Every Single Minute

1. The 20/20/20 Formula The first hour of your day (5:00–6:00 AM) should be split into three 20-minute blocks: 20 mins – Move: Exercise to activate dopamine and energy. 20 mins – Reflect: Meditate, journal, or plan your day. 20 mins – Grow: Read, study, or learn something new. This is the heart of the book. --- 2. Victory Hour = Daily Self-Mastery Sharma says your first hour sets the tone for your entire day. A strong “Victory Hour” creates calm, focus, and high performance for the next 23 hours. --- 3. The Four Interior Empires Instead of just mindset, you must balance four “empires”: Mindset — your thoughts Heartset — emotional wellbeing Healthset — physical fitness Soulset — purpose and spirituality True success = balance in all four. --- 4. Habit Formation: The 66-Day Rule Sharma explains that any new habit goes through three stages: Destruction (Days 1–22) – breaking the old pattern Installation (Days 23–44) – difficult middle phase Integration (Days 45–66) – the habit becomes nat...

10 Key Ideas from The Happiness Hypothesis 1. The Mind Is Like a Rider and an Elephant Haidt’s central metaphor: Elephant = emotions, instincts, automatic reactions Rider = conscious reasoning Happiness requires training the elephant, not just giving the rider more logic. --- 2. Happiness Comes from Both Internal and External Conditions Neither “happiness is within” nor “happiness comes from outside” is fully true. You need both mental habits and supportive surroundings (relationships, community, meaningful work). --- 3. “Reciprocity” Drives Human Morality Humans deeply value fairness. We repay kindness and punish those who cheat. This reciprocity — “help those who help you” — is a foundation of social harmony. --- 4. The Negativity Bias Controls Us The mind reacts more strongly to threats than to positive events. This makes: criticism hurt more than praise bad news more powerful than good Happiness requires intentional effort to override this bias. --- 5. Changing Your Thinking Can Ch...

10 Key Ideas from The Happiness Hypothesis 1. The Mind Is Like a Rider and an Elephant Haidt’s central metaphor: Elephant = emotions, instincts, automatic reactions Rider = conscious reasoning Happiness requires training the elephant, not just giving the rider more logic. --- 2. Happiness Comes from Both Internal and External Conditions Neither “happiness is within” nor “happiness comes from outside” is fully true. You need both mental habits and supportive surroundings (relationships, community, meaningful work). --- 3. “Reciprocity” Drives Human Morality Humans deeply value fairness. We repay kindness and punish those who cheat. This reciprocity — “help those who help you” — is a foundation of social harmony. --- 4. The Negativity Bias Controls Us The mind reacts more strongly to threats than to positive events. This makes: criticism hurt more than praise bad news more powerful than good Happiness requires intentional effort to override this bias. --- 5. Changing Your Thinking Can Ch...

5 practical, usable ways to think like Albert Einstein — distilled from his quotes, habits, and working methods: --- 1. Spend More Time Understanding the Problem Einstein said: “If I had an hour to solve a problem, I’d spend 55 minutes thinking about the problem.” How to apply it: Before jumping to solutions, write down the problem in 3–4 different ways. Ask: What is the real constraint? What assumptions am I making? Break the problem into the smallest possible components. --- 2. Use Imagination First, Logic Second Einstein believed imagination was more important than knowledge. How to apply it: Visualise scenarios instead of only calculating. Create “mental movies” of how systems behave. Don’t restrict your thinking to what currently exists—ask “What else is possible?” --- 3. Simplify Until It Becomes Beautiful Einstein’s theories came from simplifying complex ideas (e.g., relativity from a few principles). How to apply it: After finding a solution, challenge yourself: Can I remove on...

  The Mountain Is You is a book about self-sabotage , why we do it, and how to transform it into personal growth. Wiest explains that the “mountain” we must climb is ourselves — our fears, patterns, emotional wounds, and limiting beliefs. 1. Why We Self-Sabotage Wiest says self-sabotage is not a sign of weakness . It is a protective mechanism created by: Past trauma Fear of success or failure Unprocessed emotions Misaligned goals Deep subconscious beliefs Your mind tries to “protect” you by keeping you in familiar patterns, even if those patterns are harmful. 2. Emotional Intelligence = Transformation True change happens when you learn to feel and understand your emotions rather than suppress them. Key steps: Notice your triggers Accept discomfort Understand where patterns come from Develop healthier coping mechanisms Emotional intelligence lets you rewrite the story you live by. 3. Self-Sabotage Shows You What Needs Healing Every de...

  Every life is punctuated by a few pivotal decisions — moments when the compass of destiny tilts ever so subtly. For me, one such moment arrived in 1995. I found myself holding two disparate offer letters: ➡️ Balmer Lawrie — the epitome of bureaucratic serenity and institutional permanence ➡️ Duncans — a more mercurial, demanding, and undeniably invigorating private-sector arena Conventional wisdom counselled the former: “Choose stability,” they said. “Choose predictability,” they insisted. “Choose the path well-trodden.” But something ineffable — a quiet, stubborn whisper of instinct — urged me toward the latter. Toward challenge. Toward growth. Toward a journey whose contours were undefined, yet whose potential felt boundless. So I chose Duncans . And that single, solitary decision unfurled into a 30-year odyssey that shaped my professional and personal ethos in ways I could scarcely have imagined. At Duncans, I discovered not merely employment, but engagement...

The Buddha in the Attic by Julie Otsuka is a short, haunting novel about the lives of Japanese “picture brides” who came to America in the early 1900s. It’s written in a collective “we” voice, which makes the story feel like a shared memory—intimate but also universal. Here’s a clear, chapter-wise walkthrough so you can grasp the arc: --- Chapter-by-Chapter Summary 1. Come, Japanese! A group of young Japanese women leave their villages for America, carrying photographs of the husbands they’ve never met. They travel by ship, full of hope, fear, and dreams of a better life. 2. First Night Their first nights with their husbands are often disappointing, painful, or disillusioning. Some men look nothing like their photos. The reality of immigrant life hits hard. 3. Whites The women learn how white Americans see them—sometimes with curiosity, sometimes with condescension, often with misunderstanding. This chapter captures the delicate negotiations required to survive in a foreign culture. 4....