Guidance for all walks of life
Every day is a chance to become better.
It is upon us to seize that chance.
Reading the following books will change how you conduct yourself and how you look at the world. They will help you become better in various walks of life.
Whether you are using your phone, negotiating a pay raise, or going out for a walk, lessons from the following books will come to guide you.
Let’s go through each book so you can take your pick!
Freedom doesn’t mean doing whatever you want.
I was talking to my mom today.
And I said to her, I have come to realize the importance of responsibility. Responsibility makes us better. It pushes us to do more.
Whether it is work, spouse, or kids, any responsibility makes us disciplined. For example, you have to show up to work on time, or you have to feed your children timely.
“Discipline means taking the hard road — the uphill road. To do what is right. For you and for others.”
Discipline is freedom. This is the message of the book. The author calls motivation ‘fickle’. He says it comes and goes.
Whether it is eating healthy, working out, making a career, or sustaining a long-term relationship… if you don’t have discipline, you will fall prey to short-term gratification.
“If you do not believe you are disciplined, it is because you have not decided to become disciplined. Yet.”
The book has great tips about diet and workout regimens.
In short, it has all you need to build self-control and get on the path to freedom.
The battle between ego and humility.
Ryan Holiday defines ego as ‘an unhealthy belief in your own importance. Arrogance. Self-centered ambition.’
The opposite of this is humility. However, it doesn’t mean not having confidence in yourself.
“What replaces ego is humility, yes — but rock-hard humility and confidence.”
Holiday calls ego, artificial and stolen.
Drawing on the principles of stoicism, the author narrates stories of those who caused themselves lasting damage by not keeping their egos in check.
He also brings us the tales of those who practiced humility and restraint.
“Most successful people are people you’ve never heard of. They want it that way. It keeps them sober. It helps them do their jobs.”
Holiday says that anyone can talk. Even a child can gossip. But the ability to keep silent is rare.
Honestly, I can relate.
As the passing years imparted me with wisdom, I have been able to stay silent and listen to others. Something, which I was quite unable to do when young and immature.
This book will make you humble yet confident, knowledgeable yet silent, and aware yet sober.
The art of earning money and keeping it.
This is the most important financial book that everyone should read.
It doesn’t talk about money as something separate from us. Instead, it discusses our psychology in regards to it.
For example, we spend on material things because we want to appear respectable. We want others to respect us. The author tells us that we can earn respect through the virtues of our character.
“‘Enough’ is realizing that the opposite — an insatiable appetite for more — will push you to the point of regret.”
Housel also warns us of greed — the ‘moving goalpost’, as he calls it. Money helps us free our time for loved ones. It gives us the freedom to choose.
But if we don’t benefit from it, we will always be on the hamster wheel.
“Getting money is one thing. Keeping it is another.”
The author also stresses the importance of keeping money. That requires ‘frugality’ and ‘paranoia’ he says.
This book will help you make wise financial decisions. Pick it up before it is too late.
We need time alone… with ourselves.
Cal Newport is one of those people who helped me kick my social media habit to the curb, for good.
I had already reduced my social media usage. But then, I got rid of all social media apps.
Life is peaceful.
“Digital Minimalism A philosophy of technology use in which you focus your online time on a small number of carefully selected and optimized activities that strongly support things you value, and then happily miss out on everything else.”
The best thing about Cal Newport is that he doesn’t tell us to burn our phones up. He tells us to declutter our online lives.
Our emotional balance is in disarray. Why?
The author tells us that this is because we have literally no time alone with our thoughts. We don’t reflect. And it is not good for us.
“Solitude Deprivation A state in which you spend close to zero time alone with your own thoughts and free from input from other minds.”
Newport also focuses on the importance of face-to-face human interactions and demanding leisure activities.
This book will help you reevaluate your life for the better.
Live long and healthy. Here is how!
The author is a proponent of ‘proactive medicine’. He calls it Medicine 3.0.
We all want to live long and healthy lives. This book is jam-packed with all the information that will help us do so.
“The single most powerful item in our preventive tool kit is exercise…”
The author recommends getting ahead of heart disease and cancer by getting aggressive testing done.
