Every time I read a book, I try to glean a handful of practical, actionable statements that I can incorporate to improve the quality of my life.  Here they are…

• Confront and reflect on your own mortality

• Always bet on yourself

• Live your life as a work of art

• Imitate the role models you wish to emulate

• Set goals in these categories: personal, career, financial, adventure, and contribution.  Brainstorm for 5 minutes on each, put a time limit on them, and write something down about the most important one.

• Review your goals regularly to program them into habits

• Describe in detail the things you want in your life, as well as the steps required to get them

• Greatness is achievable–just be willing to work harder than everyone else

• Be like water—stay flexible and don’t get stuck in your ways.

• Be wary of old ideas and advice from others–always put it in the context of changing circumstances.

• Think big, but act small–be humble

• Never stop learning

• Do great work, and let other people take credit for it

• Schedule and track your time usage every day

• Maximize time spent doing deep work

• Only use social media once a week or less

• Cultivate boredom and empty space to improve your ability to concentrate

• Remember how light your grip on life is

• Be present, ignore trivialities, and focus on what matters

• Every obstacle is an opportunity

• Start by starting.  Aim for a minimum viable design rather than perfection

• When something doesn’t work, iterate

• Apply barbell strategies in your life (be normal 90%, do crazy things 10%)

• Maximize optionality

• Procrastinate strategically to weed out things that don’t matter

• Embrace novelty, unpredictability, and randomness in your life

• Know what you don’t know, and don’t be afraid to admit it

• To make a change in your life, associate bad behaviors with pain and good behaviors with pleasure.

• Practice holding solid eye contact

• Speak with sincerity and passion

• Focus on acquiring rare & valuable skills to build career capital and find passion in your work.

• Prioritize deliberate practice in your job.  Start by seeking constant feedback and by keeping a tally of time spent devoted to deliberate practice.

• Get to the cutting edge of your field to uncover the “adjacent possible,” and then develop a mission for your work.