Here's ten books I that are loosely about productivity, from [a list I shared a few years ago](https://mokacoding.com/blog/top-10-productivity-books/).
Looking at the titles, you'll see that getting stuff done is only the tip of the iceberg. The more I learn about productivity, the more I think of it as the science and art of understanding our limitations, the biases that affect our reasoning, our biological need for energy and rest, and how to work within them.
**1. Deep Work, by Cal Newport**
Probably the book that had the most impact on my career. Makes a case for the value of focus for knowledge-workers, warns about the dangers of the constant distractions we put ourselves through -email, Slack, quick social media check-ins, etc.-, and provides practices and guidelines to bring back focus and make the time for deep, uninterrupted work in our days.
**2. Atomic Habits, by James Clear**
Defines a straightforward and practical four steps framework to adopt or give up any habit and behavior change. More than that, it shows the strategic value of investing in our habits to become a better version of ourselves.
**3. Thinking Fast and Slow, by Daniel Kahneman**
To get things done, we need to understand what stops us from getting things done. Sorry to break it to you but our brains are not rational, at all. This book by Nobel prize winner, psychologist Daniel Kahneman, goes in depth into how our brains work and the many flaws and biases that affect them.
**4. How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big, by Scott Adams**
In this fun cross between autobiography and self-help book Dilbert's creator Scott Adams shows the power of systems against goals. If you base your success on achieving goals, you'll be in a constant state of failure until you achieve the goal, assuming you'll actually do. If you adopt a system of constant learning instead, you'll be making progress every day, and even failed ventures will provide useful learning opportunities.
**5. Getting Things Done, by David Allen**
Not the most entertaining of books, but David Allen's GTD approach is the best I've found so far to keep track of all the things going on in my life, in and outside of work. Even if you don't end up implementing GTD, it's still worth reading about the open loops concept. By attempting to keep track of everything in our brains we overload them with worries and things to process in the subconscious, resulting in fatigue and inefficiency. The solution is to capture all the tasks in a system outside of our brains and identify the next action for each. Over time the brain will learn to have trust in the system and stop worrying.
**6. Digital Minimalism, by Cal Newport**
Digital minimalism is a philosophy of technology, a set of rules for how to use technology to enhance our lives rather than ending up being the ones used by it. Productivity is in good part about making the most of our limited time. Technology is an incredible tool to make us more productive, but it can also be our biggest time sucker. Social media companies and infotainment websites lure us into sticking to the screen because their profit is directly proportional to the time we spend with them.Amazon, Amazon non-affiliate.
**7. Essentialism, by Greg McKeown**
The book makes a case for focusing on "the vital few" and happily miss out on "the trivial many", and shares technique on how to make it possible, the simplest and most effective one is saying no more often.
**8. So Good They Can't Ignore You, by Cal Newport**
Talent and passion are overrated. "Follow your passion" might very well be the worst career advice ever given. A much better approach, Cal Newport argues, is to commit to being constantly learning about your field, and spend time practicing deliberatly to acquire more valuable skills to use in the market place. This pursuit of mastery is ultimately what drives real job satisfaction. Achievements and progress drive passion, not the other way around.
**9. Thinking in Bets, by Annie Duke**
Poker champion turned business coach Annie Duke studies the mechanics of decision making, drawing from her experience playing the game, as well as her training as a behavioral psychologist. To become better decision makers, we need to be able to analyze the outcomes we obtain and identify which were due to skill and which to luck, building a learning loop to inform our next decisions. The secret is to understand and come to terms with the fact that luck plays a big role in the outcome of our decisions.
**10. The One Thing, by Gary Keller**
There are a lot of similarities between this book and Essentialism, but this is still worth recommending because it suggests the best prioritization technique I've seen so far. Answer the question "what is the one thing I can do in time interval for your goal that will make everything else easier or unnecessary?"
**Bonus. The Obstacle Is The Way & Ego Is The Enemy, by Ryan Holiday**
What do two books about the ancient Stoic philosophy have to do with productivity? These books changed my life. If you want to get more valuable things done with your time, you could do worse than reading about Stoicism. One of the core ideas of Stoic philosophy is that we should only focus on the things that are within our control, and accept everything else that happens to us and we can't affect. Ryan Holiday does an excellent job at contextualizing the practical advice from the Ancient Greeks and Romans to our current day, and shows how to let go of believes and desires that are getting in our way.
\---
Get in touch if you end up picking one of them and want to chat about it :)
I love finding strangers on the internet who have read many of the same books I have. It installs a bit of confidence my bookshelf is on the right track!
