The kids are back in school to spend another year learning. So why don’t you take the time to learn something new too?
The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho
This was probably the single, most important and influential book of my life. It was given to me as a graduation gift and it couldn’t have been a better time to read it. This can also a be a very quick read if you are concerned about length.
Need a little more encouragement? Here’s the description from the publisher:
Paulo Coelho’s masterpiece tells the mystical story of Santiago, an Andalusian shepherd boy who yearns to travel in search of a worldly treasure. His quest will lead him to riches far different—and far more satisfying—than he ever imagined. Santiago’s journey teaches us about the essential wisdom of listening to our hearts, of recognizing opportunity and learning to read the omens strewn along life’s path, and, most importantly, to follow our dreams.
Thinking Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman
Are you a quick responder? Do you go through life making decisions based on what your gut tells you? Check out this book to learn how to become a better thinker.
Need a little more encouragement? Here’s the description from the publisher:
In the highly anticipated Thinking, Fast and Slow, Kahneman takes us on a groundbreaking tour of the mind and explains the two systems that drive the way we think. System 1 is fast, intuitive, and emotional; System 2 is slower, more deliberative, and more logical. Kahneman exposes the extraordinary capabilities—and also the faults and biases—of fast thinking, and reveals the pervasive influence of intuitive impressions on our thoughts and behavior. The impact of loss aversion and overconfidence on corporate strategies, the difficulties of predicting what will make us happy in the future, the challenges of properly framing risks at work and at home, the profound effect of cognitive biases on everything from playing the stock market to planning the next vacation—each of these can be understood only by knowing how the two systems work together to shape our judgments and decisions.
Engaging the reader in a lively conversation about how we think, Kahneman reveals where we can and cannot trust our intuitions and how we can tap into the benefits of slow thinking. He offers practical and enlightening insights into how choices are made in both our business and our personal lives—and how we can use different techniques to guard against the mental glitches that often get us into trouble. Thinking, Fast and Slow will transform the way you think about thinking.
Outliers: The Story of Success by Malcolm Gladwell
What makes a person successful? Why are people like Ryan Serhant and Gary Vaynerchuck rocking all that life has to offer while some people are stuck in the eternal loop of trying to pay off student loans? Are we too busy paying attention to what other people think of us and what other people are doing to really focus in on our paths to success?
Need a little more encouragement? Here’s the description from the publisher:
In this stunning book, Malcolm Gladwell takes us on an intellectual journey through the world of “outliers”–the best and the brightest, the most famous and the most successful. He asks the question: what makes high-achievers different?
His answer is that we pay too much attention to what successful people are like, and too little attention to where they are from: that is, their culture, their family, their generation, and the idiosyncratic experiences of their upbringing. Along the way he explains the secrets of software billionaires, what it takes to be a great soccer player, why Asians are good at math, and what made the Beatles the greatest rock band.
The Power of Habit: Why We do What We Do in Life and Business by Charles Duhigg
Do you ever find yourself wondering why you have a certain habit? Perhaps you’re angry at yourself because you’re trying to form a healthier habit. This book will help you understand the science behind habits and how to you can turn them into success.
Need a little more encouragement? Here’s the description from the publisher:
In The Power of Habit, award-winning New York Times business reporter Charles Duhigg takes us to the thrilling edge of scientific discoveries that explain why habits exist and how they can be changed. With penetrating intelligence and an ability to distill vast amounts of information into engrossing narratives, Duhigg brings to life a whole new understanding of human nature and its potential for transformation.
Along the way we learn why some people and companies struggle to change, despite years of trying, while others seem to remake themselves overnight. We visit laboratories where neuroscientists explore how habits work and where, exactly, they reside in our brains. We discover how the right habits were crucial to the success of Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps, Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz, and civil-rights hero Martin Luther King, Jr. We go inside Procter & Gamble, Target superstores, Rick Warren’s Saddleback Church, NFL locker rooms, and the nation’s largest hospitals and see how implementing so-called keystone habits can earn billions and mean the difference between failure and success, life and death.
At its core, The Power of Habit contains an exhilarating argument: The key to exercising regularly, losing weight, raising exceptional children, becoming more productive, building revolutionary companies and social movements, and achieving success is understanding how habits work.
Habits aren’t destiny. As Charles Duhigg shows, by harnessing this new science, we can transform our businesses, our communities, and our lives.
The First 20 Minutes: Surprising Science Reveals How We Can: Exercise Better, Train Smarter, Live Longer by Gretchen Reynolds
Have you ever heard someone say, ‘if you can just make it through the next twenty minutes, you’ll be fine’? Do you find yourself struggling to find motivation to a task started? This book will help you break past your mental barriers and achieve your goals.
Need a little more encouragement? Here’s the description from the publisher:
At one point or another, nearly every person who works out wonders: Am I doing this right? Which class is best? Do I work out enough? Answering those questions and more, The First 20 Minutes helps both weekend warriors dedicated to their performance and readers who simply want to get and stay fit gain the most from any workout.
With the latest findings about the mental and physical benefits of exercise, personal stories from scientists and laypeople alike, as well as researched-based prescriptions for readers, Gretchen Reynolds shows what kind of exercise—and how much—is necessary to stay healthy, get fit, and attain a smaller jeans size. Inspired by Reynolds’s wildly popular “Phys Ed” column for The New York Times, this book explains how exercise affects the body in distinct ways and provides the tools readers need to achieve their fitness goals, whether that’s a faster 5K or staying trim.
