Recently, I read a fantastic book that I recommend to everyone of all ages. The book is a concentrated mine of ideas. It covers a vast area and quite comprehensive. The only book that I can compare it with is the legendary “7 Habits of Highly Effective People”. After a long time, I read a book that is as comprehensive as that one.
Here is an outline of the topics in the book. I have not added anything. The words and list are from the book itself. I hope this encourages you to buy a copy of the book and read. For those who have read the book, I hope this acts as ready reckoner.
What the Heck Do I Do with My Life? – Ravi Venkatesan
- Adapt or Perish or Flourish
- How will the changing nature of work affect you professionally?
- Technology will change every job
- The idea of a job is becoming obsolete
- Brace yourself for higher inequality
- What are the implications of living till you’re nearly 100?
- Financial preparedness for 40 years after retirement
- Half-life of knowledge and skills is declining
- Meaningful things to do post retirement
- Could chaos engulf the place where you live?
- Climate change, environment degradation, pandemics, political turmoil
- Unprecedented opportunities
- How will the changing nature of work affect you professionally?
- Mindset: Your App for Life
- Beliefs
- Self-belief – ability to set and achieve goals in life
- Confront your inner critic
- Lean into your fears
- Affirm and love yourself
- Cut off negative people
- Encourage others to pursue their dreams
- Agency and personal responsibility – you are in charge of your life
- The growth mindset – capabilities and character are developed by effort
- Abundance mindset – there is plenty for everybody
- The big questions – Who am I? What is the purpose?
- Self-belief – ability to set and achieve goals in life
- Beliefs can be changed
- Beliefs
- Three Meta-Skills for the Age of AI
- (1) Learning Agility
- Mental agility – dealing with new complex tasks
- People agility – working with different people
- Change agility – dealing with ambiguity and change
- Results agility – remaining positive in crisis
- Self-awareness – recognizing strengths and weaknesses
- (2) Entrepreneurial Mindset and Skills
- Dream bigger
- Recognize opportunity
- Persuasive
- Resourceful
- Problem-solvers and action-oriented
- Tenacious
- (3) Soft Skills
- Being a good coach
- Communicating and listening well
- Including others’ different values and points of view
- Having empathy towards and being supportive of colleagues
- Being a good critical thinker and problem-solver
- Being able to make connections across complex ideas
- Getting Practical
- Take a big and complex assignment within your organization
- Volunteer and help solve problems in your community
- Start a business or volunteer in a startup
- Take a gap year and do something entirely different
- Take a course in a new subject, Travel on a shoe-string budget
- Teach, Befriend 2-3 entirely differently people
- (1) Learning Agility
- ‘Be the Change’: What Leadership in the Twenty-First Century Means
- Leadership
- act of ordinary people doing extraordinary things
- made and not born
- dependent on context
- diverse – quiet, loud, action-oriented, visionary
- How to be a Leader?
- Simply get going
- Become good at sense-making and storytelling
- Develop courage
- Earn and retain trust
- Understand power and influence
- Be the change
- Leadership
- Your GPS to Navigate a Chaotic World
- ‘Snakes’ in the snake-and-ladder game of life
- Falling to temptations
- Making bad decisions
- Believing in disinformation
- Making unethical choices
- Random bad events
- Strategies to ward off snakes
- Choose who you hang out with
- Develop a personal board of directors
- Be careful where you get your information from
- Develop critical thinking
- Strengthen your character
- Improve your luck through gratitude and by paying forward
- ‘Snakes’ in the snake-and-ladder game of life
- How Much Is Enough?
- Money is correlated with happiness but only up to a point
- Disciplined financial planning and saving are critical
- We don’t own anything. We only have licence to use
- Minimalism is good for the planet and for overall happiness
- Time is more valuable than money
- An abundance mindset is key to happiness
- Navigate Your Career: 10 Practical Ideas
- Forget about jobs
- Join the passion economy
- Don’t chase opportunities. Attract them
- Get going, Excel at work, Stand out of the crowd
- Catch a big wave
- Geography is destiny
- How to find your next s-curve
- Networks really matter
- Walk your own path
- Learn to live a portfolio life
- There is no such thing as retirement
- Reflecting on Success and Happiness
- Success is a delusion unless you define it for yourself
- To control your happiness, control your mind
- Find your purpose and define your commitments
- Commitment to spouse and family, vocation, faith, community, yourself
- Accept that life is under no obligation to give you what you expect
- Don’t postpone living. Make a bucket list and get going
Now that you have gone through the list of topics covered in the book, here are some videos. You can watch the playlists of Ravi Venkatesan’s short talks on the topics in the book:
The book gives a lot of good references. Some of them can be taken up for further reading. And, here is my list of all-time must-reads:
- 7 Habits of Highly Effective People
- What the Heck Do I Do with My Life?
- The Decision Book: Fifty Models for Strategic Thinking
- Atomic Habits
- Almanac of Naval Ravikant