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The 4 Minute Read

Civil September
Sep 23, 2023 || Read in browser

"You know where I learned all this stuff about what makes life worth living? It was at..."

Hey hey! Nik here with The 4 Minute Read. Wherever you are in the world, thank you for taking a few minutes this weekend to learn something new. This week, we've got...

Life Worth Living by 3 Yale Professors (will help you answer life's big questions for yourself)
The Simple Path to Wealth by J L Collins (will teach you a 3-step approach to financial freedom)
The Pomodoro Technique by Francesco Cirillo (is the best & most effective productivity tactic ever)
The 44 Best Philosophy Quotes of All Time (will fill you with inspiration, insight, and wisdom)

Let's discover how these ideas can help us live better!

Hot Off The Press

Life Worth Living
by Miroslav Volf, Matthew Croasmun, and Ryan McAnally-Linz

At $87,000 per year when factoring in housing, food, and learning materials, a 4-year-degree from Yale University will now set you back almost $350,000. Or, you could skip the 4% acceptance rate and insane cost, and take some of their best classes for free. Like Life Worth Living, which, in book-form, will set you back less than $20. In the book based on one of the most popular courses at Yale of the same name, 3 professors will teach you how to answer life's big questions for yourself. Thye draw on many different traditions, religions, and philosophies, to help you answer questions such as "What is worth wanting? Who do we answer to? What should we hope for? How does a good life feel?" and, most importantly: "How should we live?" If you want to find the meaning of life, read this summary.

Read the Summary »

Quote of the Week

"Keep pursuing the Question. Live for what matters most. Your life is worth it."

— Miroslav Volf et al.

The Big 3 From the Book

1. If we want to find true meaning, we must venture to the deepest of 4 levels of life.

2. The big "Question" about life's meaning breaks down into 6 smaller but still significant questions.

3. There are 3 exercises we can use to keep asking "the Question" on a regular basis.

Master the Book in 4 Minutes »

A Book Brought to Life

Two childhood friends grew up and went their own ways. One became a powerful advisor to the king, the other a monk. When they meet years later, the minister feels bad for his friend.

"If you learned to serve the king, you wouldn't need to live on rice and beans," he tries to advise him. But the monk only replies, "If you learned to live on rice and beans, you wouldn't need to serve the king."

This is the opening parable of The Simple Path to Wealth, and it is meant to make a single point: Wealth is not about power, luxury, or idling. It is about freedom.

In today's video, you'll learn just how to build that freedom in 3 simple steps, as per J L Collins' bestselling book:

Spend less money than you make.
Avoid debt like the plague.
Invest everything that's left over into index funds.

If you want to achieve financial freedom, watch this video.

The Freebie

Even if you've never opened a philosophy book, you'll likely find quotes from great philosophers transformative and inspiring.

Why? Because philosophy is not just a field of academic study. It is also any "theory or attitude that acts as a guiding principle for behavior."

In other words, any rule or idea that helps you make decisions and move forward with your life is philosophy!

So, whether you want to brush up on your philosophy knowledge or simply find some powerful, encouraging words, today's freebie will be right up your alley.

Here are... The 44 Best Philosophy Quotes of All Time:

We hope you'll enjoy this resource packed with inspiration, insight, and goodies, from really cool sharing images with AI backgrounds reimagining famous philosophers to quick primers on both philosophy itself and the most important schools of thought.

Discover the Best Philosophy Quotes »

Dusty But Brilliant

The Pomodoro Technique
by Francesco Cirillo

I've used this simple but incredibly effective productivity technique to write hundreds of thousands of words. Originally discovered by the German-Italian Cirillo as a college student in the 80s, The Pomodoro Technique is basic time-blocking with a cute gadget and branding: the red tomato timer. The everlasting hype, however, is justified — because it just works. Whether you need a reminder of the technique or want to discover how it works for the first time, this old-but-gold summary will do the trick. Also, for even more condensed wisdom, I wrote a special, 4-minute primer on the technique this year. You can find that here. Enjoy!

Read the Summary »