Seizing the Present: Insights from "Someday Is Today" by Matthew Dicks
17 Snippets on productivity from Matthew Dicks and tips to build a reading habit
Hello Curious Minds,
In this week's edition of Curiosity Logs, we're diving into the transformative pages of "Someday Is Today" by Matthew Dicks. Join me as we uncover thought-provoking snippets and empowering wisdom from Dicks' exploration of seizing the present moment and making the most of life's opportunities.
Also I am sharing some tips to build a reading habit and read more books every month.
📚 Weekly Book Highlights
Someday is Today by Matthew Dicks is very interesting read. Being a storyteller and teacher he crafted this non fiction book like a fiction book. You will want more the moment you finish each chapter. Highly recommended read with lot of personal stories and productivity tips and strategies.
Curious Fact : I got to know about this book from a book review video shared by Ali Abdal. There is also an interesting podcast by Ali with Mathew on the book, if you dont have the time for the whole book, try the podcast here.
This book is my favourite non fiction read in 2023.
From overcoming procrastination to embracing courage, "Someday Is Today" offers a roadmap for turning dreams into reality. Let's embark on this inspiring journey together!
Here is 17 interesting snippets from the book
Asking your future self to make decisions allows you to play the long game.
Making decisions based solely on the next ten years is ludicrous when given the expanse of a lifetime.
We have to play the long game. Our future selves understand the value of time better than any of us.
Steve Jobs once said, “Remembering that I’ll be dead soon is the most important tool I’ve ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life.”
The problem is that so many of us discount the value of minutes and overestimate the value of an hour or a day or a weekend.
The one commodity that we all share in equal amounts is time: 1,440 minutes — 86,400 seconds — per day.
The trick is to utilize your time effectively. To value every minute of the day equally, regardless of how many other minutes are attached to it.
Once you have chosen to value every minute, you can begin to create systems by which those precious minutes can be used.
In all decisions, we must consider time as a primary factor. That doesn’t mean we should make decisions based solely on efficiency, but far too often, we ignore time as a factor when we make them.
Minimize the Time It Takes to Get Places .
Consider All the Stuff You Didn’t Consider When Choosing (or Changing) a Career ..Know full well what a career demands in terms of hours per day and days per year before committing to that career.
Time and flexibility are essential for people who want to make things.
I’ve broken down the strategy of task reassignment into three categories: pay-for-play, delegation, and dividing and conquering.
Money can be made. Time cannot.
“ten-cent tasks.” Simple, visible task completion that doesn’t ultimately move the needle on a company’s growth, sales, or innovation…These are the kinds of tasks often completed by people who like to check off boxes, avoid deep thinking, dodge hard decisions, and disengage from complex work.
Delegating tasks to employees, students, your own children, an assistant, an intern, or even a friend or neighbor can free up time for your creative life.
So much time is saved and mental bandwidth preserved by simply letting go of the details and decisions and allowing someone else to be in charge.
P.S. I’d love to know: What is the single snippet above that sounds most interesting or impactful to you? Share in comments or reply to the mail.
Weekly Curiosity Corner
How I developed a reading habit:
(Using winning psychology and tech)
Keep momentum by reading atleast one page/5 minutes every day.
- Build the "winning effect" by finishing chapters.
(I always enable "Time left in chapter" in my kindle and try to hit the milestone before stopping)
Momentum you get from finishing a chapter or book can help you to start next one and continue..
PS : Are you interested to build a reading habit? Like to try out a book club? Please reply to this email or share your interest in comments (if you are reading in substack app/site)