Welcome to an insightful journey on the "22 Self-Help Books that Actually Changed My Life" written by Muhiuddin Alam from ReadingAndThinking.com.
Over the years as a leading Authority on Book recommendations and reviews, I made countless articles many of which can be found on ReadingandThinking.com.
I have received many requests to recommend some of the best self-improvement books of all time.
I will recommend the best self-help books to read in 2023 in this post, which is based on my in-depth study and testing in this field. Such as The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, Atomic Habits, How to Win Friends & Influence People, Rising Strong, What I Know For Sure, and The Mastery of Love.
These are not only the best self-help books. Below I provide you 22 books with descriptions on this topic.
Books are the best containers for information and they've changed my mindset for the better. I compiled all my favorite self-help books into one article and separated them into 4 categories: Productivity, Socializing, Confidence, and Awakening.
Transforming my mind one book at a time. that helped transform my mindset, each one of the self-help books has improved the quality of my life and I hope that they change your life too.
Probably have tons of self-help books in your home. While many of the books are well-written and have great advice, one skill that many self-help books lack is originality.
A lot of books have one thing in common: they were written by people who really knew what they were talking about. They made a point to be original and they stuck to their own advice and beliefs.
The Ultimate Self-Help Bookshelf – Don't Miss Out
If you are committed to improving yourself then you must read self-improvement books.
the books I'm going to share with you have all made an incredible impact on my life and contributed to the life that I have today.
so today I want to pay it forward by sharing with you some of these self-help books hopefully you benefit from them can go to Amazon buy them read them devour them and apply them to your life so that your life gets better as a result of it.
Some of these books you may already have heard from others maybe you've never heard of before in which case you might be able to pull a few books from this that I share with you and you must benefit from them.
you know one of my favorite quotes from Jim Rohn says that
"if you want things to get better in your life then you must get better and that if you want things to change then you must change and if you change then everything will change for you"
so I really believe that and that shifted it was a paradigm shift in my mind that changed everything for me.
that occur in your life as a result of self-help maybe it's a shift in your mindset maybe it's a new habit maybe it's a new belief system shifting your values or changing your health or your diet or your relationships or something changes and then you experience and see the result and the benefit of that in your life how as a result of what you learn and you applied it your have more energy
or you have better relationships or people respond to you in a better way or you have more friends or you make more money, all of that once you get a taste of that you have a thirst and you get addicted to that process because you see and have experienced more importantly the rewards of that and that's what kind of got me that momentum along my journey.
today I've just been obsessive about learning and growing as much as I can in every aspect of my life and the cool thing about what I do is I get to share it with you guys and hope you guys get to benefit from the things that I've learned and what's benefited my life. .
so I will recommend these best self-improvement books of all time and hopefully, you get some inspiration and something to put on your reading list.
Here are my top 22 self-help Books that changed my mindset for the better.
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1. The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People
Here I have the Seven Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey. This is a book that I have been shoving down people's throats since 2017. this has changed my life in such a positive way my boss's bible is Seven Habits of Highly Effective People.
I believe this book goes beyond efficiency and productivity, it genuinely inspired me to be a better and more expanded version of myself. so I love this quote that he highlighted by Aristotle we are what we repeatedly do excellence then is not an act but a habit, yes I think for so long.
I thought that excellence was only reserved for the elite or insanely gifted but this reminds me that excellence is available to anyone that is willing to put in the work every single day you become what you repeat and off the jump, the seven habits are here:
- Be Proactive
- Begin with the end in mind
- Put first things first
- Think win-win
- Seek first to understand then to be understood
- Synergize
- Sharpen the saw
I'm not gonna expand on them because that could be a whole separate article and also it just hits differently when you're reading it and you're applying your own examples. it is such a transformative book and I could not recommend it enough so please go check it out.
2. Atomic Habits
Moving on to book number two we have Atomic Habits by James Clear. I think that this book is a really great follow-up to Seven Habits. I feel like they stack really well on top of each other James is clear.
