Experiences and life stories of great minds can inspire, motivate and encourage us to take the right action and step towards what we want in life and career.

10 Biographies that will teach you more than Business Books

Author : Phil KnightReview: This book truly defines a founder’s romance to his product and shows how one of the most iconic brand NIKE came into existence. A memoir rich with not only insight, humour and hard-won wisdom but also studded with lessons about building something from scratch, overcoming adversityQuote that I loved :"The cowards never started and the weak died along the way. That leaves us, ladies and gentlemen. Us.“<a href="https://amzn.to/3xcSg53">Click to add it on your Bookshelf</a>

Shoe Dog: A Memoir by the Creator of NIKE

Author: Robert Iger Review: Robert Iger encapsulates 10 great leadership lessons that are applicable not just for the CXOs but for anyone who wants to add drive, focus and structure to their professional lives. The book is more like a narration of the lessons he learnt as he grew older. We would recommend this to almost any executive or business owner.Quote that I loved :"Ask the questions you need to ask, admit without apology what you don’t understand, and do the work to learn what you need to learn as quickly as you can" <a href="https://amzn.to/3LRMWYJ">Click to add it on your Bookshelf</a>

The Ride of a Lifetime: Lessons Learned from CEO of Disney

Author: T.J. StilesReview: The epic story of Cornelius “Commodore” Vanderbilt, the combative man and American legend who aided in the birth of the automobile, the Gold Rush, the reshaping of Manhattan, and the invention of the modern business. The book not only depicts a man’s life (both personal and professional), but also the evolution of the American economic system in the nineteenth century..Quote that I loved:"Gentlemen You have undertaken to cheat me. I won’t sue, for the law is too slow. I’ll ruin you. Yours truly, Cornelius Vanderbilt"﻿<a href="https://amzn.to/3upuv84">﻿Click to add it on your Bookshelf</a>

The First Tycoon

Author: Walter IsaacsonReview: Walter Isaacson describes the story of a visionary entrepreneur whose voracious ambition and love for excellence revolutionized industries. This globally renowned, bestselling biography is based on more than forty interviews with Steve Jobs conducted over two years, as well as interviews with over a hundred family members, friends, enemies, competitors, and coworkers.Quote that I loved:"People who know what they’re talking about don’t need PowerPoint." <a href="https://amzn.to/3LSijCK">﻿Click to add it on your Bookshelf</a>

Steve Jobs: The Exclusive Biography  

Author: Alice SchroederSynopsis: Alice Schroeder used her unprecedented access into the life of buffet and the people close to him to bring the life story of the most successful investor of our times, Oracle of Omaha himself Warren Buffet.The Snowball is required reading for anyone interested in learning more about the man behind the extraordinary achievements.Quotes that I loved:“Be fearful when others are greedy, and greedy when others are fearful.” <a href="https://amzn.to/3utGotO">Click here to add it on your Bookshelf</a>

The Snowball: Warren Buffett and the Business of Life  

Author: Girish KuberReview: This book is a fascinating read, it rivetingly captures 200 years of the glorious history of the Tatas, whose ups and downs are mirrored in the development of India itself.Quote that I loved:“India was waking upto the call of independence and the Tatas realised that they needed to contirbute to the cause.“ <a href="https://amzn.to/3uo4mGG">Click here to add it on your Bookshelf</a>

The Tatas: How a Family Built a Business and a Nation

Author: Ashlee VanceReview: Vance does a commendable job of penning down life story of one of the most revered man of 21st century. He takes you deep into the details from Musk’s childhood in South Africa, all the way to Canada & the United States to show how he managed to thrive while being on the verge of bankruptcy and loosing both Tesla & SpaceX.Quote that I loved:"Once you figure out the question, then the answer is relatively easy. We should aspire to increase the scope & scale of human consciousness in order to ask better questions" <a href="https://amzn.to/3Jw0F5Y">Click here to add it on your Bookshelf</a>

Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the quest for a Fantastic Future

Click the link below to check out remaining 3 books which are as valuable as the ones above.<a href="https://thingstodoclub.com/10-biographies-that-will-teach-you-more-than-business-books/">10 Biographies that will teach you more than Business Books</a>

Experiences and life stories of great minds can inspire, motivate and encourage us to take the right action and step towards what we want in life and career. 

