​Happy New Year!

Wow, what a year. The word of the year for me was "survival." My mantra was "one day at a time."

However, we did survive, and for that I'm thankful. There is much worse in life than having to spend a lot of time with your family at home.

Last year was certainly a year of transitions for me as well. In the middle of the year, my attention shifted focus to my family, working to support everyone and keep them safe, healthy, sane, and productive. This also meant a lot more time spent on domestic activities, which was both time consuming but also occasionally allowed for more reading (in audio, print, and electronic form).

I finished 26 books in 2020. I'm proud that I was able to exceed the number of books I read in 2019 and that I was able to finish more magic books, which I hadn't in 2019 either. I still fell short of the volume of reading I did in prior years before that, so that will be my goal for this year.

The books I read in 2020 cycled between psychology, business/entrepreneurship, parenting, magic, health, and fiction. My favorites from the year:

(General)
Tribe of Mentors: Short Life Advice from the Best in the World by Tim Ferriss
Super Thinking: The Big Book of Mental Models by Gabriel Weinberg and Lauren McCann

(Parenting)
How to Talk So Little Kids Will Listen: A Survival Guide to Life with Children Ages 2-7 by Joanna Faber and Julie King
The Yes Brain: How to Cultivate Courage, Curiosity, and Resilience in Your Child by Dan Siegel and Tina Payne Bryson
The Secrets of Happy Families: Improve Your Mornings, Rethink Family Dinner, Fight Smarter, Go Out and Play, and Much More by Bruce Feiler

(Fiction)
Motherless Brooklyn by Jonathan Lethem

Here's to a 2021 filled with more reading!

I just finished reading ​How: Why How We Do Anything Means Everything by Dov Seidman, and I had heard about it from another book I had read recently. It focused on morality, principles, and ethics in business (the "how" behind what companies do).

I really liked its description of the history behind the "wave" phenomenon at sports games and how it used that metaphor throughout the book. I found the book quite high level and abstract and wished for more tactics and examples, though there definitely were diverse stories throughout. It acknowledged this issue itself in the end saying that the book was less about tactics and more about the principles behind "how."

I can recommend this book to anyone interested in understanding how good principles and ethics in business can make people and companies more successful long term and how to incorporate such ideas into one's work.

Some of my notes and takeaways from the book are below.

I recently finished reading Ready or Not: Preparing Our Kids to Thrive in an Uncertain and Rapidly Changing World by Madeline Levine. I think I heard about it from another author whose work I also enjoyed.

It reminded me a bit of How to Raise an Adult, which also tackled the issues of over-involved/over-protective/helicopter parenting. Levine approached the issues through the lens of a psychologist who works with kids of all ages, and it was eye-opening to hear about some of the cases/issues she has seen firsthand. She presents a lot of good guidelines and tips, most of which revolve around doing less and letting kids do work and develop for themselves.

I also liked the sections that focused on the parents and how she encourages them to live their own lives that don't revolve around their kids 24/7.

I enjoyed this book and recommend it to other parents who may be prone to getting over-involved with their own kids. Below are some of my main notes and takeaways.