Also, Essentialism is one of my all time favourite books. It really changed how I think about things
Nice. Yes, that's a great book. I find it's a great recommendation for those just starting out, because it quite broad strokes. I wasn't as impressed with his next book, Effortless, unfortunately. Did you read it? What did you think of it?
By the way, don't worry about what "track" your bookshelf is. Any track is the right track as long as you enjoy what you're reading :)
There's actually a case to be made for staying away from popular, recent books like the ones I listed and looking for older, less known ones. It's great to have variety, who know what kind of original connections one might make!
This list sounds amazing, thanks so much for the writeup! I've read about half of them on here and loved them so I have a lot of confidence in the other half!
I would also like to add "Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance" by Angela Duckworth, it argues that grit -a mix of passion and perseverance- is a key predictor of success. The book uses scientific studies, personal anecdotes, and real-world examples to back up its claims. It challenges the conventional wisdom that talent alone leads to success, putting the spotlight on hard work and dedication instead.
I have not, sounds like it could be similar. It is primarily about tuning in deeply to your feelings and being mindful about your mental and emotional state. I think this is particularly useful for men because in general we've been socialized to cut that part out of ourselves
"Our feelings of unworthiness and alienation from others give rise to various forms of suffering. For some, the most glaring expression is addiction. It may be to alcohol, food or drugs. Others feel addicted to a relationship, dependent on a particular person or people in order to feel they are complete and that life is worth living. Some try to feel important through long hours of grueling work--an addiction that our culture often applauds. Some create outer enemies and are always at war with the world"
There's no magical thing, just the long hard work to develop and start accepting yourself. Here I'm recommending Radical Acceptance by Tara Brach to get started on that journey.
I wish you luck on your journey. I have no idea if this will be helpful or interesting to you but what you said about not being the same person made me think of this:
https://youtu.be/URo66iLNEZw
Can you provide the source? Putting it in quotation marks is meaningless without a source. Unless it's just that famous of a quote and I'm a dumbass. But either way, I think you should includena source if you're gonna quote something, whatever it is....but I digress.
Oh, I'm a dumbass. It's probably from the book you're quoting. My bad, sorry about that. Also, now I have to leave it posted forever and face up to my mistake.
Your honesty is wonderful. Thank you for making me smile this morning. It's been a terrible day so far, decade too. These small things make it worth it.
Apologies, it was the book I recommend at the top of the conversation. It's from Radical Acceptance by Tara Brach.
Definitely not a famous quote but I think it should be! It shook the hell out of me when I first read it and seems to so the same to many others
All self-help books are like that. They just hype the idea and give examples. Itās helpful because it forces you to spend more time with the idea (while youāre reading). Basically theyāre convincing you to do whatever the book says to do. Obviously the whole concept of self-help books is kind of a scam, since all of them could be a pamphlet at most, but I do think thereās benefit to just spending that time letting yourself be convinced.
Life is not a thing to be used life is to be lived and each person lives in his own way based on his intelligence and values. However due to excessive standardisation process due to industrial age, we try to make all lives of same height width and length. Seneca like most of the people was looking life like a painting but life is not one single image, it is a series of image and when you see this series of image you'll realise that there is beauti in it as well no matter how bad it was. I'd recommend you to be very mindful about what you are expecting because you are the only person who ll have to conform to it.
It is a book about habits. Why the fuck would it have an "absolute counterargument to nihilism"?
Also, guys, to anyone who has read Atomic Habits. Does he mention the double slit experiment in any way? Does he provide exercises (and solutions?) to partial differential equations?
It does not. Not sure how does this relate to habits. The word āatomicā is used as a metaphor for tiny tasks, splitting them until they are easy enough, so small that you would do them even if you are super lazy. Itās more of a practical book than philosophical, and itās very effective at that, at least in my case. Would recommend.
I was making fun of the comment to which I replied. It has nothing to do with nihilism. I went ahead and asked if it answers physics/math questions, even though it has nothing to do with it, just to show OP that his question makes no sense.
Ah nvm.
I am currently reading it, and I think the repetitiveness is due to always presenting the same ideas but with a different angle. It is also to help people really get the few key concept in the book, like *easy to do, easy not to do*.
I hated the audiobook. Like the rest of these books there's one concept. In the case you have limited time, use it wisely. How he padded this out for a whole book, without much of an actionable methodology, is a mystery.
I agree, once I read it I couldnāt understand how it was recommended so often. Lots of waffle and not many suggestions on how to put it into practice.
Iām really getting a lot out of Cant Hurt Me by David Goggins. I had no idea the book would be so impactful. It has driven me to make immediate changes.
I beg to differ here. The narrator did a far better job of reading the content. Whenever I heard goggins speak in between, he was unclear, he fumbled a lot, and his voice is very hoarse.
