<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/54447585-75-hard">75 Hard </a>is a fitness challenge and book that teaches mental toughness by making you commit to five daily critical tasks for 75 days straight, including drinking a gallon of water, reading 10 pages of a non-fiction book, doing two 45-minute workouts, taking a progress picture, and following a diet.

75 Hard - Book Summary 

"I firmly believe that no matter who you are; man or woman; how intelligent you are; how talented you are; no matter what skills you lack...you can develop mental toughness."-Andy Frisell

Author Quote 

A few months ago, my sister randomly texted me and said, “I just listened to a podcast you might be interested in.” She then sent me the link to <a href="https://andyfrisella.com/">Andy Frisella </a>’s Real AF podcast, where he talks about the 75 Hard mental toughness challenge.  Fast-forward to just a few weeks ago, and I was completing my last day of the challenge. My only regret was that I hadn’t started sooner. This thing is one of the hardest, most life-changing things I’ve ever done, and it’s a ton of fun. It gets you out of your comfort zone and in ways that you can’t <a href="https://fourminutebooks.com/imagine-it-forward-summary/">imagine </a>. And it brings out the <a href="https://fourminutebooks.com/becoming-the-boss-summary/">boss </a>inside of you that you’ve always wished would take charge. But, most of all, it’s a pathway to building consistent mental toughness, which is the ability to stick to the right things even when you don’t feel like it.  The challenge involves completing five critical tasks every day for 75 days straight, including:

The challenge involves completing five critical tasks every day for 75 days straight, including: <ol><li>Take a progress picture. </li><li>Drink a gallon of water. </li><li>Complete two 45-minute workouts, one of which has to be outside. </li><li>Follow a diet (and no cheat meals). </li><li>Read 10 pages of a non-fiction book. </li> </ol>

The Challenge 

After doing all of these myself for 75 days in a row, I can say that it’s 100% something you should consider yourself if you want to develop mental toughness. And one of the best ways to learn about it is Andy’s book called <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/54447585-75-hard">75 Hard: A Tactical Guide to Winning the War With Yourself </a>.

<ol>
<li>The purpose of 75 Hard is to develop mental toughness, which is the key to getting happiness and anything you want in life.</li>
<li>To complete the 75 Hard challenge, you must follow five critical tasks for 75 days straight and start over if you miss even one.</li>
<li>There are eight “eras” of the challenge that you must be aware of and prepared for if you want to complete it.</li>
</ol>
Let’s get into it and start developing mental toughness!

Top 3 Book Lessons

Andy Frisella didn’t have that exciting of a childhood. But he did have a supportive father who taught him <a href="https://fourminutebooks.com/mind-gym-summary/">mental toughness </a>.  This lesson would help Andy go on to put in years of effort to <a href="https://fourminutebooks.com/the-leadership-challenge-summary/">build a massively successful business </a>. All seemed to be going well until the night he almost lost his life.

Lesson 1:  The key to happiness and getting anything you want is mental toughness, which is why Andy Frisella created 75 Hard.

Andy was walking back from a club and heard a guy in a car yelling racial slurs at one of Andy’s friends. Andy confronted him about it, but when he started walking away, the man attacked. Multiple stab wounds to the face left Andy bleeding out, but he miraculously survived. The pain left, but the scars didn’t. It was embarrassing for him to have people asking about it all the time, and he wanted to give up.  Then one day, after talking with a woman who also had scars on her face, he decided his pity party was over. Instead, Andy began a podcast to share his business and life lessons.

One day he had a guest that had completed 50 ironmans in 50 days in all 50 states. He taught Andy that the key to happiness and success is mental toughness. And you get it intentionally putting yourself into uncomfortable situations.  Andy had always wanted to teach others how to be mentally tough, and this guest’s words led him to create the 75 Hard challenge to make it happen!

If you want to get mental toughness to get whatever you want out of life, you should take the 75 Hard challenge.  The first critical task is to commit to a <a href="https://fourminutebooks.com/the-bulletproof-diet-summary/">diet </a>. This can be anything designed to improve your health. But you must stick to it–and no <a href="https://fourminutebooks.com/the-4-hour-body-summary/">cheat meals </a>! Of course, this also means no alcohol. Critical task number two is drinking a gallon of water a day . Wherever you find water, you find life, and you can remember this as a symbol that you’re doing this because you want your life to flourish.

Lesson 2:  There are five critical tasks to complete every day for 75 days straight to complete the 75 Hard challenge.

The next critical task is to complete two 45-minute workouts . One of them has to be outside. Some days I just had to walk for my workouts, but that still counts! The fourth critical task is reading 10 pages of a non-fiction book that will improve your life. Audiobooks don’t count, but you can use e-readers!  And finally, critical task number five is to take a progress picture . This is the one that most people miss simply because they forget. So set a reminder and do it at the same time every day! Oh, and if you miss one of these, you have to start over!

