Lightning Q&A: Favorite Books, Video Games, and Life-Changing Habits Explored

Welcome to a special edition of the College Info Geek Podcast! As we approach a significant evolution for the show—a brand new name is just around the corner—we decided to shake things up. In this penultimate episode under the original banner, we’re diving headfirst into a rapid-fire Q&A session, breaking from our usual format of five carefully selected productivity questions.

Instead, we’ve opened the floodgates. For a full 45 minutes, we tackled as many questions as we could from every corner of the internet. The topics are boundless, stretching far beyond productivity to cover our favorite video games, life-altering books, personality types, and even whether we’d rather merge with a goat or a capybara. Get ready for a candid, unfiltered look behind the scenes. Let’s dive in.

A New Chapter for the Podcast

Right from the start, we address the elephant in the room: the upcoming changes to the podcast. This isn’t just a fresh coat of paint; it’s an evolution. We’ve spent years building a community around the idea of becoming a more effective student and, by extension, a more capable human being. As both we and our audience have grown, our interests have broadened. The new name will reflect this expanded scope, encompassing a wider range of topics related to personal development, career growth, and intentional living. While the core mission of helping you improve remains the same, we’re excited to explore new territories and bring you even more diverse and valuable content. This Q&A episode serves as a perfect bridge, showcasing the wider spectrum of conversations we’re eager to have.

Unplugging and Play: Our Favorite Video Games

Productivity isn’t just about focused work; it’s also about effective rest. For many, video games are a fantastic way to decompress, solve problems, and engage the mind in a different way. We were asked about our all-time favorite games, and the answers might surprise you. From sprawling open-world RPGs that offer hundreds of hours of immersive storytelling to strategic indie titles that challenge your thinking, games are more than just a pastime. They can teach resource management, strategic planning, and quick decision-making. We discuss which titles have left a lasting impact on us, the mechanics we find most compelling, and how we balance our gaming hobbies with a busy work schedule. It’s a fun detour that highlights the importance of having engaging hobbies to recharge your mental batteries.

If We Started Over: How We’d Build College Info Geek Today

Hindsight is a powerful tool. A listener asked a fantastic question: “If you were to start College Info Geek from scratch today, what would you do differently?” This prompted a deep reflection on our journey. We explored the mistakes we made in the early days, from content strategy missteps to technical hurdles we could have avoided. We discussed the things we did right, like focusing on creating genuinely helpful, in-depth content and building a strong community from day one. For anyone looking to start their own blog, YouTube channel, or online business, this segment is packed with invaluable lessons. We cover the importance of niching down, the power of consistency, and why building a personal brand on a platform you own (like a website with your own domain name) is more crucial than ever in an age of ever-changing social media algorithms.

Sponsor Spotlight: Unlock Your Potential with Skillshare

This episode is brought to you in part by Skillshare, a platform that perfectly aligns with our mission of continuous learning. With thousands of expert-led classes on everything from graphic design and programming to productivity and personal branding, Skillshare is an incredible resource for anyone looking to level up their skills. It’s not just about professional development; you can also explore creative passions like photography, writing, or music production. We’re particularly proud that Thomas’s own courses, including his comprehensive classes on habit-building and creating a productivity system that works, are available on the platform. Learning new skills is one of the highest-leverage activities you can undertake, and Skillshare makes it accessible and engaging.

Sponsor Spotlight: Build Your Brand with Hover

Our other fantastic sponsor is Hover, a service we wholeheartedly recommend for anyone serious about building an online presence. Your personal brand starts with your name, and in the digital world, that means your domain name. Hover makes the process of finding and registering the perfect domain incredibly simple and straightforward, with no aggressive upselling. Owning YourName.com is a powerful move. It serves as a central hub for your portfolio, resume, blog, and social profiles, giving you complete control over your online identity. It’s the foundation for your personal brand and a professional asset that will serve you for years to come. Whether you’re a student building a portfolio or an aspiring entrepreneur, securing your domain name is a critical first step.

Three Books That Shaped Our Thinking

We believe that reading is a cornerstone of personal growth. When asked about the top three books that have helped shape who we are, we had to pause and think. The books that change you are rarely the ones you expect. Here are a few that have had a profound impact on our perspectives and actions.

