She counted. One. She could hear the steps coming closer. Two. Puffs of breath could be seen coming from his mouth. Three. He stopped beside her. Four. She pulled the trigger of the gun.

Revered God, my true salvation, ashamed I admit that I have sinned. I’m so sorry, I cursed with your name in a moment of sorrow. Relieve me of my sins, heal me of these self inflicted wounds. I accept your chosen verdict so I may relish in your eternal grace once more.

WORD OF THE DAY

HardscapeHARD-skaypPart of speech: nounOrigin: American English

1The man-made features used in landscape architecture, e.g. paths or walls, as contrasted with vegetation.

Examples of Hardscape in a sentence “I would like some hardscape, but my husband only wants greenery in the yard.” “The garden will feature a fountain and some additional hardscape.”

Fake that Against thy noon
Order motion, remember’d
Each day say sensibility.

Donkey walks carefree
Mingled worlds of lovers thoughts
Raining in peace time

https://www.nationaldayarchives.com/day/national-daughters-day/

1. Buy your partner a bottle of wine or other treat when you’re at the shops

2. Help someone load their groceries.

3. Hold the elevator door for others.

4. Say hi to the person next to you on the elevator.

5. Say “thank you” to someone who made a difference… send a card to people who dedicate their lives to helping us – soldiers, police officers, fire fighters and teachers to name a few

Courage is being completely paralyzed with fear and taking the first step anyway.
Courage is being scared to death… and saddling up anyway. (John Wayne)
==========
We all die, but not all of us will truly live.
Every man dies. Not every man really lives. (William Wallace)

Shadows in war time
Leafing tree awaits true fate
Beast crawls all around

Hello! It’s Nik again and I’ve got 3 more free book summaries for you!

You might not know this, but we’ve now published over 800 book summaries totaling nearly 2,500 lessons from the greatest books of all time. While their 4-minute format makes them easy to read, we know it’s not always easy to remember everything you learn.

That’s why we created the Four Minute Library. It’s a beautiful, customizable, tagged, complete collection of all our summaries in a note-taking-ready format in Evernote. All new summaries are added to it, and it’ll help you better remember what you learn from our summaries!

What’s more, if you buy access to the Four Minute Library for $99 before midnight EST on Monday, we’ll throw in our Reading Memorization Guide and Evernote How-To Guide for free!

Get the Four Minute Library »

Alright, now let’s hit the books!

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Winners Dream by Bill McDermott

1-Sentence-Summary: Winners Dream will inspire you to get up and get moving to make your biggest goals happen by sharing the incredible rags to riches story of Bill McDermott, who went from humble beginnings to CEO of the biggest software company in the world simply by having a vision of what he wanted in life.

1. If you want to become a winner, you need to get a big goal that lights you up inside and make sacrifices to make it happen.
2. Be the kind of manager and person that keeps people inspired and loyal, not the kind that makes them leave.
3. Achieving your wildest dreams and becoming a champion aren’t as valuable as the journey to get there.

If you want to be inspired to start winning in business and life, this book is for you.

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The Way of Zen by Alan Watts

1-Sentence-Summary: The Way Of Zen is the ultimate guide to understanding the history, principles, and benefits of Zen and how it can help us experience mental stillness and enjoy life even in uncertain times.

1. Our minds create illusions about reality, but Zen helps us see things accurately.
2. You need to practice naturalness and spontaneity if you want to learn the art of Zen.
3. Observe the world just as it is to become good at meditation.

If you want to find more peace of mind, this book is for you.

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Suggestible You by Erik Vance

1-Sentence-Summary: Suggestible You helps you understand and utilize the power of your mind-body connection by explaining the effect that your thoughts have on your body, including pain, illness, and memory and how to take advantage of it.

1. Placebos work by the power of suggestion.
2. Suggestions can affect the very decisions we make and we don’t even realize it.
3. You can use this power of expectation to better your life.

If you want to unlock the hidden power of your mind, this book is for you.

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That’s all for this week, have a great weekend!

Happy reading,
-Nik

The magic of trade-offs

If you make a laptop more powerful, the battery life will suffer and it will get heavier too.

Trade-offs.

If you make a plane bigger, it won’t land at every airport, and it will cost more to fly, even if you don’t sell all the seats.

Another set of trade-offs.

Good engineers don’t whine about trade-offs, because they realize that they’re the entire point.

If there were no trade-offs, we wouldn’t need their help, there would be no interesting problems worth solving.

In our work and our lives, we can train ourselves to say, “oh, good, an interesting trade-off.”

Did you know…

… that today is Sequoia National Park Day? A U.S. National Park was established in Central California on this day in 1890. Sequoia National Park is famous for its giant sequoia trees, including the General Sherman tree, one of the largest trees on Earth. The General Sherman tree grows in the Giant Forest, which contains five out of the ten largest trees in the world!

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Today’s Inspirational Quote:

“Knowing trees, I understand the meaning of patience. Knowing grass, I can appreciate persistence.”

— Hal Borland

Dear Father, eternal beacon of hope, I come to you with a heavy heart. Renew my courage so I may be lost no longer. I plead this of you in your eternal light, o god in the heavens. Support me with your almighty light.

15. World Tourism Day – 27September

This day is celebrated to shine light on the importance of the tourism industry and its resilience.

Content marketing ideas:

• Listicle idea: X Types of tourism you must indulge in at least once
• Infographic idea: Which countries have opened up tourism after the lockdown?
• Video idea: How is mass tourism harming cities around the world?
• Podcast idea: How is tourism expected to change post-COVID?

Brand campaign that worked:

This video by Ogilvy and Mather for West Bengal Tourism shows the state through the lens of a foreign visitor, culminating in a surprise visit from Shah Rukh Khan.

Did you know…

… that today is The Beverly Hillbillies Day? The year 1962 brought the now familiar tune “Come and listen to the story ’bout a man named Jed…” The Beverly Hillbillies aired on CBS-TV on this day, enchanting audiences with Jed, Ellie Mae, Granny, Jethro, Miss Jane and that banker feller. 😉

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Today’s Inspirational Quote:

“Growing into your future with health and grace and beauty doesn’t have to take all your time. It rather requires a dedication to caring for yourself as if you were rare and precious, which you are, and regarding all life around you as equally so, which it is.”

— Victoria Moran