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Poor Bjorn's Notes to Self

Read Books – Conduct Experiments – Grow

  • Reading List 2018
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Reading Lists

Here is where you find my reading- and recommendation lists!

Recommendation Lists:

  • Favorite Books of 2017
  • Favorite Books of 2016

Reading Lists:

  • Reading List 2018
  • Reading List 2017
  • Reading List 2016

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  • Reading List 2018
  • Reading List 2017
  • Reading List 2016
  • Favorite Books of 2017
  • Favorite Books 2016
  • Blog posts

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Re- read this gem for a book club I’m attending. Read it for the first time 2 years ago and was blown away! —- 2016 REVIEW —- A brief essay on the the duration of life. And about why most people think it's too short, when it's actually long enough to if the time is used properly. —— Seneca is a stoic philosopher (4. BC - 65 AD. I won't go into into much detail about what a stoicism is, since there will be a lot other opportunities to dwell into that in upcoming post (judging from what I'm reading right now). With a risk of oversimplifying, I like how Nassim Taleb put it: "A stoic is a Buddhist with attitude, one that says "fuck you" to fate". ——- "It is not that we have a short time to live, but that we waste much of it. Life is long enough, and it has been given in sufficient measure to allow us to achieve the greatest things, if the whole of it is well invested..." "...we are not given a short life but we make it short, and we are not ill-supplied but wasteful of it… Life is long if you know how to use it." ——- So, how do people waste their life? By gossiping, overindulgence in food and sex, living life for others (work a job you hate), complaining, etc. ——- Also worrying about the future or letting the past disturb ones tranquility. Then, when we find out that these things are unimportant, we only have a few years left to live and wonder where all the time has gone. ——- "He who has grey hair has not lived for long, he has existed for long." —— Being written 2000 years ago, it's amazing how almost all these thoughts are applicable to contemporary society. —— My takeaway from this book is to be more protective of my time and be wise in how I spend it. A sad thing would be to spend your life doing things you dislike with a promise of leisure and freedom in the future. Wasting each day as it comes for a future that one are is certain to live to see. —— 5/5
Wow, this sucks! The book is just a long commercial for the authors other services and the concepts covered could have been a 15-page pamphlet. —— Wow, this is brilliant! It’s to the point, clear and actionable. ——- Both these assessment are correct, depending how you look at it. But my intention when picking up this book was to learn something practical. And I did. ——- You brands message should be simple, clear and, most importantly, packaged as a story where the customer is the hero. —— Many brands and marketers get some fundamental stuff wrong and puts the brand as the hero in their marketing instead of the customer. ——- 📝 Story in a nutshell: “A CHARACTER (customer) who wants something encounters a PROBLEM before the can get it. At the peak of their despair, a GUIDE (you) steps into their lives, gives the a PLAN (your product), and CALLS THEM TO ACTION. That action help them avoid FAILURE and ends in a SUCCESS.” —— 📝 WRONG: An example of doing it wrong was Tidal, Jay-z music service. The marketing made whining artists the heroes of the story instead of focusing on the customers needs. ——- 📝 RIGHT: And example of doing it right is Apple with the Mac. The customer is the hero facing a problem; Complicated computers that stands in the way of the customers creative expression! Apple has a plan for our hero, the Macintosh computer. ——- 📝 Story is the greatest weapon we have to combat noise, because it organizes information in such a way that people are compelled to listen. ——- When you finish this book, given you’ve done the exercises, you will have a new brand script for your services or products that capitalize on the strength of storytelling (or on human weakness to stories, hehe!😈). The book left me inspired and equipped for taking stuff to the next level! —— ⭐️ TAKEAWAY: Since I don’t really have a product to sell I’m going to use the story brand method to improve my website (hehe, will be quite easy judging from the state it is in). I will do this next week. Another takeaway is how uncomfortable selling things makes me feel. I have a really hard time with it. —— 4/5