April 10, 2022 These 10 biographies will teach you more than any business books in market 

10 Biographies that will teach you more than Business Books - thingstodoclub.com

Jim a Police Officer spends half a shift standing on a street corner where many accidents happen, his visible presence makes drivers careful and might prevent collisions.In contrast John another Police officer hides around the corner to nab cars for violations. Though Jim did more to help public safety but its John who would be rewarded for his stack full of tickets.

Story Of Two Police Offi

The actions performed by Jim are what we call Upstream Actions. They are the proactive measures taken to prevent the occurance of a problem. It involves anticipation of the events that may lead to the problem and thus deploying measures in advance to curb such events.

Upstream Actions 

I believe that everyone chooses how to approach life. If you're proactive you focus on preparing. If you're reactive, you end up focus on repairing

A. Problem Blindness :In order to solve a problem, one has to detect the problem. The belief of problem blindness emerges from lack of understanding of the system, which further causes blind spots there by foging our ability to notice the obivous. B. Lack of ownership:Ownership emerges from attachment. Attachment to material objects propels an individual to take actions to protect it, similary one doesn’t take right actions unless they consider the problem as their own. Owning a problem, such as “How can one improve the existing process” leads to create attachment with finding the resolution.

Barriers that block Upstream thinking  

1. Selecting the right questions: Answers to the problem can only be found if the questions are correct. Questions determine the direction of resolution. Wrong questions can deviate someone from the path of achieving the solution2. Selecting the right problem :Selecting the exact problem is essential, Untill and unless the problem that is chosen is right, efforts aligned would only delay the resolution. 3. Selecting the right people:Its necessary to select the right people with expertise to handle the problem Right people with years of experience help in eliminating unforseen circumstances.

How to take Upstream Actions  

Want to learn more about the steps that can help you adopt upstream thinking ?click the link at the top to know more.

Our actions in problematic situations determine our intentions. The direction of our actions decide if the problem would persist, halt temporarily or would resolve completely.

March 9, 2022 Upstream Actions are proactive, they involve anticipation of the events that may lead to the problem & deploying mesaures to curb such events 

How to Solve a Problem using Upstream Actions - thingstodoclub.com

NFTs or Non Fungible (read interchangeable) Token are set of block chain standards that enable secure onwership of digital assets.As more people figure out how they can leverage this technology, we are starting to see more and more use cases for NFTs.Here are 7 types of NFTs that you need to watch out for

4 Types Of NFTs That Will Revolutionize Entertainment Industry

Art is the most common type of NFT that people are aware of. These can be individual pieces or part of collection like Punks or Bored Ape Yatch clubs.People like collecting Art NFTs just as they like to buy paintings, baseball cards or statement fashion pieces.

Today, gamers spend roughly $40B/year in In-Games purchases. But they don't own those purchases, the gaming company does.By turning these objects into NFTs gamers would genuinely own the objects/goods purchased in those Games

In-Game Purchases

This vertical of NFTs is increasing very rapidly. Web2 contributes very little to earnings of musicians. Web3 allows musicians to turn their music/songs/Album into an NFT.Which inturn provides endless royalties to musicians as they get their cut everytime someone buys their music.

Music

One can turn concert/movie/club tickets into an NFTs which can be leveraged to trade further at higher price where the organiser gets the cut everytime the ticket is resold.This would also make the whole process friction less and creators can allow NFT holders/fans a private meet.

Tickets

Thanks for reading if your interested to know more then click the link at the top

Click The Link At The Top To Read More 

One you understand how NFTs can be leveraged it'll blow you away. Read more to learn how NFTs would revolutionize entertainment industry 

March 11, 2022 4 types of NFTs that you need to watch out for as they are in progress to revolutionize the entertainment world. 

4 Types Of NFTs That Will Revolutionize Entertainment Industry - thingstodoclub.com

While the masses consider #Metaverse to be the latest trend and treat it as some kind of dystopian technology, it is infact slowly been creeping up all this while nowBefore we try to make sense of what’s gonna happen in future, let’s deep dive into some important events which played an important role in shaping Metaverse!

12 Events That Shaped METAVERSE

Back in 1970s when Steve Mann, a Canadian engineer & professor, introduced the world to “Digital Eye Glass” , initially as a vision aid to help people see better. The technology later laid foundation for Virtual Fixtures which was developed by Louis Rosenberg in 1992 at the USAF Armstrong Labs. Virtual Fixtures were the earliest functional AR systems that provided immersive mixed reality experiences

Digital Eye Glass (1970-1980)  

Metaverse was first described by science fiction author Neal Stephson in his book Snow crash which was released in June 1992. Almost an year after August 6, 1991, when without fanfare, British computer scientist Tim Berners-Lee published the first-ever website while working at CERN.

