Books

This is a fun short book written in the form of a parable. It talks through a frame of mind needed to be a successful salesman, the lessons are applicable to any activity in life you would like to be successful at. There is even an exercise where you read one chapter over and over again each day to take the lessons to heart and ingrain them in your mindset. It’s a worth while read.

Bill’s Im-Perfect Time Management Adventure

I am an avid reader of productivity and self improvement books and this book is a breath of fresh air. Every person has their own time management system where they keep track of the things they need to do. Some systems work well, others could benefit from improvement. Francis Wade has taken the time to write an interesting parable about improving your system. Unlike other approaches like GTD, Francis breaks time demand management it it’s core building blocks. How you implement the building blocks is up to you. There is no prescribed methods you must use, no system you must follow. You simply figure out where you need to improve what represents good in that area and then you start working on an approach to get better. I like the flexibility here and the ability to figure out what works well for you. I liked the book so much that I decided to sign up for the online class to jumpstart the improvements in my own system.

The Power of Concentration

Written over a century ago this short an quick read appears to be a precursor to many of todays self help books. I noticed striking similarities to The Secret. The idea that through unwavering belief, concentration, and strength of will, you will be able to accomplish anything. Placing a single thought at the core of what your being will attune you to this goal and in time open doors and present you with numerous opportunities related to this goal. Whether you believe that the universe is magically presenting things to you or not is irrelevant. What is of value is developing the ability to focus all of your thoughts and capabilities into accomplishing something. People live in a state of perpetual distraction. TV is constantly on, cell phones are dinging, computers are chiming, and people are competing for your attention. This massive amount of external stimuli is quickly reflected by an internal onslaught of thoughts that draw your focus away from the productive tasks you are trying to accomplish. Dumont over emphasizes this point to the point of slight boredom but he does provide you with a number of simple exercises that if practiced will help you gain control of you mind and quiet those distracting thoughts. I would recommend this book if only for the simple exercises.

Talent Is Overrated: What Really Separates World-Class Performers from EverybodyElse

High performance is not about innate talent. This applies to just about every field. If you want to become better, or even truly great you need to undertake a regime of deterministic practice. The book discusses in depth why talent is not as important as practice and then goes into detail about how you can practice the skills you need to achieve what you want. This applies even to business. Stop looking for tricks and tips, get ready to put in the work to be great!!!

Procrastination Self Help: Procrastinator Only You Can Stop The Dream Killer. Getting Things Done And Stop To Procrastinate.

Over 80% of people procrastinate. For some people it can be a very bad issue. This book is a short read on how to identify the triggers that you are procrastinating and some tips to overcome the procrastination. At $2.99 it can’t hurt to read.

10 Days to Faster Reading

Do you wish you could read more, perhaps faster. 10 days to faster reading is a great book that provides easy to use techniques for increading your reading rate. You have the potential to read 3 to 5 times as much in the same time span with better comprehension. I’ve used the techniques in this book to fly through a lot of the books listed on this site.

How To Break Habits : A Simple Guide To Breaking Habits

Book is currently removed from Amazon and other sites I’ve searched

Habits drive what we do on a daily basis. If you can set good habits you ability to accomplish things will sky rocket. I thought this book was ok, not great. It is a very quick read and has some good points but takes a while to get to the meat of the book. There is a six step process in the book which is solid, for only $5 it is worth the read

Influencer: The Power to Change Anything

Need to affect change in people, then you need to understand influence. There are many ways to get people to change. Most methods are insufficient on their own and poorly executed to boot. This book discusses the best change methodologies used around the world and provides an easy to understand framework you can implement yourself. A must read for any organizational reader

The Go-Getter: A Story That Tells You How To Be One

Missing arm, gimpy leg, it doesn’t matter. Everyone faces challenges,some are difficult others only seem that way. The true successes figure out a way to overcome those challenges.

A Message to Garcia

Extremely quick read about the benefits of initiative. The people who simply accomplish their tasks without tons of questions and loads of excuses are worth their weight in gold.

The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business

Research into the field of habit creation has been taking off in past years. There is an understanding beginning to develop that you can create positive habits to drive your life. This book teaches how to take existing habits and replace them with new habits. It also discuses how to create new habits. I am using the knowledge in this book to create better ways of living my life. This book unlocks a key to making you into a better person

Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity

This is the book that has spawned hundreds of productivity systems and software programs. Get things Done, also known as GTD, is a bit of a long read but the system is solid. If you constantly feel like you don’t have enough time in your life this is a good read to start retaking control.

18 Minutes: Find Your Focus, Master Distraction, and Get the Right Things Done

I really enjoyed Peter Bergman’s 18 minutes. This is an individual I really identify with. He has an open and honest way of writing and has put together a simple system for staying on track. Definitely worth the read!

Why Business People Speak Like Idiots: A Bullfighter’s Guide

In wanting to be open and honest about the books I’ve read, I actually did not enjoy this book. I did not read anything in this book that was ground breaking and disagreed with some of the points. If you are a bull shit artist and are interested in becoming more straight forward and engaging in how you speak, take a look at this book, otherwise, I recommend passing.

The One Minute Manager

Classic book on management, both of yourself and people that work for you. This book is written as a parable and is an extremely quick read. I highly recommend this for anyone looking for some insight on how to better manage people without micromanaging them.

Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap… and Others Don’t

What takes companies from good to great. Jim Collins, the author of this book performed an in depth multiyear research study to answer this question. What I really like is that every conclusion is data driven, not opinion based. I commend the effort taken to create this book and recommend it as an excellent guide for taking any company from good to great.