In the first 7-10 days of 75 Hard, you’re going to feel excited and learn a ton. I started realizing things about myself, my <a href="https://fourminutebooks.com/tiny-habits-summary/">habits </a>, and my excuses that I hadn’t ever considered, and it helped me improve. Days 8-14 are ones of discovery, discipline, and the danger zone. You’ll begin valuing your time better. You will wonder why you thought you couldn’t push yourself harder. And the initial excitement will wear off. The next 15-21 days are marked by exterminating excuses, growing exponentially, and quitting, for some.

Lesson 3:  To finish the challenge, you need to be aware of and prepared for the eight “eras” of it.

During days 22-28, you’ll start to experience massive transformation and “The Moment of <a href="https://fourminutebooks.com/super-attractor-summary/">Manifestation </a>.” Like a superhero, you’re going to start seeing yourself changing into something amazing. Days 29-35 are where you start to get so focused that you enter the flow state. You begin growing fearless. In between day 36 and day 49, you’ll feel <a href="https://fourminutebooks.com/aware-summary/">aligned with your true self </a>and start to experience automation as you anticipate the end.

From day 50 to day 63, you’ll reach a level of expertise but also start to have a dip in excitement. And finally, from day 64 to the end, you’re entering God mode where you can’t lose. You’ll reach peak mental toughness and be able to apply it to anything in your life!

This book and the challenge that goes with it are life-changing. It really can be as simple as committing to critical tasks for 75 days straight to gain mental toughness. Heads up, though, this book isn’t the most eloquently written. Andy curses a lot, which isn’t my favorite, but I could look past it!

75 Hard - Book Review

The 31-year-old dad who is overwhelmed and feels like he’s in a rut, the 48-year-old that wants to be disciplined but hasn’t ever found a way to make it stick, and anybody who’s competitive enough to take on a difficult challenge that will make them mentally tough!

Who would I recommend the 75 Hard to?

75 Hard summary is a fitness challenge and teaches mental toughness by making you commit to five daily critical tasks for 75 days straight.

productivity

Productivity

philosophy

Philosophy

personaldevelopment

Personal Development

motivationandinspiration

Motivation & Inspiration

habits

Habits

75 Hard Summary

Friend: I’d rather die than miss a day at the gymMe: That’s a bit extreme, don’t you think?Friend: What I found is, if I miss one day, I will miss every day. Whatever set of excuses I have today that stop me gyming, they are going to be there every day.Me: Yep I always have the same excuses: I am too busy, I am too tired. There’s never a convenient time.

Train your work ethic & willpower

We procrastinate because we overvalue the present and undervalue the future.We’re drawn to instant gratification. Sitting on the couch and watching TV is instantly enjoyable. Getting into shape at the gym takes a long time.We not do understand the future consequences of our actions. We feel like skipping the gym today is a small thing. We don’t realize that tomorrow we’ll have the same excuses, we’ll never end up going.We defeat procrastination by realizing:If I do not take action today, then I will never achieve my dreams for tomorrow.

Procrastinating to Realization 

You can force yourself into doing anything by putting your dreams on the line.One of the hardest things I did was to quit smoking. I tried and failed multiple times. I cut down to only a few a week. I made it a rule to only smoke around friends. Nothing worked, light smoking turned into heavier smoking and I always fell back into half a pack a day.Then I got my ego involved. I said to myself: I have all these dreams, I want to build a business, solve big problems, change the world.

Dreams vs Bad Habits

Willpower is something that you can train. Willpower is like a muscle, it gets stronger the more you exercise it.It’s the same with any task that requires brain power, it gets easier the more you do it. Your brain is a muscle. It gets stronger the more you use it.According to psychologist Mihály Csíkszentmihályi, flow is when a person doing an activity is fully immersed in a feeling of energy, focus, and enjoyment. Flow is characterized by complete absorption in what one is doing and loss of one’s sense of space and time.

Willpower is like a muscle

It’s easier to commit 100% to quitting than to smoke in moderation. Because you don’t have to make the decision anymore. Otherwise you’ll be like ‘today’s an exception, my friends are smoking,’ everything becomes an exception.Do not make a backup plan.Plan B only distracts you from plan A.

Commit 100%

I am not afraid to die on a treadmill. I will not be outworked period. You might have more talent than me. You might be smarter than me. But if we get on a treadmill together, there’s two things: You’re getting off first, or I am going to die.

We’re all professionals in one area of our life: our jobs. We show up everyday. We show up no matter what. We stay on the job all day. We’re committed over the long haul. The Pro takes the time to master technique. The stakes are real, this is about survival and feeding our families. The Pro gets paid.

Turn pro


Time is our most valuable asset. Once you’ve spent it, you can’t get it back.This is the amount of time you have, each box represents one year.It’s not much, and you’ve already spent some of the boxes.Hold your hand to your chest and feel your heart.That is the feeling of time slipping away. You will never get those beats back.Value your time like you value money. Think about how much attention we give to money. Working hard to make money, saving money in the bank and finding worthy investments for your money.