Essentialism by Greg McKeown

This book is a powerful antidote to the modern cult of “busyness.” McKeown argues that success isn’t about doing more; it’s about doing only the right things. Essentialism provides a practical framework for identifying what is truly essential in your life and work, and then systematically eliminating everything that isn’t. It’s about trading a million tiny advancements in a dozen directions for meaningful progress in the one direction that truly matters. This philosophy has been instrumental in how we approach our work at College Info Geek and our personal lives, helping us focus our energy for maximum impact and avoid burnout.

The War of Art by Steven Pressfield

For anyone who creates anything—be it writing, art, a business, or even just a new habit—this book is a must-read. Pressfield gives a name to the internal force that holds us back: “The Resistance.” It’s that universal, invisible force of self-sabotage that fuels procrastination and fear. The War of Art is a powerful, concise manifesto for overcoming this internal enemy and showing up to do the work every single day. It’s a kick in the pants when you need it most, reminding you that the professional sits down and works, regardless of inspiration.

Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl

This is a book of profound depth and perspective. Written by psychiatrist Viktor Frankl about his experiences as a prisoner in Nazi concentration camps, it’s a meditation on what drives us to live. Frankl observed that the prisoners who were most likely to survive were not the physically strongest, but those who held on to a sense of purpose—a reason to live beyond their current suffering. His central thesis is that our primary drive in life is not pleasure, but the discovery and pursuit of what we personally find meaningful. This book offers a timeless lesson on resilience, purpose, and the indomitable nature of the human spirit. It will fundamentally change how you view your own struggles and priorities.

Understanding Ourselves: Our MBTI Personality Types

The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) is a popular framework for understanding personality. While it’s not hard science, it can be a useful tool for self-reflection and understanding how you interact with the world and with others. In this segment, we reveal our own MBTI types and discuss how accurately we feel they describe us. We talk about the strengths and weaknesses associated with our types and how this self-awareness helps us in our work and collaboration. Understanding whether you’re an introvert or an extrovert, a thinker or a feeler, can provide valuable insights into your ideal work environment, your communication style, and your decision-making processes.

Alternate Timelines: Other Career Paths We Considered

Life is full of “what ifs.” What if we hadn’t started College Info Geek? A listener asked what other career fields we were interested in pursuing. We explored our alternate-timeline selves, discussing passions that could have led us down very different paths. From video game design and animation to architecture and music, our interests are varied. This conversation highlights a key idea: you are more than just one thing. Your skills and interests can be combined in unique ways, and it’s never too late to learn something new or pivot your career. It’s a reminder that your major in college doesn’t have to dictate the entire course of your professional life.

Final Thoughts and a Look Ahead

This lightning-round Q&A was a refreshing and incredibly fun experience. It allowed us to connect with you, our listeners, on a more personal level and touch on a huge range of fascinating topics in a short amount of time. From practical advice on building a brand to philosophical discussions on life’s meaning, this episode truly has something for everyone. It perfectly sets the stage for the next era of the podcast, where we’ll continue to explore what it means to live a better, more effective life.

If you enjoyed this episode, please consider subscribing to the podcast on your favorite platform. It’s the best way to ensure you get new episodes automatically, and your support helps the show reach more people. We’re incredibly excited about what the future holds, and we can’t wait to share it with you.

Key Resources and Mentions:

Courses & Tools: Thomas’ Habit-Building Course, Thomas’ Productivity Course, Beeminder for goal accountability, 16Personalities for the MBTI test.
Influential Books: Essentialism by Greg McKeown, The War of Art by Steven Pressfield, Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl, Rich Dad Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki, and Good to Great by Jim Collins.

For a complete list of all our favorite tools, books, and apps, check out our comprehensive Resources page.

Episode Timestamps:

0:02:05 – An update on the future of the podcast
0:10:16 – Our all-time favorite video games
0:13:13 – How Tom would start College Info Geek differently today
0:19:43 – The friendly challenge: Can Tom out-curl Matt D’Avella?
0:22:21 – Sponsor: Why continuous learning with Skillshare is a game-changer
0:24:57 – Sponsor: Owning your personal brand with a Hover domain
0:27:47 – The top 3 books that have fundamentally shaped our lives
0:39:05 – Exploring our MBTI personality types
0:45:43 – The ultimate question: Goat or capybara?
0:46:41 – The other career paths we almost pursued
0:49:32 – A question for the ages: Who’s your dad?
0:50:12 – The extended lightning round with more of your questions
1:05:41 – Final thoughts and conclusion

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