Your Most Important Diet (and a few tips).

Hello everyone,

I'm back in your inbox for a third week in a row - and now we're going to discuss your most important diet in the modern world: The Information Diet.

We're going to focus on being open-minded, consuming online information, and my rather extreme reading system.

Let's get to it.

The Law of Mental Entropy: Avoid A Closed System.

If we don't communicate with the outside world - to gain information for knowledge and understanding - we die out to become a non-discerning and uninteresting part of the world. - John Boyd

We need to be ever so careful about how we proceed in the modern world. I'm sure we can all think of at least one person who is completely set in their ways - despite the mountain of personal and wider-world evidence showing the flaws in their worldview.

These type of people live in a closed system. They consume everything with the lens of the confirmation bias. They speak to the same people. They watch the same YouTubers rehash the same beliefs for the hundredth time.

All of us are guilty of this in some way or another - but very few of us allow ourselves to get locked into a completely closed system. We need to do our best to avoid it at all costs.

A question you can ask yourself to gauge how open-minded (existing with an open system) you are is: When was the last time I changed a belief, or at least had one of mine challenged?

Sure, being someone who hops from one belief to another in a continuous cycle of shiny-object syndrome isn't the ideal - but neither is being completely set in stone. We once again find ourselves searching for Aristotle's Golden Mean.

We need to seek out opposing views - even if they don't change our minds, at least to challenge them.

As Muhammad Ali once said, "The Man who views the world at 50 the same as he did at 20 has wasted 30 years of his life."

Recently, I've been trying to get a lot better at this - especially since so many of my breakthroughs in recent years have come from changing my mind on things.

For example: I'm constantly talking my friend's ears off about the benefits of Stoicism - but even I have some problems with the philosophy. So, lately I've been seeking out opposing schools of philosophy, critiques on Stoicism, and more to help solidify my thoughts on the matter.

I'm slowly trying to put all of my beliefs under a rigorous test to make sure they hold up to reality. I suggest you all do the same.

My Current Rule for Consuming Information.

Without social media, I tend to have a lot of spare moments on my hands. When I'm feeling productive, I have been putting it to great use.

However, my brain still looking for the path of least resistance, got into the habit of reading a bunch of online articles.

Wanting to curtail this before it became a bad habit, I instituted a rule for myself: If I'm reading something online, I need to take notes.

Not typed notes either. I have to physically break out my notebook and put pen to paper.

This system has been great for two reasons:

1. I'm Way More Selective.
2. I'm Learning A Ton.

First, this system has encouraged me to be selective since I have no interest in taking notes on things that I'm not going to want to a) use or b) think about. It means that I'm picking articles out of interest rather than boredom.

Second, this system has drastically improved my learning. I realised that I had gotten into the habit of just skimming articles, bouncing from one sub-heading to the other, without actually consuming it. I was basically letting my eyes roll over the words and occasionally focusing on a random sentence.

This new system - since there's no point taking notes on just sub-headings - has forced me to treat my selected articles with more respect. I'm definitely learning a lot more and putting effort into applying these things.

How's it going so far?

• I've improved my memory through tricks I found online.
• Wrote 18 pages of notes on the OODA Loop (a blog post or newsletter on this is incoming).
• 10+ pages of notes on things I could be doing better.
• Had a few of my beliefs challenged thanks to a few key articles I sat through with attention.

The Notebook that I carry (in addition to my pocket notebook since I'm a nerd) is now filled with a lot of great notes on these articles. I've been constantly flicking through it and trying to commit to memory and action, the things that I've written down.

Essentially, this rule just turns something previously mindless into something much more intentional.

How I'm Reading.

Below is a brief overview of my (current) reading strategy for non-fiction books.

READING STRATEGY CHEAT SHEET

(Focus on Implementation of Non-Fiction Books)

SELECTION

• Before starting on a book, write out what I intend / hope to learn from it.
• No limits for when I can read biographies, philosophy, general non-fiction, or fiction.
• Only start with practical based books when I intend to use them.

READING

• Make time to read each day.
• Train reading speed (Tim Ferriss Method for increasing speed).
• Use advanced speed reading for less important books.
• Take notes on each read - unless planning to reread from the start.
• (Optional): Apply How To Read A Book Strategies for deeper understanding.
• (Optional): Use Active Recall throughout the process.

NOTE-TAKING

• Take notes while reading by marking the pages. Let notes “simmer” for 1 to 2 weeks before going through them to filter out the unimportant.
• Create an index at the front of the book.
• Transition key ideas / quotes to index cards.
• Write a review of the book - summarising key points.
• Produce a one-page summary of the book and create necessary one-pages on topics.

IMPLEMENTATION

• Create an idea list (or multiple) on experiments to implement the information.
• If the book is convincing, run through implementation of experiments.
• Track experiments with blog posts or in journals.
• Produce a one-page summary of the experiment / implementation.

LONG-TERM LEARNING

• Review notes: 1 week, 1 month, 3 months, 6 months, and 1 year after reading.
• Re-read index often.
• Add findings from experiments to notes on each category.
• Gather one-pagers together into subject playbooks.

Yes, it's a bit of an intense system for people who are looking to casually read some books and it certainly isn't for everyone. However, it's my codified strategy for everything I've learned about reading over the past few years.

For a deeper explanation of the system, you can check out my blog post on the topic.

Zachariah 2.0 - Update.

The plan is still chugging along. I've been using the OODA Loop to try to accelerate my progress on the matter. I'll be writing a Milestone Update at ~25 days to share more details.

I don't want to call the plan a great decision or a masterstroke just yet (although, if it succeeds, it will be) - but it's definitely gotten me back into the type of mindset and action that I like to be in.

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That's all for this week.

Remember:

• Challenge Your Views.
• Be Careful With What You're Consuming.
• Improve The Way You Read.

Special mention this week to my wonderful girlfriend, Sophia, who's ear I tend to talk off with these ideas before I get the chance to sit down and write them out.

Until next time,

Zachariah.