Value your time


<ol><li>Wake up early</li><li>Calendar your entire day</li><li>Work on the first important thing first thing in the morning</li><li>Schedule 2 hour time blocks for everything that is important</li><li>Treat your time blocks as if they were appointments with your doctor</li><li>Multitasking doesn't work</li><li>Schedule in free time for thinking and reflecting</li><li>Write down all your ideas</li><li>Get really good at saying now</li><li>Love the process</li></ol>

Life only gets better if you add these

The essence of boredom comes in the obsessive search for novelty, satisfaction lies in mindful repetition, the discovery of endless richness in subtle variations on familiar themes

These ideas helped me to make my work ethic effective , it made me do work I did in 5 hours to 2 hours . Not bad if you are just starting out and think going to bed having done everything with relaxed mind very few people get that type of sleep

remotework

Remote Work

timemanagement

Time Management

Developing work ethic

Procrastination is a common issue that affects people of all ages and backgrounds. It is defined as the act of delaying or postponing tasks or activities that should be done promptly. Procrastination can lead to stress, anxiety, and decreased productivity.

To overcome procrastination, it is important to set realistic and achievable goals. Breaking down a big task into smaller, manageable chunks can make it less overwhelming and easier to tackle. Additionally, setting a deadline for each task can help keep you motivated and on track.

Set achievable goals:

Keeping a planner or to-do list can help you stay organized and focused. Write down your daily tasks and prioritize them based on their level of importance. This will help you stay on top of your responsibilities and avoid the temptation to procrastinate.

Use a planner or to-do list:

Distractions can be a major cause of procrastination. Whether it's social media, television, or your phone, these distractions can easily pull you away from your work. To overcome this, It’s important to eliminate distractions by turning off your phone, closing any unnecessary tabs or apps, and finding a quiet place to work.

Eliminate distractions:

Self-discipline is key to overcoming procrastination. It's important to stick to your schedule and resist the urge to put things off until later. Practicing self-discipline can help you develop better habits and increase your overall productivity.

 Practice self-discipline:

While it may seem counterintuitive, taking breaks can actually help you be more productive in the long run.Taking a short break every hour or so can help you refocus, recharge, and avoid burnout. However, it's important to limit your break time and make sure it doesn't turn into procrastination.

 Take breaks:

The Pomodoro Technique is a time management method that involves breaking down work into 25-minute intervals, known as "pomodoros," with short breaks in between. This technique can help you stay focused and avoid procrastination by keeping your work sessions short and manageable.

Use the Pomodoro Technique:

Sometimes, overcoming procrastination can be a difficult task to tackle on your own. Seeking support from friends, family, or a therapist can help you stay accountable and motivated.Having someone to hold you accountable can also help you avoid falling back into bad habits. Procrastination can be a challenging issue to overcome, but with the right tools and techniques, it is possible.

Seek support:

By setting achievable goals, using a planner or to-do list, eliminating distractions, practicing self-discipline, taking breaks, using the Pomodoro Technique, and seeking support, you can become a more productive and motivated individual.

problemsolving

Problem Solving

7 ways to overcome procrastination 

Learning to effectively lead yourself and others all comes down to discipline. Happiness, success, and fulfillment stem from focus and self-control.with discipline and self-control we actually accomplish more of the goals we truly care about. Self-discipline is the bridge between goals defined and goals accomplished.

Self-awareness is a powerful tool for comfort zone expansion, but it requires constant focus and acknowledging your shortcomings, whatever they may be.Know your strengths, but more importantly, own up to your flaws. You can’t overcome them until you do.

1.Know your strengths and weaknesses.

If you want to enhance your productivity at work, improve the management of your To-Do’s, turn off social media notifications and silence your cell phone. Prioritize and execute.The fewer distractions you have, the more focused you will be on accomplishing your goals. Set yourself up for success by ditching bad influences.

2.Remove temptations

If you hope to achieve greater degrees of self-discipline, you must have a clear vision of what you hope to accomplish, just like any goalA clear plan outlines each time-bound step you must take to reach your goals. Create a mantra to keep yourself focused. Successful people use this technique to stay on track, emotionally connect to their mission, and establish a clear finish line.

3.Set clear goals and have an execution plan

work on building your self-discipline through daily diligence in a given area associated with a goal. This goes back to step three. In order to practice daily diligence, you must have a plan. Put it on your calendar, your to-do list, tattoo it on the back of your eyelids - whatever works best for you. With practice, anyone can push the boundaries of their comfort zone every day.

4.Practice daily diligence

Acquiring self-discipline and working to instill a new habit can feel daunting at first, especially if you focus on the entire task at hand. To avoid feeling intimidated, keep it simple. Break your goal into small, doable steps. Instead of trying to change everything at once, focus on doing one thing consistently and master self-discipline with that goal in mind.

5.Create new habits and rituals

When we embrace the mindset of unlimited willpower, we continue to grow, achieve more, and develop mental toughness. It’s the same philosophy as setting “stretch” goals. In short, our internal conceptions about willpower and self-control can determine how disciplined we are. If you can remove these subconscious obstacles and truly believe you can do it, then you will give yourself an extra boost of motivation toward making those goals a reality.