Describes a habit as a routine or behavior that happens so regularly that it occurs automatically like the quality of your life depends on the quality of your habits. so let's say you start by doing something extremely small for yourself every single day.
Maybe it's like going on a walk for 15/20 minutes a day, during that day it doesn't seem like a big deal. like it's probably improving your life by maybe one percent but what happens when you keep doing that every single day, for a month, a year, two years. this my friends is the compound effect time that magnifies your results if you do something so small every single day even though it's just a drop in the bucket.
If you zoom out you'll see, that we just filled up a gallon baby and I feel like with self-improvement and productivity. these are things that require delayed gratification. They don't happen overnight success doesn't happen overnight, it requires patience and time and putting in the work every single day.
So he breaks down how to create a good habit in four ways, which make it obvious, make it easy, make it attractive, and make it satisfying again this will make a lot more sense once you read it so just read it.
3. How to win Friends & Influence People
So now let's tackle socializing, I would say that I am a people person but it took me years and years to get to this social person that I am today.
I'm naturally quite introverted all the social skills that I've learned have been taught and learned and I would say that the biggest book that gave me a jump start to refining my social skills was this one called How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie.
I know it's not the sexiest name but let me tell you this is the best book that will teach you how to communicate with others, and how to have fulfilling relationships with other people.
this book is now more important than ever it's sad to say that socializing is a dying art even though we are the most connected digitally. I would say emotionally we're just not very connected with each other and it's so sad to see because we are naturally like social beings you know.
unfortunately, this culture is all about me-me-me, show-show-show, and not about curiosity and genuine interest. I urge you to check out this book. if you want to hone in on your social skills I feel like reading this book gave me the confidence to be able to talk to whoever I want to.
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4. Rising Strong
Rising Strong: How the Ability to Reset Transforms the Way We Live, Love, Parent, and Lead by Brené Brown
This category is confidence and self-love, so this book is called 'Rising Strong' by Bréne Brown. I would say that her research on vulnerability and shame has really given me the courage to be proud of my work and to be proud to be me and to be okay with being uncomfortable without being vulnerable you are not growing you gotta be outside your comfort zone in order to expand and I would say that this book really gave me the confidence to open up, especially with this blog.
opening up and zooming in at the ugly parts of your life that you're not proud of is absolutely terrifying people mostly just kind of fast forward to the part where they rose above it and they conquered but I think it's important to highlight both.
If you are trying to share your experience this book also gave me the confidence to shrug off haters and trolls a lot easier, I think in the past when I would get a negative comment it would really sink down and I would see it as truth but Bréne Brown always shares this quote by Theodore Roosevelt.
I'll leave it here because it's quite long it talks about how criticizing is really cheap, it's really easy. if you are not in the arena if you are not creating and trying and trying to do the same thing then quite frankly your opinion doesn't really matter. it's really giving me the confidence to shrug things off a lot easier and uh it's giving me a thicker skin.
Intellectual Books
5. What I Know For Sure
My next book is by someone who needs no introduction Oprah yes the queen herself. I absolutely loved her book I know for sure this is an accumulation of all her life lessons in one book.
It's like a hug in your soul like it's incredibly inspiring because she's lived such a rich life with just soaring highs and devastating lows she has gained so much wisdom and reading this book always makes me feel so good inside if there is one person on earth that I would like to meet it is her just putting it out there.
Boundaries Self-Help Books
6. The Mastery of Love
The Mastery of Love: A Practical Guide to the Art of Relationship: A Toltec Wisdom Book by Don Miguel Ruiz
My next book is The Mastery of Love by Don Miguel Ruiz. This book taught me how to recognize the old emotional wounds that I've been carrying in the past and how to address them he condenses the foundation of love into one concept which is to love yourself.
