Welcome to ReadtoSucceed. Where one idea can change everything.
Let’s dive in!
1% Notes
Building a Second Brain by Tiago Forte
I followed Tiago Forte long before this book came out. I already loved his blog posts about the "second brain."
The idea is simple. Every day, so much comes at you. Articles, podcasts, books, ideas, to-dos, things you don't want to forget. You can't keep all of that in your head. And you shouldn't want to.
Tiago built a system that works. You store your thoughts and ideas outside your head, so your mind is free to actually think.
He calls it CODE:
- Capture what resonates with you, from books, articles, conversations, anywhere.
- Organize it by project, not by topic. You'll use it, not just file it.
- Distill it down to the core so future you doesn't have to re-read the whole thing.
- Express it. Turn what you saved into something. A post, a decision, a piece of work.
I use a version of this myself. Every thought, note, and idea goes into Evernote. All my tasks go into Todoist. And my folders are set up the way Tiago teaches it, with PARA: Projects, Areas, Resources, Archives. Less noise in my head. More room to think.
Stop trying to remember everything. Start saving what matters.
Same Hours, Different Person
This TED talk explains exactly what I've felt in practice these past few weeks.
Two days at the office. Same hours, same building. One day I sit behind my desk the whole day. Head down, deep in work, barely moving. By the end of it, I'm completely exhausted. Can't think, don't want to do anything.
Another day I'm rearranging the whole office. Moving desks, carrying boxes, on my feet the entire day. End of that day, I feel like a kid again. Full of energy.
Same hours. Completely different person by the end.
Keith Diaz explains why in a 10-minute TED talk. He's an exercise scientist at Columbia University, and he's the guy behind the whole "sitting is the new smoking" idea.
Your body needs movement to actually function. Not once a day at the gym. Spread out, all day. Skip that, and you pay for it, even if you don't know why.
Here's the tip I'm stealing from the talk. Stack movement onto what you already do. Stand during calls. Walk while listening to a podcast. Always take the stairs.
Small thing. Big difference in how you feel by 5pm.
What Not To Do
Charlie Munger once got asked by a kid: "What's your advice for succeeding in life?" His answer: "Don't do cocaine. Don't race trains to the track. And avoid all AIDS situations."
Sounds like a joke, but it's actually great advice.
Sometimes it's easier to just focus on what not to do. That's the whole idea behind anti-goals. Munger said it himself somewhere else too, most success doesn't come from chasing the right things, it comes from simply avoiding the obvious disasters. An early death. A bad marriage. That kind of thing.
Not bad advice from someone who made it to 99.
Morgan Housel, who I always love reading, wrote a short piece built entirely on this idea. A list of things not to do.
A few pieces of bad advice that stand out:
Letting your expectations grow faster than your income. Tying your net worth to your self-worth. Assuming more money fixes everything. Comparing your behind-the-scenes to everyone else's highlight reel. Judging other people at their worst, yourself at your best.
None of it complicated. Just easy to forget when you're in it.
Sometimes the fastest way forward is just not doing the obvious stupid stuff.
Very Bad Advice by Morgan Housel
A Flash of Light
I came across another book note in Readwise. One of those that's so obviously true and still something you never actually sit with.
De Mello quotes an Italian poet in Awareness: "We live in a flash of light; evening comes and it is night forever." Life goes by that fast. And most of it, we spend buried in our own anxiety, our worries, our stuff that won't matter in a year.
We all know this. We've all heard some version of it before. And yet we keep doing it anyway. At least I do.
Worth remembering next time something small feels like the end of the world.
Stop waiting. Stop being afraid. Go do the thing you know you should do, the thing you actually want to do.
There's no time left to wait.
Tiny Upgrade
Lightshot
I take countless screenshots. Mostly for AI.
You need to send screenshots for almost everything these days. Especially the moment you start working with AI tools. A quick capture of what's on your screen, and it understands the problem in one shot instead of you typing out a whole explanation.
Lightshot makes that stupidly fast. One click on the button, then just drag your mouse over whatever you want to capture. Only that piece. Nothing else.
It copies straight to your clipboard. No saving a file, no finding it in a folder, no renaming it. Just click, cut, and paste. On Windows without Lightshot installed, the built-in shortcut Win + Shift + S does almost the same thing.
Small tool. Saves me time every single day.
Reading list
What I’m Reading
Here’s what I’ve been reading lately:
- I finished Breaking the Habit of Being Yourself by Joe Dispenza. The book argues that most of us are not living our lives. We are just repeating our past, one familiar thought at a time.
- I started Humankind by Rutger Bregman. The book argues that most people are deep down decent and that we've been told the opposite story for far too long.
- I'm still reading King, Warrior, Magician, Lover by Robert Moore. The book says every man has a king, a warrior, a magician, and a lover inside him, and real growth means learning to use all four.
Sometimes this newsletter includes affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you.