6.Change your perception about willpower

Going in with a plan will help give you the mindset and self-control necessary for the situation. You will also save energy by not having to make a sudden decision based on your emotional state.8

7.Give yourself a backup plan

The development of expertise requires coaches who are capable of giving constructive, even painful, feedback. Real experts are extremely motivated students who seek out such feedback. They’re also skilled at understanding when and if a coach or mentor’s advice doesn’t work for them.The best coaches also identify aspects of your performance that will need to be improved at your next level of skill and aid you in preparation.

8.Find trusted coaches or mentors

Even with all our best intentions and well laid plans, we sometimes fall short. It happens. You will have ups and downs, great successes and dismal failures. The key is to keep going. Learn from your missteps and forgive yourself. Then get your head back in the game and violently execute. Good luck!

9.Forgive yourself and move forward

Learning to effectively lead yourself and others all comes down to discipline. Happiness, success, and fulfillment stem from focus and self-control. Self-discipline is the bridge between goals defined and goals accomplished.

Understand yourself and those around you.

psychology

Psychology

9 Powerful Ways To Cultivate Extreme Self-Discipline

The Second brain is basically a personal knowledge management system which can help unlock the next level of productivity. It is a digital note taking system that keeps a track of all that you read, listen and see. It can then be used to organise your ideas, thoughts which can then be converted into a creative output.There are 10 basics principles of building a second brain.

Building a Second Brain

Creativity is all about remixing stuff. Collect all that resonate with you in one place and combine them in interesting ways and develop the ability to see connections in them which is difficult to see if it’s all in your head."Pablo Picasso: "Good artists copy, great artists steal"

1. Borrowed creativity.

"Our brain is for meant having ideas, not for storing them"Capture any idea wherever you are because your brain is not going to hold it for much time. You can record the voice message if you are busy doing other things.

2.Capture the habit.

Ideas are not single-use. In fact, we can recycle and reuse them over time. So keeping note of all your ideas is important.

3. Idea recycling. 

Don't just categorise the information you've got, but try to link it to the project you are currently working on, so to take the most advantage of it immediately.

4. Projects over categories.

Don't do and even plan to do hard work all at once, since your brain will likely resist doing anything. Instead, do spread your focus and efforts onto several projects, do work in small portions.

5. Slow burns.

It can be really hard to start doing something from a total scratch (e.g. blank piece of paper). But if you've been taking notes and saving all the bits of useful information, it means, you already have a good deal of progress in your work. The only thing left to do is to go through all of your past notes, and maybe just copy & paste. This will make your new project, or task, seem more doable.

6. Start with abundance.

Every work, or e.g. essay, can be divided into smaller sections (blocks) and stored for future use.

7. Intermediate packets.

If you want to internalise useful information fully and keep it in your memory for a long time, you should make it the product of your efforts, you can write a short summary of a book you just read or tweet the insights you got from listening to the podcast. Whatever you do, you should get involved directly in it. If we engage in the material ourselves, we end up becoming much more familiar with it and then we can do creative things with it.

8. You only know what you make.

Take time to flesh out some really complex terms or information (like transactional analysis), that you will not understand in the future. Go the extra mile when describing something in your notes so that your future self will understand what you meant by that term.

9. Make it easier for your future self.

Focus on the actual value of the information, and always try to apply, share, or turn that recently acquired material into something new. There is no point in having tons of useful stuff stored on your computer unless you're taking advantage of it.