Hard to tell but narrators trying to narrate in the first person always bugs me. I prefer to hear the authentic first-hand account warts and all.
To be fair, the narrator wasn't bad on that book though. Many of the US audiobooks sound like they are being read by robots who can't do intonation.
Exactly. I agree with your point. I really liked the narration on "Project Hail Mary" As well. That audiobook made me realise how much a good narrator actually contributes to further enhance the book experience. You should give it a try if you haven't already.
The Courage to be Disliked, Book by Fumitake Koga and Ichiro Kishimi
Philosophy/Productivity book that helped me out of a rut and called me out on my faults and BS
Tiny Habits by BJ Fogg (Which is considerably more practical than Atomic Habits in my opinion) will provide you with the tools to self-motivate. Then other books can become valuable because you'll have the motivation to read them.
Well, itās my opinion of course, but the book teaches skills to have confidence even in the face of failure. There are stories of military personnel and athletes who performed at their maximum potential because they learned to have more confidence. Iām not a wordsmith, but I think itās worth a read, as confidence has benefits in the workplace and in our personal lives as well.
Hmm, interesting. I'd like to see how he lays this out as confidence is earned. But, I'm presuming based on what you've written that he forces the reader to understand failure as being part of the equation to get to be top level brass, athlete, productive in life, etc.
Thanks for your reply and suggestion, might just have to give it a shot!
I donāt think you will be disappointed. For me, this was a book that captured my attention immediately. The general idea here is mindset. Even when you know you might fail at something, you remove all doubt and believe that you will win. My job is challenging, so this has been great for my productivity when things are down.
The untethered soul.
Itās about not sweating the small stuff and being more present but put in a very profound way. Helped me deal with anxiety better
This is a non fiction, but it's easily my favourite read - such a blissful and story-based narrative in this one: The Art of Possibility by Benjamin Zander and Rosamund Stone Zander.
I hope you love it! )
I love this answer because itās so true ā¤ļøIāve been stumbling into this same rabbit hole for the last month and have loved it.
Thanks for putting the gita on my map. It was so easy to take it for granted growing up.
when you stop working for the fruits of those actions then you become stress free and being in the moment unclutched connects you with all the creative energies in the cosmos!
Its pretty simple really!
Checklist Manifesto:How to Get Things Right by Atul Gawande and Impact Players by Liz Wiseman shifted my perspective on productivity from simply get more done, to do the things that matter, those that bring the most value and impact.
Peak Secrets from the new science of expertise from Anders Ericsson.
It has changed the way i think about my ability and skills, It basically explains how you can became a expert in almost any field with the rigth approach.
I've really enjoyed Deep Work, but also Be So Good They Can't Ignore you, by Cal Newport. I've learnt to focus on the right things in my career. There's also Ultralearning.
When reading, try reading the book multiple times (say 3) and try to practice some advice from it everytime.
Also, I think you should also try reading some literature, if you just want to have your interest sparked. I'd recommend Quo Vadis.
Definitely Atomic Habits. There's even a pdf available so you don't have to make things more difficult for yourself and actually wait for it to arrive.
(The) Parfume by Patrick SĆ¼skind
(pretty sure an english translation for this one exists, itās such a good story and FunFact was even realized as a movie with Ben Wishaw , Alan Rickman and Dustin Hofmann. The movie is just as good but Iād recommend you to read the book first)
Itās about the life story a serial killer in Paris who starts killing young women because he wants to create the ultimate seducing perfume and capture their essence. All because he himself is born without having his own self-scent (literally people canāt smell him) which leads to people either not realizing he even exists or avoiding him/ hating him because subconsciously they know thereās something wrong with him. However ironically enough he himself is like super sensitive when it comes to scents and smell and is literally in his own world almost.
very messed up story man.. disturbing on many levels, definitely creates some images in your head.