I feel like this is a concept that's thrown in our faces all the time like self-love taking a bath do a mask but it's not a quick band-aid-like that at all, yes those do help sometimes but it's not going be the antidote for you to love yourself.
Reading this book helped me open my eyes to how much I was focusing on these materialistic and superficial flaws that were weighing me down when in reality I am worthy just as I am right now and if you can accept yourself as you are right now then you can truly have a fulfilling relationship with anyone.
7. Breaking Free from Emotional Eating
If you have ever struggled with your relationship with food and body image, I highly recommend this book which is called Breaking Free from Emotional Eating by Janine Roth.
I would say that I have always had a really healthy appetite, I love to eat, it's one of my passions but last year my relationship with food became a little bit distorted, I was developing a tendency to binge eat, and I was seeking all my comfort in food and I would just cram food in me until I couldn't breathe multiple nights a week it was like I didn't know how to stop.
I was eating each meal like it was my last one and after I would feel absolutely horrendous about myself so much self-loathing, so much disappointment, and shame and so the next day I would try and rectify that by exercising furiously or restricting it was just becoming a vicious cycle that I absolutely hated.
This book gave me so many tips on how to eat more mindfully and to be present when I'm eating and it just helped me regain that healthy relationship with food again.
8. The Untethered Soul
So now we are tapping into a deeper category awakening. Here I have The Untethered Soul by Michael Singer, this is the first book that taught me what consciousness was and how we should process the millions of thoughts we have running in our heads.
Now I have been a chronic overthinker for as long as I can remember and for so long I believed that these thoughts were my truths. I believe that everybody is born with different brain chemistry and I would say that I was born with a naturally more blue disposition my brain just likes to lean more into the negative side of things the more pessimistic, the more realistic end, and as a result, my thoughts were more negative and judgmental.
It really painted the way I looked at the world it shaped the way I react to things the way I look at situations and overall it was disintegrating the quality of my life and I didn't even realize it after reading this book.
so this book has given me the tools to calm myself down when I am overthinking or if I'm in a fit of you know negative self-talk.
9. A New Earth
So now moving on to of course 'a new earth' by Eckhart Tolle. I feel like your heart has to be in the right place for it to really hit. He particularly really dives deeper into the ego, now the ego is the voice that tells you that you are the accumulation of your successes.
The size of your body matters if a certain picture gets x amount of likes, it will make you worthy it's that voice that always tells you that once you have this you will be complete.
We all have an ego and it's incredibly dysfunctional. Michael Singer calls the ego the roommate and no matter what you want to call it, the more you attach yourself to this ego and the more you believe that the ego is telling you truths the further and further away you fall from consciousness.
Reading this book gave me a deep sense of calm because it reminded me that my purpose here is it's just to be it's to be here now. it's not to be anxious about the future, it's not to dwell on the past, it's literally to be present and to focus on what I'm doing at any given moment and right now.
10. How to Change Your Mind
How to Change Your Mind: What the New Science of Psychedelics Teaches Us About Consciousness, Dying, Addiction, Depression, and Transcendence by Michael Pollan
Moving on to my next book, I have How to Change Your Mind by Michael Pollan. now this book is all about psychedelics baby we've got psilocybin we've got LSD he talks about the origin of how societies in history have used it and he even goes on to explain and describe each one of his trips from mushrooms to ayahuasca
it is extremely thorough I loved it when he mentions that in order to have an optimal trip you have to make sure that you have your set and your setting on lock, so the first is your mindset like what is your intention from this trip like what do you want to get out of it and then you've got the setting like where are you doing it, what's the environment like who are you doing with are you doing it at home are you doing it at like a festival like these things really matter psychedelics
put your brain in a state of wonder and awe like you're looking at the world for the very first time and if dosed properly and done correctly. it has the potential to transform your life he goes on to explain that psychedelics have improved people who suffer from addiction, anxiety, and depression.
in the late 1950s and the early 1960s scientists actually regarded these two chemical compounds as miracle drugs because they were helping people who suffered from mental rigidity so as we get older the way we think becomes more and more ingrained.
