Tuesdays with Morrie
Mitch Albom
Summary
A classic novel that talks about Mitch Albom’s weekly visits to his sociology professor and the life lessons he gives him. Short read and highly recommend
Rating: 5/5
Notes
Love wins, love always wins
The culture we have does not make people feel good about themselves. You have to be strong enough to say if the culture doesn’t work, don’t buy it
Sometimes you cannot believe what you see, you have to believe what you feel
‘A teacher affects eternity; he can never tell where his influence stops’ - Henry Adams
Once you learn how to die, you learn how to live
Love each other or perish
Don’t cling to things because everything is impermanent
See emotions for what they are. Fully commit to experiencing them
If you’re always battling against getting older, you’re always going to be unhappy because it will happen anyhow and you’re going to die anyway
We put our values in the wrong things. It leads to very disillusioned lives
Money and power are never a substitute for tenderness and love
Devote yourself to loving others, devote yourself to your community around you and devote yourself to creating something that gives you purpose and meaning
Status will get you nowhere. Only an open heart will allow you to float equally between everyone
Be fully present with the person in front of you
Everyone is in such a hurry because they’ve found no meaning in their lives
For marriage: respect, compromise, communication and common values
Work at creating your own culture
The biggest defect of humans is short sightedness
Invest in family, invest in people and build a community of those you love
Forgive yourself before you die. Then forgive others
Notes from second read:
Don’t become wrapped up in the story that is your own life
Life is a series of pulls back and forth. But love always wins
The culture we have does not make people feel good about themselves. And you have to be strong enough to say that if the culture doesn’t work, don’t buy it
The way you get meaning in your life is to devote yourself to loving others, devote yourself to your community around you and devote yourself to creating something that gives you purpose and meaning
The most important thing in life is to learn how to give our love and to let it come in
We’re so wrapped up in the habit of egotistical things that we don’t stand back, look at our lives and say ‘is this it? Is this all I want?’ We need someone to push us in that direction
‘A teacher affects eternity; he can never tell where his influence stops’ - Henry Adams
Do what the Buddhists do; every day, as ‘Is today the day I’m going to die?’
Once you learn how to die, you learn how to live
Love each other or perish - Arden
Embrace aging because as you grow, you learn more
Money is not a substitute for love. Neither money nor power will give you the feeling of love, no matter how much of them you have
Status will get you nowhere. Only an open heart will allow you to float between everyone
The most important advice on marriage: your values must be alike
The big things - how we think, what we value - you must chase yourself. Don’t let anyone or any society determine that for you
Forgive yourself before you die. Then forgive others
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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
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