Its sunset time of another year and that time of the year to reflect on how good the year was. I am using this opportunity to share a thought about my best books i read this year.
Somewhere in the last year, i stumbled upon a few self help books. I did read two self help books earlier and they did not a lasting impact, until I read a book called ‘Power Of Now’. I must credit this book for initiating my interest in self help genre. This keen interest led to me reading a few really life changing books. My top 4 picks from the books I read this year are as follows.
The Compound effect
You are trying to achieve something that looks gigantic and impossible. You do not know how to approach the problem or how to go about reaching your goal, then this book is for you. This book by Darren Hardy proposes a simple yet very effective method of self-improvement. Darren suggests making small and incremental changes consistently. By taking this approach you end up doing much more than expected. He also mentions the concept of Momentum, or what he calls it as Big Mo. The idea proposed is to start making these small changes, keep going with these changes and then never lose the momentum of your change.
Darren has got a great assertive writing style. His narratives are very positive and creates great vibes.
Mindset
Mindset is a book by Carol Dweck, which talks about why some people never get up from their failures. Whereas, some people get up from their failures, fight, rise and shine. Carol has brilliantly classified people in two sets as Growth Mindset and Fixed Mindset. Carol mentions that people with a Fixed mindset will try once and on failure never reattempt. They give up easily, blame others and do not taste success often. Growth Mindset people, on the other hand, try until they achieve their goals. They change the course as needed but stick to their goals. They treat failure as a learning opportunity.
The classification basis mindset, their traits and how to move from fixed to a growth mindset is very well delivered by the author.
Start with Why
Simon Sinek has become a famous motivational speaker. He is known for asking some really teething questions. I saw a couple of videos of him on YouTube and was thoroughly impressed with his speech delivery, later picked up his book after watching some of those inspiring YouTube videos. I must say this book did not disappoint. Start with Why gives fundamental questions that all companies should ask. This would help them identify their niche and provide offerings in a better way to their set of customers. A very simple yet important concept very well explained.
The hard thing about hard things
It was pending in my bucket list for long. This book as the name suggests focuses on some tough decisions to be made in a startup. Ben Horowitz with examples from his journey, provides a guided process for how to make those tough decisions. He analyzes the problems that leaders confront every day, sharing the insights he’s gained from day to day and strategic activities at technology companies.
What were your favorite books of 2019? Feel free to suggest.
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