Arun's Book Club

Arun's Book Club
                  My aim of this book club is to find an interesting read and share those with people around me. Also, I hope this will motivate us to read more books regularly.

Issue #3 – July 2016:

The 4-Hour Workweek:

                  
    I have been a long time listener of the Tim Ferris Podcast. I love his detailed interview with celebrities like Seth Godin, Jamie Foxx and so on. Also, I was highly impressed with his growth from a Sales Employee of a Data storage company earning $40,000/- per year to an Entrepreneur more than $40,000/- per month so I picked up this book mainly to understand how he did it.

              This book comes under a new category called Life Style Design. At some points in the book when new concepts like geographic arbitrage or mini-retirement are introduced I felt that there are so many options available to explore and the only limitation to make use of all that opportunity is my own assumptions. The book almost feels like fiction - breaking out of the rat race and exploring life in altogether a different perspective. Also, this book is not just for an Entrepreneur or to be an entrepreneur but also for employees as well to negotiate work from home and to maximise your life output.

             The book starts with breaking assumptions  - “Outside of Science and Law, all rules can be bent or broken”. Step by step processes to re-invent are:

D for Definition – New class of people called “New Rich” or NR’s lifestyle has been explored. Understanding the concept of relative income i.e. Though A Earns $100,000 per year, $2,000 for each of 50 weeks per year, and works 80 hours per week thus earning $25 per hour. B earns $50,000 per year, $1,000 for each of 50 weeks per year, but works 10 hours per week and hence makes $100 per hour. In relative income, B is four times richer than A. Valuing not just income but also time spent to earn that income. These kinds of people who value income with respect to time are the New Rich.

E for Elimination – Kills obsolete notion of time management. Applying Pareto principle or 80-20 rule to each and every task thereby eliminating most of the tasks and focussing only on 20 % of the tasks which gives 80% of the output.

A for Automation – Here the author explains how to find the right online business, automating the tasks and finally outsourcing those tasks to Virtual Assistants (VA). Outsourcing is not a new concept but applying that to individuals using services like https://www.yourmaninindia.com was a new outlook. 

L for Liberation – In the above 3 steps Tim provides a step-by-step process for generating and automating the income and in this step he explores mini-retirement where in escaping the bonds of confining to a single location. Taking a 3 to 6 months of retirement every few years than waiting for the D-day at the end of 40 years of work life.

Overall I found the book very thought provoking please find the link to purchase it here (affiliate link).

Issue #2 - June 2016:
See you at the top by Zig Ziglar:

 
                                Last week I completed listening to the audio book See You At The Top: 25th Anniversary Edition by Zig Ziglar (affiliate link). This recording was from the recommendation list of the Best selling author Seth Godin.
                               
This is one of the greatest motivational programs of all time. Zig is a master motivator. His speeches are research-based with data points that convince you to follow his words. He also has these funny one-liners in between which kindles your interest in his content. Some of the quotes that I liked from this recording

• You are what you are and where you are based on what goes into your mind, you can change what you are and where you are by changing what is going into your mind

                              He even goes on to say the words we use in our daily life makes a tremendous impact in our life and one of those example quotes is - Call your alarm clock as "Opportunity clock". By making these tiny adjustments you look things differently.

• Life is not a spectator sport but it's a participatory sport ~ On watching TV

                             I liked this quote very much that I have this one written on top of my desk along with a few other selective quotes. 

• It's not what you have its what you recognise that makes you successful

                          Zig not only says but proves that attitude is what one needs to be successful. So recognising those attitudes and growing those is what is really needed to succeed.

• People often say that motivation doesn't last. Well, neither does bathing 

He concludes it by saying - What you get by reaching your destination is not nearly as important as what you will become by reaching your destination. You will become the winner you born to be.

I heard this recording through audible. If you are interested here is a free 30-day trial for Audible(affiliate link).

Issue #1 - May 2016:

The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho:

                                                               
                        Last week, I heard the author's (Paulo Coelho) interview in The Tim Ferris Show. After the interview, a quick wiki search about the author led me to find that this book holds the Guinness World Record for most translated book by a living author. This aroused enough interest in me to read the book. When I opened the book last Thursday at 8:45PM, I wanted to read it for 15 mins before getting to bed. Little did I know that it will keep me going well past midnight.

The book's main character Santiago, a young shepherd goes on a search of treasure from Spain to the Pyramids. What starts out as a search of a worldly treasure turns into finding his own inner treasure.

There are lot of quotes from this book that I liked, here are a few:

• When you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it 

                                        This is the unique message in the book. When we really want something the whole universe helps us achieve it, but we have to follow our heart and watch for the signs that the world throws at us.

• Wherever your heart is, that is where you will find the treasure

                                      It's the authors way of saying follow your passion.

• When we strive to become better than we are, everything around us become better too.

                                     I couldn't agree more on this, when we improve ourselves not just by increasing the standard but by improving our quality we inspire people around us too.

If you haven't read this book The Alchemist (affiliate link) yet, consider giving it a try. You would thank me for suggesting it.