An opportunity for great life learning - a program for what to learn...for a huge difference in life

(Click on the title of this post to see the entire post.)

I'm forwarding to you the email (at the end of this piece), as I like the fact that it has an "orderly" learning program (and good material).

But...

While it is more useful than just random reading, it has the danger of oneself not following through deeply.  

Following through deeply, to the point where one understands how things work and how to work them and actually goes to the point of doing it successfully, is THE key to a great life, personal power, and happiness.  

Of course, one would want to do the learning in the order of the highest payoff item for the effort involved.

This means you would have to write out, for let's say an initial half hour, what problems you'd like to fix, what powers and abilities you'd like to develop, etc. - and then, in a subsequent session, put them in the order of importance and in the order in which you'll do them. 

This would be your overall plan for the learning program for the year (and beyond, though the plan should be renewed every year). 

You would do each item exclusively, one at a time, in your learning, not gathering information on other things or deviating to learn anything (with the exception of emergency or required things that need doing) else than that one topic - as the "straight line" principle is best for all learning and accomplishment.  (See Living In Straight Lines.)

 

For learning each item you would have at least a brief plan on what to do and what you hope to accomplish and a little exploration of what is relevant (look for it within my site, especially, for that is an easy way to get a quick gathering of ideas and items of interest).  Always, of course, use  

Effective Learning, as most people waste a good part of their life by not knowing how to learn well, with most of their time spent toward "learning" that actually just goes down the drain without long term value.

(You might use Brian's stuff to supplement some of the learning in each item of study (or to find a relevant book) or as "entertainment" that may give you ideas of what to follow up on and/or stimulate ideas - but be careful of randomly following things around and of the syndrome of "not completing what you start" where one ends up with having a life piled with undones and useless starts.)

THE EMAIL

Hi!

This is Brian with a (kinda) quick mid-year update + some of my favorite stuff from the first half of 2016. 

I shared a similar message with our members last month and thought it might be good to share more broadly. So, here we are. Hope you enjoy and happy Summer!!

First, we have a fun new video that captures the essence of what I do. Check it out here!

PhilosophersNotes. We now have 380 PhilosophersNotes, including 65+ new ones so far in 2016. The march to 1,000 continues. We’ll hit 400 Notes in September, 500 in July of next year and, if all goes as planned, 1,000 in 2021. (September 29, 2021 to be precise. :)

People are always asking for my top 10 books. That’s impossible. Hah. But, here’s a quick look at 10 of my new favorites from my 2016 reading (even this leaves out a bunch of great ones...):

1. Grit by Angela Duckworth = brilliance on the science of intense passion + intense persistence.
2. Peak by Anders Ericsson on the science of greatness (Interviewed Anders last month; so fun!)
3. The Seven Principles for Making Marriage Work by Jon Gottman is simply awesome. Science of what makes relationships work = powerful. (Setting up that interview now as well.)
4. Smarter Faster Better by Charles Duhigg. Charles is a Pulitzer-prize winning journalist who also wrote The Power of Habit. Both books rock. (Interviewed him last month as well.)
5. Your Brain at Work by David Rock. This is great. Super practical applications of neuroscience. (Interview soon.)
6. Extreme Ownership by Jock Willink and Leif Babin. How Navy SEALs lead and win. A.W.E.S.O.M.E. (Interview scheduled.)
7. Originals by Adam Grant. How non-conformists move the world. Adam Grant is a great writer and I enjoyed this.
8. Making Hope Happen by Shane Lopez. Hope is HUGE. Shane Lopez is one of the world’s leading authorities on the science of it. Loved this book.
9. Presence by Amy Cuddy. Amy rocks. 2nd most popular TED talk ever with nearly 50m views? Wow. We had a fun interview as well.
10. On the Shortness of Life by Seneca. Finally went old school again. Alas, Seneca isn’t around for an interview but that would have been awesome.
11. Bonus: It was Ryan Holiday who reminded me to go back and read that one by Seneca so let’s not forget his great new book Ego Is the Enemy. Ryan’s a living Stoic so… :)

And, as you know, I have fun distilling the absolute best Big Ideas from those great books into 1-hour long Optimal Living 101 Master Classes on various themes. 

We now have 15+ Master Classes. We’ll hit our goal of 25 this year and 50 end of next year en route to 101 in 2020. Yayuh!

People often ask me where to start when they join the membership program. I always like to say, start with Greatest Year Ever and go from there as I kinda created the Master Classes with this progression in mind:

1. Greatest Year Ever 101
2. Masterpiece Days 101
3. Habits 101
4. Conquering Procrastination 101
5. Love 101 (w/special guest co-teacher, Alexandra :)
6. Positive Psychology 101
7. Meditation 101
8. Conquering Depression 101
9. Confidence 101 (<-- Perhaps my personal favorite. :)
10. Purpose 101 (<-- People have really loved this one.)
11. Mommahood 101 (w/special guest teacher, Alexandra :)
12. Creativity 101
13. Optimal Business 101
14. Optimal Sleep 101
15. Fatherhood 101
16. Peak Performance 101
17. Willpower 101

Next up: Conquering Perfectionism 101, Movement 101, Learning 101, Nutrition 101 and… :)

Micro Classes. We have 424 Micro Classes now. We’ll have 1,000 by end of next year and 2,500 in 2021. Altho this is kinda just pure bonus stuff, I really love creating them and appreciate your kind words.

(We also have a ton of ideas we’re working on to make these even more awesome--from worksheets for each class to tricking them out RSA-styles. :)

Favorites include: Oh, man. I don’t even know where to start with these. Good news: Once we have favorites + ratings in place it will be SUPER easy to find the best/most popular stuff!

Other stuff: Our iOS app is FINALLY almost here. We hit some speed bumps and wanted to launch with something we were really proud of so pushing the launch back. Could.not.be.more.excited!!!!!

Alright. This got long.

Hope you enjoyed and THANK YOU for all your astonishing support. It means the world to me and we’re just so fired up to continue to serve profoundly and hopefully astonish each step of the way as we strive to create the greatest collection of wisdom we possibly can--More Wisdom in Less Time style. :)

With love,

-bri