MONTHLY MULLING💡

Reading Challenge 2021!📚

Hi👋,

Tapan here.

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Happy Sunday y’all!

Yes - this is a special holiday issue of the newsletter! 🎅🏼🎄

I wanted to share my reading list for 2021 to get more recommendations and also see if anyone would be interested in taking on the reading challenge along with me? Reading challenges have helped me read more consistently and might help you as well if you’re planning to build a habit around reading more. It doesn’t have to be the same books. More details below.

I am spending the week between Christmas and New Year’s planning the year ahead and reflecting on the year left behind.

• Last week I spoke about building systems from your New Year’s resolutions. I created a file of sorts to help you do the same. You can download it for free here.

• I am also creating my personal annual review report. The idea is to reflect on your past year and see if you’re where you wanted to be. Similar to what companies do. We discuss this on the lasted episode of Cold Brew Money (releases 28th Dec). Are you interested in going through my Annual Review template? Let me know.

Here’s one question to get your annual review started.

What’s one thing that kept you up at night with excitement this year? Was it worth it? Would you want to do more of it?

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📚READING CHALLENGE 2021

I took a book challenge in 2016 to make reading a habit. I ended up reading 29 books instead of 52 books. But more importantly, I made reading a daily habit.

Here is a screenshot of my 2016 reading challenge from Instagram.

I again took the challenge in 2019 and finished with 36 books. I know these are vanity metrics but what I am trying to say is that these challenges are helping me to read more consistently and develop a strong habit. So I will continue doing them.

And this time, you’ll are invited! 😇

What am I asking you to do?

• Email/message me if you’re interested in the challenge and we can connect on Goodreads!

• Pick any time of the day that works best for you to spend time alone and schedule 30 pages to read every day. Yes - just 30 pages!

• Every week/month when you finish a book, we can discuss thoughts about the book and find similar books. I am always down for new recommendations.

• I will be using this newsletter and this “Reading Challenge” page on my blog to share my thoughts on the book but will add your entries to this newsletter as well so if others are interested in the same book, they can see the recommendation!

• If you have friends interested in this challenge, please ask them to join the newsletter?😊

Habit building becomes easier if there is a network effect in-place (i.e. every new recommendation adds value to the group building the reading habit). I am trying to build this network effect!

My Personal Challenge

This year, I am going to (try) to read 4 books a month. IMO, I have become a better reader over the past 4 years and I am exploring genres and books that I wouldn’t before. I am also planning to start using Audible this year.

How did I select my books?

1. Recommendations - Friends and colleagues who recommended books. Also, I have a habit of saving down books recommended by Bill Gates, President Obama, and others.

2. Lindy Effect - Books that have been existing for a long-time, the ideas in the books will be relevant for the same amount of time in the future. Example - Sun Tzu’s Art of War was written in 5 BC. The knowledge in the book is still being used and it will be used for another thousand years.

3. If you only read the books that everyone else is reading, you can only think what everyone else is thinking (applies to all the content that you consume).

4. Genres - I focus on genres I consume TV/online content of. If I like that genre for a TV show, there is a high probability that I will enjoy the book for the same genre.

So without further ado, here’s the list of the books. If you have more recommendations from the genres listed below, let me know!

🤔Philosophy - January

• Ego is the Enemy by Ryan Holiday

• A Guide to the Good Life by William B. Irvine

• The Four Agreements by Miguel Ruiz

• The Heart of the Buddha’s Teaching by Thich Nhat Hanh

🧠Psychology, Human Behavior, or Decision Making -February

• Cows, Pigs, Wars, and Witches by Marvin Harris

• Algorithms to Live by Brian Christian and Tom Griffiths

• Factfulness by Hans Rosling

• Predictably Irrational by Dan Ariely

🖋 Biography, Autobiography, Memoir - March

• Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl

• Benjamin Franklin by Walter Isaacson

• Can’t Hurt Me by David Goggins

• When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi

🗝 History - April

• The Origins of Political Order by Francis Fukuyama

• The Story of Philosophy by Will Durant

• The Silk Roads by Peter Frankopan

• Guns, Germs, and Steel by Jared Diamond

💭 Fiction - May

• Fountainhead by Ayn Rand

• A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles

• Sophie’s World by Jostein Gaarder

• Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell

⭐ India (not a genre but I want to learn more about my mother country) - June

• The Mahabharata by C. Rajagopalachari (recommendations for other translations are welcomed - I have already read Jaya by Devdutta Pattanaik)

• India after Gandhi by Ramachandra Guha

• India - A History - John Keay

• Upanishads by Eknath Easwaran

🏛 Classics or Non-fiction - July

• Civilization and it’s Discontent by Sigmund Freud

• The Book of Five Rings by Miyamoto Musashi, Thomas Cleary

• As a Man Thinketh by James Allen

• A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson

• Think on These Things by Jiddu Krishnamurti

🤷🏼‍♂️ Self-Help - August

• Everybody Writes by Ann Handley

• Steal Like an Artist by Austin Kleon

• Influence by Robert Cialdini

• Laws of Human Nature by Robert Greene

💰 Finance and Economics - September

• The Most Important Thing Illuminated by Howard Marks

• Why Nations Fail by Daron Acemoglu and James Robinson

• Money Master the Game by Tony Robbins

• Good Economics for Hard Times by Abhijit Banerjee

• The Psychology of Money

👨🏼‍💼 Business or Leadership - October

• Range by David Epstein

• The Hard Thing About Hard Things by Ben Horowitz

• Lean In by Sheryl Sandberg

• The Effective Executive by Peter Drucker

🤓 Things I am curious about right now (the books below might be updated)

• Body for Life by Bill Phillips

• Transcendental Meditation (topic - I am looking for books to learn the practice)

• The New Wine Rules

• The E-Myth

If you have recommendations or feedback on some of the books, please let me know! You can reach out to me on Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, or just reply to this email!

Yes - the plan is only till October. So I have room to add more books based on your recommendations.

Okay bye.

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