Birth Of Metaverse 1992)

Birth of Internet allowed online gaming to take shape in its most primitive form. Major gaming companies like Sega & Atari were rushing to inculcate internet with gaming, which saw the proliferation of role-playing games (RPGs) and If there’s one thing that makes Metaverse easily understandable by a wider audience and gives it authenticity are these RPGs.

Year of RPG Movement (1994)  

The term Proof Of Work (POW) was coined by Markus Jakobsson and Ari Juels in their paper “Proofs of Work and Bread Pudding Protocols” which was released back in 1999. Though the concept was invented by Cynthia Dwork and Moni Naor in 1993 as a way to deter denial-of-service attacks.What started as a way to prevent service abuses such as spam on a network, has now become pivotal to the way transactions are legitimized on a Blockchain.

Proof Of Work (1999)  

Early 2000s saw rapid growth in internet adoption all over the world, which further bought huge influx of people looking to explore the online world . During that time Philip Rosedale, an entrepreneur from San Diego california, started working on “Second Life” which probably was going to become the closest thing ever created that allowed people to experience virtual world.

Second Life (2003)  

Satoshi Nakamoto, is he a person ? or a group of people ? is still a mystery but what is not a mystery is his invention Bitcoin. Bitcoin or the technology it is based upon Blockchain is touted as one of the most important inventions since Internet. In his whitepaper (published in 2008), Satoshi Nakamoto intended to resolve one of the core problems that we face with fiat currency (government-issued currency that is not backed by a commodity such as gold) which is a central authority regaulating the currency, which could lead to corruption.

Satoshi Nakamoto’s brainchild – Bitcoin (2009)  

What started as coloured coin project has now become a mammoth asset class. Yes ! NFTs or Non Fungible (read replaceable/interchangeble) Token were first conceived as colored coins which got issued on Blockchain in 2012-2013. The idea behind these coins was to mimic real world assets like coupons, shares, digital collectibels and digital art. What drives the value for these NFTs is, that now we have a definite way to identify and authenticate a piece of art without relying on foresencics, as each and every transaction is stored on a blockhain.

NFT (2013) 

While Bitcoin was first generation crypto project with fundamental features, Ethreum was gen 2 crypto with more advancements, it not only intended to decentralised banks but also Apps and services there by potentially decentralising internet itself.

Ethereum (2015)  

DAO or Decentralized Autonomous Organization embraces the idea of Algorithimic Regulation, where rules of a organization are encoded as computer program which is controlled by organziation members and are maintaned on a blockchain, an example of it could be a group of people trying to achieve a goal/own something using shared funds consider a subreddit of HipHopHeads starting their own record label using a shared bank account and each member would then be able to own a part of the record.

DAO (2016)  

When Bitcoin made us reasses our definition of currency it gave us a sneak peak of the world running on DApps. DApps or Decentralized Applications (Apps) is an open source application that operates autonomously on a decentralized blockchain & can only be built on Smart contract networks. All the DApps work on a specific platform which is compatible with its unique code and not on standard web browsers. The first DApp on Ethereum to gain mass user attention was a collectibles game known as CryptoKitties, which literally crashed the Ethereum network at the height of its popularity.

DApps (2016)  

Throughout our journey we discussed about various technologies and how they came into existence. Culmination of all these different technologies, working together to produce a virtual reality world is what we call Metaverse. The last decade ( 2010 -2020 ) has been a huge building block interms of its development, where slowly and steadily different aspects of Metaverse were concieved and we can’t be more existed of what’s next is store for us as we haven’t really scratched the surface and are still oblivious of its true potential.

Welcome Meta (2021)  

Till now we have only scratched the surface of Metaverse we still oblivious of its true potential. Learn how it came into existence 

February 25, 2022 Before we try to make sense of what's gonna happen in future, let's dive deep into some crucial events which helped shape Metaverse. 

Words Of Wisdom

History of Metaverse - A Journey Through Time - thingstodoclub.com

Take that First StepAn objective or macro result which often looks hard to achieve, is nothing but a culmination of micro actions which often are easy to take and it’s just a matter of taking that first step. That’s what separates Doers from Dreamers

4 Ways To Develop A Bias For Action

Age old notion of first learn then earn has been flipped today, as now people prefer to learn while they earn.Performing action is actually the quickest way of learning. Mistakes that you make during the process prove to be a better teacher than textbooks.

