Today's Challenge: Understand Why You Should Take Linked Book Notes

Hello reader!

I used to read tons as a kid.

I would stay up for hours every night immersing myself in worlds like Harry Potter, Deltora's Quest, or Fabelhaven. I loved intrinsic learning!

Then:

School...

In school, I was forced to do endless assignments, tests, and homework. I felt uninspired, bored, and tired. I learned only so I could get the best grade on the test.

I lost my intrinsic love of learning.

I became addicted to video games like a fish is addicted to water.

Every day, I would run to my room faster than Usain Bolt and play for upwards of seven hours a day in the summer months.

My life was quickly spiraling into meaninglessness.

I was close-minded, judgmental, and not curious about how knowledge connected. Despite knowing little, I acted as if I knew a lot. I projected my insecurities onto my family and friends.

Spirituality, the art of realizing your connection to the Universe, wasn't even in my vocabulary.

Thankfully during my Junior year of high school in COVID, I started reading books again out of boredom.

But I experienced a few problems...

Firstly, I didn't know how to find great books, time or energy to read. There are 100s of books, which one to choose! Even if I could find a book, where would I find the time and energy to read amidst the chaos of life?!

Secondly, I didn't understand the books I was reading. I didn't know how to analyze the books, take notes, and critique the author. Many books I never read out of frustration.

Thirdly, I didn't know how to connect my book insights together to come up with novel insights. I knew the great thinkers from the past like Darwin, Thomas Eddison, and Einstein all benefited humanity through their novel insights. I wanted to be like them. But I had no idea how to put books in conversation with each other.

Fourthly, I didn't know how to intelligently communicate my learnings. I remember friends and family asking about books I had recently read. And the embarrassment of being unable to create a coherent thought around them!

Fifth and finally, I didn't know how to apply my book insights. I was reading book after book, but months later noticing, my life didn't look any different. I was reading tons of books but nothing was changing!

But I kept going...

I read books on how to find great books, time, and energy to read. I read books on how to apply and communicate my learnings. I learned how to actively read a book through Mortimer J. Adlers How To Read A Book.

And finally, I discovered the world of Personal Knowledge Management and with it revolutionary notetaking apps you can take linked notes with.

With linked notetaking, I could connect my book insights together.

My notes from Anthropology to those on Psychology. My notes on Biology to those on History. This highlights a key idea of the art of linked notetaking:

"There are no rigid disciplines in the universe, only concepts."

All disciplines — Biology, Neuroanatomy, Behavioral Statistics, American History, etc. — are just highly related concepts linked together.

It's through the linking of these highly related concepts, that your knowledge starts to grow. Your knowledge becomes more than the sum of its parts.

Think of your book insights as lego bricks.

When you read 5 books in isolation, you can only build a dinky little house. But when you read 5 books with linked reading, you can build a massive castle or city complex.

People noticed...

I started having novel ideas. People began telling me in conversation, "you're so interesting. You should start a blog." My self-esteem and confidence went up.

I began communicating my book insights more intelligently. Other people got more interested in reading. I changed their lives.

I started seeing knowledge as connected. I aspired more toward spirituality, realizing my connection to myself, others, and the Universe.

I began applying my book insights, and getting all the benefits in the realms of health, work, and relationships.

Video games stopped being an issue. The Art Of Linked Reading Became my new game.

You can make the same transformation.

Not the whole transformation, but part of it. Over the next two days, you're going to learn how to unlock your inner genius by creating novel insights with linked book notes. Then you're going to learn how to compound this knowledge through creating maps of content.

🎯Take Action Today

• Pick one book you have been reading over the last few weeks or months. This is the book you're going to practice taking linked book notes with in tomorrow's lesson. Feel free to reply to this email with the book that you chose and why!

🎊Congrats you completed your first-day action items for the course!🎊

Tomorrow you will learn how to create novel insights with linked book notes using my 3-step process.

If you want to do tomorrow's lesson NOW (look at you go with that energy!) you can do so here: https://www.aidanhelfant.com/lesson-2-how-to-create-novel-insights-with-linked-book-notes/