Here are 10 of the best self-help books

for learning new things, being more

successful, and living a better life.

And as we go through the list, I'm going

to share my favorite insight from each

book, beginning with So Good They Can't

Ignore You by Cal Newport. [music]

Most people want to find a career or

build a business doing something they

love, something they intrinsically enjoy

doing, and just so happen to get paid to

do. So, many people follow the

conventional popular wisdom that you

should follow your passion. The

unfortunate reality, as Cal Newport

explains in the book, is that most

people's existing passions don't line up

well with really truly great career or

business opportunities. And this brings

me to my favorite insight from the book,

which is the best way to fall in love

with what you do is to first develop

unique and valuable skills. And the

reason why this is so effective is that

passion tends to emerge when we do great

work, when we get to collaborate with

other talented people, and ultimately

when we have a real impact in the world.

And when we begin by first developing

unique and valuable skills, we make it

more likely that we're going to find a

truly promising career or business

opportunity, and more likely that we get

to engage in these three things: doing

great work, collaborating with other

talented people, and ultimately having a

greater impact in the world. Next up is

4,000 Weeks by Oliver Burkeman. It's all

too easy to fall into the trap of trying

to get everything done faster and more

efficiently. And very often, we end up

delaying key priorities in our lives,

waiting for this perfect moment where we

suddenly feel all caught up and ready to

finally focus on that thing. But as

Burkeman explains in the book, this

tends to be a bit of a mirage because

even though at any given moment it might

feel like there's just one or two more

things before we're all caught up, the

reality is life continues to throw more

things our way, more tasks, more

opportunities, more responsibilities.

And so if we're not careful, we can get

stuck in this endless loop forever. And

this brings me to my favorite insight

from the book, which is the idea that at

any given time, in fact, right now,

you want to get very clear on the things

that matter most to you. The kinds of

things that in 10 or 20 years you're

going to wish you started earlier,

whether that's living a healthier life,

spending more time with family, or just

starting that hobby or activity that

you've been wanting to start for a very

long time. Whatever it is that you've

been delaying for the perfect moment,

[music] want to identify these things

and then critically make time for them

immediately. Don't delay, there's the

perfect day will never come. Just start

[music] and fit it into the chaos of

everyday life recognizing that this is

kind of the standard pattern of life and

that's okay. But if we focus on the

things that we really want, we get more

fulfillment out of every day. Next up is

Dinner Time Conversations by Rick

Ketner. This is a bonus 11th

recommendation because it's my own book.

As a father of three kids, my goal is to

prepare them [music] to thrive in an

increasingly unpredictable world where

the speed of technology is rapidly

accelerating, things like artificial

intelligence and other forms of

automation are transforming the economy,

and at the very same time, far too many

kids today are growing up without fully

developing the essential life skills to

allow them to be more successful and to

live a more fulfilling life. Things like

curiosity, adaptability,

confidence, problem-solving skills, and

just the life experience that is going

to make it easier for them to be able to

navigate the various challenges and

opportunities that they're going to come

across in the future. So I created this

short practical [music] guide for

nurturing the development of these

essential skills through casual, yet

meaningful, conversations at the dinner

[music] table. You can learn more by

clicking the link in the video

description. Next up, we have

Ultralearning by Scott H. Young. This is

a practical guide for learning almost

anything faster

>> [music]

>> and more effectively. Whether you want

to speak a new language, become a

world-class marketer, or learn to play

the guitar. Whatever it is you want to

master, this book can help you do so

more effectively. And one of my favorite

insights from the book is this idea of

the direct then drill approach. Because

one of the most common mistakes that we

make when trying to learn a new skill is

we obsess over isolated practice. Let's

say for example that you want to learn

to play the guitar, and your ultimate

goal is to be able to play in a band and

maybe perform live shows. Well, a very

common trap is just sitting alone in

your practice space and endlessly

focusing on chords and strumming

patterns and scales, and just drilling

these things over and over and over

again on your own. But as Young explains

in the book,

it's very important that we strike a

better balance between direct

experience, directly doing the thing we

ultimately want to do, and this form of

isolated practice. And so what he

recommends is as soon as possible, even

perhaps before you feel totally

comfortable, look for low-stakes

opportunities to engage in the goal

activity. So in this case, that would be

playing with other musicians in some

way. And then as you do so, you look for

the clear areas of improvement that you

should focus on next in order to

improve. And then you take this direct

experience, you go and engage in

isolated practice to shore up some of

those weaknesses, and then critically,

you get right back to direct [music]

experience, directly playing with other

musicians, so that you can integrate

what you've learned

>> [music]

>> and identify the next areas for

improvement. And the reason why this is

so valuable

is because it allows us to avoid the

very common mistake of endlessly

practicing things that don't actually

apply to the goal activity, where we're

working on skills that may not actually

be relevant and useful when it comes to

actually playing with other musicians.

