As with almost everything I do, 7TakeAways remains an experiment. I’m definitely getting value out of it, but I know there’s room for improvement. There are questions I ask myself like: This project is for me to force better reading habits, but should the takeaways be for me or for my hypothetical audience? The former would be a random collection of personal improvements, but the latter would also exercise an important skill: looking for value to others. Similarly, if this really is about my self-improvement, rather than identifying things where I stop and say “oh, that’s interesting”, would it be … Read more

After finishing my write-up of tools I use last week, I encountered a problem with using Evernote to save full articles. The issue is that there’s no simple way to highlight and annotate or take notes on what you’ve saved. As a result, I re-activated my Instapaper account and have started using that to fill the same niche. A day or so in and it seems to be a better fit for saving, reading, and making notes on, the various articles I encounter online. I even discovered that I can sync my highlights in Readwise. Bonus! 1. “… enjoy 10-15 … Read more

A couple of quick recommendations from my approach to reading/saving/note-taking: Even though I stopped using it for time-management, Evernote remains a great way to save both notes and complete articles that I want to refer to later without worrying that they’ll disappear online. It also saves “simplified” (i.e., no ads, no fluff) versions if it can. (The Evernote Clipper saves the URL with ’em, so I return to the original if it’s still around.) I use Readwise to capture my highlights from Kindle books and other resources. It’s a great way to not just remind myself daily of some of … Read more

I hope the week is treating you well. It’s been a challenging one here at “Castle Notenboom”, for a variety of reasons. Much like Not All News Is Bad, I’m finding so many good sources of information and takeaways that sometimes the challenge is to whittle them down to just one a day. It’s a great exercise, but it also exemplifies what I believe to be an important lesson. We find what we look for. What are you looking for? Is it what you hope to find? 1. “Seeing people spin up various operations to solve various problems has been … Read more

Isn’t that the way? Moments after completing last week’s 7 Takeaways, I’m watching a video and — boom — the first takeaway of the next week. A few minutes later — boom — number two. Put yourself in front of good content. And pay attention. 1. “Repetition is [indistinguishable] from truth” Marketing Lessons with Jack Butcher – David Perell – (Youtube) – That gem happens at the 5:15 mark. More context: In the human mind, repetition is inconceivable from truth. Yes, he said “inconceivable”, but I believe he misspoke. I don’t care, it’s my takeaway. Recent history confirms it. No … Read more

Earlier this week I documented the concept of my “Infinite Reading List” — those books that I plan to read and re-read again and again, and that I keep on all my Kindle / mobile devices. Of course, within a day or two I’d already had to modify the list with one I’d overlooked. There are certain books many would agree are timeless, but I also believe there’s an important personal level of timelessness (if that isn’t a contradiction) as well. Hence I’m sure not everyone will feel drawn to the same list. 1. “Impatience has increased with social media.” … Read more

It’s been interesting to recognize certain themes and events in my life reflected in my reading. As mentioned in my final takeaway this week, stoicism and similar philosophies show up in unexpected places more often than I’d expect. I can’t say that’s a reflection of my reading choices, at least not intentionally. Unlike “how to be a better writer” (marketer, entrepreneur, etc…) — those are quite intentional. The issue I have with those is that there are so many that either say nothing, or the same old platitudes. Since I seem to be currently enamored with a couple of writers … Read more

The first takeaway was captured before the events of this week. I’m not sure if it’s precient, or simply coincidental. Regardless, change is. Not a typo — it just is. I hope you’re weathering the change that is always our current reality well. “Life is a series of changes, with or without your consent” Why Albert Einstein Said: The Measure of Intelligence is The Ability to Change – Thomas Oppong – (Medium) – Acceptance of change is one of my hot buttons. Or, rather, lack of acceptance. If this article were a stick I’d want to hit a few people … Read more

2021. So far, so good. And welcome to the 83 of you (so far) that decided this was worth a closer look. Even though I’m doing this for myself, I hope it brings you value as well. “…we remember what’s useful…” How to Read More Books – Mark Manson – (YouTube) – The full quote that caught my attention: Basically, we remember what’s useful. If you don’t find ways to implement the ideas you read into your life in some way, you’re not going to remember them Even though I ran across this after starting 7takeaways it’s pretty obvious why … Read more

A very happy 2021 to you! Given the train wreck so many of us feel that 2020 was, I think we owe it to ourselves, and everyone, to do more than just hope 2021 is better – we need to take steps to try to make it better. Here are a few items that made it over the threshold and into my brain this week. (FWIW: I think I’ve settled on Sunday mornings for this to go out.) Enjoy, “Humans have never made more progress on any disease in a year than the world did on COVID-19 this year.” These … Read more