How Ali Abdaal's recommended books is reshaping my life.

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Video by Ali Abdaal

Yesterday I wrote about how the book "Atomic Habits" change my life to be simpler, and happier.
How I got to know the book was from watching Ali Abdaal's video. Of course I went on to watch his other videos, and I want to talk about the other 3 books he introduced that changed his life.

Book 1: The 4 hour work week

Many were influenced by this book, and I was too.

Working in Singapore, Singaporeans focused a lot on "working smart," which helped them become what they are today. I really feel that Japan has a lot to learn from Singapore.

The "4 hour work week" definitely shows wisdom of how to work smart.

I still like being analogue and human, but I learned to automate some work I can outsource to the internet. I try to figure out what I'm best at, why do I do what I do and how to focus on just that.

In a world of Web3, the way we should be living is shifting towards a big change. I am fascinated with the upcoming AI world. 

And interesting enough the more the world becomes digital, the more I want to become analogue.

Thinking where my balance would be to have a fulfilling Web3 period and pursuing it would be something exciting to engage in.



Book 2: Show your Work

Out of the 3 books introduced in the video, this stood out for me the most.

If it wasn't for the book, I probably hadn't showed my work in English.

I did spend a good amount of years in San Francisco during childhood but my English is not perfect. When I write in English, of the course some will tell me I need a native to fix it to be readable.

But the fact that my English is imperfect is also very me. I want to try to value my personal tone, which might encourage others to show their work. You can have all kinds of grammar wrong, and still, have your message across. 

So I started showing my work. And it turns out that I do influence and help some people. And when people gives you these feedback, I think there is a little but positive pop to the world, and it gets shared. And when I have almost forgotten about what I wrote, I get a positive back.

This will lead to what I am going to write from tomorrow onwards, which will be about "the story of my life."


Book 3: Anything you Want

I must say I agree with Ali on his favorite quote that comes from this book,

Never forget why you're really doing what you're doing. Are you helping people? Are they happy? Are you happy? Are you profitable? Isn't that enough?- Derek Sivers

I believe in doing what you're passionate about. It's better if you can help people with it. I come from a cooking, foodie family. I finally realized that I am happiest being related to food after taking on so many jobs.

But I seem to do well in relationship management, too... I can see good patterns in people, and read if good instincts are coming from the heart, or if it's coming from the calculation of "I will smile at you because you provide benefit to me."

So in the end, everything I do should be because I want to. I did it because I liked the chance and I wanted to try doing it. If the result is positive, I might continue to vibe with it. if negative, enough already. Move on. No regrets regardless of the outcome.

Being content is so important!

I will share with you a quote from Kyoto, a temple I love, Ryuanji. Ryuanji means "the temple where the dragon rests." My name Ryu means dragon. I don't know how many times I visited the temple to have peace of mind from all the clutter of such a complex society.

The funny thing is that I like this quote for so many years! And it's now that I really try to live it.

吾唯足るを知る。Ware tada taru wo shiru means "I know how to be contented." This tsukubai is where you can read the quote, each character sharing a 口 at the bottom of the 吾, the left of 唯, the top of 足, and the right of 知.


I want to wrap this article up with a quote from "Atomic Habits!"

"Happiness is simply the absence of desire... Happiness is not about the achievement of pleasure (which is joy or satisfaction), but about the lack of desire. It arrives when you have no urge to feel differently. Happiness is the state you enter when you no longer want to change your state."

Follow Ryu Aomi for more to come :) 

In this blog, I post my food trips worldwide, as insights into Japanese food in comparison to all the different cuisines I encounter through my journey. 

I also try to share information from Japan that fills our hearts or might help us think about how to better the world!

Here are the SNS channels I have, but I mainly focus on Twitter at the moment. I share my past car trip around mainly Hokkaido, and how it was living there!


 




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