And so moving back and forth between

direct experience and isolated practice

allows us to learn considerably more

effectively because we're always working

on things that we absolutely know will

be relevant to what it is we're trying

to ultimately do. Next up we have The

One Thing by Gary Keller. This book is

all about how to achieve greater results

in life through focus and

prioritization. And key to this is

recognizing that productivity isn't

measured in time spent or in how much

energy we spend, but rather in the

results that we are able to produce. My

favorite insight from the book is this

idea that at any given time, whatever

we're working on, we should have a very

clear sense of the one thing that will

deliver the most rapid results. Or

framed differently, the one thing that

will make everything else either

irrelevant or easier to do. And now, you

can apply this concept to individual

projects, you can apply it to individual

days, you can even apply it to your

grander purpose in life. I'll give you a

tangible example of how I use this in my

daily planner. So, every night, I fill

out a custom planner. I've been doing

this for several years now, where I map

out what I have planned for the next

day. I might list out some optional

tasks, I'll list out things that are

actually scheduled events, but in the

upper left-most corner of every daily

page, I have a box labeled the one

thing, inspired by this book. And in

that box, I map out the one task, the

one objective for the next day, that if

all I do in that next day is achieve

this one thing,

I will feel accomplished. I'll feel like

that day I made some meaningful

progress. And every night I do this. I

map out what is the one thing that I can

do tomorrow that will make that day

truly feel successful. It's a really

powerful way to bring clarity and focus

to the next day. Next up, we have Atomic

Habits by James Clear. This popular book

is all about how to build good habits

and how to break bad ones. And one of my

favorite insights from the book is the

idea that if we want to create real

lasting change in our lives, it's far

more important to focus on the

intentional development of specific

habits than it is to obsess about goals

or big dreams of what it is that we

ultimately want to accomplish. Because

at the end of the day, it's the small

actions that we repeat every day that is

more predictive of where we're going to

end up in the future. As James Clear

puts it in the book, you do not rise to

the level of your goals, you fall to the

level of your systems. Now, I think it's

fair to say that many people today

understand that habits are more powerful

than goals when it comes to effecting

lasting change. But in many ways, I

would say this book is responsible for

kind of shifting the culture on this.

It's had a massive impact on the way

that many people, myself included, think

about how to create [music] lasting

change in their lives. Next up is Tiny

Experiments by Anne-Laure Le Cunff.

Sometimes the pressure of committing to

a whole new habit or a big change in

life can be very intimidating. No matter

how well-defined or small the change

might be, it can be intimidating to just

get started. So, this book is all about

how to conduct simple habit experiments,

small, well-defined tests that allow you

to sample a change before making that

long-term commitment. And one of my

favorite insights from the book is the

plus-minus-next

framework. It's a simple way to kind of

adjust your experiment on the fly to be

better suited to what it is you're

trying to achieve. So, you can quickly

jot down what worked, what didn't, and

what's next. And by doing so as you're

conducting one of these experiments, you

can adjust things, evolve the experiment

to be better suited to who you are, how

you operate, and ultimately what it is

you're wanting to achieve. Next up is

Chatter by Ethan Cross. We all have an

inner voice that helps us reflect on our

choices and learn from past mistakes.

But all too often, this inner voice can

turn very negative and lead to things

like rumination. This book is all about

how to tame and ultimately harness our

inner voice to better serve us. And one

of my favorite insights from the book is

the idea of creating mental distance.

