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

Obviously I’m still playing with format. I’ve decided to highlight the actual takeaway over the source, for example. And playing with the title, which will become the email subject line. A couple of observations this second week in: many of my sources are on Medium, and even there, there seem to be authors and publications that generate takeaways more than others. “Spend each day as if it were your last, without frenzy, laziness, or any pretending.” The Daily Stoic – Ryan Holiday (ebook/site) – that’s actually a quote from Marcus Aurelius’ Meditations, which seems to be one of the go-to … Read more

Welcome to the first post for Seven Takeaways. I expect to play with the format quite a bit in the coming days, but starting is better than fiddling, so here we go.