph Campbell. Click here or on the image below to get the book!
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Reader freebies:
"The Third Door" by Alex Banayan
Pages: 320
For: Entrepreneurs, college students, people who like inspirational stories, Ferriss fans
Lesson: Learn how the world's most successful people launched their careers
Summary:
“The Third Door: The Wild Quest to Uncover How the World's Most Successful People Launched Their Careers” by Alex Banayan, takes readers on an unprecedented adventure as the author travels around to find legendary icons and discover their secrets of how they broke through and launched their careers.
The author takes readers on a journey of how he chased Larry King in a grocery store, waited in a bathroom to talk to Tim Ferriss, used his network to meet with Bill Gates, and dozens more of the world's most successful people.
Banayan’s story begins with hacking The Price Is Right as a college student and using the prize money to fund his quest to learn from the world's most successful people. Since then, Banayan has been named to Forbes' 30 Under 30 list and Business Insider's Most Powerful People Under 30.
He is now an acclaimed keynote speaker and has presented the Third Door framework to business conferences and corporate leadership teams around the world, including Apple, Nike, Harvard, and others.
Alex Banayan, author of "The Third Door."
Lessons:
1) The Proper Way Cold Call/Email
“I continued emailing Ferriss’ assistant, hoping to get an answer. Business books claimed persistence is the key to success, so I kept writing email after email, sending a total of thirty-one messages. When brief emails didn’t get a response, I sent a nine-paragraph message...But no matter how thoughtfully I tried to word my messages, they fell flat.”
To seek out advice from Tim Ferriss, Alex Banayan emailed Ferriss’ assistant several times but received no response for weeks. Banayan decided he would try to meet Ferriss in person by attending a conference where Ferriss was scheduled to give a speech.
To get the best chance of speaking with Ferriss in person, Banayan looked for the nearest location near the stage, which unfortunately turned out to be the men’s bathroom. Banayan crouched next to the toilet for thirty minutes until he heard applause. Banayan then opened the bathroom door and saw Tim Ferriss right in front of him.
Banayan told Ferriss about his mission of interviewing successful icons and asking them about their journey and Ferriss said it sounded great and he would get back to him in a few days. However, several weeks passed and Banayan hadn’t received any email from Ferriss.
As mentioned in the quote above, Banayan didn’t give up and sent a total of 31 emails, both short and long emails, but none of it worked. Banayan received an email from one of Ferriss’ assistants saying Tim wouldn’t be doing the interview anytime soon, if at all.
But Banayan still didn’t quit and kept emailing Ferriss and his assistants. Then one day, out of the blue, Banayan got an email saying Ferriss was free to do an interview the next day. Much later in life, Banayan learned he had gotten the interview not because of his persistence, but because become an annoyance to Ferriss.
During the phone interview, Ferriss gave subtle hints to Banayan about the fine line between being persistent and being a hassle. Ferriss advised Banayan to keep emails short, avoid sending six emails a week and to put the question right in the email.
He also said to not use phrases such as “You’ll love this because…” and “Thanks in advance!” because the former is superlative, how could you know what someone loves when you don’t know them, and the latter phrase is annoying and entitled.
Instead, use Ferriss’ cold-emailing template:
“Dear So-and-So,
I know you’re really busy and that you get a lot of emails, so this will only take sixty seconds to read.
[Here is where you say who you are: add one or two lines that establish your credibility.]
[Here is where you ask your very specific question.]
I totally understand if you’re too busy to respond, but even a one- or two-line reply would really make my day.
All the best,
Tim”
2) Focus on Your Path, Not Others
“You’re born into the family you’re born into and you’re born into the circumstances you’re born into. So you just have to take what you can from where you’re at and not compare yourself to other people. You have to look at your path and know that whatever got you there, and where you’re going, is unique to you.”
The quote above comes from Jessica Alba–the actress and businesswoman and who started the Honest Company which was recently valued at $1 billion. Alba emphasizes the importance of focusing on your personal path and not comparing yourself to others.
Alba says that it’s easy to get distracted in life and spent time looking at other people, but doing so will delay your chances of getting to your own finish line. This is also important because not everyone is running the same race.