I feel like I have always struggled with self-loathing for decades. I've told myself that I'm not good enough and that I don't deserve things and this becomes a pattern of thought, it's just a mental groove that my brain just goes through but when someone is on psychedelics it has the potential to completely disrupt these negative patterns of thought.
he calls it the snow globe effect if your mind was a snow globe it's like you shaking up these negative patterns of thought and you seeing it as a clean slate it's like all the snow has fallen it gives the mind the space for more flexibility and openness I guess this is where it leads to my experience.
11. Awaken the Giant Within
Awaken the Giant Within How to Take Immediate Control of Your Mental, Emotional, Physical, and Financial Destiny! by Tony Robbins
the next one is called Awaken the Giant Within Tony Robbins. this book changed my life when I was 18 years old one of the best self-help books read more than once it still remains one of my favorite books of all time.
Tony Robbins is the person who really was my biggest mentor and role model in self-development he's kind of like this larger-than-life figure and I've always really respected him because he has what I believe achieved levels of mastery in multiple areas of life, not just finances or fame or success but in his relationships and his health and his mental and emotional well-being and I've always you know respected people that have that great balance of success.
rather than just financial success so his book is amazing really will introduce you to beliefs and empowering questions your values setting goals and your emotional state many different things that I emphasize and teach and share with you guys are based on some of Tony robbins principles and a lot of what he teaches are from other people as well because he's kind of similar to myself where he's learned from many different sources and compiles the best of what he's learned and packages it together and delivers it in a really powerful way awaken the giant within getting that book amazing book.
12. Notes from a Friend
he has another shorter book shorter summary of called Notes from a Friend although I wouldn't recommend that one until you've read Awaken the Giant Within Notes from a Friend is a great little short read you can read in an hour that summarizes the book and is one to kind of keep with you as a companion at any stage of your life.
when you're going through downtime and you just need a friend someone who cares about you and loves you and this book will speak to you on that level he wrote notes from a friend as a summary to give away as part of his basket brigade as part of his foundation where he feeds families on thanksgiving and something that I've done through his foundation a few times where you get the little books and you give it to homeless people you give it to people they're going through a tough time it's just a really great little book that goes along with it so awaken the giant within must-read book.
13. The Four Agreements
the third one is The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz fantastic book a short book can be read in an hour or two but The Four Agreements teaches four main agreements and principles that we should all live by and they're powerful, especially how dawn goes into them you know the first one being impeccable with your word having integrity in your life and how you show up and that your word means something that when you say you're going to do something you do it and having that integrity is something that's very important as an agreement you keep for yourself.
don't take things personally is another one don't make assumptions you know oftentimes we assume things based on very limited information and that's an important agreement just to stick to so I think everybody should read the four agreements that are a staple classic it's a short read no excuse not to read it. it's a really valuable book.
14. As a Man Thinketh
the fourth one is As a Man Thinketh by James Allen also another classic short read you can read in an hour or two and it's a pretty straightforward message oftentimes you know there's the core message of the book but reading the book and how it's communicated and articulated to you and especially the stories behind it.
is really what helps a message or an idea get ingrained in your psyche in your subconscious mind so that you really apply it and live it. it's not enough just to hear a summary of an idea that's why I encourage people to actually read a book and not just consume a summary of a book because the buy-in factor that whatever these ideas are you have to buy into it and really ingrain it through multiple references is really what allows you to live it so it might sound simple as a man thinketh it's about.
as you think you become your thoughts produce your reality whether you think you can or you think you can't you're right there's a lot of power to our thoughts and thinking that if you want to change your life you got to change your thoughts and you know most of our life and the reality and what we manifest is based on our mindset and the thoughts that we have so that one simple idea and principle of what's taught in this book can change your life in so many ways.
