Hey there!
This is issue #001 of Self-Caught to Self-Taught,
Let's Dig in.
I failed 5 years back.
Why? How? What went wrong?
Long story short —I was chasing someone else's dream. It drowned me, the feeling of "What the f*** I'm even doing?" every morning.
Imagine having creative ability getting wasted on a balance sheet (I was about to become a Chartered Accountant).
I made a decision, we all have that moment don't we? — Left everything I was doing.
I was blank, wasted years and had no idea what the heck I would do now.
People say never look back, I had to (haha). I had to look back on what is it that I do which gives me joy. What's that one thing?
You guys know what I do now, the question is how I came here to this particular second doing what I love!
The answer is simple:
- I invested in myself,
- Upgraded my skills,
- Learned everything I could about the things I love.
All this was part of educating myself. I have mentors that don't even know me and would never. I didn't go to a design school —I design better than most designers. I don't have an MBA degree —I can run my own business.
The internet is full of it, anything you need to learn is available given that you are looking in the right direction. It's crazy, right?
But there's something more valuable out there —Books.
We are lazy and we know it
Have you ever neglected books, even though you knew that they are essential for mental growth? We are lazy, I was at least.
Well, a few months back. I finally started reading again, I realized what I had been missing. Not only this but skipping it for one day disrupts the flow of ideas in my head.
We all know books are this, books are that, Bla Bla and whatnot.
—We are so tired of listening to this.
Then let’s get straight to some facts here:
- An avg. adult reads only 1 Book/year
- 80% of adults have not read a Book in the last 5 years, seldom ever go to a bookstore
- These adults are only growing their income by 1% every year.
Am I getting my point across? Don't you see an opportunity here?
The human mind thrives on solving problems — Reading opens the door to new perspectives.
Think of your mind as raw iron, It will get rusty a 100% if not greased —by books.
Spilling more facts here,
- Reading let alone 1 book/month can put you into the top 1% of income earners. (That would take a decade though)
- 20% of adults who are reading and learning are having an increase of 11% in their income every year.
There is more data available, the list goes on and on.
Today, let's emphasize How we all can 2x our worth every year with books and only 90 mins/day. I call it the -
60-30 Method (for top 1%)
Before we jump in..
Grab a pen and paper.
We need to choose what I call '3 Realms of expertise' i.e. 3 Interest areas of your life. These interests will help you connect the dots - Your thoughts, ideas and purpose of growth.
In short, We need to find a balance of interests that supports our overall development.
Let's break this down further. (I'll keep it short)
Three Realms of Expertise -
1. Future Self - You need to develop yourself, and evolve yourself.
This interest should focus on Self-Development, Mental health, Communication, Philosophy and anything you can think of.
Choose 1-3 interests like these, which can help you become a better person. "The future you"
2. Existential Self - This is your money-making interest.
Choose an interest that you can see yourself doing for a long time.
This interest will almost every time fall under eternal markets of health, wealth and relationships.
This should be easy to choose in most cases, wasn't in mine. Remember my story? I had to look back to find this out.
3. Inner self - This interest is interesting (haha)
Is there something you want to learn about? Something you've been dreaming to learn since you were a child?
This one should raise your dopamine levels. Think of it like your browser history, YouTube watchlists, or the interest which you want to explore more but you have been neglecting so far.
“For me it's financial freedom, I want to travel and explore the world without worrying about any work.”
Selected your interests? Let's get into the good stuff.
There are 4 levers to pull for the 60-30 method:
Lever #1
Now that you have your interest topics written down:
-Break them down into sub-topics.
-Pick out one of them. (any)
-Log on to Amazon and search for books on that particular topic.
-Select 3-4 authors. Remember, the books you select should have more than 500 reviews with a minimum of 4.4-star ratings.
-Buy them all.
Why 3-4 Authors? —You'll find out soon
Lever #2
It's simple, Read.
Every day. Complete all the books from the topic chosen.
60 mins/day. That's it.
Keep a particular time blocked for it. I prefer it before sleeping but you can choose your own time.
“For better focus, switch off all notifications on your smartphone.”
This could be overwhelming but,
We need to read a book every week, that's our target. See the bigger picture:
1 book/week.
4-5 books/month.
54 books/year.
540 books/decade.
This alone will take you to the top 1% of income earners in the next 10 years.
Feels tough? As a matter of fact, it's really easy:
1. Note down the total pages of the book picked
2. All you need to do is divide it by 7.
That's it, the result will be the number of pages you need to read/day. This is our goal —our smallest viable goal.
(For eg. - A book of 280 pages will leave me with 40 pages/day)
Lever #3
Now it's time to take notes:
30 mins/day.
“These notes are as important as reading.”
What to write:
-Quotes that would make you stop and think
-Examples and metaphors
-Stories and anecdotes
-Ideas and concepts
-Facts, if any
Important - Don't take notes on the same day. Let the thoughts and the reading sit in your head. Write them down the next day or afternoon. (Always include a minimum of one actionable thing every day)
FREEBIE: To write notes and keep track of your books you can use this Notion template (Duplicate it).
Lever #4
Let's rewind a bit and go back to the question "Why 3-4 authors?"
This is known as Syntopical reading. I'll break it down for you (In 3 steps):
1. Every book is based on a Universal concept and You'll notice it in every book on that particular topic. Write them down.
2. Now comes the concepts which are opposite and contrasting. Separate them from the universal concepts.
3. Next, Simply make an argument about them. And jot down your thought process on those contrasting concepts based on the universal concepts.
Use this lever after reading all the books on that particular topic or interest
This could be a little bit tough to process honestly. It was for me, but you will get the hang of it.
Why Syntopical Reading? —This method helps you absorb the book more. To put it in simpler words “It'll help you formulate your own concept”
“Analytical reading is active, of course. But when you read a book analytically, you put yourself in a relation to it of the disciple to master. When you read syntopically, you must be the master of the situation.”
After a decade or two, You'll be above 99% of the population. Living the life you've always dreamt of.
Why?
Because you ran the 60-30 method.
—60 mins of Reading.
—30 mins of Notes and Analysis.
What's next?
“I hope you found something valuable in this letter.”
—it still needs more eyes, and I need your help.
You can help me by -
1. Sharing this article with anyone and everyone you can.
2. Writing a short review on this letter and share it on your Instagram Story. Make sure to tag @madebyharshil
That's all for today. See you next week!
Your '1st newsletter can suck' friend,
Harshil.