Getting to Yes: Negotiating Agreement Without Giving In

While reading this book I did learn a few cool things. What I like most is that it puts into words many of the negotiating techniques we are already aware of. By articulating the techniques it gives us the opportunity to better understand what we are doing in a negotiation.

Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game

I have not seen the movie but enjoyed the book. It gets a bit long winded at times but it speaks to a long held belief I’ve had about professional sports, potential and perception often trumps reality. Many great professional athletes were overlooked because they did not have the appropriate pedigree, even through they had superior results in their careers. Moneyball talks about how the game is broken into derivatives and can be managed scientifically and statistically to produce superior results. As I said in my previous review, the concept of breaking things into their small components and improving those components appears to be a significant key to success.

Born Standing Up: A Comic’s Life

Steve Martin is funny and very strange all at the same time. I don’t get a lot of his comedy but I do find his story very intriguing. Steve Martin spent his career refining his expertise as a performer, starting as a magician and moving to comedy. What speaks to me about this book is the way Steve went about his comedy. He would constantly experiment with new material tweaking the timing, the inflection, and the wording. The same joke would have a minor detail changed every night with Steve keeping track of how the joke was received. Over time he would perfect the joke and move on to improving the next part of his act. The more I read about successful people the more I see this theme reappearing in their lives. This is a great story and well worth the read.

Steve Jobs

I picked this book up at the recommendation of a colleague and boy was it inspiring and interesting. As you probably know, Steve Jobs was not someone who would treat people well and I would not hold this book up as a pillar for people management. However Steve Jobs was a master of focus, product development, and presentation. He had a very well defined set of values when it came to creating and presenting a product to end users. You may not agree with his philosophical values but I recommend that you pay careful attention to the lengths he went to meet those values. He was uncompromising with himself and his teams when it came to creating a product that he deemed was the quality people wanted and deserved. Companies would do very well to focus on creating something that is so good people can’t ignore it, then watch what happens with their revenue.

focus

A short 120 page book that is a must read for anyone looking to improve their focus. The author Leo Babuta writes the very successful blog Zen Habits where he talks about personal change, building positive habits, and leaving a simpler meaningful life. This book discusses many of the methods Leo has used as well as how he reduces the noise around him to help maintain focus. Highly recommended, easy book to read, it will get you started on the right track and is a nice compliment to everything you will learn on this site.

Switch: How to Change Things When Change Is Hard

A story driven book on change, Switch provides a framework for understanding how people and organizations accept and embrace change. There are many different ways you can influence change in your organization, whether you are the person in charge or not. If you are looking to make things better at the office, at your client, at home, or one of your organizations this book is an excellent source of ideas and methods

The Practicing Mind: Bringing Discipline and Focus Into Your Life

Do you have a difficult time picking up new skills? Trouble sticking with things? Are you frustrated that you do not learn something as quickly as you like? Thomas Sterner’s book The Practicing Mind is a quick read that provides a perspective on how to approach new challenges. Focusing on the hear and now, Sterner recommends taking the focus away from the larger end goal and placing it squarely on the smaller skills you must master to meet your larger goal.

Anything You Want

Written by Derek Sivers, the founder of CD Baby and a popular blogger, Anything You Want is a compilation of the knowledge Derek gained while starting up and running CD Baby. What I like most about this book is that it throws traditional business models in the trash and takes a truly customer centric view on starting and running a business. If you take care of people and provide a needed service, people will take care of you. A short read that is very inspirational

Atlas Shrugged

This has to be one of the best books I have read in recent times. At it’s core this book is all about the political philosophy called objectivism. The core tenants of the philosophy place the upmost value in the power of the individuals mind, their ability to produce, and ones moral happiness. I consistently found myself in a conflicted state, agreeing whole heartedly with ideas that one should be paid in value for the work they do, yet disagreeing with the idea that social out reach programs are a leach on society. Written over 50 years ago, I find the commentary on government and economy to be eerily similar to what we are experiencing today. I highly recommend this book based on the sound arguments and it’s ability to help you better understand your own beliefs. I warn you that the book can be inflammatory as it degrades organized religion and social outreach programs. Even though there are inflammatory ideas, I challenge you to think about what core values you hold that make you disagree with what you read in this book. Are you consistently holding true to these core values?

Rework

Rework comes from the folks who run 37 Signals. This is an interesting group who are appearing all over the place. Their lead developer created Ruby on Rails, and they have created a couple of really good software applications such as Basecamp and Campfire. What I really like about this book is that it bucks traditional wisdom about starting up a company. There are no business plans, no angel investors, no exit strategy. The idea is to focus on creating a good product and being extremely close to your customer base. Understand your customer and create an amazing product for them. This book will show you philosophies on how to do this. It is such an inspiring book, I started designing my own product to put up on the web just a vew days after finishing this book. Highly recommended reading.

The Personal MBA: Master the Art of Business

Josh Kaufman’s Personal MBA is a must read for anyone looking entering into or currently working in the business rule. It is a great primer of knowledge for just about every topic you could want to know in business. Written in an easy to read and follow format, you will come back to this book constantly for future reference.

Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion

Robert Cialdini has written an excellent book that teaches you how to recognize when a psychological trigger is being applied to you and how to prevent the trigger from influencing your decisions. It is written using real world stories and examples that we have all experienced. I highly recommend this book for everyone.

The 4-Hour Workweek: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich

A transformational guide for the typical 9-5 employee. Timothy Ferris provides a roadmap for seperating yourself from the daily grind and generating the income needed to live the life you want.

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