The book covers diet, exercise, sleep, psychological health, and emotional health. All of the details are geared towards increasing ‘lifespan’ and ‘healthspan’.
“…striving for physical health and longevity (healthspan) is meaningless if we ignore emotional health.”
This book is a must-read for those who want to live long.
It might seem tough to think of it, but it is doable. And what’s better than being able to run around in your nineties?
Learn to negotiate from an FBI negotiator.
Most of us won’t ever be in Chris Voss’s shoes. That means negotiating where human lives are at stake.
But we negotiate daily. At work, home, and other settings.
Based on his experience as an FBI hostage negotiator, Voss is here to show us how to do that effectively.
There are many practical lessons in the book. One of them is to listen actively to your opponent.
Active listening means not listening to judge but listening to understand and uncover as much information as you can.
“Negotiation is not an act of battle; it’s a process of discovery. The goal is to uncover as much information as possible.”
The author shares many tips for a kick-ass negotiation.
One of them is ‘mirroring’. This is such an easy and practical tip. I have already started to apply it in my everyday conversations and negotiations, for example with my spouse. The results are instant.
“Conflict brings out truth, creativity, and resolution.”
Mirroring means repeating the last three words or the three most important words that your opponent has said to you.
This book will help you get better at dealing with negotiations any time, anywhere.
A journey to a fulfilling life.
We all make agreements that we hold near.
What if the agreements we hold near are self-limiting? Then it is time to find new ones.
The author brings us ancient Toltec wisdom to guide our lives. Its aim is to find happiness and meaning.
“There is a huge amount of freedom that comes to you when you take nothing personally.”
One of the most important lessons in the book is to communicate clearly. Don’t be afraid to ask questions. Clarify what the other person meant.
Similarly, the author reminds us not to take anything personally. When you don’t take stuff personally, you attain freedom, he says.
“Not enjoying what is happening right now is living in the past and being only half alive.”
Being in the moment and enjoying the present is another important lesson.
This book will help you initiate meaningful transformation in your life.
This time management book is actually doable.
If a human lives up to 80, he would have just over 4000 weeks in his life.
Our time is short.
But here is the issue. We want to do everything. We want to be efficient every minute of our lives.
Here is the harsh reality. We just can’t.
“Time is the most valuable currency in life, spend it wisely.”
The author tells us to embrace finitude. To do a finite number of things.
He also tells us to embrace our limits. Embracing limits means accepting that you cannot cater to limitless demand.
“In the end, it’s not the years in your life that count, it’s the life in your years.”
We cannot do more things in a limited time. We need to pick out things for our already short time.
In short, the lesson of the book is…
Do what really matters!
Get to know your brain!
Kahneman takes us inside our brains. He shows us how the brain makes decisions.
The author acquaints us with the two systems in our brain. One is fast and emotional.
Another is logical and time-consuming.
“We are prone to overestimate how much we understand about the world and to underestimate the role of chance in events. Overconfidence is fed by the illusory certainty of hindsight.”
Kahneman introduces us to the various biases and heuristics that affect our decisions. We are blind to our own ignorance, he says.
Similarly, the author tells us about ‘experiencing self’ and ‘remembering self’.
Whenever we have an experience, our experiencing self is the one who actually goes through it.
But…
What we are able to recall depends on our remembering self.
Kahneman’s book will show you the good and the bad of a human’s decision-making.
Small steps, big win.
Change seems tough.
But in order to succeed you only have to make small changes. What you do daily will influence the end result.
“A slight change in your daily habits can guide your life to a different destination.”
Clear shows us the power of habits by proving that a 1% improvement every day will lead us to become 37 times better at the end of the year.
“Mastery requires patience.”
The book contrasts good habits with bad ones. Good habits make time our ally. Bad habits make time our enemy.
“The outside world only sees the most dramatic event, rather than all the work that preceded it.”
The author gives us 4 laws of change. According to them, we can introduce good habits and kick out the bad ones using them.
This book will be your best friend in upgrading your life.
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If you enjoyed these book recommendations, check out the rest of my book lists on my blog- https://www.thenovelnest.com/blog
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