Alba says that if people could choose, almost everyone would want to be a white male in America born into a family that cares about his education. However, that is simply not the case. Alba says that women have a harder time in running the race to becoming successful, but in the end, having faced more obstacles she believes women become skilled in dealing with unfair situations.
There’s a lot of things in life that one cannot control, but one must still work with what they have to the best of their abilities. Spending time yelling that life is unfair or that the person next to you had an easier road to success is a waste of time and energy because, in the end, those things won’t help you move forward with your own journey.
As a college student, Alex Banayan went on The Price Is Right game show and won the grand prize. He used the money to fund his trip to meet successful people around the world.
3) Always Be An Intern
“Buffett is famous for being a long-term value investor and this story shows he treated his career the same way. He could’ve gotten a high-paying job right out of school and made far more money in the short term. But by offering to work for free under Graham, he set himself up to make much more in the long term. Instead of trying to get paid as much as possible in dollars, Buffett chose to get paid in mentorship, expertise, and connections. ”
Decades before Warren Buffett became the legendary investor whose net worth totaled $83 billion, he was a young MBA student who had just graduated from Columbia University. Instead of pursuing a high-paying corporate job, Buffett offered Benjamin Graham, a Wall Street legend, that he’d work for Graham for free.
Graham said no, and Buffett got a job as a stockbroker elsewhere, but Buffett continued to write letters to Graham. Eventually, Graham said he’d give Buffett a job, and Buffett took his wife and child to New York to start the job without even asking if there was a salary.
As the quote says, Buffett is a master when it comes to long-term value and he knew that working under Graham would provide a lot more value in the long run than working at a high-paying corporate job.
Armando Christian Pérez, better known by his rap name Pitbull, is also a big believer in being an intern. As a young artist, Pitbull sought mentorship from Luther Campbell–a successful rapper and entrepreneur.
Even after winning a Grammy and having a number one record, Pitbull remained an intern. Pitbull tells Banayan that he asked Carlos Slim Jr.–the son of prominent businessmen Carlos Slim whose net worth is $59 billion–if he could intern him.
At first, the businessman thought Pitbull was joking, but Pitbull said he wasn’t kidding and he would do whatever he needed, “I don’t have a problem being down here for a month, getting doughnuts, making coffee, I don’t care,” said Pitbull.
Banayan writes that the goal to continued success is to humble yourself enough to learn, even when you’re at the top of the game. “If you want to continue being Mufasa, at the same time you have to keep being Simba” (Pg 237).
Bonus: Use The Third Door Method
The title of Banayan’s book is a metaphor for achieving success in life or business by taking craving your own path. Banayan says that success is like a nightclub and there are always three ways get inside. The First Door is the main entrance where the vast majority of people wait in line, hoping to get in. Then there’s the Second Door. This is the VIP entrance where billionaires, celebrities and the like slip through.
But there is always the Third Door. Banayan says “It’s the entrance where you have to jump out of line, run down the alley, bang on the dor a hundred times, climb over the dumpster, crack open the window, sneak through the kitchen” and get in whatever way you can.
The Third Door is when people decide to take a different path in life and try multiple methods to get inside. Banayan’s book is filled with people who took the Third Door.
Larry King for example, didn’t go to college or even have a resume, but he knew he wanted to be a radio host. So he literally went to radio stations around Miami and knocked on their doors asking for a job. Eventually, a small station gave offered King a job and he jumped on it.
When Banayan was looking for a advice from a successful entrepreneur, he cold-emailed Elliott Bisnow and Bisnow said to meet him in-person. The only problem was that the meeting date was that to make the meeting, Banayan would miss his accounting final. Banayan decided it was worth the risk and Bisnow eventually became Banayan’s mentor and introduced him to several successful figures.
Banayan also talks about how he got to shadow Tony Hsieh, the CEO of Zappos, simply by asking Hsieh at a party. While shadowing Hsieh, one of the employees at Zappos who had worked there for several years told Banayan that he was lucky to have the chance to shadow their CEO. When Banayan asked Hsieh why he doesn’t let Zappos employees shadow him, Hsieh looked blankly and said: “I’d be happy to–but no one ever asks.”
