Episode 532: Building Focus and Follow Through With the Habits & Hustle Book Club

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1:33Hello, and welcome to another solo episode on Habits and Hustle, where I'm joined by the one and only Shawnee. Hello. Yes, who's the best foil of all time. And I'm lucky enough, she's gracing me and you with her presence. So thank you for being here. Thank you. So happy to be here. So you know what we're going to talk about today? What are we talking about? Book clubs. Oh my God, I love, first of all, I love book clubs. I know that you just launched one and I signed up immediately. I love that you did. You know that book clubs are trending again? They are. They are. I've seen quite a few people popping up with book clubs.

2:10I saw a sub stack the other day with one that was cool. Do you know why? Why? Because I think people are getting exhausted by just consumption and doom scrolling on social media. I think people are like kind of the comparison, you know, the whole, number one, everything you see there on social is very, very polarizing, right? I'm part of the problem. I'm not polarizing necessarily. I mean, my personality can be polarizing at times, but I think that the constant, like the barrage of just a lot of the same information being told over and over again, and it also creates this polarization. Like if you're vegan or a meat eater, like if you're one and you're someone else on the other side, then like there's this fighting, right?

3:00I think the doom scrolling in general, the amount of time and hours that you spend just wasting valuable time is, I think, kind of starting to dawn on people. That is probably not the greatest thing. And I think the comparison angle, I think people are sick of seeing people that make them feel bad about themselves. And if you actually think about this, like how often or how, when have you doom scrolled, right? Or when were you like just on socials and then you got off it like after 20 minutes and you felt great about yourself? That I got off of it? No, that you got off it and you felt like you felt revitalized and refreshed.

3:38Oh, yeah. I mean, every time I put my phone down, I feel better. I think that it's just so intense. There's so much on here. just the notifications and things that are coming through, even when you're just, I don't know, there's so much imagery. Like you're scrolling through an Instagram feed. You see so many different faces, so many different opinions, so many different sounds. It's so stimulating. Right. And also it doesn't benefit you in any way. That's something you can't even probably remember 95%, 99 % of the things that you see. I don't. I have a wild memory. Okay. Well, I'm telling you, I don't.

4:12Maybe be my age and you'll see how your memory you know, deplete, but I don't remember half the things that I see. And I think that like, once I'm off of it, I'm always like, well, I didn't, that doesn't make, that didn't make me feel better. That didn't improve my life. One iota that I didn't, maybe I learned something from one, one reel or another. Right. Like one, one minute segment of that 20 minutes may be valuable. Right. But then I don't remember it anyway. Right. So, but I think that what I, why I'm even saying all of this is that I think that there's been now, like there's been kind of a shift that where people are valuing social connection, personal connection more than ever.

4:55And I think that's one reason why I think book clubs are becoming popular again. And I think that the other reason is I think so like the feeling of having a community, something to talk about that's out of your own head, right? And something that can benefit you. So in my book club that we just started, so if you haven't, if you haven't signed up or you haven't joined, please do just go to jennifercohen.com. It's free. So there's no, there's no gimmick by the way. There's no like, oh, you know, sign up and then we're going to like, we're going to get you for some like$9.99 a month thing. And there's no funnel, trust me.

5:32You're a six-week course on Am I such a course on nothing? No, no, no. And every book that we choose and basically read is something that can be beneficial to you. So it's like self-improvement to some extent. So either behaviorally, cognitively, emotionally, we're going to hopefully learn something and then we can talk about it every month at the end of the month. Anyway, I just think it's a really, I think also people need to read more. Yeah. Like, bottom line, that was a long ass way of saying, we need to get off of our phones and start to do things that are more productive, more valuable, that will benefit us more than just like doom scrolling, which is a very long winded way of saying, read more.

6:17Absolutely. I started not going on social media during Shabbat or trying to, and it's genuinely helpful. I just, because I work in it so much, I'm always seeing everything. I always have to be on it. It's exhausting. Well, I also think it's just extremely addictive. Like, I just think that, you know, it's never enough. Like, what I think is like, and I, by the way, I'm not talking from like my, my white, my, my, my, my white castle. Yeah. Like I'm, I'm a victim of this myself. Like I feel like whenever I have a wake, like whenever I have a moment free, I'm always just reaching for my phone. I'm always just scrolling TikTok.

6:56Like I'm always, Oh, are you on TikTok? I'm on TikTok. and I'm on Instagram. I'm an Instagrammer. Yeah, but TikTok has some great information. Like not, there's some great news. No, like what I think I get stuck on with TikTok is the shopping. Because of all the shopping that you can do. I'm starting to like shift from buying stuff on Amazon and now I'm buying things more regularly on TikTok. So not only am I just doom scrolling and I'm spending money that or like a little stupid shit you could possibly imagine. Do you know how many like white powders I bought for my, for my, for like my teeth?

