L.I.V.E. by Jan van Setten - Notes & Highlights

L.I.V.E. by Jan van Setten - Notes & Highlights

Book

"L.I.V.E." by Jan van Setten is a unique self-improvement book that encourages a shift in perspective on behavior and intentions, offering actionable steps for personal development.


Table of contents

🚀 The book in short

This is a self-improvement book, but not the most typical one. It focuses on thinking differently about certain topics to make your life easier. A great example is to start looking at people's intentions, not their behavior, and to look at your own behavior, not your intentions. Often, we do it the other way around. It is a collection of tips and tricks from other books but told with a good sense of humor. Jan van Setten has a way with words, which makes reading it fun.

🎨 Impressions

How I discovered it

He is a fellow Dutchman and is a regular guest on the Denk Producties podcast.

Who can benefit from it?

If you are interested in Personal Development, this is a good book. It is quite short and provides a great overview of certain very important mental models to use. It also gives you the next steps to start putting things into action, which is important with personal development books.

☘️ What I’ve learned

  • Don't judge people on their behavior, but on their intentions, and start judging yourself on your behavior, not your intentions. It will get you further in life while you have more mercy for others.
  • Behavior is driven by two forces: Pain and Pleasure. Rewire your brain to see pain points as growth opportunities and create a growth mindset (borrowed from Carol Dweck's work). What is the gift in pain? This mindset was also discussed extensively in the podcast between Lex Friedman and Matthew McConaughey.
  • The ultimate fear, which you end up with if you think long enough about your fears, is the fear that you can’t handle the situation. If you act according to your own values, or your own constitution, you can handle a lot, and therefore fear less.