“Everyone has the power to make little choices that can alter their lives forever. You can either choose to follow inertia and continue waiting in line for the First Door, or you can choose to jump out of line, run down the alley, and take the Third Door. We all have that choice.
”
Conclusion:
“The Third Door” (2018) is an absolutely spectacular book. My last post about slave labor camps showed how horrible life and people can be, but this book is the exact opposite. Banayan’s adventure is an incredible story of how he managed to talk and meet with countless successful icons.
To me, this book was like a drug. I stayed up till 2 am reading it the first day, went to sleep, and finished the book that morning. It is filled with a ton of helpful business and life advice, but it’s also a classic hero story of a young kid going on a scary yet rewarding adventure and then returning to share their story with others.
The book is about 300 pages and is densely packed with useful nuggets of valuable information. I’m calling it now, Alex Banayan will likely be the next Tim Ferriss. Now read this book, go out into the world and use the Third Door method!
Rating: 5/5 stars
If you’re interested in reading the book, click here or on the image below!
- Book: “The Third Door" by Alex Banayan
- Pages: 320
- For: Entrepreneurs, college students, people who like inspirational stories, Ferriss fans
- Lesson: Learn how the world's most successful people launched their careers
If you enjoyed "The Third Door" you'll likely also be a fan of "The 4-Hour Workweek" by Tim Ferriss. Click here or on the image below to get the book!
If you enjoyed this article, consider supporting our site or signing up for our monthly newsletter. Thank you!
Reader freebies:
"Total Recall" by Arnold Schwarzenegger
Pages: 646
For: People looking for self-improvement tips, people who love true inspiring stories
Lesson: Learn about Schwarzenegger's incredible life journey and how he became successful in three different careers
Summary:
“Total Recall: My Unbelievably True Life Story” by Arnold Schwarzenegger is an autobiography that covers Schwarzenegger’s three careers and his personal life through the decades.
Schwarzenegger served as governor of California from 2003 to 2011. Before that, he had a long career, starring in such films as the Terminator series; Stay Hungry; Twins; Predator; and Junior. His first book, Arnold: The Education of a Bodybuilder, was a bestseller when published in 1977 and, along with his Encyclopedia of Modern Bodybuilding, has never been out of print since.
The book begins in Austria, where Schwarzenegger was born, and explains why he dreamed of moving to America. By the time he was twenty-one, Schwarzenegger was living in Los Angeles and had been crowned Mr. Universe. Within five years, Schwarzenegger became the greatest bodybuilder in the world and by his thirties, he was a millionaire from his business enterprises in real estate, landscaping, and bodybuilding.
Schwarzenegger then went on to become the world’s biggest movie star, the husband of Maria Shriver of the Kennedy family. After his film career, Schwarzenegger was elected governor of California, the seventh largest economy in the world. He led the state through a budget crisis and natural disasters.
Schwarzenegger raised four fantastic children and in the wake of a scandal he brought upon himself, he tried to keep his family together. This book covers all that and more.
Former California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger poses next to his portrait. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
Lessons:
1) Reps, Reps, Reps
“Writing out my goals became second nature, and so did the conviction that there are no shortcuts. It took hundreds and even thousands of repetitions for me to learn to hit a great three-quarter back pose, deliver a punch line, dance the tango in True Lies, paint a beautiful birthday card, and say “I’ll be back” just the right way. ”
Of the main themes in Schwarzenegger’s book is the importance of reps or repetition. No matter what task or career one chooses, to do an excellent job, one must practice, practice, and practice some more.
Whenever Arnold went to the gym, he would write out his workouts for the day and how many reps had to be performed. After completing each exercise, he marked it with an X to show that it was done. At the end of his workout, he would feel a sense of accomplishment because he would look at the chalkboard or his journal and see it filled with X's.
When Arnold was tasked with giving his first address to the United Nations, he wrote down a tally mark for each time he rehearsed the speech. Just for that one speech, he practiced over 50 times. In his book, Arnold writes that “Whether you’re doing a bicep curl in a chilly gym or talking to world leaders, there are no shortcuts–everything is reps, reps, reps” (page 614).
If someone wants to be a good skier, they have to get out on the slopes and practice skiing. If they want to be a good chess player, they have to play thousands of games. The same goes for acting. Arnold writes that just to film one scene, the crew spent half the day rehearsing. Getting better at anything in life requires reps, reps, reps.
