One of the fundamental steps to my system for getting what you want is that you must be committed to learning new skills. You can learn skills in a lot of different ways, but you will most commonly develop them by reading.
With this in mind, I’d like to issue a little challenge to those of you working to get what you want in you life:
I’ve put together a very short autumn reading list of books that teach skills anyone can benefit from. Read them all by the end of this autumn, and see what happens.
You can spend your fall watching football, eating pumpkin spice everything, and getting more or less nowhere, or you can challenge yourself to read these books and develop real skills.
If you do complete this reading list, I guarantee you’ll see the benefits, quickly, just in time for bonuses.
1. Eat That Frog by Brian Tracy
Procrastination is deceptively tricky. On the surface it looks simple: people who procrastinate put off tasks and are less productive. In reality, it can play out quite differently.
For example, you can be a manically productive person who gets work done at an incredible clip, but you have one responsibility at your job that you hate.
Because you hate that one responsibility, you put it at the bottom of your to-do list. Then, when you finally get to that responsibility, you rush through it sloppily and finish your day.
You had a very productive day. You got a lot of things done. You also again failed to get beyond that procrastination.
Eat That Frog by Brian Tracy combines 21 different strategies for overcoming procrastination into a very holistic, actionable philosophy. If you want to raise your productivity, discipline, and the overall quality of your work, it’s a must read. It’s very, very short too. At less than 150 pages, it’s a quick read.
2. Winning by Jack Welch
Management is a skill, and it’s one nobody is born with—except for Jack Welch.
Legendary General Electric CEO Jack Welch wrote Winning as a comprehensive guide to management and leadership for anyone in any role.
Jack is the man behind the famous “20/70/10” concept in management, which breaks down like this:
- 20% of your team are rock stars, and need to be rewarded as such.
- 70% of your team are average, and need to be given the tools and incentives to rise.
- 10% of your team underperform, and need to be let go in a respectful way.
That’s just one of a thousand insights you can find in Winning, and all of them are written in Jack’s actionable, no B.S. voice.
Developing your skills as a leader and gaining a better understanding of how companies work is useful for anyone, regardless of their position. There’s hardly a better book for the job than Winning.
3. 8 Weeks To SEALFIT by Mark Divine
The great differentiator between people who get what they want and the people who eek by is mental toughness.
No one wants to say this, but success is hard, and, honestly, it tends to get harder. You don’t struggle to become CEO and then everything just coasts for you. The grind doesn’t stop, it starts, and you better have the mental fortitude to embrace it.
That’s what Mark Divine’s book is all about. On the surface, the former Navy SEAL’s book is just a workout manual, but its power is much deeper than that.
Following his workout will get you in RIDICULOUS shape, to be sure, but beneath that are his strategies for increasing your mental strength. You’ll get to the point where you know you are capable of enduring 20 times the wear-and-tear you think you are.
That kind of empowerment is crucial to getting what you want in life, and getting some abs to go with it isn’t a bad deal.
4. Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill
OK, if you read my stuff, you knew this book would be on my list. It’s a classic for a reason. No single book (other than Do What You Want, of course) contains more insights into how the world’s most successful people think.
As I’ve written about before, Napoleon Hill spent more than 25 years writing this book in consultation with more than 500 of the world’s most successful people, like Andrew Carnegie, Henry Ford, and Thomas Edison.
Like my book, Do What You Want, this book is not designed to be just read. Instead, it thoroughly breaks down the ways of thinking that lead to success, and gives you hours of exercises to keep practicing.
Perhaps the greatest investment you can ever make is buying this book.
Change Your Life By Winter
Four books. That’s it. That’s all I’m challenging you to do.
And, while there won’t be a test at the other end, I would encourage you to read and re-read these books like you did in school, really, truly, deeply absorbing the knowledge and skills.
You’ll be giving up hours of your life, hours you could have spent doing something festive like knitting or decorating your house in gourds, but in return you’ll learn the skills to:
- Become a more productive person.
- Lead other people in business and life.
- Toughen yourself mentally and physically.
- Develop the perspective and discipline of a winner.
I’d make that trade every day of the week.