booknewb

TL;DR:  There are certain hours of the day when we are most effective. There is a science to starting and ending things, and in synchronizing a group. For a moment, I thought I was reading Clive Cussler. Daniel Pink opened with the sinking of the Lusitania; a grand hypothesis that maybe the Lusitania sank because its captain made a crucial decision in the afternoon. It seems odd if an argument about time would hold water in a court of law. Can a person be absolved simply because the event happened in a person's less optimal hours? I honestly don't know. 

TL;DR: Success comes from knowing yourself,  treating others well; being assertive when taken advantage of; knowing when to quit what's not important, to be gritty on the ones that are; making friends that support you and that you support,  setting boundaries with work  and by making time for your relationships. Barking Up the Wrong Tree as a blog, is a gold mine. One of the few blogs I still frequent on a regular basis. Now as a book, it is well written and very informative. With studies coming from towers of Academia with long deep technical words, this book makes learning pleasant and engaging.  At one podcast, If my memory serves me right, the author likens this to a Mythbusters for Success.

TL;DR: The current theories on Negotiation are outdated. There is a correct way to Mirror, Empathize, Ask, Summarize, Push Back, Bargain and Ensure Implementation. Basically to Negotiate much better.

TL;DR:  The key to Mastery and Peak Performance is to build Mental Representations. The key to building Mental Representations is Proper Training, Effort and Time. The best format for proper training: Deliberate Practice. Okay now one by one.

It is surprising that this was originally published in 1990. I had to double check the dates in the opening pages because the concept of Flow is still discussed actively today; often quoted in other psychology books, one example is in Grit by Angela Duckworth . It also pops up in other mediums like podcasts, topics for life coaches/gurus, and in self-help and personal development book shelves. The TL;DR version is.. It is essentially about happiness. The argument being that if we want to maximize happiness, we should maximize Flow experiences.  Now what is Flow? Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi defines it as:

The book is about introversion; for introverts in a world inclined for extroverts. It is about our misconceptions, about a better way to understand ourselves and/or the other quiet people at home or at work.

They were right.  If I thought, Adam Grant's book last year Originals was remarkable, his first book Give and Take, is even more impressive. The premise opens. On the bottom of performance charts for different industries, Givers are worse off. Surprisingly at the top, it's the Givers also. A chunk in the middle are the Takers and Matchers . In this book, Adam Grant looks in to what he calls reciprocity styles. On the two sides of the continuum, Givers and Takers. Takers get advantage in the short run, or in zero-sum contexts. Being a Giver takes time to see fruits of labor. But it is the most successful way. Takers show tells of being a Faker or acting like a Giver out of pure self-interest. Givers give more than they receive. Givers share credit Givers create a psychologically-safe environment when leading Givers see potential in others and acts upon that potential, whereas Matchers wait for signs that one has potential, before providing help Givers are less...

Drive (2009) Three or four years ago, I stumbled upon one of the most watched videos in TED’s YouTube page. The talk was about Motivation by Dan Pink. In the talk he makes a case about Extrinsic and Intrinsic Motivations, and why there is a disconnect in what science knows and what business does.

The Honest Truth About Dishonesty (2012) This was the first book I read that was written by Dan Ariely, which was around 2 years ago. Since I’ve had some time away from it, the one that remains salient is that people don’t evaluate dishonesty on a rational model of weighing the cost versus the benefit of an act, comparing positive and negative outcomes. The much more related model is that which is related to a person’s view of him/herself. People will fudge results only to the extent that they do not feel bad about themselves.

There’s a line between the old and the new. One field to have that is Psychology. Between the line: Martin Seligman. And that line is ever evolving. A number of years ago the standard of Psychology was alleviating pain, an ailment that has to be managed. Then it shifted. It was the birth of Positive Psychology: to elevate positive emotions, a focus from how to make people less miserable, to how to make people happier. But once again the ground it was built shook. From merely increasing positive emotions, it aims to increase human flourishing. The Well-Being Theory

Robert Cialdini first released a book titled,   Influence , in 1984. Thirty years later, he releases this one,   Pre-Suasion .   Influence   is probably one of the most quoted books by other authors in the same industry. After some time, I bet his work will continue to be quoted and used in marketing programs, sales presentations, business meetings and conferences around the world. While Influence tackled on the tools employed by compliance professionals, Pre-Suasion takes on the moment before the actual weapons are deployed. It's stated very early on that messages, concepts, made or presented just before a request is made has an impact to the likelihood of the how the message will be received and acted upon. Then it goes on to dissect how and why those factors affect the outcome.

When you see a source get quoted over and over again, you get a reaction of "I have to see this." Social Proof. And It has stood beatings of time, having been published 33 years ago. That was what happened. The way its presented is like a self-defense kind of a book. In this case, the black arts of influence and compliance professionals. (That was exaggerating it a bit but) the same way gunpowder can be misused as fireworks or bullets; Influence can be used for good and terrible purposes. Cialdini described key principles or weapons of Influence.

This was written by Viktor Frankl back in 1946. I had been seeing it listed in book recommendations from a couple thought leaders. I chanced upon a copy of it at one of what seemed like family-owned bookstores in Quezon city. 

It's one of those books where you wish you had read earlier in your life, and how much it would have guided you throughout. It's a truly fascinating book from Carol Dweck. Here she basically describes two mindsets a person can have in terms of intelligence; Fixed and Growth Mindset; and how it influences our daily lives, and how it impacts our work, sports, business, relationships and parenting. 

Grit. It's a fairly loose buzzword one usually hears in big business town-halls, or some kind of formal ceremonies. I chanced upon the book "Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance" by Angela Duckworth, at a local National Bookstore in one quiet Manila afternoon. My impulse kicked-in. I know of it. I had it listed in my books-to-buy list. Perhaps, the marketing worked. I've been seeing the term "Grit" and Angela Duckworth's name pop up in the couple months leading up to it, in articles, in podcasts, in videos etc.

Gotten around to finishing Daniel Kahneman's book Thinking Fast and Slow. It's quite fascinating. Here he describes two thinking systems in the mind; System 1 and System 2 . System 1 is automatic.  System 2 is deliberate. System 1 is fast. System 2 is slow. Intuitions fall on System 1. Active and effort-full calculation is on System 2.

Incredibly insightful book. To list some of the important things, or simply what I think is most helpful, to me. In no particular order.