Quite by accident, I was watching <a target="" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jAYVKZSWXhY">Barack Obama’s interview with Hasan Minhaj</a>. And as you know, I’m always reading, learning, and studying, and I love it. No one spends more time and money on learning than I do. So when I saw that Obama publishes a yearly list of his favorite books, podcasts, and even music, the idea landed immediately. I caught it in mid-air and thought: I should do something similar myself.First, reproducing what I learn helps me become a better learner. When I write my learning back out, it settles more deeply. It stops being something I merely consumed and becomes something I have actually processed.<img src="https://ezycourse.b-cdn.net/6039/cmo9km9rc11xzrmqsfkxc7zck.jpg" alt="image" containerstyle="width: 100%; height: auto; cursor: pointer; " wrapperstyle="display: flex">Second, you get to see what I learned, and naturally, if something suits you, you can use it.And that is how Brain Carry-On came into being.In a way, this series belongs naturally to the wider mission of Brain CEO. A life does not only change through visible decisions; it also changes through the ideas, language, conversations, and mental inputs that quietly shape us month after month. That matters even more when you are rebuilding life abroad and trying not to let your inner life shrink into mere survival. If the world of <a target="_blank" href="https://www.brain.ceo/stuck-abroad">Stuck Abroad</a> is about understanding that plateau, Brain Carry-On is one small way of making the rebuilding process more visible from the inside.<h2 id="2f422a90-af43-4d95-b7aa-4f5f2cd630af" data-toc-id="2f422a90-af43-4d95-b7aa-4f5f2cd630af" style="font-size: 24px; line-height: 1.2;">What exactly is Brain Carry-On?</h2>Brain Carry-On is a monthly report on what I fed my mind. In it, I share a short report, really something closer to a list than a formal report, on the following:<ol><li>📚 Books</li><li>🎙️ Podcasts, interviews, or videos</li><li>🧠 Terminology — words or concepts that shift my thinking or behavior</li><li>✈️ Travel</li><li>👥 People and conversations</li><li>🎓 Courses, seminars, and lectures</li><li>🧰 Tools, gear, and so on</li></ol>That is the format. But the real point of it sits a little deeper.<img src="https://ezycourse.b-cdn.net/6039/cmo9ktte70yf9m3qr7acw12qv.jpg" alt="image" containerstyle="width: 100%; height: auto; cursor: pointer; " wrapperstyle="display: flex">Maybe Brain Carry-On can become an interesting practice: something that strengthens my commitment to learning more, deepens my learning through writing it back out, and at the same time gives you a clue for your own learning. Sometimes a book gives you a framework. Sometimes a new term gives you language for something you had felt but could not yet name. Sometimes a conversation, a trip, or even a passing moment stays with you longer than expected and quietly tilts the whole room.That kind of input usually does not look like much in the moment. But little by little, it shapes the way a person thinks, chooses, and grows.I am very clearly at the beginning of this path, and I think your suggestions and comments will definitely help me do this better, so it can create more value for both you and me. Like everything else in this world I am building through Brain CEO, this too will become better through attention, repetition, and honest refinement.And in the end, I suggest that you write your own Brain Carry-On too. It is an interesting challenge, and without a doubt, it can help your growth as well. In fact, if you care at all about building a more intentional life, whether through a stronger inner system, clearer goals, or a better personal operating system, this kind of monthly reflection belongs naturally beside work like Rebuild OS, a free book, or future pages on goal-setting and direction.<h2 id="50b8b44c-7c57-4274-8994-4a035a289144" data-toc-id="50b8b44c-7c57-4274-8994-4a035a289144" style="font-size: 24px; line-height: 1.2;">My Brain Carry-On is not my recommendation to you</h2>Because you want to be your Brain CEO, because I am careful with your time and energy, and because I know many of you have given me your kindness and trust, I feel I should say something about Brain Carry-On, and say it carefully.Brain Carry-On is a monthly report on my mental diet.When I talk about Brain Carry-On, it may create the impression that whatever appears on my list must somehow be my recommendation to you. In other words, implies that if I read a book or took a course, then surely I want to recommend that you do the same. But the truth is this: My carry-on is not my recommendation. That distinction matters.I see Brain Carry-On as a kind of public notebook, a place where I simply record what I fed my mind this month. More than anything, it is a way to commit myself to writing down what I learn, and perhaps even to increase how much I learn. It may be a book I never want to go back to and end up saying was terrible, but I still took three useful sentences from it. Or a podcast whose only value for me was one stray sentence that sparked something, so I wrote that spark down for you even though nothing else in it was useful. Or even a conversation with a friend that made me look at a very obvious subject from a different angle.