10. Keep your ideas moving.

Hey friends, in this video I'll be going over the 10 principles of Building a Second Brain, a productivity system which changed my life completely. FREE RESOURCES Second Brain Week (Free Workshops) - https://learn.fortelabs.co/a/aff_lzltvlhw/external?affcode=58608_oppk6o7y Tiago's Blog (where the bulk of the Second Brain material is available for free) - https://learn.fortelabs.co/a/aff_cdjvlxv4/external?affcode=58608_oppk6o7y 00:00 Intro 01:20 Borrowed Creativity 02:12 The Capture Habit 03:18 Idea Recycling 04:22 Projects Over Categories 05:04 Slow Burns 06:50 Start With Abundance 07:59 Intermediate Packets 10:04 You Only Know What You Make 11:52 Make it Easier for Your Future Self 13:19 Keep Your Ideas Moving 💌 Sign up to my weekly email newsletter - https://go.aliabdaal.com/subscribe-sundaysnippets MY FREE ONLINE COURSES: 🚀 Productivity Masterclass - Principles and Tools to Boost Your Productivity - https://go.aliabdaal.com/course/productivity 🎓 How to Study for Exams - An Evidence-Based Masterclass - https://go.aliabdaal.com/course/studying 🎬 YouTube for Beginners - Everything You Need To Know To Start - https://go.aliabdaal.com/course/YouTube-for-Beginners MY CREATOR COURSES 🎬 Check out my free 7 day email course on how to become a part-time YouTuber: https://aliabdaal.com/part-time-youtuber-crash-course/ 🏆 Creatorpreneur - My flagship course for scaling up your creative side-hustle → https://creatorpreneur.academy/course 🗣 Camera Confidence - My self-paced course on how to improve your creativity, career, or communication skills → https://cameraconfidence.aliabdaal.com/ MY FAVOURITE GEAR 🎥 My YouTube Camera Gear - https://kit.co/AliAbdaal ⌨️ My Keyboard - Wireless Coral mechanical keyboard (Cherry Blue) -https://go.aliabdaal.com/keyboard 📝 My favourite iPad Screen Protector - Paperlike - https://go.aliabdaal.com/paperlike 🎒 My Desk Accessories + Todo List - Ugmonk - https://go.aliabdaal.com/ugmonk 🎙 Check out my weekly podcast, Deep Dive - https://www.youtube.com/c/DeepDivewithAliAbdaal/ - It's also available on all podcast platforms, including Spotify, Apple Podcasts etc. MY FAVOURITE TOOLS 🚀 VidIQ - How I optimise my YouTube videos - https://go.aliabdaal.com/vidiq ✍️ Shortform - The BEST summaries of books - https://go.aliabdaal.com/shortform 📚 Readwise - How I remember what I read - https://go.aliabdaal.com/readwise 🎵 Epidemic Sound - Where I get my music (amazing for YouTubers) - https://go.aliabdaal.com/epidemicsound MY KEY LINKS 🌍 My website / blog - https://www.aliabdaal.com/ 🐦 Twitter - https://twitter.com/aliabdaal 📸 Instagram - https://instagram.com/aliabdaal WHO AM I: I’m Ali, a YouTuber, podcaster, soon-to-be author and ex-Doctor working in London, UK. I make videos that explore the strategies and tools that help us live happier, healthier and more productive lives. I also have a weekly podcast called Deep Dive (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UChfo46ZNOV-vtehDc25A1Ug), and I write a weekly email newsletter that contains some quick thoughts + links to interesting things (https://go.aliabdaal.com/subscribe-sundaysnippets). PS: Some of the links in this description are affiliate links that I get a kickback from 😜

writing

Reading & Writing

creativity

Creativity

podcasts

Podcasts

videos

Videos

Hey friends, in this video I'll be going over the 10 principles of Building a Second Brain, a productivity system which changed my life completely. 

FREE RESOURCES
Second Brain Week (Free Workshops) - https://learn.fortelabs.co/a/aff_lzltvlhw/external?affcode=58608_oppk6o7y
Tiago's Blog (where the bulk of the Second Brain material is available for free) - https://learn.fortelabs.co/a/aff_cdjvlxv4/external?affcode=58608_oppk6o7y

00:00 Intro
01:20 Borrowed Creativity
02:12 The Capture Habit
03:18 Idea Recycling
04:22 Projects Over Categories
05:04 Slow Burns
06:50 Start With Abundance
07:59 Intermediate Packets
10:04 You Only Know What You Make
11:52 Make it Easier for Your Future Self
13:19 Keep Your Ideas Moving

💌  Sign up to my weekly email newsletter - https://go.aliabdaal.com/subscribe-sundaysnippets

MY FREE ONLINE COURSES:
🚀  Productivity Masterclass - Principles and Tools to Boost Your Productivity - 
 https://go.aliabdaal.com/course/productivity
🎓  How to Study for Exams - An Evidence-Based Masterclass - https://go.aliabdaal.com/course/studying
🎬 YouTube for Beginners - Everything You Need To Know To Start  - https://go.aliabdaal.com/course/YouTube-for-Beginners

MY CREATOR COURSES
🎬 Check out my free 7 day email course on how to become a part-time YouTuber: https://aliabdaal.com/part-time-youtuber-crash-course/
🏆 Creatorpreneur - My flagship course for scaling up your creative side-hustle → https://creatorpreneur.academy/course
🗣 Camera Confidence - My self-paced course on how to improve your creativity, career, or communication skills → https://cameraconfidence.aliabdaal.com/

MY FAVOURITE GEAR
🎥  My YouTube Camera Gear - https://kit.co/AliAbdaal
⌨️  My Keyboard - Wireless Coral mechanical keyboard (Cherry Blue) -https://go.aliabdaal.com/keyboard
📝  My favourite iPad Screen Protector - Paperlike - https://go.aliabdaal.com/paperlike
🎒 My Desk Accessories + Todo List - Ugmonk - https://go.aliabdaal.com/ugmonk

🎙 Check out my weekly podcast, Deep Dive - https://www.youtube.com/c/DeepDivewithAliAbdaal/ - It's also available on all podcast platforms, including Spotify, Apple Podcasts etc.