For example, when you're facing a

difficult situation or choice, ask

yourself, "What would you advise a

friend if they were dealing with this

situation?" This is a very simple, yet

powerful way to stand back from our

emotions and our biases and have a more

objective perspective on what it is that

we are facing. And this is a very

powerful way to navigate what might seem

like a really difficult choice, but when

we're able to step back and gain some

mental distance, it's pretty clear what

we should ultimately do. And this is a

tool that I find myself using all the

time, even for relatively simple choices

that don't lead to a bunch of

rumination, where I'm just not exactly

sure what to do, maybe when it comes to

a project. Should I go this way or

should I go that way? Often times,

asking a question like this and just

standing back, what would I suggest to

somebody else if they were thinking

about these options, becomes pretty

clear what is the right course of

action. Next up, we have Indistractable

by Nir Eyal. We live in an age of

infinite distraction. Between social

media, streaming television, and even

things like online shopping, we can have

our attention pulled in a million

different directions. And this book is

all about how to manage your attention

so you can regain control of your life.

My favorite insight from the book is the

recognition that we are wired to avoid

discomfort, whether mental discomfort or

physical discomfort. So, when we start

to feel anxious or lonely or bored, or

maybe we fear failure on a project that

we're trying to get done, that we're

procrastinating about, these are the

kinds of mental triggers that can cause

us to seek out distractions. So, if we

want to become more indistractable, it

all begins, the very first step, is

being more mindful of these emotional

triggers. Being more aware of what is

causing us to seek out distractions so

that we can start to change the pattern.

The book covers many frameworks and

ideas for how to do this effectively.

[music] Next up is Your Brain at Work by

David Rock. Today, it's more valuable

than ever to do creative work and to

collaborate effectively with others, but

it's also true that today, we tend to

have more things on our plate, more

responsibilities, and as a result, we

have more stress, which can limit our

creativity and fuel conflict that hurts

our ability to collaborate well with

others. This book is all about how to

boost creativity, collaboration, and

productivity by understanding the human

brain. By understanding both the

strengths and limitations of the human

brain so that we can be more effective

in our daily lives. And it's one of the

most practical books I've ever come

across where it gives really tangible

examples of how our day can go poorly or

how our day can go right. And one of my

favorite insights from the book is the

idea that mental energy is a limited

resource. Our best quality thinking only

lasts for a limited [music] time. So

knowing this, it's very important that

we identify the things that we do that

create the greatest results that also

require considerable mental energy.

Things like writing, storyboarding,

prioritizing projects, brainstorming

ideas, or any other form of creative

work that again creates results and

requires serious mental energy. And at

the same time, we have to identify the

things that we do that don't necessarily

create results, but do consume a lot of

mental energy. Things like responding to

emails, not the most important thing

that we can do. We do need to do it, but

it doesn't create our greatest results.

And so we want to take something like

responding to emails, and if it's an

option, as long as other people don't

absolutely need to hear from you early

in the morning, you want to push this

back to more like 11:00 a.m. So you can

block off the first two or three hours

of the day to do your most creative work

when you're at peak mental energy. Okay,

last but not least, we have The

Psychology of Money by Morgan Housel.

[music]

Money plays a central role in the

economy, in society, and of course in

our personal lives. And yet, as

important as money is, the unfortunate

reality is most people never really

achieve mastery over their finances.

This book is about the very human side

of money. More specifically, the

psychology behind our choices that

relate to money. And it covers practical

strategies for building an effective

long-term financial strategy. Now, there

are many really great insights from this

book, but one of my all-time favorites

is the idea that the most effective use

of money when it comes to improving our

overall level of happiness is buying

back control over our time. Even though

there's all kinds of things that we can

buy, maybe a new house or a new car, new

boat, whatever it might be, at the end

of the day, when it comes to the highest

point of leverage for improving our

overall happiness and quality of life,

that is using money to buy back control

over our time. And interestingly enough,

a byproduct of this is when we have

control over our time, if a truly great

financial opportunity comes up, maybe a

really interesting project where we can

get paid very well to do fun and

engaging work, if that comes up when we

have control over our time, we can leap

on that opportunity. We can take

advantage of it because we have the

freedom to do so. At the end of the day,

if you're interested in building an

effective financial plan, something

that's going to work for you and account

for human psychology and the difficulty

of making certain kinds of choices, I

recommend that you check out The

Psychology of Money by Morgan Housel.

That's it for the list. If you have a

book that you would add, post a comment

to let me know.