<img src="https://ezycourse.b-cdn.net/6039/cmo9kv9rw1cyzn5qr49mk7oyh.jpg" alt="image" containerstyle="width: 100%; height: auto; cursor: pointer; " wrapperstyle="display: flex">There is no guarantee that the same book or the same course will be valuable for you too. I might even specifically recommend that you do not read it.Of course, because my job here is not to review books, even if a book is extremely shallow and pointless, and for some reason I had to read it, I still would not turn this space into a serious critique of it. That is not the purpose of this series.You may not believe it, but even right now I feel like saying that a certain book is genuinely trash. But my purpose here is something else.I remember once reading a book that gave me only one small idea, but that same idea changed the direction of an important project. On the other hand, another book that everyone praised did nothing for me except make me realize that my taste and needs are different from other people’s taste. Now imagine if I had recommended each of those to you. Think about the weight of expectation and judgment that would place on both your shoulders and mine.That is exactly the burden I do not want this series to carry.<h2 id="36a6f767-c400-4b04-831b-cd7941e0e2af" data-toc-id="36a6f767-c400-4b04-831b-cd7941e0e2af" style="font-size: 24px; line-height: 1.2;">What this series is trying to do instead</h2>I am not here to say, “This was the best book I read,” or “This course was better than all the others.” I am not writing reviews, I am not making comparisons, and I am not prescribing anything.This is simply a report of what I fed my mind, whether useful, disappointing, valuable, or a waste of time.It is like seeing someone’s food log for a day: what they had for breakfast, what they had for lunch, what they had for dinner. No one is supposed to see that list and order exactly the same meals. You are simply getting a more honest view of what entered that person’s system. The point is not imitation. The point is visibility.Brain Carry-On works the same way.So Brain Carry-On is a kind of transparency: I show you what my mind was occupied with, what words I learned, which people I met, or where I travelled. Maybe it will inspire you, maybe it will not. That is completely natural. Of course, it is also natural that some of the titles may catch your attention and, after a quick first look, you may decide that one of them suits you. If that happens, then good for both of us. I will be glad. And if it does not, that is fine too. Not every key fits every lock.And maybe that matters more than it seems at first.A person does not drift into a better life by accident. A richer inner life, a clearer sense of direction, a stronger identity, a more deliberate way of learning, all of that is shaped by repeated exposure to certain ideas, questions, people, and frames. Month by month, these inputs accumulate. They become part of your judgment. They become part of your standards. They become part of the way you see yourself and the world.That is one reason I want to make these mental inputs visible.For immigrants especially, this matters. When you move countries, life can become full of logistics, pressure, and adaptation. You may stay busy every day and still feel that some deeper part of your life has gone quiet. So one of the quiet questions behind Brain Carry-On is this: what am I letting shape me while I rebuild? What is sharpening me? What is distracting me? What is giving me language, clarity, courage, or direction?That question lives close to everything else I care about on this site, from Stuck Abroad to the broader work of rebuilding through systems, learning, and deliberate growth. Brain Carry-On is not the whole answer. It is just one window into the process.<h2 id="12d1b78a-9b72-4d1e-b771-39bd70e3f5b4" data-toc-id="12d1b78a-9b72-4d1e-b771-39bd70e3f5b4" style="font-size: 24px; line-height: 1.2;">The real recommendation</h2>So the conclusion is simple: Brain Carry-On is not a shopping list or a list of recommended books.My real recommendation is this:<h3 id="fd23fe54-a014-4a36-9c18-2b7bc33eb398" data-toc-id="fd23fe54-a014-4a36-9c18-2b7bc33eb398" style="font-size: 20px; line-height: 1.2;">Write your own Brain Carry-On too.</h3>Look at what entered your mind over the past month. Look at the books, the podcasts, the videos, the conversations, the trips, the terms, the tools, the people, the passing moments that stayed with you. Look at what fed you, what sharpened you, what distracted you, what exhausted you, what gave you language, what gave you a nudge, what quietly changed your thinking.Even that simple act of recording can show you how consciously, or unconsciously, you make your choices.And sometimes that is where rebuilding begins: not only in changing your circumstances, but in becoming more aware of what is shaping you while you do.Because rebuilding a life, especially abroad, is never only about external progress. It is also about what is happening inside you while that progress is being built.

A monthly record of the books, ideas, people, tools, and experiences that shaped Payam Bahrampoor's mind and helped him keep growing, not just functioning, through life.

What Is Brain Carry-On? Payam Bahrampoor’s Monthly Inputs and Experiences

My Brain Carry-On is not my recommendation to you

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What Is Brain Carry-On? Payam Bahrampoor’s Monthly Inputs and Experiences

What Is Brain Carry-On? Payam Bahrampoor’s Monthly Inputs and Experiences

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