#SoG127 - MetaLearning 📖 📖
#SoG127 - MetaLearning
Lemme try a different format today.
Question. How to decide what to read? What to consume? What to give time to?
In my quest to find the answer, I use two examples. One, a friend. Other, me.
Case 1. Devdutt Pattanaik.
I was talking to a friend in the morning and he mentioned that he is reading 'Business Sutras' by Devdutt Pattanaik.
No, I have not read the book. And apparently, the book is about how Indian mythology (Hindu, Jain, Buddhist) is more relevant to management that western philosophy. It sounds like a great premise and because I have worked with DP on a couple of event projects, I have all the faith in his ability to find relevant lessons in our myths.
I asked him how did he pick the book. He did not have a coherent answer. He just saw some people talking about it, he got intrigued and got the book. There is nothing wrong in this throw-all-the-darts approach and I am sure it is effective.
Lemme park this here.
Case 2. Alex Banayan
I am reading The Third Door which was recommended to me by a friend, who in turn heard about it on the Tim Ferriss show. And the book talks about the idea of how to open doors with people that you want to know.
Now, I trust this friend.
She knows what I do, what I want to do and she knows things about me that even I dont know about myself. Plus she knows the immediate problems that I am grappling with. One of the problems I am actively thinking about is, how to grow my business. And that means I need to find ways to overcome these "gatekeepers" and reach the decision makers. She thought this book could help.
And thus, when she recommends a thing to me, I take the recommendation with all the attention and seriousness.
Plus when she recommends a book and then qualifies it by saying that so and so person recommended the book, to me, it is even more validation.
I would thus drop everything and pick the book.
Lesson for the day?
Of course, our time is limited and there is so much to read and learn and get inspired from. And this lifetime is not going to be sufficient to know even a fraction of a fraction of a fraction of fraction of a fraction of things.
So, what I do is, consume things that pass these two filters...
Recommended by someone who knows me better than myself. Knows my problems, battles, aspirations etc.
And they must recommend that thing to me because one of the giants that I wish to stand on the shoulders of recommended that thing.
This allows me to filter things. And I know what is noise and what is signal.
Next steps for you?
Identify the few giants that you respect and want to be like. Say, Warren Buffett, Bill Gates, Tim Ferriss, Prof. Sanjay Bakshi etc.
Follow them like mad and see what they recommend. And then use your filters to see if its a theme that you associate yourself with. For example, I don't read content on photography that Prof. Bakshi talks about. In fact, in investing they often call this follow the smart money. See this Quora post.
You may even tell all your friends and well-wishers and others that you wish to follow those giants. And next time they come across something from them, they must recommend.
Heck, make your current thoughts and challenges public so that people may extend and offer help!
Thank you for reading,
@saurabh
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Streak: 7
Tags: Reading, Learning, Shoulders of Giants, Give Back.
PS: This series is called Shoulders of Giants (SoG in short) because I want to "stand on the shoulders of giants and see further". I want this series to be the unfair advantage that you (the reader) has over others. This has no new knowledge. This is a mere collection of knowledge, ideas, mental models from people that I consider smart (I call them giants).