If you really become aware of your thoughts a lot more and you're able to shift your thinking in a more positive and more empowering way so recommend the book as a man thinketh.
15. 12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos
the next one is 12 Rules for Life by Dr. Jordan Peterson. a famous Canadian psychologist who has become more popular over the last few years I tend to agree with a lot of what Jordan shares and this is a bit of a different self-help book and I do recommend before reading this book to watch some interviews and lectures of Jordan Peterson online first so you can kind of understand his position and because you know in the self-help book it's different than a lot of other self-help books it's not an easy read because he references.
you know a lot from the Book of Genesis that references a lot from politics different philosophers like Nietzsche and you know you know politics like Marxism and different things like that so it's a bit of a denser read in some ways and he has a different style of communicating but the message is really really powerful and especially when you read the book.
you'll get more from it in my opinion but the core message for him is taking responsibility for your life and not deflecting responsibility not blaming but getting your act together you know he says to clean your room make sure that your room is in order and that you get yourself together first and that's one of the best ways you can make an impact in the world rather than you're having your life as a disaster.
then going out trying to make changes in the world which is very complex and difficult we should start with ourselves first and take responsibility and part of the responsibility is not is taking a load-carrying a burden in your life and growing and growing up from that and finding the meaning in that and that's what produces a great meaning in our lives and so dr Jordan Peterson he's got a lot of really great content but his book is a great one.
16. Psycho-Cybernetics
I can recommend number six psycho cybernetics by Maxwell Maltz. I read this book in 2012 when I was doing a fitness competition and this is a great book that really teaches the power of visualization in the subconscious mind and how so much of our reality can be manifested based on what we visualize here our self-image is what he calls it and the story that I remember the most is he shares how we all have the self-image.
I think Maxwell Maltz was a plastic surgeon or at least he references one where he was doing rhinoplasty on a patient so getting a nose job and what he noticed through plastic surgery even though that person's physical looks would change the self-image of their self wouldn't change and that we all have a fixed self-image of how we perceive ourselves and not until you change your self-image that your life and everything else changes as a result of that so this book goes heavily into visualization and you know the human mind it can't tell the difference when you visualize something that is vividly happening in your mind versus something that's actually happening in reality.
and so the power of your subconscious mind when you visualize in my case a fitness competition I'd visualize myself and change my self-image to see myself having the body that I wanted to have been fit being healthy or being successful or being a confident speaker visualize and see that again and again and as a result of that the reality and the changes on the outside world would manifest as a result of my self-image changing so fantastic book psycho cybernetics is a classic highly recommend it.
17. How to Win Friends and Influence People in the Digital Age
the next one is How to win friends and influence people man that's a classic book must-read for everybody learning how to make friends basic communication and social skills are really what this book's about and how to influence people.
and I guess persuade them not in a manipulative way but in a way that influences people to go for more choices in their life and to create a better quality of life so it's a great book for building rapport relationships with people connecting with people developing friendships and communication skills.
and if you're into sales and marketing that's also great because they'll teach you some elements there that can help you in the marketing of your business or your products.
18. Way of the Peaceful Warrior
okay, the next one is The Way of the Peaceful Warrior by Dan Millman. This is a great book but there's a great movie that goes along with it I watched the movie first and then I read the book the movie is fantastic the peaceful warrior highly recommend it it's a true story of Dan Millman and it's kind of a bit of a spiritual book but dan Millman was a popular good-looking guy in school he's a gymnast you know.
an athlete competing to go into the Olympics high achiever you know good family life has girls in his life I mean he's got everything that you would think you would want as someone who's young in university everything you can want but he's not happy with himself and he's not happy in his life and he meets this man that he calls Socrates which is a wise man and he starts embarking a lot of wisdom for him in his life and helps him to realize that he's been chasing, for example, the destination and not appreciating the journey.
