Inspired by DHH's article about his reading list in a year, I would like to make one as a reminder about how far I've already learned during the year of 2020. Actually, I've started to actively read books since 2013 and had experiencing struggles to keep this habit consistent. I hope this list also encourage me to improve my reading habit for the following years. Without further ado, here's the books I read in 2020.
The Effective Engineer by Edmond Lau
This book explains what is being effective means and what are the practical ways to achieve effectiveness. The study cases written in this book are mostly in software development industry, but in my opinion they can be applied by people outside this industry as well.
Effective engineer is defined by the rate at which he or she produces value per unit of time work, known as leverage. I've simplified leverage as impact produced per time invested. To increase our leverage we can do these things:
- Reducing time to complete certain activity -> how can I complete this activity in a shorter amount of time?
- Increasing the output of certain activity -> how can I increase the value produced by this activity?
- Shifting to higher leverage activities -> is there something else that I could spend my time on that would produce more value?
We also introduced many high leverage habits of effective engineers. My favorites are optimize for learning by adopting growth mindset, measure what you want to improve, balance quality with pragmatism and minimize operational burden.
The Subtle Art of Not Giving a Fuck by Mark Manson
Mark Manson introduces a new perspective about pursuing happiness. Not giving a fuck doesn't mean to be indifferent, but comfortable being different than others. When people usually give attention to something, it's not a necessity for us to give attention to the same thing. We should not give attention to all of expectations around us, instead choose only some of them that really matter.
To not giving attention for something unimportant, we should find another thing that more important to pay attention for. Holding values in our life will help us to decide which one is more important than others. A good values are realistic, beneficial for other, controllable and come from our internal self. Popularity is one of bad values, because it is determined by other people. They can see you as a popular person or do not notice you at all, and we don't have full control over those perspectives. Moreover, being popular is not beneficial for other. On the other hand, honesty is a good value because we can fully control whether to be honest or not and it is beneficial for others.
Another thing is we need to see problem as an opportunity to pursue happiness. When having problem we are suffering, and suffer makes us a better person. Solving our problem means stop our suffering and be happy for that achievement. So, when you are facing a problem, instead of blaming the situation, start doing something to solve it, even a small thing. Even when the problem is caused by other people fault, we always have a choice about how to respond it. For example when you are poor because of the mistakes of your family who are not able to manage finances properly, you always have a choice to blame the situation or do something about it. Choose which one is more important to be given attention.
The last thing, Mark also describe about a healthy relationship is about willingness to reject and being rejected. We should deal with conflict, argument and rejection instead of avoiding them. Find a partner who can argue your point of view instead of always say yes for everything you do. This kind of rejection will help you evaluate your current values and become a better person.
Done is Better Than Perfect by Denny Santoso
Denny Santoso is an Indonesian digital marketer and serial entrepreneur. He wrote about his journey when building his businesses, family life and what is the meaning of success. For him, success is determined when your achievement is aligned with your life values. Family, fitness and freedom are the most important values for him.
His parents had experiencing many struggles and they always work hard to make their family better. Those experiences shape their values in life and these values are passed on to their children. They tried to make family as a comfortable place to share everything and ask for suggestion. Even when Denny run his early business, his father helped him to sell their product to the customer. From his story, I learned that family support is important in our success. No wonder his family is the most important thing for him.
Denny Santoso was a programmer, but he left the job then become a digital marketer and entrepreneur. In this book he tells us about the reason which is related to freedom. He has his own definition of freedom and found it in digital marketing and entrepreneurship. From his journey, I learned that running business is not an instant success. We need persistence to face failures and do better on the next move.
Cara Simpel Berinvestasi di Pasar Modal by Joeliardi Sunendar
This book is a compilation of Joeliardi Sunendar's note and answers in a forum. He talks about many things related to stock investing, particularly stock investing in Indonesia. I borrowed this book from my colleague and it is really good for someone who want to start investing in stock. I learned about what stock really is, what is the benefit of investing in stock as an individual investor, how to prepare for opportunities in stock market and many more.
By reading this book, I can understand a lot of terms start from smart money, dry powder, multi bagger and many more. Reading this book help you gain a lot of basic knowledge in stock investing and it's a good starting point for beginner.