The Bates Letter, #3
Reading
A lot of people read. Not a lot of people remember what they read. The knowledge you retain compounds.
The way to remember more of what you read is to develop a note-taking system (mine is a version of this). Start by highlighting anything that seems interesting as you read and folding the corner of the page. Don’t worry about how much you’re highlighting or what it means for later.
Once you finish the book, leave it alone for a week or two. Then go back through the pages you highlighted and transfer the notes to a notecard or digital system. There are a lot of different ways to do this, some people organize by books – creating a file for each book. I like to do it by themes or ideas. This is what mine looks like:
Having a notetaking system is a way to store knowledge for later. Considering a career change? Hitting a difficult patch in a relationship? Feeling anxious? Lack of creativity? These can all be categories in your system.
Some of mine include:
Life – General life advice. Random bits I find useful to remember.
Career – From when to leave a job to salary negotiations. Each time I’ve been considering a career change or interviewing for a new position, I’ve been able to flip through the wisdom I’ve saved. It ranges from Steve Jobs to Abraham Lincoln.
Me - Questions I find helpful to ask myself. Traits I want to embody or avoid. Simple reminders of things I tend to forget.
There’s no perfect way to do this and I make slight tweaks to my system all the time. But, this little box is priceless to me and more than paid for the cost of the books I’ve read. If my apartment was on fire, this is the first thing I’d grab.
Book Recommendation
The War of Art by Steven Pressfield is about getting from where you are to where you want to be. It’s easy to read or listen to on audible. The hesitation you feel about starting something new or changing directions in your life is universal. This book explains that and gives you a nudge to start.
I highlighted more of this book than I didn’t, so here’s an excerpt that gives you an idea of what it’s about:
“Most of us have two lives. The life we live, and the unlived life within us. Between the two stands Resistance.
Have you ever brought home a treadmill and let it gather dust in the attic? Ever quit a diet, a course of yoga, a meditation practice? Have you ever bailed out on a call to embark upon a spiritual practice, dedicate yourself to a humanitarian calling, commit your life to the service of others? Have you ever wanted to be a mother, a doctor, an advocate for the weak and helpless; to run for office, crusade for the planet, campaign for world peace, or to preserve the environment? Late at night have you experienced a vision of the person you might become, the work you could accomplish, the realized being you were meant to be? Are you a writer who doesn’t write, a painter who doesn’t paint, an entrepreneur who never starts a venture? Then you know what Resistance is.”
Three Things I Thought Were Worth Sharing
President Bush’s former press secretary who was with him on 9/11. This is a vivid thread he tweets every year.
After a hospital error, two pairs of Colombian identical twins were raised as two pairs of fraternal twins. This is the story of how they found one another — and of what happened next.
Thanks for taking the time to read this. If you have book recommendations, feedback or anything you think I’d find interesting, please share. And if you know someone you think might be interested, please pass it along.
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