Inspiration & Resources

The internet presents an overwhelming abundance of resources you can use to improve your life. I’ve found some of these to be really transformational. I hope you’ll put them to good use!

Seven Spiritual Laws of Success by Deepak Chopra: Usually, the idea of combining spirituality with “getting what you want,” creates a major energy drain and sense of lack. You might have heard of programs like “manifesting” or “The Secret,” where you focus on what you want, pretend you already have it, and then magically get it.  I’ve tried it off and on. It seems to work, more or less, but it usually leaves me pretty unhappy. The problem, I think is that I’m striving for the object of my egoic ambition, rather than the expression my truest self. I’m aiming “to get” rather than to “to become.” I enter into a extractive relationship with the universe, and cease to enjoy life. On top of which, the best things in my life are beyond what I knew to ask for. Had I been too busy trying to get my way, I would have missed them entirely. And so I’m not a fan of that approach by itself. But what Chopra does is create some guardrails and grounding for this idea of living spiritually. He talks, for instance, about consequences. Our actions have consequences, and we are powerful in that we have created whatever situation we are now in. Another topic is giving, and cultivating a spirit such that wherever you go, you have something to offer. This is a good way to be and it leads to good things. And he also talks about potentiality, which is kind of like a cosmic consciousness through which you can learn what your life might be. The point is not to get a perfect picture of your best life and then create it (doing so is limited), but to get a general sense of direction and then co-create a great life for yourself with the universe. It might be far better than what you dreamed up on your own.

Joseph Campbell and the Power of Myth: Really cool PBS series from a while back where Joseph Campbell talks about the role of mythology and religion in a culture. My takeaway was that these myths and traditions serve as guides for better living so that you don’t have to figure life out by trial and error. Which saves a lot of needless suffering! I would guess that by discarding these myths over the last century or so, we’ve lost something vital without realizing it. There are a lot of people, young and old, who are adrift and unsure of how to navigate their lives.

Berkshire Hathaway Annual Reports Warren Buffett writes a letter every year offering both market commentary and an update on the operations of Berkshire Hathaway. These are one of those rare documents that continue teaching something new with each new reading. Excellent education for investing and business.

Book Recommendations:

Quality of Life

  • Man’s Search for Meaning by Victor Frankl
  • When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi
  • Why We Sleep by Matthew Walker
  • The Inner Game of Tennis by W. Timothy Gallwey
  • Psycho Cybernetics by Maxwell Maltz (crosses back and forth over the line of “woo-woo,” but a very useful takeaway for me: your brain learns better and gets oriented towards the results you want when you focus on what you’re doing well, or what doing well looks like, rather than on what you’re doing wrong).
  • The Obstacle is the Way by Ryan Holiday
  • Grit by Angela Duckworth
  • Chef’s Illustrated: The Science of Good Cooking

Finance, Business, and Investing:

  • Stocks for the Long Run by Jeremy Siegel
  • The Snowball by Alice Schroeder (great Buffett biography, taught me a lot about how he thinks)
  • The Most Important Thing by Howard Marks
  • The Hard Thing About Hard Things by Ben Horowitz
  • Zero to One by Peter Thiel
  • Anti-Fragile by Nassim Taleb
  • Shoe Dog by Phil Knight
  • Range by David Epstein
  • Start with Why by Simon Sinek
  • The Effective Executive by Peter Drucker
  • Double Your Profits in 6 Months or Less by Bob Fifer (some of these cut past the fat and into the bone, but there are sure to be a few takeaways for your business)

Sales/Persuasion

  • Influence by Robert Cialdini
  • Never Split the Difference by Chris Voss
  • New Sales. Simplified. by Mike Weinberg
  • High Profit Selling by Mark Hunter
  • Fanatical Prospecting by Jeb Blount
  • The Science of Storytelling by Will Storr

Understanding the digital economy:

  • Ready Player One by Ernest Cline This book has recently become a minor cult classic, yet Cline understood years ago what the rest of us are just waking up to: The digital world is eclipsing the physical world in importance and relevance. Our online identities are increasingly important, and we spend more interactions there than in face-to-face (don’t believe me? Check your email, facebook, instagram, reddit, and twitter accounts). The biggest insights are not in the plot (giant evil tech corp controls entire world), but in the setting. He captures the ethos of the internet. If you have neglected this world until now, get up to speed. And besides, it’s a fun read.
  • The Everything Store by Brad Stone
  • Why Software is Eating the World, by Marc Andreessen Software is the fifth force of nature. It has neither substance, nor weight yet is transforming our entire society. This makes our species more resourceful than ever; many physical materials have been replaced with software, and many time-consuming tasks have been automated. Yet the dynamism introduced through software comes with tremendous uncertainty. To understand this strange new world which you now inhabit, start here.
  • Elon Musk by Ashlee Vance

Creativity

  • The War of Art by Steven Pressfield

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