you know a simple principle like that is really well articulated in the book and in the movie and that he's got so much mind chatter he's living up in his head worrying what people think of him so much that Socrates helps him learn how to be present in his life and to live in the now and that the now is the only thing that exists and that he's so attached to things and he lives in his ego and Socrates helps him dissolve the ego.
and to not live his life just for significance all of these valuable changes he's changing him from the inside and as a result, the outside changes for him as well I don't want to spoil the book or the movie but he goes through a huge tragedy which often happens in our lives that you think you know you're on this path and everything's going your way and you're making.
you know progress momentum and the unthinkable happen when adversity shows up and it's got a lot of valuable wisdom there on how to overcome that adversity and challenges that show up in your life so I highly recommend the book and the movie there are some follow-up books too and I also really enjoy the writing of Dan Millman.
19. The Alchemist
Okay, number nine is The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho. It amazing classic book you know this was originally written in Portuguese but it's such a great story it's a story you know I read this book when I was young and I can definitely relate to this book.
if you're lost in your life if you don't know what your purpose is you're trying to pursue your dreams because it's the story of a boy Santiago who follows his heart and tries to discover his path in life and his purpose in life and it's just so much wisdom in that and I think we can all relate to that because we're all trying to find our path and trying to find our calling and you know trying to follow our hearts desires.
so it's a really really well-written story a fictional story and it's a book that's you know different type of self-help book that's not just like the factual information and the steps and the knowledge but its wisdom embedded in a story that takes you on the journey that helps you really reinforce it and really you know enjoy the process of reading the book so that's a fantastic book that I can recommend.
20. The War of Art
the last one I've got is The War of Art by Stephen Pressfield not to be confused with 'The Art of War by Sun Tzu a very different book but 'The War of Art' is a book that helps you overcome procrastination fear laziness whatever prevents you from taking action in your life.
he calls it resistance and identifying that resistance and how to deal with that resistance is what allows you to get past it and so every single day every morning when you wake up resistance is right there you know right there and it's trying to prevent you from doing the things that you know you should do for yourself and for that day to get better in your life and to achieve what you want.
so this is such a great book that helps you get past that resistance and be free from it in many ways but to take more action especially if procrastination was a big issue for you when I dealt with a lot of procrastination in my life this book was a book that really helped me a lot so highly recommend that book as well.
21. 50 Self-Help Classics
50 Self-Help Classics: 50 Inspirational Books to Transform Your Life from Timeless Sages to Contemporary Gurus by Tom Butler-Bowdon
it's a book the author's name is Tom, Bowden. the book is 50 self-help classics and basically what this guy did is he's a great writer and great researcher but he compiled a book of 50 of the best self-help books of all time and in each chapter, he goes into each book and maybe writes a few pages on it it's more of a summary of it but what I really enjoyed about reading this book is one it gave me a lot of great ideas for what books that I'd be interested in reading
and so just by reading the summary of the top 50 books on self-development, you get a lot of pieces from each one as you read the summary of it but you get to pick which ones you might be motivated to actually pick up and read and go deeper through but also a lot of them I had already read and it's been many years since I read some of these self-help books.
so just by going through this again and reading the summary, it brought back a lot of memories that had kind of faded of some really incredible books and the messages of that fantastic book.
22. 50 Philosophy Classics
I actually found him through another book that he has called 50 psychology classics and at that time I was really diving deeper into psychology and wanting to know what the best psychology books are and really learn as much as I could about the different schools of psychology and the history of it.
and so this book he kind of broke down the top 50 psychology books and then that led me to read some of the other ones he's got one 50 self-help classics, 50 psychology classics that I've read 50 success classics the top books on success and 50 spirituality classics the topmost spiritual books of all time and it's a really fantastic book.
so that'd be a great one if you want more ideas for books and want kind of a summary of the top 50 books in the self-help world that I could recommend.
so those were 22 books that had an effect on my personal life let's talk about five books that had an impact on my business and the main one for this year is...
