My Favorite Purchases of 2017

Having trouble putting together a holiday wish list?

Last year, I compiled a list a list of my favorite books in attempt to keep you well-read and inspired throughout the year.

This time I’m switching things up a bit with a general list of my favorite purchases of 2017.

It’s been divided up into 3 sections, for your browsing pleasure.

Marketing Purchases

Serpworx

This is by far the best, browser overlay tool on the market.

I’m borderline depressed that I didn’t find it earlier.

On the SERP result, it overlays Ahrefs, Majestic, Moz, and Semrush metrics and stats.

When you open-up a webpage, you get those same stats, plus information like word count, heading structure, domain age, whois information, and more.

And…

It’s not slow and clunky like the alternatives.

Buzzsumo

One of the biggest trends I’ve noticed in 2017 with regards to ranking is the increases importance of overall site quality score.

This means that each one of the pages on your website needs to be an asset, as opposed to thin filler content.

While you could get away with cheap Iwriter content in the past, those days are coming to a close.

I use Buzzsumo for determining what are the highest shared blog topics in my niche, so I can use them for informational blog topics on my affiliate sites.

The results have been excellent.

Personal

The 5-minute Journal

I absolutely love this thing.  Since I bought it, I haven’t skipped a day.

It’s a well-designed gratitude journal that you write in for 5-mintues when you wake up and 5-minutes before bed.

It prompts you with questions like “what are 3 things I’m grateful for?” which helps set your day with the right outlook.

Let me back up a second…

I’m really into the concept of gratitude and gratitude journals.  I even made an iOS gratitude journal app a few years ago.

Admittedly, the format of the 5-minute journal blows my app out of the water.

This journal also asks to list “what could I have done to make today even better?”.

Whenever I fill up a journal, I’ll review this question, look for patterns and cut out any behavior that isn’t serving me.

This journal has been priceless.

Chilipad

In general, men are warm(er) blooded than our female counterparts.

This usually means that we sleep better when we’re colder and bundled up with blankets.

If you’ve ever gone on a ski/snowboarding trip and slept with the window open, you know what I’m talking about.

The Chilipad is a thin mattress toper that pretty much just makes your bed cold AF.

Usually, I’m a very stubborn sleeper, but this year I’ve never slept better.

And speaking of chili, here’s a recipe.

23 and Me

It works like this…

They send you a plastic vial in the mail, you spit in it, send it back to them, and then a couple weeks later they map out your chromosomal DNA which you can view online.

You get to see if you have any pre-conditions for certain behavioral traits, age-induced diseases (Alzheimer’s), etc., which is obviously good to know.

They’ll tell you what kind of metabolism you have, so you can figure out what diet will work best for you.

One thing tripped me out…

They knew that I was 50% Asian, but not only that… the Asian part was completely Japanese.

I mean…

How the heck did they even know that?

Japan has invaded and bred with pretty much everyone around them.  I was impressed.

Sk2 Facial Treatment Essence

Ok. Let me first explain myself.

My fiancé is really into skin care and other girly topics.

She got me this (what I had thought to be at the time) expensive ass water and I gave it a shot.

The result… seriously, it knocked at least a year of aging off my face.

Really made a difference.

I don’t know what they put in that stuff, but I’m pretty sure someone had to die for it.

Books

Homo Deus (A Brief History of Tomorrow) – Yuval Noah Harari

Homo Deus is Harari’s follow up to Sapiens, a book that changed my life.

This book did the same.

Harari describes his predictions on what us humans will do in the future given our historical paths through society, culture, religion and industry.

The author truly is brilliant.

The way he presents his futurist hypotheses, seems more like fact than prediction because of his detailed analysis of how we homo sapiens truly are.

Life 3.0 – Max Tegmark

If you’re into artificial intelligence and futurism, this is a must-read.

The opening prologue to this book is a crazy rollercoaster ride, going through a possible scenario of what could happen if artificial superintelligence came online.

Life 3.0 is an exploration of human life in a world with with infinite intelligence.

Technological paradise?  Cosmic colonization? Conscious uploads into simulators?

Prepare to have your mind blown.

Surely, You’re Joking Mr. Feynman – Richard Feynman PhD

I first heard about Dr. Feynman in physics class in high school.

I studied his “Feynman diagrams”, didn’t understand them, so by default, he was smart by my standards.

In this autobiography, you see what a playful character and absolute genius this guy was.

He is so extremely confident about his intellectual abilities, nothing held him back from learning anything – such as safe-cracking, playing samba, or designing the first atomic bomb.

After you read this, you should never have an excuse for hesitating on learning something new.

Ready Player One – Ernest Cline

This fiction was written for me.

In the future, Earth has gone to shit, and everyone spends their existence in a virtual reality utopia called The Oasis.

The Oasis was designed by a hardcore 80’s fanatic and gamer, and when he died, he left his entire inheritance and control of Oasis to whatever gamer could solve a series of Easter Eggs.

Voltron, Freddy Kreger, the Millennium Falcon… everything cameos in this book.

Needless to say, I finished this book in less than a week and I can’t wait for the movie.