7:36Like so, no, so many, what do you call it? Not white, not cocaine. What do you call it? Like bleaching, not like, you know, you dip your, what do you call it? Like you put your toilet, put your toilets, you put your toothbrush in this powder and then you brush your teeth. It's supposed to like give you like a whitening, like a whitening. like teeth whitening polish. You're buying that stuff off of TikTok? I bought like five different ones because every commercial that comes up says this one's the best. No, no, no, this one's the best. I'm like, okay, I'll try that one. Oh no, I bought the wrong one.

8:08So not only am I just spending money stupidly, right? But that's why I like TikTok because I think that number one, some of the things I see there is more entertaining. And I said, I love TikTok shop. So funny because I keep trying to convince my friend to do like live shopping videos with me. I just feel like it'd be so fun. I'm going to do that. Are you? Yeah. I'm learning how to do that right now because I think it's a - It's easy. It's a missed opportunity. It is. Do you know that in Asia, 95 % of the content is like people are like - Is shopping. Is shopping. It's insane. And here in America, I think it's only like 5%.

8:47So we are not, of course, we're not caught up to what they're doing, even close. But do we want to be? Like, do we want that? Do we want 95 % of our content to be shopping related? I don't think I do. Okay, listen, what's better? That or just basically politics basically making you - My feed is - Or is it just - Or hate venom. Is that better for you? No, I want like dogs and food and comedy and like the good stuff. Show me some travel, like, you know? So you know what my algorithm is now? It's really funny. What is it? So, and I want to know what your algorithm is, but - We should switch feeds.

9:21We should. I'd love to see what you're seeing because I'll tell you something interesting. I was with my friend Emily. I guess we were somewhere, went on some trip. And what we noticed was what I see on my social media is extremely different than what she's seeing. Our algorithms are totally different. I'm sure. Like she was getting all these things on like topics and things that I just had no, like I get nothing on. I'm sure. And like, I'm getting things that are like things that I'm looking for. I was getting like, I love comedy, standup comedy. So I get a ton of comedy. I get a ton of like fitness stuff, right?

10:00Like workouts, comedy. And what was it? Oh, that's basically what I get a lot of. I wasn't really getting much politics anymore or a lot of food stuff. I used to get more food. But what's so interesting is like, if you just like, like one thing, your whole feed becomes that. And so I just love all the comedy stuff because it makes me happy and laugh. Then that's now what I'm getting. But it's still doom scrolling and I still don't like. Okay. So I have the biggest dilemma with that, right? Because I get fed the occasional dog that needs a home post. Okay. And I love dogs, but I used to work with rescues.

10:36And my Facebook feed is all just shelters and rescues. Oh, wow. So I can never log on to there anymore because I used to only share dogs that needed homes. so I'm so tied like do I want to create Instagram as this space now where I'm just going to keep getting fed these dogs but then I can't not like it because I just want to help with the exposure so I will like it and scroll really fast in hopes that Instagram the speed would make a difference they will know that you liked it yeah no but like I like it and I didn't watch the full thing so it's like oh okay so maybe she doesn't love it that much you know if you watch something like multiple times over and over again the algorithm oh so you think because if you like it and scroll fast then they won't just flood your algorithm.

11:16They haven't yet. It's still like one in every 30.

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12:47Okay, what other things are you getting on your algorithm? Yeah, I mean, I get a lot of like funny stuff, sketches, hilarious things. just I saw you know there was a some teenager was singing some song and then she had her hamster and she held it up to the screen and the hamster did the rap part because it was chattering its teeth like I get that kind of stuff it's hilarious oh interesting yeah that's what you get okay that's so funny so okay so you get comedy too I guess because we both do like comedy I get funny yeah but I get less well I do get some stand-up here and there but I get more like sketch sketches just funny things, viral clips, families doing hilarious things.

13:24A lot of dogs, a lot of dogs. A lot of funny things though. Yeah. Okay. Well, that's good. So why do you think book clubs are popular? Besides the reasons why I said. I think people are looking to make sense of things. And once you read one book that helps you make sense of one thing, you realize, oh, there are books out here that can help me do that. And then you kind of get into it and you're like, hmm, what else can I make sense of. Also though, like, don't you think reading is just important in general? Yeah. I think it's also a really pleasurable experience. Like I like sitting with a book, my eyes feel better reading a book obviously than being on some device.

13:57And I think it's just a, it's something that you can, I don't know, it's, it's a great activity. Are you going to be, that's a good question then. I mean, that's a good point. When you just said something that I was just going to say, I've been thinking about, are you going to be doing the actual reading or are you going to be doing the audible? It depends on the book. Some books I'd rather read and some books I'd rather listen to. Like if the author is narrating it and it's kind of an interesting story to hear or it's an autobiography and the person is narrating it, then I find that really nice to listen on Audible.

