Tribes by Seth Gordin
One thing that made tribes from a book to life changing book is that it is full of motivation. Seth calls people with same views, same likings or same ideas as tribes’. And among those people anyone can be the leader, no matter who you are, how much money you have. It’s just a matter of stepping up. The book has some great words to ponder and remember —
“Life’s too short to fight the forces of change. Life’s too short to hate what you do all day. Life’s way too short to make mediocre stuff. And almost everything that is standard is now viewed as mediocre.”
“Leadership is scarce because few people are willing to go through the discomfort required to lead. This scarcity makes leadership valuable.”
4 Hour Work Week by Tim Ferris
On first look, it might seem like a talisman to become rich (which is not possible.) It talks about how one can strike balance between work and life by being more effective within our lives. This is very relevant in today’s day and age when people have forgotten to find time for themselves amidst their hectic schedules.
The best thing about this book is its division related to lifestyle. He used acronym DEAL to represent each section.
D is defining all you goals, objectives and what is necessary to achieve that goal.
“If you can’t define it or act upon it then forget it”
E stands for Elimination of distractions from your life and utilizing that time to achieve something for yourself.
A is automation i.e. generating a sustainable and automatic source of income.
L is Liberation i.e. how to fill the void in life with other than work.
The main inference of this book was on effectiveness rather than efficiency. And it’s true until and unless your work is effective in achieving your goal it’s of no use.
Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell
Malcolm Gladwell is always great at smart humour and tongue in cheek remarks. Outliers is a personal favourite, as I think a lot of Nigerian youth can take inspiration from it. He talks about how a person’s environment along with right motivation can drive his personal growth. He referred ‘Outliers’ as those successful people for whom normal rules don’t apply.
“It struck me that our understanding of success was really crude—and there was an opportunity to dig down and come up with a better set of explanations.” He explains, that our definition of success is flawed and absolute. There cannot be one definition for all.
The whole book is divided into two parts first part is about opportunities and second part is about Legacy. But one thing was common in both parts i.e. 10,000 hour rule which states that if you want to master something you need to practice that for 10000 hours. Which I think is brilliant. As he puts it,
“Practice isn’t the thing you do once you’re good. It’s the thing you do that makes you good.”
The Hard Thing About Hard Things by Ben Horowitz
This is the most realistic book that I have read. At Diamond Bank and otherwise, I meet a lot of entrepreneurs and they often voice out their inner conflicts and dilemmas. Many a times, we mystify the idea of ‘entrepreneurship’, we make it sound easy, achievable and exciting or what Bon mentions as ‘fun’. Ben breaks this bubble, and the illusion about entrepreneurs.
He says, “The biggest myth is that it’s fun. The reality is that creating and running a business is an incredibly tough grind and it’s emotionally debilitating.” I would say, this book is like a manual if you want to pursue your Entrepreneurial dreams. It is one of the few books that talks about corporate dynamism and internal politics
7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Steven R. Covey
There’s one thing that I learnt early, that the future of any organization depends on the capabilities of its leadership. It is the leader who charts the course and engages resources in the right direction. Steven R. Covey’s book explains seven habits that can make a person more effective personally and professionally.
The book uses famous quote of Aristotle “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then is not an act, but a habit” and suggests that we should turn good acts into habits. It is a perfect combination of inspiration, development and pragmatism. He talks about very interesting habits like — Begin with the end in mind; Seek first to understand, then to be understood; Think, win-win; Synergize.
After reading a good book, I always feel calm and energised with a new sense of purpose. A book paves way for new ideas to slowly percolate their way into my everyday life. So, don’t waste time, pick one up today!
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