How to Break Up with Your Phone: The 30-day Plan to Take Back Your Life by Catherine Price
Is your phone glued to your hand? Do you tell yourself you spend too much time on your phone? You might be addicted to your phone and this book will help you learn to take steps to combat the addiction.
Need a little more encouragement? Here’s the description from the publisher:
Is your phone the first thing you reach for in the morning and the last thing you touch before bed? Do you frequently pick it up “just to check,” only to look up forty-five minutes later wondering where the time has gone? Do you say you want to spend less time on your phone–but have no idea how to do so without giving it up completely? If so, this book is your solution.
Award-winning journalist Catherine Price presents a practical, hands-on plan to break up–and then make up–with your phone. The goal? A long-term relationship that actually feels good.
You’ll discover how phones and apps are designed to be addictive, and learn how the time we spend on them damages our abilities to focus, think deeply, and form new memories. You’ll then make customized changes to your settings, apps, environment, and mindset that will ultimately enable you to take back control of your life.
Activating Happiness: A Jump-Start Guide to Overcoming Low Motivation, Depression or Just Feeling Stuck by Rachel Hershenberg
When you’re feeling blue, it can be really difficult to change your mindset. With the help of the tools in this book, you can slowly start changing your mindset to activate your happiness.
Need a little more encouragement? Here’s the description from the publisher:
In Activating Happiness, you’ll find solid strategies based in behavioral activation and acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) to help you break the cycle of avoidance, guilt, shame, and hopelessness that can take hold when you’re feeling your lowest. Using this guide, you’ll find little, doable ways to “show up” to your life, get the ball rolling, and start really feeling better, instead of just reassuring others. You’ll learn to set healthy goals for your body like eating and sleeping well, as well as healthy goals for your mind. Most importantly, you’ll discover how to view your life through the lens of your own deepest values, which will spark a commitment to real, lasting change.
The best thing about change is that you can start anywhere. By building a life—moment by moment—of rewarding behaviors that correspond to your values, you have the recipe for getting and staying well at your fingertips. This book will guide your way.
Leadershift: The 11 Essential Changes Every Leader Must Embrace by John C. Maxwell
Change can be scary. Change can be invigorating. Change can cause dread. Change can cause excitement. As a leader, it is important to be able to handle change with confidence and poise as you might have teammates who aren’t as enthusiatic about something changing. This book will help you keep up in our fast-paced world.
Need a little more encouragement? Here’s the description from the publisher:
In Leadershift, John C. Maxwell helps leaders gain the ability and willingness to make leadership changes that will positively enhance their organizational and personal growth. He does this by sharing the eleven shifts he made over the course of his long and successful leadership career. Each shift changed his trajectory and set him up for new and exciting achievements, ultimately strengthening and sustaining his leadership abilities and making him the admired leadership expert he is today.
Among those leadershifts are the Adaptive Shift from Plan A to Option A, the Production Shift from Ladder Climbing to Ladder Building, and the Influence Shift from Positional Authority to Moral Authority. Maxwell gives specific guidance to readers about how to make these shifts in their own lives. Each one requires them to change the way they think, act, and ultimately lead so they can be successful in a world that never remains the same.
Make Your Bed: Little Things That Can Change Your Life… and Maybe the World by William H. McRaven
Following up Leadershift, is the little book on how to spark change. Showing that a simple task, such as making your bed, can lead to larger-scaled ideas and improvements.
Need a little more encouragement? Here’s the description from the publisher:
If you want to change the world, start off by making your bed.
On May 17, 2014, Admiral William H. McRaven addressed the graduating class of the University of Texas at Austin on their Commencement day. Taking inspiration from the university’s slogan, “What starts here changes the world,” he shared the ten principles he learned during Navy Seal training that helped him overcome challenges not only in his training and long Naval career, but also throughout his life; and he explained how anyone can use these basic lessons to change themselves-and the world-for the better.
Admiral McRaven’s original speech went viral with over 10 million views. Building on the core tenets laid out in his speech, McRaven now recounts tales from his own life and from those of people he encountered during his military service who dealt with hardship and made tough decisions with determination, compassion, honor, and courage. Told with great humility and optimism, this timeless book provides simple wisdom, practical advice, and words of encouragement that will inspire readers to achieve more, even in life’s darkest moments.
The Road Back to You: An Enneagram Journey to Self-Discovery by Ian Morgan Cron and Suzanne Stabile
This Christian self-help read helps you get yourself back on track and start to identify the causes of what may be holding you back.
Need a little more encouragement? Here’s the description from the publisher:
What you don’t know about yourself can hurt you and your relationships―and even keep you in the shallows with God. Do you want help figuring out who you are and why you’re stuck in the same ruts? The Enneagram is an ancient personality typing system with an uncanny accuracy in describing how human beings are wired, both positively and negatively.
In The Road Back to You Ian Morgan Cron and Suzanne Stabile forge a unique approach―a practical, comprehensive way of accessing Enneagram wisdom and exploring its connections with Christian spirituality for a deeper knowledge of ourselves, compassion for others, and love for God. Witty and filled with stories, this book allows you to peek inside each of the nine Enneagram types, keeping you turning the pages long after you have read the chapter about your own number. Not only will you learn more about yourself, but you will also start to see the world through other people’s eyes, understanding how and why people think, feel, and act the way they do. Beginning with changes you can start making today, the wisdom of the Enneagram can help take you further along into who you really are―leading you into places of spiritual discovery you would never have found on your own, and paving the way to the wiser, more compassionate person you want to become.