MY FAVOURITE TOOLS
🚀 VidIQ - How I optimise my YouTube videos - https://go.aliabdaal.com/vidiq
✍️ Shortform - The BEST summaries of books - https://go.aliabdaal.com/shortform
📚  Readwise - How I remember what I read - https://go.aliabdaal.com/readwise
🎵  Epidemic Sound - Where I get my music (amazing for YouTubers) - https://go.aliabdaal.com/epidemicsound

MY KEY LINKS
🌍  My website / blog - https://www.aliabdaal.com/
🐦  Twitter - https://twitter.com/aliabdaal
📸  Instagram - https://instagram.com/aliabdaal

WHO AM I:
I’m Ali, a YouTuber, podcaster, soon-to-be author and ex-Doctor working in London, UK. I make videos that explore the strategies and tools that help us live happier, healthier and more productive lives. I also have a weekly podcast called Deep Dive (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UChfo46ZNOV-vtehDc25A1Ug), and I write a weekly email newsletter that contains some quick thoughts + links to interesting things (https://go.aliabdaal.com/subscribe-sundaysnippets).

PS: Some of the links in this description are affiliate links that I get a kickback from 😜

📚 Check out my first book Feel-Good Productivity here: https://www.feelgoodproductivity.com/

Hey, I'm Ali, a doctor turned entrepreneur, and the world’s most followed productivity expert 😜 

On this channel, we explore evidence-based strategies and tools that can help us be more productive, and build a life that we love. 

If that sounds interesting, consider subscribing! See you in the next video x

Ali Abdaal

The Second Brain - A Life-Changing Productivity System

<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/3514273-10-minute-toughness">10-Minute Toughness </a>is a hands-on guide to becoming the best version of yourself and achieving success through consistent good practices such as eating right, forming meaningful relationships, committing to your goals publicly, visualizing your achievements, and many others.

10-Minute Toughness - Book Summary 

"Mental toughness is the ability to focus on and execute solutions, especially in the face of adversity."-Jason Selk

Author Quote

Mental toughness and self-confidence are two essential traits of successful people. For example, in sports, confidence plays a major role. It is said to be the most influential aspect in controlling performance. In other words, thinking highly of yourself and believing that you can do something increases your chances of succeeding.

Book Overview 

However, the path to mental toughness and a winning mentality can be challenging. To think that you can achieve everything you want, you must <a href="https://fourminutebooks.com/mind-gym-summary/">train your mind, body, and spirit accordingly </a>. You have to show yourself that you are capable of setting and following goals and plans. And even more than that, you have to go through each day with a focused mentality. That way, you can overcome any obstacles that may keep you from achieving your goals.

To do so, you must have a clear vision first, and target your efforts. Moreover, you non have to stop caring about what those around you say, and trust yourself more. Although it may sound simple, these aspects stand in the way of the majority of us. These impede us from becoming our best selves. Fortunately, <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/3514273-10-minute-toughness">10-Minute Toughness </a>by <a href="https://enhancedperformanceinc.com/">Jason Selk </a>steps in to help everyone struggling in the process to find their way.

<ol><li>Your image of yourself is a self-constructed concept that you can change anytime. </li><li>Set goals out of passion and love, so that you enjoy their accomplishment. </li><li>To become successful, you must work constantly towards achieving your goals, and nor rely on occasional motivation. </li> </ol>

Top 3 Book Lessons 

Everybody views themselves in a certain way. Some people seem to have it all figured out, that’s why they feel confident and unshakeable. Others don’t think highly of themselves, and unfortunately, that shows as well. However, that can change at any time. The <a href="https://fourminutebooks.com/boys-sex-summary/">impression we have on ourselves </a>is a construct of our own mind. And so we can always access it and change it for the better.

Lesson 1: Build a powerful image of yourself to improve

Of course, it’s not as easy as it sounds. To do so, you must first act and think like the person you want to be. To have your brain think that you are the confident and reliable person you wish to become, you need to set goals and objectives that you ought to follow every day. In other words, you need to work towards becoming that person.

You can’t underperform or even <a href="https://fourminutebooks.com/the-passion-paradox-summary/">outperform your self-image </a>, especially in the long run. If you believe that you’re not capable of doing a certain thing, chances are you won’t succeed at doing it. Doesn’t matter if you try to trick your mind into thinking the opposite. As such, only by picking up good practices and acting right until you form the right habits, can you truly tap into the winning mentality.

Everybody has a dream, or at least something that they love doing more than anything else. Some people are lucky enough to call their passion a job, but what happens to the rest of us? The majority of the world works for financial security, and not out of love for their occupation. As such, when the rewards come, they don’t feel accomplished nor successful.

Lesson 2: Set goals effectively by following your passion

To step out of this undesirable approach to life, you must first learn how <a href="https://fourminutebooks.com/the-4-disciplines-of-execution-summary/">to set goals effectively </a>. To start with, think about your passion and what you love doing most. All your endeavors should revolve around that particular thing that sparks motivation and fires up your soul, so that when you achieve it, you become fulfilled and reach the ultimate level of happiness.