5 Business Books You Need to Read in 2023
1. Traction: Get a Grip on Your Business
Traction: Get a Grip on Your Business by Gino Wickman
traction by Gino Wickman Get a Grip on your Business I and the team stumbled across this about six months ago and it's just completely changed the game for our business before I felt like I didn't really know anything about running the business and I kind of making up as I went along and it was quite chaotic and you know at one point we had like four of us maybe this like this time last year there were three and a half members of the team and everything worked all right.
because we know it was all a bit chaotic but there were only three of us and Elizabeth was working part-time so like stuff was getting done because they were we were small enough that we could make things happen then we started hiring some more people and then very quickly found that we actually didn't have a way of running like just didn't know how to run a business and then I came across this book because a few friends recommended it and it just like immediately everything that I was reading and listening to the book it's like you know.
the guy who wrote it could see read my mind and everything he was saying he was like you know you're probably having this problem in your business oh my god Gino you're right how did you know it lays out a very practical systematic step-by-step way of running a business in terms of these six key structures and, to be honest like I don't know a couple of years ago I'd never have imagined that I'd be the sort of person who would read a business book which is all about structuring your business.
and we're also working with one of their official coaches who charges like a two thousand pound like to twenty-five hundred dollars per day for like a day of coaching but it's really really really good and he has like a money-back guarantee that he's like look if you ever feel that this is not valuable you just don't have to pay me but we've obviously it's just gotten so much value out of the system out of the book out of the coaches so I'm very very very bullish on this.
this is the book that I recommend to anyone I know who has a business that has more than like three employees or three team members because I think this will transform the way that you think about it the only problem with traction is that it's a very like rigid hierarchical way of running a business which is totally fine because it works.
2. It Doesn't Have to Be Crazy at Work
It Doesn't Have to Be Crazy at Work by Jason Fried
There is another book and that's the next one on the list called It Doesn't Have to be Crazy at Work by Jason Fried. this guy and David run a company in the us called Base Camp which is like this project management software.
"it doesn't have to be crazy at work" is much more kind of like the way that I would want to run a business which is about basically the whole thing is that look your business is not your life all of this thing about like hustling and like you know working on like stupid hours like it's all just bs you know you can do a lot of good work for 40 hours a week you don't have to put in 80 hours a week just.
I don't know to make the shareholders happy you don't have to try and get the investment you don't have to have meetings all the time you don't have to be busy all around the clock you can build a business that's a bit calmer that doesn't have to be crazy and I really vibe with this because the way that I want to build my business is less about like you know metrics and targets and KPIs and we've got to grow every year.
this is all about building a cool lifestyle this is about helping people while being profitable while having fun let's not go overboard on the whole metricization of life where admittedly traction is very like pro metrics like everything everyone should have a number everyone should be tracked how you hire and fire people is based on whether they hit the numbers I think that has its place but there's like a really nice kind of vibe which is a bit calmer and I kind of prefer the vibe.
If "It doesn't have to be crazy" at work we're trying to do some kind of middle ground these days between a hierarchical systematic approach which is helpful for things like accountability and clarity for team members but also trying to bear in mind that you know just a job at the end of the day like it's not anyone's life except mine and it shouldn't be anyone's life maybe except mine and that's yeah we should just be a bit more chill about the whole thing.
3. The Great CEO Within
The Great CEO Within The Tactical Guide to Company Building by Matt Mochary
next, we have a great title "The Great CEO Within". the tactical guide to company building broadly seems to be aimed at tech CEOs.
but there was a bunch of stuff in this that was genuinely really helpful in terms of what a CEO should do with their time and how they should manage their calendar and how they should think about firing and building a team and building a culture and a bunch of stuff that I just never knew before.
I read this talks about decision-making and transparency and like how to be a good leader and I need to re-read Slash and listen to this multiple times because there's just so much really good stuff in it.
and it's such a small book and very very readable so yeah this will be next on my re-listening list.
