Category: Learning

I’ve always been a big reader. Each year I set goals for what and how much I want to read, and I track everything on GoodReads. One of the biggest challenges for readers is remembering what we’ve read. Have you ever had a moment where you remembered a bit of a story or idea that you once read, but you had no idea where it came from? It’s happened to me many times.

Through the years I’ve tried many different systems to make sure that I remember, and can locate, what it was that I’ve read and found helpful. When I was a young pastor, after I would read a book I would go back through it and type out quotes and thoughts I had as I read. This obviously took some time, but it was a great solution. This second time through a book allows the major takeaways to become more sticky, which is the whole idea. I actually just located the folder I labeled “My Book Summaries” on my MacBook, and there are over 40 documents.

This addresses one of the issues – that of how to truly internalize what you’ve read. But while it took the best ideas from books and put them into a digital document, it didn’t provide a great solution for easily locating those ideas at a later date. The bigger problem was that as I got busier with work and life, I quit taking notes this way.

The Kindle was a real game changer for me. I’ve never owned an actual Kindle, but I’ve been using the Kindle app for a long time. I actually purchased my first Kindle book way back in 2009. I say it was a game changer because once this technology surfaced, I began reading just about everything digitally. I preferred digital over physical for two reasons. First, I didn’t have to worry about running out of room on my bookshelves. Second, I could highlight important things I read, and then cut and paste those highlights into a word processor doc. So that’s what I began doing. It was way faster. It unfortunately did not have the same impact as when I would read the book the second time and actually type out those notes. But the positive was that I had highlights for many more books.

This summer I started writing the curriculum for a financial workshop I led at my church called Mastering Money. I decided to use Ryan Holiday’s Notecard System. The gist of the system is that you wait a couple of weeks after finishing a book, and then you go through that book a second time and write down the things that impacted you most. So I bought 4×6 notecards and a box to hold them, and then I set out going through every book on money that I had read in the past. I wrote down quotes, questions, big ideas, etc, and in the top right hand corner I would give the card a tag. Once I had gone through all of the books and had several hundred cards, I set out to organize the cards according to tag. From there I started writing the curriculum. This made the daunting task of writing the curriculum for a three hour workshop way less daunting, and I’m so glad that I went through the process.

At the end, however, I decided that this system had some drawbacks. First, my handwriting is terrible. I would write a few sentences on a card, and even I would have trouble reading it! Second, it takes a lot of time to write. I am much faster at typing than writing. Finally, what happens if I lose those cards? I wanted a digital solution.

A few months ago I was introduced to Tiago Forte through the All the Hacks Podcast. It was through this podcast interview, and through further reading about Tiago, including his great book Building a Second Brain, that I began to take steps towards creating a system for remembering and easily recalling what I’ve read.

This interview first introduced me to the app Readwise. I started out with a two month trial, but after a few weeks of using the app I became a paying subscriber. Readwise imports highlights from Kindle, Pocket, Feedly, Instapaper, Apple Books, Twitter, and many other platforms. Every morning, at the time I specified when setting up the app, I receive an email with five random highlights from books I’ve read. It’s fun to read this quick email and be reminded of the books that I’ve read through the years.

Here’s why I love Readwise. When I’m reading in the Kindle app on my iPad, I can add a one word note that begins with a period (.contentment, for example), and then that becomes a tag in Readwise. So just as I sorted those physical notecards by the tags I gave it in that upper right hand column, now I can do that digitally. It’s going to take some time to go back through my books and add those tags, but that is my plan. Once I’ve done this, I’ll be able to go into Readwise, select a tag, and I’ll see every quote or note that contains that tag. It will be so helpful when writing a sermon or article.

Here’s how I’m currently using this system. I recently read the book From Strength to Strength, by Arthur Brooks. It was one of those books that I knew I would want to go back to, so I opened a Apple Notes doc on my MacBook, and had my iPad next to it with this book pulled up. I had a browser tab opened up to this book’s highlights in Readwise. I began to reread the book, and when I would come across something that I highlighted, if it was still meaningful, I would add it to Apple Notes. If it was the entire highlight, I would simply copy and paste it from Readwise. Since I had not started tagging at the time I first read the book, I also used this time to add those tags. Once I was finished going through the book this second time, I had a doc with my main takeaways.

Readwise recently introduced Reader, which is their own RSS reader app, so now I can do the same thing with articles. If I start reading an article online that I think is going to be a good read, I immediately send it to Reader, and I either read it from the Reader app then or save it for later. In the Reader app I can highlight and add notes and tags, and those highlights, notes and tags then sync to Readwise.

I’m am really excited about this new system. Reading a good book is great. A book can provide inspiration, information, or simply fun. It can give you that one idea that takes your life in a new direction. But now I’ll be able to go back to what I read days, weeks or even years before, and allow it impact me once again.

These are some of my favorite books from 2022. They’re in no particular order.

The Psychology of Money, by Morgan Housel, was excellent. There’s a good chance I’ll end up reading it again this year. When it comes to money, our decisions aren’t usually data driven. There are emotions and history and pride and fear all wrapped up, and we need to understand that if we’re going to make wise decisions with our money.