If you follow money or social status, but that’s not what you truly desire in your heart, achieving these will leave you unfulfilled and miserable. As such, once you set a goal that speaks to your identity, you have to commit to it 100%. It won’t be fun, nor easy, and you’ll have to give up a lot of your free time to commit to your goals. However, once achieved, you’ll feel fulfilled and at peace with yourself.

Have you ever caught yourself in a particular moment having an unusual desire to just fix everything in your life, follow your ambitions and take charge of everything at once? Those sudden bursts of motivation can definitely fuel your ambitions, but they won’t take you too far in the long run.

Lesson 3: Success is a result of gradual improvement, not sudden motivation

Relying on motivation alone to get things done won’t do much, as those sudden moments of stimulus don’t happen too often. Instead, progressive efforts and gradual improvement will help you <a href="https://fourminutebooks.com/think-small-summary/">achieve your goals </a>. To reach a state where the right practices, such as eating right, training everyday, or reading a certain amount of pages become a habit and a ritual incorporated in your routine is tough work.

However, only by doing these things automatically you’ll truly tap into a focused mindset and target your efforts in the most efficient way. Although difficult at first, you ought to take each day as it is and do your best, stick to your short-term objectives to meet your end goals, and you’ll find yourself doing all the right things without thinking in just a few months.

If you’ve ever found yourself feeling unproductive, lacking determination, or simply wanting to take charge of your life and reach your goals, <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/3514273-10-minute-toughness">10-Minute Toughness </a>is the book for you. Reading it will reveal the most effective ways of setting goals and sticking to them to achieve the ultimate level of fulfillment. If you’re looking to become the best version of yourself, give this book a read.

The 10-Minute Toughness - Book Review

If you’ve ever found yourself feeling unproductive, lacking determination, or simply wanting to take charge of your life and reach your goals, 10-Minute Toughness is the book for you. Reading it will reveal the most effective ways of setting goals and sticking to them to achieve the ultimate level of fulfillment. If you’re looking to become the best version of yourself, give this book a read.

Who would I recommend the 10-Minute Toughness to?

10-Minute Toughness is a hands-on guide to becoming the best version of yourself and achieving success through consistent good practices.

10-Minute Toughness Summary

Focus is critical component of success in both personal and professional life. It is the ability to concentrate one's efforts, thoughts, and energy toward a specific goal or task.

How to stay focused in Life and on Goals 

1. Set clear and specific goals - The first step towards focus is setting clear and specific goals. This means you need to determine what you want to achieve, why you want to achieve it, and by when. A clear goal provides direction and motivation, making it easier to stay focused.

Here are some tips for staying focused on your goals 

2. Eliminate distractions - Distractions are one of the biggest obstacles to focus. It's essential to eliminate them as much as possible. This means turning off your phone, closing your email, and finding a quiet place to work.

3. Stay organized - Organization is key to focus. When you have a clear and organized workspace, you can find what you need quickly, and you don't waste time searching for it.

<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/57933306-stolen-focus">Stolen Focus </a> explains why our attention spans have been dwindling for decades, how technology accelerates this worrying trend, and what we can do to reclaim our focus and thus our capacity to live meaningful lives.

Stolen Focus - Book Summary 

"When you are unable to pay sustained attention, you can't achieve the things you want to achieve."-Johann Hari

According to Johann Hari in his book <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/57933306-stolen-focus">Stolen Focus: Why You Can’t Pay Attention </a>, he explains patterns like the fact that <a href="https://www.thezebra.com/resources/research/texting-and-driving-statistics/">half of all young people are texting while driving </a>. The book also sheds a light on why doing so <a href="https://www.thezebra.com/resources/research/texting-and-driving-statistics/">reduces our attention by as much as 37% </a>. Of course, Hari provides some solutions too.

<ol><li>Our dwindling attention spans predate the internet, but their decline is accelerating at an alarming rate. </li><li>Current social media platforms are designed to make you addicted so they can make a profit. </li><li>If you want to get back your ability to focus, stop celebrating multitasking and practice being in a flow state. </li> </ol>

Top 3 Lessons From The Book 

Out of personal dissatisfaction with his ability to focus, Danish professor Sune Lehmann conducted a <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-019-09311-w">study </a>about attention. He concluded that, even before the internet, the rise and fall of popular books in the last 200 years indicates that trend cycles are getting shorter. The internet compounds this problem. Between 2013 and 2016, the average duration for which topics trend on Twitter reduced by over 30%, from over 17 to just over 11 hours.

Lesson 1: The internet isn’t the only thing eroding our focus, but it’s declining ever-faster, and that’s a problem.

The culprit is the increasing rate at which we can spread information. From letters to the radio to telephones and live TV — the internet is just the tip of the iceberg. This “<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/29848682-the-great-acceleration">great acceleration </a>,” as Robert Colvile calls it, lies at the heart of the problem. Where we used to consume the equivalent of about 40 newspapers each day in the 80s, it was about 174 newspapers in 2004, and it’s bound to be a lot more now.

