Regret (and How to Read More w/ Neil Pasricha) (EP.189)

Today’s guest is Neil Pasricha and he joins us to discuss how to read more. Before our time with Neil, Ben and Cameron lead the discussion, working through a range of topics including how to grasp large numbers, the value of ‘humbitious’ leadership, and how to get a better understanding of regret. When Neil jumps into the conversation, he starts by making an argument for reading, telling us how it is the best form of compressed knowledge we have, and that readers effectively live a new life each time they read a book. We hear about how Neil got back into reading later in his life and the role it has played in shaping so many of his most significant projects over the last few years. He answers some common objections that people have to reading, busting the myth that there is no time for reading or that only certain kinds of books are worth it. In light of our current reading challenge, we hear Neil’s views on whether making a public commitment is an effective approach to reading more. Wrapping up, Neil makes a great point about the importance of finding the right books for your personality and gives some helpful tips for how to do so. 

Key Points From This Episode:

• Updates: things to watch, our reading challenge, top books, and more. [0:00:19]
• How Cameron stumbled upon today’s guest, Neil Pasricha. [0:02:34]
• Finding ways to grasp big numbers in Making Numbers Count. [0:04:27]
• Discussing the value of humble but ambitious leaders in [0:10:01]
• This week’s news: Wealth Front is contesting the value premium. [0:15:42]
• The importance of understanding regret for making financial decisions. [0:25:00]
• The main types of regret and things that people feel this emotion about. [0:31:58]
• How to prevent future regret and manage current regret. [0:38:10]
• Cameron’s quasi-obsession with enabling teams as they scale. [0:45:00]
• The tool Cameron and Ben are going to build to survey financial goals. [0:47:45]
• Neil Pasricha joins us to talk about how to read more. [0:50:05]
• Access to compressed knowledge and why reading is so important. [0:50:23]
• Whether Neil’s advice for how to read more has changed as the world has. [0:51:53]
• Why Neil started reading more and how that morphed into his podcast. [0:52:14]
• Objections to people’s arguments for why they don’t read more. [0:54:20]
• Whether it is important to have a physical space dedicated to reading. [0:56:57]
• Perspectives on making a public commitment to reading more. [0:58:24]
• How Neil finds new books to read. [0:59:20]
• Whether Neil finishes every book he starts. [1:01:09]
• Why the device that we use to read matters. [1:02:44]
• Which kinds of books Neil keeps on his bookshelf. [1:04:40]