I read 500 books in 1000 days and here's what I learned.

500 Books in 1000 Days

Cause I could

Between the brewing company, the coffee company, the anti-aging cream company, the keto bar company and a tech start-up company, I somehow find the time to read books. A lot of books. And writing books too, but that’s another topic. I hear you: Oh, it’s impossible, how can you find the time to do all of that? 

I don’t find time. 

I make time. 

Well – okay, maybe I was gifted with a sort of supernatural intelligence (that’s a remote possibility)– but I like to think that I’m JUST a simple man that simply stayed on the path of Excellence (thanks Jocko and Jordan) and avoided the traps of the 20s. Aka drugs and alcohol and bipolar girlfriends.

Reading that many books requires unabashed disciple, that’s for sure. But it’s really only 3 hours a day, for 1000 days. 3 hours a day is the time I need to read a book cover to cover. 3 hours, it’s also 12x15 minutes. Or 6x30 minutes. I had a lot of time back in the days of operating heavy machinery to listen to audiobooks or to simply open my kindle app on my iPhone and read for 5 minutes whenever I had the chance. 

I did this self-imposed challenged from early July 2016 to late March 2019. That’s when I did 500 books in 1000 days. I’m on a new challenge for now: 5 music albums by 30 years old. Even with my crazy work schedule, I’m still finding time to read a book per week. I can’t do one every other day, unfortunately…! SLACKING. 

And so, what the hell did I learn?

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I learned to die wise. Which translated itself into living wisely. 

I learned to love better. I learned how to grief. I learned how to surf on the eddies of cosmic uncertainties and be okay with the mystery of it all. I learned how to embrace the suck. How to push through the wall of weaknesses and failures. To climb my own existential crisis and reunite myself with the All.

I’ve learned how to establish myself as a man. To strengthen the nobility of character. To conjure the spell of my demise to the finality of my soul and casting a bright eternal future over the horizon. I learned that true success in life is to make other people see the brilliant horizon standing above the offings of their dark ocean of existential fear and encourage them to build a raft so that they can row towards brighter days.

I learned how to light up the heap of the deadwood and let it go. How to heal. How to nurture my soul. I learned to pick up my cross. How to eat well, how to make my bed, how to read people.

I learned to establish myself as a man in this society. I learned that one should never trust the government, and be wary when the government is claiming to care about your health. I learned that it’s better to be alone –single– than being with a broken individual in a relationship. 

I learned how to thrive in the game of life.

I learned that I know so little about the universe and life. 

I learned my why. I discovered it. He who has a why can take over the world. He who has knowledge has self-love, and who has self-love has discipline, and he who has discipline has knowledge. 

I learned that there is no should in this clusterfuck.

And I learned as to why one has to keep on dancing after the music stops – after the firmament closes for a final time and the arc of life goes full circle, after the starry sky closes down with tears of pain for the things that could have been or should have been. It’s actually right there at the edge of the firmament that I learned to sit down with my higher self and pause for a bit. It's at that place –a place that is placelessness– that I discovered what immunity of the soul is and that's what brings infinity of the One to one’s existence. It is through this cosmic energy that one can feel home again.

I learned that we are energy bundles vibrating through the Many Worlds. I learned that this too, might not be accurate. Still a label. Still a box.

Oh! I still have so much to learn! How to slow down. How to listen better. How to love deeper. How to die wiser, once again. How to live life fuller. How to dance freer. 

I could spend more time writing –feeling inspired this morning– but it's time for me to go to work. 

  Till next time,

JP

ps: if you wonder what are my top 200 books, click on the bottom below :)

TL;DR: Discipline = Knowledge = Wisdom = Love