The Book of Beautiful Questions
Warren Berger
Summary
How to ask better questions in all aspects of life
Rating: 4/5
Notes
Questioning is the starting point of innovation
Fears holds us back from asking questions
‘People are united by questions. It’s the answers that divide them.
Consistently ask critical questions to sharpen your thinking
For important decisions, use evidence more than emotion
Ask yourself ‘why do you believe what you believe’ and ‘what if the opposite is true?’
‘Would you rather be right or understand the truth?’
Understand the evidence of a claim and how strong it is
Open up options to questions instead of being binary (yes/no)
Don’t rush important decisions
Think about worst and best case scenarios
‘What would I try if I know I could not fail?’
‘If you look back in 5 years, which option would be the better story?’
Don’t follow your passion, follow your curiosity
What makes you forget to eat?
Creativity is yoga for the brain
When creating, don’t think about the outcome. Focus on creating.
Creativity can happen by combining many things already existing in the real world
What is the world missing?
Do you enjoy working on this problem? Can you do something unique?
When you don’t know where to begin, begin anywhere
The most successful creators tend to be those with the most misses
Continually begin again
How might I go electric and begin something new?
Paraphrase and repeat the answer back to the person to continue to convo
In the end, ask ‘and what else?’
Don’t give advice unless asked. Ask better questions
Replace judgment with curiosity
Ask yourself ‘why do you care?’
Why do you choose to lead?
Focus on small # of tasks, not many
Enemies of questioning: fear, knowledge, bias, hubris and time
***
Buy the book here
Free E-book download here
Make Something Wonderful
Steve Jobs
Summary
The life of Steve Jobs in his own words
Rating: 5/5
Notes
Make something wonderful and put it out there
‘You appear, have a chance to blaze in the sky, then you disappear’
When you’re a stranger in a place, you notice thing you don’t otherwise (Jobs after India trip)
Whenever you start with nothing, always shoot for the moon. You have nothing to lose.
You never achieve what you want without falling on your face a few times
Never be afraid to fail. You never achieve what you want without falling flat on your face a few times
We are never taught to listen to our intuitions, to develop and nurture them. But if you do pay attention to these subtle insights, you can make them come true
Creativity equals connecting previously unrelated experiences and insights others don’t see
Believe that some of what you follow with your heart will come back and make your life richer. And it will. And you will gain even firmer trust on your instincts and intuitions
Make your avocation your vocation. Make what you love your work.
The journey is the reward. The reward isn’t in the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, it’s in crossing the rainbow
To find A+ talent, if experienced, look at their track record and results
The world we know is a human creation and we can push it forward
The people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world are the ones who do (read whole ad ‘here’s to the crazy ones)
We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence then is not an act but a habit - Aristotle
Hire people better than you are
You can’t plan to meet the people who will change your life
It’s impossible to connect the dots looking forward, but they make sense looking backwards so you have to trust the dots will somehow connect in your future
Everything around you that you call life was made up by people no smarter than you
***
Buy the book here
Free E-book download here