Are you intimidated by creating Video content? The only way to become better is practice. Therefore I’m starting a private group for aspiring video content creators, like myself, to get together and work on our video skills. —- I have seen the benefits of having a safe and supportive environment when practicing new skills that are outside our comfort zone. Toastmaster is a public speaking club I joined to practice my communication skills. Every Thursday we meet and practice speeches, presentations and giving/receiving feedback on our performances from people that want the best for us. Everyone has their own unique sticking points, but everyone has the same goal; to become better communicators and be more comfortable on stage. And the model really works! The growth curve is insane! —- This is why I want to start a group for newbie video content creators here on Instagram. A group of peers that challenge, help and support each other to become better. —- A few people signed up right away when I first mentioned this idea in a post a while back, but there are still a few open slots remaining. I’m aiming for a group of 8 people. Together we work on different weekly themes and challenges with the aim of becoming comfortable of having video as another tool in our social media tool belt. —- DM me if you are interested! Video content is essential in 2018. This is going to be fun!
Up until very recently I thought that the buzzword “lead generation” was a movement. A group of people tired of the old ways, now leading the way to a better world. I was wrong. 😬 —- Wiki definition: “In marketing, lead generation is the initiation of consumer interest or enquiry into products or services of a business.” —— Essentially grooming potential costumers into paying ones, through email campaigns, referrals, testimonials etc.. —— Needless to say, I need to step up my marketing game and I have now finished my first marketing book of this year: Building A Story brand by Donald Miller. Review coming soon. —— 📝 Story is the greatest weapon we have to combat noise, because it organizes information in such a way that people are compelled to listen. —— What “How to”-books did you read this year?
At the age of 6 the narrator abandoned his favorite hobby; drawing. Grownups kept mistaking his depiction of Boa Constrictors who swallowed entire elephants, for drawings of hats... 🐍 🐘 —- “Grownups never understand anything by themselves and it is exhausting for children to have to provide explanations over and over again”. —- The narrator puts drawing to the side and instead becomes a pilot. After a dramatic crash landing in the Sahara desert he runs into a young boy that he refers to as The little prince. The boy shares his life story with the narrator. He tells tales about his interplanetary travels where he visited all kinds of weird and narrow minded people. All of the grownups, all of them very serious, all of them deeply irrational. —- 📝 “Anything essential is invisible to the eye” —- 📝“It’s the time you spend on your rose that make your rose so important” —- 📝 “You are responsible forever for what you tamed.” —- ⭐️ TAKEAWAY: This book is a great reminder of the foolishness of being so serious all the damn time. Grownups often have an inability to perceive what is really important. Children on the other hand can often see things more clearly. —- Reading this book reminds me of a great quote from Nietzsche: “A mans maturity consists in having found again the seriousness one had as a child at play”. —- I’m going to buy this book in Swedish and read it as a bedtime story together with my son.👌🏻 🤴 it’s short, sweet and quite wonderful! —- What is your favorite children’s book? —- Photo credit: @deepsnow_fromjp —- 4/5
While his other books, Sapiens and Homo Deus, focused on the past and the far future - this book focuses on the present and mankind’s immediate challenges. —- Topics are ranging from how to deal with disruptive technologies, the resurrection of nationalism and the relevancy of religions. Harari wants to shine a light on the fact that we are lacking new idea systems that are capable to help us navigate these new and trying times. Liberalism and the other old ideologies just won’t make the cut anymore. —- 📝 The opportunity cost of fighting terrorism is that the money could have be used to fight other threats; like global warming. —- 📝 Disruptive technologies will likely create a new “worthless class” of billions. Marxism might make a come back when jobs are being threatened, one might think? But Marxism presumes that the workers labour is of value. That probably won’t be the case with advancements in automation. —- 📝 Protect humans not jobs. Finding meaningful pursuit for humans is the most important problem to solve in a future without jobs. —- 📝 You don’t need religious text to be moral. Apes learned to take care of the poor and weak well before the Bible told them so. —- 📝 “If you want reliable information, pay good money for it.” 