The faster we can spread information, the more information we distribute, and the more rains down on every single one of us on any given day . Unlike the latest hot topic on Twitter, this trend isn’t going to go away any time soon, and <a href="https://fourminutebooks.com/the-organized-mind-summary/">our brains simply aren’t evolving fast enough to cope with it </a>.

We have a saying in Germany: “The only thing that’s free in life is death — and even for that, you’ll have to pay with your life.” It means that everything comes at a price, even if the price is hidden at first.

Lesson 2: Most of today’s big social media platforms exploit your attention on purpose so they can make money.

Social media is a great example. We don’t pay with cash to use services like Facebook, Instagram, or TikTok, but in that word, “using,” already lies their true cost: our time and attention. Infinitely scrolling feeds, vain buttons that issue <a href="https://fourminutebooks.com/how-to-break-up-with-your-phone-summary/">dopamine at a tap </a>via likes, shares, and comments, and algorithms feeding you outrageous stories to keep you “using” — it’s all designed to make you addicted on purpose.

To the giants of Silicon Valley, your time is their money, and they’re doing everything they can to keep you “engaged,” even if it’s to the detriment of your time management, wellbeing, and focus . In 2020, the Wall Street Journal even <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/facebook-knows-it-encourages-division-top-executives-nixed-solutions-11590507499">broke a story </a>showing Facebook knew full well what it was doing. Quoting an internal presentation, they showed that “[their] algorithms exploit the human brain’s attraction to divisiveness.” Since it’s so profitable, however, they’ve done little to change anything, so it’s up to us to take back what’s ours.

More information than we can handle, addictive technology, and an entire industry incentivized to keep you doomscrolling for as long as possible: It’s easy to put on your victim hat when it comes to your loss of <a href="https://fourminutebooks.com/deep-work-summary/">deep focus </a>. But we too carry some of the blame.

Lesson 3: The first step to regaining your focus is to stop celebrating multitasking and begin practicing the state of flow.

For one, we’ve developed a culture of celebrating multitasking. Since our society is now always chasing the next thing, we’ve adopted that same <a href="https://fourminutebooks.com/mindset-summary/">mindset </a>at work. The more boxes we can check off, the better, or so we think. Ultimately, we just end up doing “performative multitasking” — we’re more concerned with looking and feeling busy than actually creating something meaningful .

Of course, <a href="https://fourminutebooks.com/the-myth-of-multitasking-summary/">multitasking is a myth </a>, a term reserved for computers with multiple processors, not humans with just one brain. So, what can you do? Reject multitasking. Stop celebrating your coworkers for bouncing around between Slack, email, and PowerPoint. Set boundaries by tuning your notifications, and aim to <a href="https://fourminutebooks.com/singletasking-summary/">singletask </a>.

A good way to practice this is to get in <a href="https://fourminutebooks.com/flow-summary/">the state of flow </a>that researcher Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi described. Lose yourself in a task, and lose track of time. That’s how you know you’re in flow, and any challenge that is not too difficult but also not too boring and feels intrinsically rewarding can trigger it. Start small. Put the brakes on multitasking, go down fewer social media rabbit holes, and remind yourself that it’s okay to not know everything. Find some time to get into flow, and your power to focus will be back in no time!

Hari packages the topic well. In outlining the situation as a global attention crisis, he conveys to us the gravity of the situation. He deftly compiles the history, latest developments, and up-to-date research on the subject, and he still manages to sneak in some personal recommendations as to how we can improve. <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/57933306-stolen-focus">Stolen Focus </a>is a great read for learning to better manage your attention in the 21st century.

Stolen Focus - Book Review

The 14-year-old high school student who’s so busy maintaining all her social media profiles that she barely has time to pay attention in class, the 27-year-old young professional who feels totally overwhelmed at a new job two weeks in, and anyone who feels like they just can’t focus the way they used to.

Who would I recommend the Stolen Focus to?

Read our summary of Stolen Focus by Johann Hari to discover why your attention is waning, and what you can do to get it back, in 3 lessons.

mindfulness

Mindfulness

scienceandnature

Science & Nature

Stolen Focus Summary

Find 100+ Facts and Tips on Productivity - Curated from inspiring sources like Books, Podcasts & Articles - Genuine Insights from like-minded Users like You!

75 Hard Summary

Developing work ethic

7 ways to overcome procrastination

9 Powerful Ways To Cultivate Extreme Self-Discipline

The Second Brain - A Life-Changing Productivity System

10-Minute Toughness Summary

How to stay focused in Life and on Goals

Stolen Focus Summary

Time🧩🪐📡🕰️⏳

7 Types of work relationships and How to improve them.

It's time to
Read like a Pro.

75 Hard Summary

Developing work ethic

7 ways to overcome procrastination

9 Powerful Ways To Cultivate Extreme Self-Discipline

The Second Brain - A Life-Changing Productivity System

10-Minute Toughness Summary

How to stay focused in Life and on Goals

Stolen Focus Summary

Time🧩🪐📡🕰️⏳

7 Types of work relationships and How to improve them.

It's time to Read like a Pro.

It's time to
Read like a Pro.