This Week’s BIG Idea
I’ve been thinking about the direction in which I’d like to take the site from now on. Ever since I launched the website, it’s been growing exponentially (that’s almost two years of straight growth). I think at this point, I have an important decision to make. I can treat the site as a hobby continue summarizing the books I love and share them with my audience. Alternatively, I can treat the site as a business and do everything I can to please the Google algorithm to get as much traffic as possible. But what if there’s a third option? What if I can write summaries of the books I love and that content overlaps with what my audience is interested in? Here’s a Venn diagram to illustrate this idea:
When it comes to businesses, people tend to overcomplicate things, but it doesn’t have to be that way. When in doubt, I want to simplify everything. Derek Sivers created a business that thrived for years and years and his business model was simple. Why do I feel this compulsion to make everything more complicated than it has to be? With things like this, I have to remind myself that I can treat this as an experiment. Worst-case scenario, traffic suffers and the work I put out doesn’t resonate with people. Best-case scenario, the site works well, and my life’s completely transformed. Both ways, I learn a lot in the process, not to mention the fact that I love every second of working on the site.
I often reflect on that Alan Watts quote that says “So I always ask the question, ‘What would you like to do if money were no object? How would you really enjoy spending your life?’” I use prompts like this when I journal and it’s a powerful exercise to do once in a while. Ultimately, if money were no object, I’d still post summaries of my favorite books online and I wouldn’t worry about the algorithm. Trying to please Google is a recipe for burnout.
When it comes to certain things in life, I want to play the infinite game. In a recent episode of The Tim Ferriss Show, Morgan Housel said that he wants certain things in his life to be sustainable and I do too. I think the moment you turn your passion into a business, you run the risk of ruining it. I don’t want to compromise that, so I choose another option: one where I do what I love, and hopefully, that thing resonates with people to the point that they want to continue reading what I write. If it doesn’t and I don’t make any money in the process, I can live with that.
What I’m Working on
For the last couple of days, I’ve been working on the best books of the year list. Going over all the books I’ve read over the last twelve months has been fascinating. Some books I thought I was going to love, I didn’t and some books I expected nothing from, I ended up loving. That said, I think the decision to try new books consistently has been a great one and that’s something I hope to continue doing in the foreseeable future.
What I’m Listening to
Catfish and the Bottlemen cover The Killers ‘Read My Mind’ for Like a Version: I’ve been listening to The Killers’ Read My Mind obsessively over the last few months. I thought that the original version of the song was perfect and that nobody could improve it. As it’s usually the case, I was dead wrong.
What I’m Reading
Ultralearning by Scott Young: I’ve had this book on my Kindle ever since I got the device and never bothered to read it. Well, I finally changed that. Ultralearning is a method that you can use to learn anything fast with technology. In the book, Young offers a detailed framework that can help you learn anything you want.
What I’m Watching
I Fell for Her… by ThatWasEpic: I was exposed to ThatWasEpic in a newsletter months and months ago. Every once in a while, I go back to those videos and rewatch them all over again.
This Week’s Quote
“The Buddha once said that hatred was like drinking poison and expecting the other person to die. Let go of your resentments. Life is too short.”
Mark Manson
Here’s a link to my website where I share chapter-by-chapter summaries of non-fiction books.
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