Shortform Books

The Stages of Life: Which One of the 4 Are You In?

What are the four main stages of life? Why is it important to understand these stages? The Good Life by Robert Waldinger and Marc Schulz defines the stages of life as adolescence, young adulthood, midlife, and late life. They argue that understanding these stages will help you better meet the challenges you’re facing in your life and be more empathetic to people in different life stages. Discover more about the stages of life so you can understand yourself and others better.

Sam Harris: Consciousness & the Theory of Mind (From Waking Up)

What’s consciousness? What do we understand about it? What implications does it have for spirituality and our sense of self? According to Sam Harris, consciousness is worth studying despite its elusiveness. Harris, who has a Ph.D. in neuroscience, explores what neuroscience and psychology have to say about the nature of consciousness and the mind in his book Waking Up. Keep reading to understand what Harris believes consciousness tells us about ourselves and the world around us.

Competitive Market Research: 4 Areas of Companies to Study

How do you perform competitive market research? How can studying other businesses improve yours? According to Michael Porter’s book Competitive Strategy, researching your competitors will benefit you in two ways. First, it will enable you to create effective countermoves to their strategies. Second, it will help you anticipate their responses to your strategic initiatives. Let’s explore the insights you’ll gain by performing competitive market research.

How to Build Confidence in Speaking: 4 Tips From Dale Carnegie

Does even just the idea of speaking in public make you nervous? What if you could build confidence, not just in your speaking abilities, but in your general abilities? Most people fear speaking in public. Dale Carnegie’s time-tested lessons help you overcome that fear, take the stage, and speak with assurance and poise. He shares four tactics that will give you the courage to speak and, in turn, provide you with the confidence to do just about anything. Keep reading for Carnegie’s fourfold advice on how to build confidence in speaking.

The Difficulties of Adapting to New Video Game Technology

How has video game technology changed over the years? How do game developers navigate these changes? These days, the best video games look so realistic that they could easily be mistaken for a movie. This is thanks to the always-evolving video game technology that developers are forced to keep up with every year. Let’s look at how developers adapt to new technological advancements in the video game industry.

Jennette McCurdy’s Toxic Mother-Daughter Relationship

What does a toxic mother-daughter relationship look like? What kind of boundaries did Debra McCurdy cross with her daughter Jennette? Jennette McCurdy’s memoir I’m Glad My Mom Died describes the tumultuous relationship between her and her abusive mother, Debra. Jennette goes into detail about the types of abuse she experienced from her mother, which mainly stemmed from a lack of boundaries between the two. Keep reading to learn more about this toxic mother-daughter relationship.

When to Say No: Freeing Up Time to Say Yes to What Matters Most

Do you find it hard to say no to requests and opportunities? What if you were more free to pick and choose how you commit yourself? You’re not limitless. Neither is your time. So, knowing how and when to say no is a highly valuable skill to have. When Tim Ferriss solicited life and career advice from experts in various fields, several of them stressed the importance of establishing and sticking to boundaries in order to protect your priorities. Read more for insights that will help you know where to draw the line and when to say no.

The 4 Main Objectives of Public Speaking (Dale Carnegie)

What are the various ways that public speaking can be used? How can you get clarity on what your next speech aims to accomplish? Public speaking has the power to affect audiences in different ways. A presentation can provoke thought, motivate action, or elicit a lot of laughs. In Public Speaking for Success, Dale Carnegie identifies four main objectives of public speaking. Keep reading to learn about these public speaking objectives and how each one wields its own kind of power.

What Is Zen Buddhism? Its Origins & Distinctions (Alan Watts)

What is Zen Buddhism? What does it share with other traditions? How is it unique? In The Way of Zen, Alan Watts explores the ins and outs of Zen Buddhism. He explains where Zen came from, considers the most important ideas that Zen adopted from the ancient philosophies and religions that preceded it, and points out which ideas differentiate Zen from other schools of thought. Read more to learn about the history and philosophy of Zen Buddhism.

What Is Habit Stacking? Adopting Productive Behaviors

What is habit stacking? How can you use a current habit to build a better and healthier one? According to James Clear, a great way to get used to a new habit is “stacking” it on top of another. This means adding a new behavior onto another to continue the habit routine. Below we’ll look at how habit stacking works, beginning with the cues and cravings that make it possible.