Review: The ideas are not new or radical, like most of the other self-help books. What’s good for us or what should we do with our life is fairly universal. But then we change over time. I guess it’s good to revisit those ideas to see if we have a different perspective and reflect on ourselves, especially it’s such a short read with only 52 pages.
Takeaways / Quotes :
To make the most of your life, say no to things that don’t matter, work hard at what you love, and occasionally take time away from your core focus to rest so that your mind can be quiet for great insights to come.
Ch 1: Create Space, Life Is Short And So Is This Book
I try to put things into two bucket: one I can do something about and one I can’t. The things I can’t do anytie about, I try to ignore.
Ch 2: Try Not to Worry, Life Is Short And So Is This Book
Accept that luck and bad luck aren’t evenly or fairly distributed, and you can’t do anything about it.
Ch 2: Try Not to Worry, Life Is Short And So Is This Book
Build Character and Make Friends
Atkin’s four basic principles
• Do what you think is right
• Don’t follow other people blindly
• Be honest and keep your word
• Admit your mistakes
There are many ways to make a difference in the world. […] So long as it works for you, it doesn’t matter.
Ch 5: Care for Yourself and Others, Life Is Short And So Is This Book
Our time on earth is limited, but you can extend your influence by helping those who will outlive you.
Ch 5: Care for Yourself and Others, Life Is Short And So Is This Book
Do What You Love
To figure out what you want to do, you need to know yourself. Part of knowing yourself means acknowledging what you genuinely want, understand your values and priorities.
To determine what you passionately want to do: List out moments in your life you love the most and try to identify patterns.
Ideally, you want a job you’d do even if you weren’t paid to do it. […] If you can get paid to do what you perceive as play, you have a great job.
Ch 6: Do What You Love Life Is Short And So Is This Book
Learn from Experience
• Be curious
• Read widely
• Find mentors
• Observe
• Data and patterns
• Judgement and wisdom
• Be less wrong
To learn from your experience and the experience of others, it’s important to try to be dispassionate in looking at the world and analysing it. You need to …
➊ be willing to try things you think make sense
➋ admit your mistakes
➌ throw away your beloved theories
➍ learn from people
This process requires a degree of humility that’s frequently lacking in the world
Read widely. There’s so much widsom written down and it’s eaiser (not to mention less painful) to learn from others’ mistakes. No one domain or field has a lock on wisdom. I’ve been astonished how much you can learn if you read widely across a variety of fields.
Ch 8: Learn from Experience, Life Is Short And So Is This Book
Life is not like a math problem with one perfect solution. A lot of decisions are inherently probabilisitc and the best you can do much of the time is make a decision that’s likely to turn out in your favor.
Ch 8: Learn from Experience, Life Is Short And So Is This Book
Judgement and widsom matters a great deal. To acquire them, and to be creative, it’s important to slow down enough at times to notice what is going on around you.
Epilogue, Life Is Short And So Is This Book
Have Dreams and Work Towards Them
Elements of success
• A clear, stretch goal
• Love for what you’re doing
• Very hard work, often over a long period of time
• A sense of realism about the world, and your own limitations
• Flexibility and perseverance
• A bit of luck
To make changes in your life, focus on taking smalle steps in the right direction. […] You can’t become great at anything without a lot of repeated practice.
Ch 9: Have dreams and work towards them, Life Is Short And So Is This Book
Act on that knowledge. Simply understanding how you feel and what you want is vital, but insufficient. Progress depends on action.
Epilogue, Life Is Short And So Is This Book
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