Financial Freedom, by Grant Sabatier, contained a lot of repeat material I had read in other FIRE books, but Grant supplies so much data backing up his teaching, which I found very helpful. There is also a lot of helpful info about earning more money, whether that’s through your current 9-5 job or through side hustles.

Shauna Niequist’s I Guess I Haven’t Learned that Yet was a beautiful read. She shares the struggle of pandemic life, illness, family issues, and moving to a new city. She’s a great writer, and I deeply appreciated her honesty.

Another book I’ll definitely come back to is The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry, by John Mark Comer. The title comes from Dallas Willard, who is one of my favorite authors. Comer brings a philosophical yet very practical teaching about the dangers of hurry.

I thoroughly enjoyed listening to Stanley Tucci read his memoir Taste: My Life through Food. I’ve always enjoyed his work as an actor, but hearing his story, and how food and cooking weaves a path through it, made me even more of a fan.

The AntiSocial Network, by Ben Mezrich, tells the 2020 story of the collision between Reddit, Robinhood and GameStop in a way that would forever change Wall Street.

Michael Hyatt’s Living Foward is not a new book. I’ve had it for awhile, but in January I read it for the first time. Here is a blog post on how I’ve put what I learned into practice this year. I’ll be coming back to it next week as I spend a day planning for next year.

Finally, here are a few of my favorite novels I read this year.

• The President’s Daughter, by Bill Clinton & James Patterson
• The 6:20 Man, by David Baldacci
• Chasing Fireflies, by Charles Martin
• The Last Thing He Told Me, by Laura Dave
• The Match, by Harlan Coben
• The Boys from Biloxi, by John Grisham

There was a time this spring when I was on pace to read a book a week, something I’ve never done before. While I didn’t quite hit 52 books read this year, I got pretty close, and I definitely beat my goal of 40. Here are some of my favorite reads for the year.

First up are some memoirs…

A Promised Land – Barack Obama
This is one that I listened to, which was great because it was President Obama reading it. It’s a very long book, clocking in at over 750 pages, and this is just part 1. It was a very enjoyable read.

I’m Still Here – Austin Channing Brown
This is not an easy book to read. In fact, after getting through about half of it, I put it down for awhile. But I’m glad that I picked it back up. It was less about new information making its way into my brain and more about truths penetrating my heart.

Where the Light Fell – Phillip Yancey
I just finished this one a couple of weeks ago. I don’t think I had ever read a book by Yancey. This one was beautiful. He is around the same age as my parents, and like them he grew up in the south. So there is a lot about religion and racism. And it’s another powerful book on how our parents shape us, both good and bad.

Still Christian – David Gushee
David Gushee began his tenure at Union University my senior year. I really wish that I had gotten to take a class from him. I read his book on ethics while in seminary, and began following more closely his work after that. I felt a real familiarity reading his story, though I have not been in the spotlight like he has, and I’ve therefore not gone through the pain that he has.

Greenlights – Matthew McConaughey
This might just be the most entertaining book of the year. And it’s another one I’d highly recommend you listening to, as the author is the one reading it. I listened to it while driving through Colorado, Montana and Wyoming this summer. It, like Yancey’s book, has the message of parenting at its core.

Speaking of books on parenting, this one was excellent…

The Intentional Father – Jon Tyson
I’ve been using Tyson’s materials on parenting since Adam was in 6th grade and we began our weekly breakfasts together. I’ve read a lot of good parenting books through the years, but I’d say this one is probably my favorite.

Now for some books on finance, productivity, and really just living life well.

Lifeonaire – Steve Cook
This fictional story gets the reader to ask the question, “What is the good life, and how do I achieve it?” There are some cheesy parts in it, but it was one of those right place right time books for me. I’ve actually made an offer to Adam that if he will read the book over Christmas break and write a reflection paper, I’ll pay him $50. I think the message in it is that important for him.

Off the Clock – Laura Vanderkam
For several years now managing time has been just as import as managing money to me. Vanderkam is one of the best writers on this topic.

Work Less, Live More – Bob Clyatt
My interest in semi-retirement came after I left vocational ministry. I had been pastoring a church and doing real estate for several years, which meant I was working well over 40 hours per week. After I left vocational ministry, I had 15-20 hours that I did not necessarily fill up with more real estate. It allowed for me a better pace, which led to better health. However, I would often find myself asking the question, “Am I doing enough?” This book and others has helped me navigate these kinds of questions and helped me to imagine a new kind of life.

This year one of the topics I found myself diving into was Evangelicalism. It no doubt started with the divisive election. I wrote some about this here. I plan to write more on this topic in the coming year, but for now, here are a couple of books I read this year that were shaping influences.

After Evangelicalism – David Gushee
Here’s another book by Gushee. Whereas Still Christian tells more of his personal story, this book shares the why and how by laying out many of his theological convictions and shifts. I’ve recommended this one to several people.

