A “Short” Summary of Everything I Learned from Sloww’s Posts 201-300

Sloww hit 300 posts! This is a “short” summary of posts 201-300 on my journey.

I’ve been creating 100-post recaps since the beginning—they have become one of the most useful ways I reflect on the natural evolution of my journey. Just browsing these topics gives you a sense of where I’ve been, and where I may be headed.

Note: Premium posts are shown with a lock icon next to the links (🔒)

The posts 1-100 summary focused on:

• Busyness, Slow Living, Decluttering, Minimalism, & Simple Living
• Life Purpose
• Perspective & Future

The posts 101-200 summary focused on:

• Sloww’s Evolution, New Newsletter, & New Premium Membership
• Slow Living, Simple Living, Voluntary Simplicity, & Minimalism
• Life Purpose, Self-Actualization, & Transcendence
• The Art of Living & Spiritual Growth
• Society, Work, & Money

Posts 201-300 focused on the following topics: Click a link to jump to a section below

• Sloww’s Evolution, New eBooks, & Newsletter Issues
• Life Purpose, My Purpose, & Monetizing Purpose
• Better Thinking & Human Development
• The Art of Living & Spiritual Growth
• Health, Society, Culture, & History

A “Short” Summary of Everything I Learned from Sloww’s Posts 201-300

Sloww’s Evolution, New eBooks, & Newsletter Issues

Sloww’s Evolution:

• I continue to reflect on where Sloww has been (and where it may be headed). Here’s my latest thinking: What is Sloww?

Sloww eBooks:

• I launched a free eBook that you receive when you sign up for email: The Hierarchy of Happiness: 100+ Powerful Perspectives on How to be Happy
• As well as my first paid eBook: Ikigai 2.0: A Step-by-Step Guidebook to Finding Life Purpose & Making Money Meaningfully (+ Bonus Workbook)

Sloww Sunday Newsletter:

• The newsletter is now a consistent weekly habit (only skipping a few weeks here and there). Click some of these as a random “choose your own adventure”—I guarantee you’ll learn something new: 012, 013, 014, 015, 016, 017, 018, 019, 020, 021, 022, 023, 024, 025, 026, 027, 028, 029, 030, 031, 032, 033, 034, 035, 036, 037, 038, 039, 040, 041, 042, 043, 044, 045, 046, 047

Life Purpose, My Purpose, & Monetizing Purpose

Life Purpose:

• Life purpose is still critical for me. I continue to read and reflect on some of the top books about purpose including:
  • 🔒 “Man’s Search for Meaning” by Viktor Frankl
  • 🔒 “Let Your Life Speak” by Parker J. Palmer
  • “Awakening Your Ikigai” by Ken Mogi
• I organized 10 deep thoughts on purpose, and asked myself some deep questions including:
  • 🔒 Do You Live Life, or Does Life Live You?
  • 🔒 Can you be Selfish AND Save the World?
  • 🔒 Is Life a Sine Wave of Repeated Hero’s Journeys?

My Purpose:

• If you can stack three or more of your talents and skills together, you can become top 25% in the world at what you do.
• All of my learning about purpose led to some big aha moments about my own purpose that I finally started to articulate.
• I describe myself as a “synthesizer.” If you think you may also be a synthesizer, you may like this introduction to synthesis, knowledge integration, and more.

Monetizing Purpose:

• I’ve experienced quite the evolving relationship with money over the last few years toward the 🔒“money middle way.”
• Now that I’ve overcome the aversion to monetizing Sloww, I’m actively thinking about how 🔒making money can be a natural byproduct of your life purpose.
• I deeply explored Naval Ravikant, read the new almanack about him, checked out his top books, incorporated some key learnings from his biggest tweetstorm, and compiled my 🔒ultimate synthesis of Naval.
• I also threw in one last book at the end of the year: “The Psychology of Money” by Morgan Housel

Better Thinking & Human Development

Better Thinking:

• I’ve been actively increasing the books I read each year. Here were the top 10 life-changing books I read in 2020.
• One book I already know that will be on my top books of 2021 list is “Thinking in Systems” by Donella Meadows.
• I’m also learning more about bias and mental models and read “Seeking Wisdom” by Peter Bevelin.
• Everything I’ve learned has really made me think about our 🔒unconscious default setting and 🔒whether or not free thinking is even possible.
• Just for fun, I created this communication cheat sheet and infographic about the differences between aphorisms, heuristics, platitudes, deepities, and more.
• And, if you’re planning on doing more listening than reading, check out out these 10 intellectual podcasts.

Human Development & Potential:

• Human development is quickly becoming a top focus area for me. I started with Maslow’s original writings, read the new book “Transcend” by Scott Barry Kaufman which proposes that Maslow’s hierarchy of needs pyramid should be a sailboat, and then I redesigned the pyramid myself into a holarchy. My study of Maslow culminated with an ultimate synthesis of 🔒self-actualization and 🔒transcendence.
• Maslow is just one of many human development frameworks. One of the most impactful I’ve come across recently is “ego development theory” by Susanne Cook-Greuter.
• And, I eventually realized that all human development theories seem to converge on Ken Wilber’s Integral Theory.

The Art of Living & Spiritual Growth

The Art of Living (& Dying):

• Similar to human development, there’s little I’m more excited about than the art of living in general. When it comes to living, there’s a lot to learn: balance, optimal living, lifestyle design (and 🔒how I do it), and more.
• My favorite book on the art of living was “A Calendar of Wisdom” by Leo Tolstoy (Book Summary | Premium Summary).
• I also had some fun learning more about Alan Watts who seems to be having a massive resurgence.
• Our 19-year-old dog passed away and it sent me down a rabbit hole learning about death. I had some amazing aha moments about death and wonder if 🔒death is the best invention of life. You see the beauty of humanity even in the face of death.
• I enjoyed this short story about how a lifetime breaks down by the numbers from “Sum: Forty Tales from the Afterlives” by David Eagleman.

Spiritual Growth:

• I’ve started to take spirituality to a new level. “The Four Agreements” by Don Miguel Ruiz (Book Summary) felt too introductory for me at this point.
• While I loved “The Untethered Soul” by Michael Singer (🔒Premium Summary) and “The Power of Now” by Eckhart Tolle (Book Summary | Premium Synthesis), I really dove into deprogramming with “The Way to Love” by Anthony de Mello (Book Summary) and “Spiritual Enlightenment” by Jed McKenna (Book Summary | 🔒Premium Summary).
• If you want to start with some short stories, check out:
  • The Hot Air Balloon (Surrender)
  • The Blind Men and The Elephant (Perspective)
  • The Parable of the Beggar (True Wealth)

Health, Society, Culture, & History

Health:

• I’ve covered the Blue Zones in the past, but I learned specifically about the Blue Zones diet and wonder if 🔒a timeless diet exists.

Society, Culture, & History:

• Daniel Schmachtenberger is one of the most interesting humans I’ve discovered lately. I researched him extensively for this summary and 🔒synthesis on thinking holistically about civilization.
• Daniel also has ties to the Game B and Sensemaking communities—here are some podcasts about them.
• And, last but certainly not least, I compiled a 🔒premium summary of “The Lessons of History” by Will & Ariel Durant.

If you made it this far, thank you! Want me to explore more in a certain area or topic? Please let me know in the comments.

Here’s to the next 100 posts!

You May Also Enjoy:

• What is Sloww?

• A “Short” Summary of Everything I Learned from Sloww’s Posts 1-100

• A “Short” Summary of Everything I Learned from Sloww’s Posts 101-200

• Sloww’s Most Popular Posts

• Sloww’s Book Recommendations & Reading List