4. The New One Minute Manager
The New One Minute Manager by Ken Blanchard
next, we have this book "The New One Minute Manager" which is again a really really tiny book all about how to be a manager.
basically boils it down to three things one-minute goals one-minute praisings, and one-minute redirects I knew nothing about how to be a manager before I read this and a couple of other books and I'm like okay this manager thing isn't so bad I'm still learning I still suck at it like, to be honest, and I'm trying to do less of it as the business grows so I can focus on the content so that other team members like Angus can focus on like the team management each side of things
but yeah new one-minute manager is probably completely game-changing in terms of how short it was to read and how much value it had in helping me develop as a manager.
5. The Four Obsessions of an Extraordinary Executive
The Four Obsessions of an Extraordinary Executive: A Leadership Fable by Patrick Lencioni
Finally, we have another leadership book "The Four Obsessions of an Extraordinary Executive" a leadership fable by Patrick Lencioni.
and if you told me a few years ago I'd be reading a book called The Four Obsessions of an Extraordinary Executive I'd been thinking what the hell are you on like why the hell would I ever read a book called that just sounds like dry and boring as hell but genuinely is really good again it's very short like these business books they tend to be quite short and they tend to be they tend to speak in stories.
and it basically talks about how to be a really good team leader there are basically only four things you have to do and most of them are around just like giving people clarity of what's expected of them and over-communicating that over and over.
and one of the main challenges and learnings I've had growing this business over the last year is the fact that really so many problems stem from a lack of clarity and a lack of communication and I thought I thought I knew this I was like oh yeah communication is important everyone says that and then you hire people and you have a team and you're like damn no one told me how important this communication stuff was and how like it's really important just over-communicate all of the things.
and the more you over-communicate all the things like where the business is going and what the values are and all that jazz the more things start to align and so you know for the last six months I feel like I've been sort of all over the place with running this business but now that I've read all the stuff now that we've started to apply it now that we have the right team around us.
I feel like my personal life is much more chill and much happier because everything in the business is kind of streamlined and moving in the same direction so yeah four obsessions extraordinary executive definitely recommend if you are a leader or a manager of any kind.
now as I was going through my list of books for this year I realized I actually did not read a lot of fiction this year. normally I read a ton of fiction.
Best Fiction Books to Read in 2023
1. Mistborn: The Final Empire
Mistborn: The Final Empire by Brandon Sanderson
the Mistborn series by Brandon Sanderson is one of my favorite series of all time 100 recommended everyone on the friction front starts with the book The Final Empire it looks really thick.
2. The Way of Kings: The Stormlight Archive
The Way of Kings: The Stormlight Archive by Brandon Sanderson
I also finished listening to The Rhythm of War which is the fourth book of the Storm Light Archive series that starts with "The Way of Kings" by Brandon Sanderson is my favorite author of all time.
so if you haven't checked him out and if you're interested in maybe dabbling in fiction check out Mistborn. it's like you know avatar the Last Airbender it's like that but on steroids.
I might even do another third re-listening to it because it's just so good and then I'm gonna do a reread of "The Storm Light Archive" as well I know there are all these other books out there but these ones are just so sick that I just absolutely love them.
Conclusion: Turn Your Life into a Masterpiece with These Books
I could mention so many self-help life-changing books it's so hard to do these articles. there are so many books that I'd love to share with you guys but these are some of the top 22 that have impacted my life the most and I'm just always so grateful for these books and the ideas in them
and that books are so inexpensive I mean you can get a book for 10/20 bucks and the wisdom and the benefit it can provide for your life far outweighs that some of these books have not only helped me make thousands if not millions of dollars financially but more than that thing
that is not as measurable as your confidence and your happiness and your relationships and your peace of mind and all those other aspects of life I think these books will give you an amazing foundation to support you in achieving whatever it is that you want to achieve in your life.
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