Learn While You Earn  

Unless we have something to loose we are not bothered about the consequences. We don’t take any action unless we have something on the line. This phenomenon is referred to as having skin in the game, unless you face the fear of loosing the game or reputation you won’t be committed to take an action.

Skin in the Game  

Tech Giant Amazon, lists Bias for Action as one of its 14 leadership principles. Their mantra is to put words into action as quick as possible while taking calculated risks. The way Amazon describes it as follows “Speed matters in business. Many decisions and actions are reversible and do not need extensive study. We value calculated risk taking.”

Calculated Risk Taking  

In life we come across many problems where our pace of decision making determines whether or not we would succeed. The reason we are unable to take the first step is because we feel hesitant.

February 24, 2022 It is willingness to take that first step. A macro result is nothing but a culmination of micro actions which often are easy to take 

How To Develop Bias For Action - thingstodoclub.com

Zero Sum Game originates from an idea that a win is only possible at the expense of an opponent’s lossEasiest way to identify whether a game you are playing is zero sum or not, is to look around and see the people you are playing that game with.Status is the currency of politicians, journalists, actors and oligarchs who are always trying to one-up each other. t emerges from one’s behaviour which depends on the environment you are present in, as it would effect the formation of your beliefs and notions. Author, Jim Rohn saysYou are the average of the five people you spend most time with

Avoid Zero Sum Games

Easiest way to avoid Zero Games is to identify the environment and people you are surrounded 

February 16, 2022 Engaging in Zero Sum Games emerge from one's behaviour and all behaviour is contextual 

How To Avoid Zero Sum Games - thingstodoclub.com

As humans we are never satisfied with our achievements, there’s always a new benchmark that we set for ourselves and pretend not to be happy till we accomplish it.In his book "Psychology of Money" Morgan reminds us to take a break and celebrate our achievements and recognize when it is “enough” to stop playing and chasing growth for its own sake. "There is no reason to risk what you have and need, for what you don’t have and don’t need"

Understand when it is enough  

It gets dangerous when the need of having more money, power, prestige increases ambition faster than satisfaction.

