Hi friends,

Happy Saturday. To all the dog parents out there, how do you manage snowstorms with your doggo? Taking our puppy out in the snow has become such an adventure this winter. Tomorrow will be...interesting.

For January, we're reading Atomic Habits by James Clear.

For February, we'll be reading Unhinged Habits by Jonathan Goodman

— Maneet

Weekly Discussion

They say the best things in life require a bit of patience.

But is that really true?

When you think of healthy habits like exercising, reading, or meditating, it becomes clear that in order to benefit from them, you’ll have to wait a long time. Not only that, but you’ll need to stay consistent with these habits while you wait. Welcome to the world of delayed gratification. It’s the place where all the self-help experts will tell you to go if you want to get your life in order. It’s the place where you’ll suffer in the present in order to be happy in the future.

Sounds like a fun time, right?

In this week’s reading of Atomic Habits, it was refreshing to learn about a different way.

What if we flipped delayed gratification on its head?

You see, the reason unhealthy habits exist is because they provide immediate gratification. When we eat junk food, it feels good in the moment but has long-term consequences. When we choose doom scrolling over reading a book, the dopamine rush feels more pleasurable but becomes detrimental the more we do it. Healthy habits are the opposite. They tend to feel less attractive in the moment but are better for us in the long term.

By adding immediate satisfaction to healthy habits, we become more likely to repeat them.

Let me share a recent example. For the past couple of months, I’ve become very consistent with going to the gym and running. It’s somehow become one of my most consistent habits, and I genuinely look forward to it every week. Reflecting back, I realize that I’ve been adding layers of instant gratification to keep it fun.

First, I reserve my most interesting podcasts or music tracks for when I go to the gym. Second, I have some widgets on my phone’s home screen that keep track of my weekly mileage. Each time I finish a run, I get to save a new activity into Strava and watch the numbers go up. Last, when I get home from the gym, I immediately eat my breakfast, which includes a chocolate protein shake. And I absolutely love chocolate.

All of these little things provide me with satisfaction every time I go for a run.

Imagine if I did none of it and relied solely on the satisfaction of losing weight. There’s no way I would be able to stick with it for more than a few days.

Today, I invite you to reflect on your own habits.

Do you give yourself some immediate satisfaction or a reward that keeps you coming back?

I’d love to hear from you.

Weekly YouTube Video

​🎬 My Bold 2026 Kindle Predictions (I'm Probably Wrong)​

I just published my annual Kindle predictions video, and once again, I’m fully prepared to be wrong. I talk through what I realistically think Amazon will do in 2026, especially around the Kindle Scribe and AI features, and then share my personal wishlist for Kindle software improvements. If you’re curious where Kindle might be headed, this one’s worth a watch.

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Three ways I can help you...

🎬 Check out my latest YouTube video. My channel is all about Book Tech and using technology to live an intentional life.

📖 Need something new to read? Check out all the books I've written and support my work along the way.

📚 Check out the Presently Reading book log. It is a complete list of every book we've read in the book club since I started it.