Willpower Doesn’t Work — Benjamin Hardy

Insight: Willpower dependence means that strategic change is needed.

The three years before reading this book were highly productive, but also highly unsustainable. Most of my work got done by making tough commitments and activating my great fear of disappointing people.

Needless to say, these were not my healthiest years. Stress levels were high, sleep quality and quantity were inadequate, and self-destructive binge-eating-binge-watching weekends were far too common.

Then I read Benjamin’s elegant breakdown of why we become so dependent on willpower:

• We’re internally conflicted and uncertain about what we want
• Our reason (our “why”) behind our goals is too weak
• We’re not invested in ourselves and our dreams
• Our environment opposes our goals

These words put me on a new path, starting with a renewed commitment to smart environment design with the aid of our next book.

Atomic Habits — James Clear

Insight: Smart lifestyle design can always be taken to the next level.

A central theme in Atomic Habits is the power of changing our environment so that good actions become attractive and bad ones unattractive. At the time of reading, this principle was already a core part of my life, resulting in 10 years of perfect health and the financial freedom needed to retire at age 34.

But it had been years since I last upgraded my environment. After all, my environment was performing well and I was far too busy to do more. Atomic Habits exposed this error in my mindset.

Inspired by James’ message, I kept finding new ways to add and remove friction in all the right places. As a result, I discovered 100 extra productive hours each month and finally reached (and maintained) my ideal weight.

Thanks to my upgraded environment, I have no doubt that these benefits will last for the rest of my life, offering tremendous compounding gains. Which brings us to the next book…

The Compound Effect — Darren Hardy

Insight: Bookend routines are crucial to activate compounding gains.

Whereas Atomic Habits focuses on the mechanics of forming good habits, The Compound Effect pays more attention to the results of consistently doing the right or the wrong things. Both good and bad actions tend to compound and, when maintained over several years, often lead to extreme outcomes.

The invaluable insight I gained from this book is the essential role of morning and evening routines in unleashing the compound effect. Following this realization, my morning routine has not wavered and, in line with the Atomic Habits philosophy, has seen continuous upgrades into a package I am confident will last for the rest of my days.

Deep Work — Cal Newport

Insight: A deep work environment is worth paying for.

This book makes an excellent case for achieving greater levels of focus in an increasingly distracted world. Cal’s arguments for deep work combined with Benjamin’s insights about willpower finally got me to commit to my dream of sustainable development research with complete creative freedom.

So, in July 2019, I reduced my degree of employment to 60% to free up more time to focus on work I find truly meaningful. To date, this newfound focus allowed me to acquire a valuable new competence (energy systems modeling) and write almost 300 blog posts that laid the foundation for the Happy Healthy Wealthy Productive Sustainable publication hosting this story, all without slowing progress in my primary career.

This commitment to deep and meaningful work has made my life incredibly interesting. So interesting, in fact, that not even the deepest of work can allow me to explore all my ideas. Which brings us to the next book…

Dream Teams — Shane Snow

Insight: Intellectual Humility is the key to successful collaboration.

To be honest, I’m much more comfortable working with computers than people. A full day of meetings takes much more out of me than an 80-hour week of focused scientific research and writing.

But still, my productive capacity is frustratingly limited. Without the help of many smart collaborators, the constant stream of ideas generated by a free and focused mind would become totally overwhelming.

The next challenge is that humans are not computers. If you want others to help you pursue your creative ideas, you must make sure that they genuinely enjoy doing so. This is where Shane’s concept of Intellectual Humility has added tremendous value. Not only did it make my collaborators happier; it opened me up to their creative ideas to improve our work.

Thinking, Fast and Slow — Daniel Kahneman

Insight: Our peak and end emotions shape every experience.

Improved intellectual humility made me considerably easier to work with. But connection on an intellectual level is not enough for successful relationships. We also need to connect on an emotional level.

That’s where one little insight extracted from Dr. Kahneman’s huge volume of work really helped me out: Our emotional memories of any experience are shaped by our emotional peak (positive or negative) and our emotional state at the end of the experience.

This insight soon became a cornerstone of my personal and professional interactions. I made a point of always ending things on a positive note, continuously looking for peak positive experiences, and sharply reining in my ego whenever things started going downhill. The effect on my relationships has been nothing short of remarkable 🙂

The Definitive Book of Body Language — Allan & Barbara Pease

Insight: Open body language leads to open minds.

The third and final step in the emotional evolution of this socially dense scientist was the discovery of the importance of open body language in interpersonal communication. From head to toe, everything counts.

Consistently exhibiting congruent clusters of open body language signals not only opens other peoples’ minds but your own as well. A conscious focus on open body language has permanently improved the efficiency and fun-factor of my interpersonal communication. It works so well that it almost has to be experienced to be believed!

The Art of Happiness — The 14th Dalai Lama & Howard C. Cutler

Insight: We cannot escape suffering, but we can choose our response.

After reducing my employment and gaining greater creative freedom, I had this naive notion that life must now be all sunshine and roses. Alas, the real world had other ideas.

When you upgrade your life, you also upgrade your challenges. I soon discovered that working 60% on paper is much easier than working 60% in practice. In parallel, I was dreaming up more and more ideas and growing increasingly impatient with my finite ability to pursue them.

The Dalai Lama’s wisdom came to the rescue at just the right time. My expectation of research rainbows and butterflies was turning challenges I should feel privileged to face into major frustrations. After reading this book, I resolved to tolerate all imperfections I cannot change, thus freeing up plenty of mental capacity previously wasted on pointless frustration.

Man’s Search for Meaning — Victor Frankl

Insight: We can endure almost any suffering if it has meaning.

This book elevated my commitment to tolerate my problems of privilege to a whole new level. To put it mildly, a first-hand account of what the survivors of Nazi concentration camps managed to endure shoved a big dose of perspective straight down my throat.

The key to surviving Auschwitz? Meaning. Something to live for. A reason to take on another day. I had truckloads of that and zero excuses to sulk about my inability to pursue all my dreams at once.

In all honesty, I still experience a sense of frustration whenever my creative freedom is curtailed. But thanks to a proper sense of perspective, it’s nowhere near as disruptive as it used to be.

The 100-Year Life — Lynda Gratton & Andrew Scott

Insight: Intangible assets are more important than tangible assets.

The Western world is getting old, leading to a sharp rise in the ratio of retirees to taxpayers. As a result, the traditional 3-stage life of education, work, and retirement has reached the end of the line. Those who stick to this model may see the gift of a long life transform into an ugly curse.

One of the best ways to prevent this sad outcome is to actively invest in intangible assets. The authors identify three classes of these assets: productive (e.g., skills and reputation), vitality (e.g., health and friendships), and transformational (e.g., self-knowledge and network). To enjoy the gift of a long life, investments in these assets are even more important than traditional wealth (tangible assets).

This insight doubled my commitment to creative freedom, sharpened my focus on strengthening my closest relationships, and cemented my commitment to flawless health.

And as a bonus, it led me to discover the intangible asset that inspired this publication: life efficiency. Lifelong meaning, secured 🙂