👌🏻 —- A whole bookshelf worth of topics is crammed into one small volume, which becomes a problems when each chapter deserves its own book. —- Harari don’t have a solution for all the issues. He offers the same advise that wise people and sages always have: sit down on a cushion and observe your sensations. Know thyself, and get to know suffering deeply enough so that you can act in a way that reduces it both your life and in the life of others. —- 4/5
The Stranger is presented as a first person narration by Monsieur Meursault. A man who get imprisoned for shooting “an Arab” on a beach. —- It’s a quick read, somewhat depressing, and very absurd. I like it! Especially thought provoking is the fact that Meursault excepts to be judged for his crime (murder) but is instead is judged by his character because he did not cry at his mothers funeral and the fact that he was seeing a comedy at the cinema the day after his mother’s death. —— Reading it gives me a sense of unease as I’m are used to sympathize with the main character. Meursault don’t care about being likable. Another striking thing about this books is Meursault detached way of observing the world. —- Here is a conversation after his friend have been beating up a girlfriend of his: —- “Then he wanted to shoot a game of pool, and I just barely lost. Afterwards he wanted to go to a whorehouse, but I said no, because I don’t like that. So we took our time getting back, him telling me how glad he was that he’d been able to give the woman what she deserved. I found him very friendly with me and I thought it was a nice moment.” —- 📝 The Classic beginning: “Mother died today. Or yesterday maybe, I don’t know. I got a telegram from the Home: “Mother deceased. Funeral Tomorrow. Faithfully yours.” That doesn’t mean anything. Maybe it was yesterday.” —- 💭 Thought: Haha, when I think about it, the way Monsieur Meursault expresses himself in this book is very similar to how I write in my journal. Short sentences. Very detached and emotionless. Giving small and big events the same weight. A journal entry could look like this: “My son took his first steps today. I need to eat more vegetables. Today I received The Stranger in the mail. Looking forward to reading it.” —- On the topic of baby steps; I’m taking my first stumbling steps into the world of classic literature. I feel it’s much harder to write about these types of books than non-fiction. Anyway.. I enjoy it! —— What are your favorite classics? Which one are wanting to read? 🤔 —— 4/5
The theoretical have taken a back seat these last few weeks to make room for the practical. —— Focus have been on public speaking and communication. I have attended a weekend long course dedicated solely to this — and this week a lot of time has been spent on preparing a speech I’m presenting this Thursday at #Toastmasters —— I’ve been reading less as a result of all of this but I still have a lot new reading material in the pipeline: —— 📖 “Women who run with the wolves” — Time to explore the archetype of the wild woman! —— 📖 “Building a Story Brand” — Marketing book about how clarity and story telling can help your business grow. By Donald Miller. —— 📖 “The Stranger” — Camus classic and absurd novel. My next step in expanding my knowledge about classical literature. ——- 📖 “Mutants” — On genetic variety and the human body. Could be great! —— 🎧 “Leonardo Da Vinci” by Walter Isaacson — Turtle power! —- 🎧 “21 Lessons for the 21st Century “ by Yuval Noah Harari — The robots are taking over. I’m glad I’ve already started to prepare for being a part of a “worthless class”. More time for running and philosophizing! 👌🏻 —— What’s in the book pipeline for you?

Recent Posts

  • Thoughts on: “Building a Story Brand” by Donald Miller 12 October, 2018
  • Thoughts on: “The Little Prince” by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry 5 October, 2018
  • “Sapiens”, “Homo Deus” and “Now 21 Lessons for the 21 Century”. REVIEW. 27 September, 2018
  • Thoughts on Classics: “The Stranger – Albert Camus 19 September, 2018
  • Thoughts on: “The Human Magnet Syndrome” by Ross Rosenberg 10 September, 2018
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  • Blog posts
  • Top 10 Books of 2017
  • Reading Lists
  • Reading List 2018
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