Jesus and John Wayne – Kristin Kobes Du Mez
When a friend recommended this one to me, I asked if he enjoyed it. After pausing for a moment, his response was, “it was really good, but I’m not sure enjoyment was what I felt.” After reading it, I totally understand. It gives a thorough history of how we got to where we currently are with evangelicalism. It shares the good, the bad and the ugly. And the ugly is really difficult to get through.

I already have a good list of books that I plan to read in the coming year, and I look forward to reading them!

In previous posts I have shared my favorite books on the topics of spirituality and money. Now I’d like to highlight those books that have most helped me to do my work. As a long-term solo entrepreneur, I’ve rarely had someone looking over my shoulder to ensure that I was actually doing my work. That may sound heavenly to you, but it’s meant that I’ve had to develop systems and habits so that I actually get things done. Like previous posts, this list is in the order of when I first encountered these works.

First up is Time Management for Dummies, by Jeffrey Mayer. You may chuckle with this one, but this was the first productivity book I ever read. I read it during a time I had a job in which no one was there telling me what to do. I had to figure out how schedule my days so that I actually got things done. While I don’t remember much specifically about the book, there is one exercise that I continue to use. It’s the master list. You take a yellow notepad and write down everything that you need to get done. I now primarily use Nozbe for my to do list, but when there is a lot on my plate, I come back to that master list. There’s something about getting everything from my brain to a piece of paper that is clarifying.

Next is The 4-Hour Workweek, by Tim Ferriss. I’m a big fan of Tim Ferriss. I’ve been listening to his podcast since soon after it launched in 2014, and I’ve read just about all of his books. It was through this book that I first began thinking about concepts like life design, mini-retirements, and remote work. I’m fairly certain that a lot of my thoughts on working the system probably came from Tim as well. This is a book I come back to every few years.

Next up is StrengthsFinder 2.0, by Tom Rath. I first took the StrengthsFinder assessment back in 2001, but I didn’t have anyone really help me to understand it. But in 2010 our church had a consultant come and spend a weekend with us. I learned that my top five strengths were Command, Self-Assurance, Adaptability, Activator, and Arranger. This gave me language to understand the tasks I do that make me feel strong. I began to understand that this is a unique way that God has designed me, and it’s good for me and others when I spend the bulk of my time living and working out of these strengths. If you’ve never taken this assessment you can do so here. I highly recommend it.

Next up is Anything You Want, by Derek Sivers. The subtitle is 40 Lessons for a New Kind of Entrepreneur. I like that. I first heard Derek on the Tim Ferriss podcast, and I was immediately a fan. He is about as outside the box as you can get, and more than just about anyone I’ve ever heard about, his decisions and day to day activity are so rooted in his values and desires. This is a short book with short chapters, and it’s another one that I come back to every few years.

Greg McKeown’s Essentialism came at a perfect time in my life. I was doing too many things, and this book helped me make some radical changes. What do I feel deeply inspired by? What am I particularly talented at? What meets a significant need in the world? At the center of these three questions are just a few things. I understood that my focus needed to be on these things. That meant that I needed to stop doing a lot of other things. And that’s where the next book helped immensely.

Before Free to Focus was a book, it was a course by Michael Hyatt. It was one of the best investments I’ve ever made, and it continues to bear fruit in my life. It was from Hyatt that I learned how to construct an ideal week. The course/book also helped to give me the courage to cut out a lot of things I was doing that might have seemed urgent, but that weren’t really that important. It also gave me the skills to automate a lot of the tasks that I did on a day to day or week to week basis.

Deep Work, by Cal Newport, was another big one for me. The idea behind the book is that a lot of the work that is needed today is what he would call deep work. The problem is that the way so many of us spend our working days pushes against deep work. We are so easily distracted. What I learned through this book was to have time set aside during my most productive hours (morning) that was devoted to this kind of deep work. During that time I wouldn’t check email or browse the web for whatever entered my mind at that moment. It’s a discipline for sure, but it’s one that totally pays off.

The Complete Enneagram, by Beatrice Chestnut, is similar to StrengthsFinder in that I believe that the more I understand about myself, the better I’m going to be. Everything starts inside and works itself out. I’ve written on the Enneagram before, so I won’t repeat myself here. But of all the books on the subject I’ve read, this one is by far my favorite.

There was a time in my life when I was a workaholic. I worked a lot because I loved my work, but I also worked a lot because I felt better about myself when I did. Burnout was of course the end result of this kind of unhealthy lifestyle. Rest, by Alex Soojung-Kim Pang, taught me to take seriously the need for intentional rest and play. There are chapters in this book about taking walks and taking naps. Simple yet very counter-cultural.

Off the Clock, by Laura Vanderkam, has been out for awhile, but I didn’t read it until this year. I had read a couple of her other books, but this one is definitely my favorite. In one of her earlier books, Vanderkam encourages the reader to keep track of how their 168 hours (one week) were spent. This is an activity that I’ve done several times, and it’s one that I highly recommend. The subtitle of this book isn’t just a catchy line. I think it’s truly possible: “Feel less busy while getting more done.”