14:28If there's some kind of value add, it also depends on where I am in life. Am I super busy? Do I have time? Am I multitasking this? Some books I'll do both. Yeah, that's good. You buy the hard copy and then you also do the Audible? Yeah, like sometimes I've done that. If I really want to consume something, I will listen and read. Do you know what I like about the book club? Not to interrupt you, I'm sorry. No, please. Is I like the idea of you have a finite period of time to read a book. Because when you do have spare moments or when you, like, you'll pick up that book because you have to finish it versus going on social media, right?

15:07I like that idea better. Or it will kind of force you also to maybe go for a walk for 20 minutes, so then you can maybe listen to the book. Yeah, or to just finish it. I find finishing books is my biggest struggle always. And then also finishing. The art of accomplishing a task is so important for everything that I speak about. So if you know you have a task or a book that you have to complete by a finite period of time, then it would help you be accountable for other areas of your life. So for me, that's one of the reasons why I even decided to create this book club, because of the fact that it gives somebody accountability to themselves.

15:48It's teaching you to finish something that you started. It's giving you a finite period of time where you have to finish something. And it's also stopping you potentially from going on social media and maybe picking up that book for, and with those potential 20, 10 minutes that you have available or free and doing something that will expand your brain, help you learn all the things like that. So I think there's so many benefits to it, which is why I wanted to do it. And like I said, like there was no, like, there was no nothing in it for me. It wasn't like, oh, I'm going to get something out of it.

16:20I just, I also think, you know, when you need something for yourself, You know, that's the best that those are the best times to do something for everybody else and to like put it out there to the world. Because if you need it, chances are other people need it, too. Yeah. And this also helps keep you accountable in reading books, which is going to be great. A hundred percent. Well, I mean, listen, I read I have to read a lot for this podcast, but a lot of. Oh, I don't know how you keep up with that. Well, it's hard, but I will say a lot. Some of the books I do, I have to skim through when I'm not terribly interested or like the topic.

16:53Like actually, no, seriously, like not just because I'm covering something on the podcast doesn't mean it's going to be a book club book. Like even the first book that we're covering now, which is The Courage to be Disliked, is not a book that I covered on the podcast. I never talked to the authors. They weren't on the podcast. But I chose to read that book as like kind of like as a hobby thing because I've heard good things about it. And that's when it kind of sparked in my brain, you know what? Like I'm going to tell so-and-so about it and so-and-so about it. and then I'm like, hey, mate, why don't we just start a podcast about it?

17:26I mean, let's start a, sorry, not a podcast, a book club about it. And like I said, just the books are not going to be simultaneously. They're not going to be the same. Some may have overlap, but that's not the point. Are you ever going to do novels or it's just going to be? No, I don't think I want to do novels right now. Right now, I want to stick to books that I think that people can really get a lot of value out of. There's a lot of books out there that I think, like me, I haven't had a chance to read that I've heard a lot about that I want to read. There's a book called Psychology of Money, all these books.

18:03Oh, Psychology also on my list. Really? Yeah, yeah. I think that's going to be the second book. That's a good book. Because this is what happens in the podcast, right? Or when you have a podcast, is that you have all these guests who have new books that come out, and then you have to read that new book, or as much as you can of it before they come on your show, which then takes up a lot of time where I can't read the books that I have on my wish list of books to read, which is another reason why I wanted to start the book club. So then I can actually give myself an excuse or a reason to read a book that I just otherwise wouldn't have the chance to read.

18:40So how's it going to work? You guys are going to meet on Zoom once a month? Yeah. Okay, great. And we just got the link in our email? Yeah. So it's funny. Yeah, we're trying to work it out now. because so far, I'm not sure how many, we have a lot of signups, people who've signed up, but a lot of people drop off. So this is all about the accountability piece. How accountable are you to yourself? How much are you going to follow through? So of the amount of people we have right now, I would be curious to see how many people actually stay and show up at the end of the month. I'd be curious. I hope I'm one of those people.

19:14I know, you may not even be one of them. Well, I think, and what we're going to do is we're going to have a recording. So if people can't make that particular time, because listen, life does happen and you can't accommodate everybody, but we're going to have a recording and then you can listen afterwards or you could hopefully listen afterwards, but, you know, come to the next one. We're not expecting everyone to be able to show up all the time because like I said, it's, it's a timing thing, but yeah, right now it's about doing it on zoom. I love it. I'm excited. Everybody should join. Right. Everyone joined the book club.

19:45I'm telling you, you will be happy you did. There's so many benefits beyond just reading a book. Also, guys, if you are on YouTube and or not on YouTube, if you would ever, please subscribe to the podcast because that's how people know about us. Because the more subscriptions you have, the more it goes out there in the ether. So if you can comment and subscribe, I would love it if you did that. Thank you and have a wonderful day. Bye now. Thank you.