In 2014, death of a rural janitor Ronald Read made international headlines when the news about his life savings broke out. The humble janitor amassed a fortune of 8 million dollars, those who knew him were baffled. It was neither a lottery ticket nor any inheritence but he saved what little he could and simply invested it consistently over his lifetime. Doing well with money has a little to do with how smart you are and a lot to do with how you behave with it and behavior is hard to teach, even to really smart people. It is said that a right book at a right time can shape us as individuals and we believe each and every second is right time for picking the book “The Psychology of Money” by Morgan Housel. In this blog, we’ll highlight how in less than 250 pages Morgan succeeded to provide 7 timeless lessons about money. 1. No One’s Crazy Everyone has different attitude towards money or as Morgan describes “No one’s crazy” they just have a different outlook towards money. Let’s take for example if someone born in 1970s started investing in stock market, then that investment was increased by more than 10x with in a span of 20 years, but the same investment would have had a marginal growth for someone who started 20 years prior in 1950s. So these two groups of people would spend their life with highly contrasting ideologies of how the stock market works i.e people born in 1970s would be more likely to invest in stocks market than people born in 1950s. Thus we shouldn’t judge someone based on how they chose to invest their money because everyone has their own unique experience on how the world works. The person who grew up in poverty thinks about risks and rewards in ways a child of a millionaire cannot understand. 2. Don’t underestimate importance of Luck If we are trying to acheive something or working towards a goal then its outcome would depend upon a combination of luck, skill & hardwork. Hardwork increases the surface area of luck, Morgan talks about Bill Gates, his success was not only dependent upon his skill but he was also lucky to study in very few high schools in US that actually owned a computer which got him started with coding and later allowed him to build a business model around it which eventually led to the creation of Microsoft. The point is, we shouldn’t focus on how a certain individual got rich or became successful, instead we should zoom out and see the patterns in their life, which made different people lucky at different times which finally led them to be successful. 3. Understand when it is enough As humans we are never satisfied with our achievements, there’s always a new benchmark that we set for ourselves and pretend not to be happy till we accomplish it. This cycle never ends as we keep compairing ourselves to the people who are standing above us in this ladder of success. If your expectations rise with results then there is no logic in striving for more, because you will feel the same after putting in extra effort. It gets dangerous when the need of having more money, power, prestige increases ambition faster than satisfaction. Ceiling of social comparison is so high that virtually no one would ever hit it and the only way to touch it is to accept that you have enough Happiness = Results – Expectations Morgan reminds us to take a break and celebrate our achievements and recognize when it is “enough” to stop playing and chasing growth for its own sake. He beautifully describes this with the following quote. There is no reason to risk what you have and need, for what you don’t have and don’t need. 4. Man in the car paradox People think that buying fancy cars and mansions and stuff because they think that this will get them respect admiration from other people, but what people don’t realize is that others don’t actually admire the person with the car or house instead they just admire the fancy car or house and imagine themselves owning it. Buying expensive things to gain respect and admiration from others don’t work because respect and admiration can’t be bought. Morgan writes to his son ” You might think you want an expensive car or a fancy watch or huge house. But I’m telling you don’t What you want is respect and admiration from other people and you think having expensive stuff will bring itit almost never does especially from the people you want to respect and admire you. True wealth is actually the money not spent. 5. Save Money and Money will Save you Even if you don’t have a specific reason to save, building wealth has little to do with your income or investment returns and lots to do with your savings rate. We usually think of savings as Income – Expenses but ideally it should be Income – Ego, one needs to ponder over their spendings how much of it was actually necessary and how much of it was due to ego. Our savings rate is the only variable we can actually control, we can’t control the rate with which our income is going to increase but what we can do is keeping aside our sum of our money as savings. If you can have very high savings while keeping your expenses low then it can give you a lot more freedom in life. Lot of people are tied to their jobs they don’t enjoy because they have a lifestyle that require them to have high income to maintain their lifestyle. 6. Money buys you freedom People who live far below their means enjoy a freedom that people busy upgrading their lifestyles cannot fathom. True vaue of money is in the flexibility and the optionality rather than the fact that it helps us buy a fancy house or fancy car. Morgan writes Money’s greatest intrinsic value-and this can’t be overstated is its ability to give you control over your time, using your money to buy time and options has a lifestyle benefit few luxury goods can compete with. One can always make more money but you can’t make more time. 7. Getting Wealthy vs Staying Wealthy Survival mentality is key for money, few gains are so great that you would think they are worth wiping yourself out over. Morgan writes getting money requires taking risks, being optimistic and putting yourself out there. But keeping money requires the opposite of taking risk. It requires humility, and fear that what you’ve made can be taken away from you just as fast. More than you want good returns ensure to be financial unbreakable because then you’ll be able to stick around long enough for compunding to do wonders. None of the 2000 books picking apart Warren Buffet’s success are titled “this guy has been investing consistently for three-quarters of the century“, but we know that’s the key to the majority of his success. It’s just hard to wrap your head around that math because it’s not intuitive. Intresting thing about investing and spending our money is, getting it wrong is a lot worse than getting it right, because if we loose money we can no longer go back in the game hence Morgan makes a point that one should think about the long term and try not to loose money rather than thinking to chase money. Be Reasonable rather than rational. Sometimes good descisions are not rational but they are reasonable and we are emotional creature with emotional needs and not rational economic machines making the absolute perfectly logical decision. If a decision helps you sleep at night then that is what matters ultimately. The Psychology of Money lays down timeless Lessons on Money, Happiness and Wealth creation. This book helps in refining one’s thoughts about money and is definetly a must read for everyone who is burderned with the task of getting wealthy by making a quick buck. If you have read the book then we would love to hear your thoughts about it and if you are planning to read it do let us know which lesson you are most excited to explore.

Bite-sized knowledge
to upgrade
your career

Deepak Rohra
@deeroh25

10 Biographies that will teach you more than Business Books - thingstodoclub.com

How to Solve a Problem using Upstream Actions - thingstodoclub.com

4 Types Of NFTs That Will Revolutionize Entertainment Industry - thingstodoclub.com

History of Metaverse - A Journey Through Time - thingstodoclub.com

How To Develop Bias For Action - thingstodoclub.com

Bite-sized knowledgeto upgradeyour career

Deepak Rohra@deeroh25

10 Biographies that will teach you more than Business Books - thingstodoclub.com

How to Solve a Problem using Upstream Actions - thingstodoclub.com

4 Types Of NFTs That Will Revolutionize Entertainment Industry - thingstodoclub.com

History of Metaverse - A Journey Through Time - thingstodoclub.com

How To Develop Bias For Action - thingstodoclub.com

Bite-sized knowledge
to upgrade
your career

Deepak Rohra
@deeroh25