Ever been to the gym in the first week of January? Standing room only. How about the first week in February? Back to the regulars. Instead of making unrealistic New Year’s resolutions that are doomed to fail, a better strategy is to make smaller, more incremental changes that will stick. The goal is to be a better version of yourself today than yesterday, and be better tomorrow than yourself today.
One of my personal strategies to improve over time is to read – our brains have a near-limitless capacity to learn new things – and the knowledge you can gain by reading is limited only by the time it takes. For the past several weeks, I’ve been asking for recommendations from my network for great books (both new, and old) that have made an impact on their life. I’ve compiled a list of books that have either been on my list in the past or that will be on my nightstand in the next year:
Principles: Life & Work- Ray Dalio
Tools of Titans - Tim Ferriss
Tribe of Mentors - Tim Ferriss
One Mission: How Leaders Build a Team of Teams - Chris Fussell
The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up - Marie Kondo
Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear - Elizabeth Gilbert
The Leader Who Had No Title - Robin Sharma
Supply Chain Management for Dummies - Daniel Stanton
Soup: A Recipe to Create a Culture of Greatness - Jon Gordon
The Seed: Finding Purpose and Happiness in Life and Work - Jon Gordon
Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience - Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi
Twelve Pillars - Jim Rohn
The Compound Effect - Darren Hardy
Peaks and Valleys: Making Good And Bad Times Work For You--At Work And In Life - Spencer Johnson
The Go-Giver - Bob Burg
The Dream Manager - Matthew Kelly
Multipliers: How the Best Leaders Make Everyone Smarter - Liz Wiseman
Mindset: The New Psychology of Success - Carol S. Dweck
David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits, and the Art of Battling Giants - Malcom Gladwell
How to Win Friends & Influence People - Dale Carnegie
Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance - Angela Duckworth
The Five Dysfunctions of a Team – Patrick Lencioni
Extreme Ownership – How US Navy Seals Lead and Win – Jocko Willink & Leif Babin
Start with Why – Simon Sinek
On this list are many of my favorite authors, like Gladwell and Lencioni, and new to me, like Jon Gordon. Some are academics, or are writing from their experience. I hope you find some that can help you be a better version of yourself.
Do you have any titles you’d like to share? What are your goals? Feel free to leave comments below or message us offline.
Like what you’ve read? Please leave comments, share & subscribe. Have a great New Year and see you in 2018!