Books that changed my life

Can’t Hurt Me by David Goggins - David Goggins completed three Navy Seal hell weeks, ran 100 miles in 24 hours, broke the world record for pull-ups (4000+ in 24 hours). Reading his story made me realize that we’re all severely underestimating our potential. That we’re capable of so much more.

Elon Musk: : Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future by Ashlee Vance - This book helped me realize that I shouldn’t focus on just making money, working a job. To decide on the direction of my career, I should start by thinking about the most important problems in the world today. And then find careers that help solve these problems.

Awaken the Giant Within by Tony Robbins - The best personal development book I’ve ever read. The most useful exercise I found in this book was the Values chapter where he walks you through the importance of clarifying and deciding on our personal core values.

So Good They Can’t Ignore You by Cal Newport - I’d recommend this book to anyone going through a quarter-life crisis of What do I do with my life? Reading this book single-handedly took me out of my quarter-life crisis. Newport makes a strong argument that we shouldn’t care about “finding our passion.” More importantly, passion comes from being good at what you do and having creativity & autonomy over our work.

Ultralearning by Scott Young - The most important skill is learning how to learn. Scott outlines an excellent framework for developing any skill, whether it’s a motor skill or intellectual skill. Scott has done impressive projects as well, including learning the entire MIT computer science curriculum in a year and spending a year learning four languages (without english).

The Third Door by Alex Banayan - It’s funny because Alex was actually in my accounting class in college. Regardless, Alex goes on an amazing adventure meeting successful people all over the world. Core takeaway: Life is like a nightclub. Celebrities, CEO’s enter through the first door. Most wait in a long line for the second door. The successful people hustle to find the third, hidden, door.

Favorite Articles

6 Harsh Truths That Will Make You A Better Person: I read this when I was 21, stressed that I couldn’t find a job. This article forced me to swallow a harsh pill of life: The world doesn’t actually care about me. They care about what I can do for them. Don’t get a job. Become the man companies want to hire. Don’t get a girlfriend. Become the man girls want to date. The only path is self-improvement.

Randy Pausch’s Last Lecture: Randy Pausch was a computer science professor at Carnegie Mellon. He was diagnosed with terminal cancer. But before he passed, he gave a “last lecture” on achieving your childhood dreams. When death is so visceral, this forces you to make every minute of your life count:

Advice for Ambitious Stanford Freshman: Although I’m no longer in high school and never attended Stanford, the principles apply to any young, ambitious person. Spend time with people who have a sense of control over their lives. Do things that maximize the value you bring to the world. Spend your free time making stuff other people will enjoy.

The Bus Ticket Theory of Genius: A person obsessed with collecting bus tickets doesn’t have a grand plan. It comes from an innate interest in collecting bus tickets. Genius has no grand plan. Darwin didn’t study birds to invent a theory of evolution. He studied out of innate interest. Find your own version of collecting bus tickets.