It took Arnold hundreds of reps to get the line "I'll be back" just right.
2) Care For The Body And The Mind
“Some of the earliest advice that stuck in my head was Fredi Gerstl channeling Plato. “The Greeks started the Olympics, but they also gave us the great philosophers,” he would say. “You have to build the ultimate physical machine but also the ultimate of the mind.””
Taking care of the body came easy for Schwarzenegger, but he also wanted to train and grow his mind. Arnold writes that he became like a sponge and absorbed everything around him. “The world became my university, I developed such a need to learn and read and take it all in” (page 617).
And the same is true for people in the opposite setting. If a person has a high level of intelligence, it would benefit them to also exercise the body every day. Arnold notes that both Clint Eastwood–the famous actor and director, and Dmitry Medvedev–the former President of Russia, worked out every day.
Even the Pope, specifically John Paul II, was a big believer in training the mind and the body. Arnold writes that the Pope was known to wake up at five in the morning and did "two hundred push-ups and three hundred sit-ups, all before breakfast and before his workday began” (page 618).
The Pope was a skier too, and he was in his sixties. If he can find time to exercise, so can everyone.
Arnold advises readers to train the body and the mind.
3) The Day Has 24 Hours, Use Them All
“I explained how as a student I’d trained five hours a day, gone to acting classes four hours a day, worked in construction several hours a day, and gone to college and done my homework.”
Arnold Schwarzenegger is a big believer in working hard and spending each hour of the day wisely. While training for bodybuilding competitions, Schwarzenegger worked construction and ran side businesses such as buying real estate and selling fitness handbooks. As an actor, Schwarzenegger took acting and speech classes while continuing his strict workout routine.
This was a man that had an insatiable appetite for success. And once a person reaches a high level of success, they should move on to do it again instead of resting on their laurels.
Schwarzenegger writes that too many accomplished people just coast once they reach a certain level of success. He believes there is always more to be done. As Arnold’s father used to tell him, “Be useful. Do something.”
Schwarzenegger notes that Ted Turner, the founder of CNN, went on to organize the Goodwill Games. Bono, who started out as a musician, founded RED to combat AIDS. Anthony Quinn became a famous movie star but wanted to do more, so he became a painter whose canvases sold for hundreds of thousands of dollars. There's always more that can be done in life.
“You’ll have plenty of time to rest when you’re in the grave. Live a risky life and a spicy life and like Eleanor Roosevelt said, every day do something that scares you. We should all stay hungry.”
Conclusion:
“Total Recall” (2013) is an incredible story about Arnold Schwarzenegger’s life that covers both the struggles and triumphs he faced in bodybuilding, acting and politics. It’s a great American-dream story that shows the true path to becoming successful and what is needed to get there.
Schwarzenegger is an unbelievable person–he achieved success in not just one field, but three. A lot can be learned about his drive and desire to achieve from reading this book. Readers will learn several important lessons such as the need to write down your goals, practice often, be self-disciplined, don’t blame your parents, and train both the mind and body.
And although Schwarzenegger may seem like a machine, he is actually human, and a humble one at that. In the book, he writes about his affair–why he did it and what he learned from his mistake.
Overall, this book gives a fantastic overview of Schwarzenegger’s life: It covers how he was raised, why the wanted to go to America, why he fell in love with bodybuilding, why he wanted to become an actor, and why he went into politics.
Arnold doesn’t hide anything and talks about both the ups and downs during his life journey. He also includes a chapter that highlights his rules for success. And even though he isn’t perfect and had an affair, he is an awesome human being and readers will learn a lot by reading his book.
Now go read this book. Hasta la vista, baby.
Rating: 5/5 stars
If you’re interested in reading the book, click here or on the image below!
- Book: “Total Recall" by Arnold Schwarzenegger
- Pages: 646
- For: People looking for self-improvement tips, people who love true inspiring stories
- Lesson: Learn about Schwarzenegger's incredible life journey and how he became successful in three different careers
If you're looking to get in shape or learn about Arnold's diet during his bodybuilding career, I'd recommend reading "The New Encyclopedia of Modern Bodybuilding."
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