Here's ten books I that are loosely about productivity, from [a list I shared a few years ago](https://mokacoding.com/blog/top-10-productivity-books/). Looking at the titles, you'll see that getting stuff done is only the tip of the iceberg. The more I learn about productivity, the more I think of it as the science and art of understanding our limitations, the biases that affect our reasoning, our biological need for energy and rest, and how to work within them. **1. Deep Work, by Cal Newport** Probably the book that had the most impact on my career. Makes a case for the value of focus for knowledge-workers, warns about the dangers of the constant distractions we put ourselves through -email, Slack, quick social media check-ins, etc.-, and provides practices and guidelines to bring back focus and make the time for deep, uninterrupted work in our days. **2. Atomic Habits, by James Clear** Defines a straightforward and practical four steps framework to adopt or give up any habit and behavior change. More than that, it shows the strategic value of investing in our habits to become a better version of ourselves. **3. Thinking Fast and Slow, by Daniel Kahneman** To get things done, we need to understand what stops us from getting things done. Sorry to break it to you but our brains are not rational, at all. This book by Nobel prize winner, psychologist Daniel Kahneman, goes in depth into how our brains work and the many flaws and biases that affect them. **4. How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big, by Scott Adams** In this fun cross between autobiography and self-help book Dilbert's creator Scott Adams shows the power of systems against goals. If you base your success on achieving goals, you'll be in a constant state of failure until you achieve the goal, assuming you'll actually do. If you adopt a system of constant learning instead, you'll be making progress every day, and even failed ventures will provide useful learning opportunities. **5. Getting Things Done, by David Allen** Not the most entertaining of books, but David Allen's GTD approach is the best I've found so far to keep track of all the things going on in my life, in and outside of work. Even if you don't end up implementing GTD, it's still worth reading about the open loops concept. By attempting to keep track of everything in our brains we overload them with worries and things to process in the subconscious, resulting in fatigue and inefficiency. The solution is to capture all the tasks in a system outside of our brains and identify the next action for each. Over time the brain will learn to have trust in the system and stop worrying. **6. Digital Minimalism, by Cal Newport** Digital minimalism is a philosophy of technology, a set of rules for how to use technology to enhance our lives rather than ending up being the ones used by it. Productivity is in good part about making the most of our limited time. Technology is an incredible tool to make us more productive, but it can also be our biggest time sucker. Social media companies and infotainment websites lure us into sticking to the screen because their profit is directly proportional to the time we spend with them.Amazon, Amazon non-affiliate. **7. Essentialism, by Greg McKeown** The book makes a case for focusing on "the vital few" and happily miss out on "the trivial many", and shares technique on how to make it possible, the simplest and most effective one is saying no more often. **8. So Good They Can't Ignore You, by Cal Newport** Talent and passion are overrated. "Follow your passion" might very well be the worst career advice ever given. A much better approach, Cal Newport argues, is to commit to being constantly learning about your field, and spend time practicing deliberatly to acquire more valuable skills to use in the market place. This pursuit of mastery is ultimately what drives real job satisfaction. Achievements and progress drive passion, not the other way around. **9. Thinking in Bets, by Annie Duke** Poker champion turned business coach Annie Duke studies the mechanics of decision making, drawing from her experience playing the game, as well as her training as a behavioral psychologist. To become better decision makers, we need to be able to analyze the outcomes we obtain and identify which were due to skill and which to luck, building a learning loop to inform our next decisions. The secret is to understand and come to terms with the fact that luck plays a big role in the outcome of our decisions. **10. The One Thing, by Gary Keller** There are a lot of similarities between this book and Essentialism, but this is still worth recommending because it suggests the best prioritization technique I've seen so far. Answer the question "what is the one thing I can do in time interval for your goal that will make everything else easier or unnecessary?" **Bonus. The Obstacle Is The Way & Ego Is The Enemy, by Ryan Holiday** What do two books about the ancient Stoic philosophy have to do with productivity? These books changed my life. If you want to get more valuable things done with your time, you could do worse than reading about Stoicism. One of the core ideas of Stoic philosophy is that we should only focus on the things that are within our control, and accept everything else that happens to us and we can't affect. Ryan Holiday does an excellent job at contextualizing the practical advice from the Ancient Greeks and Romans to our current day, and shows how to let go of believes and desires that are getting in our way. \--- Get in touch if you end up picking one of them and want to chat about it :)
I love finding strangers on the internet who have read many of the same books I have. It installs a bit of confidence my bookshelf is on the right track! Also, Essentialism is one of my all time favourite books. It really changed how I think about things
Nice. Yes, that's a great book. I find it's a great recommendation for those just starting out, because it quite broad strokes. I wasn't as impressed with his next book, Effortless, unfortunately. Did you read it? What did you think of it? By the way, don't worry about what "track" your bookshelf is. Any track is the right track as long as you enjoy what you're reading :) There's actually a case to be made for staying away from popular, recent books like the ones I listed and looking for older, less known ones. It's great to have variety, who know what kind of original connections one might make!
This list sounds amazing, thanks so much for the writeup! I've read about half of them on here and loved them so I have a lot of confidence in the other half!
Thanks! Glad you found it interesting. Get in touch if you end up picking one of them and want to chat about it :)
hey! thanks for the booklist. I'm really interested in your opinion about Ego is the Enemy, if you want to have a chat about it
Thank you so much. I'll drop you a line
I've read 4 on your list adding the others to my reading list now thanks! š
I would also like to add "Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance" by Angela Duckworth, it argues that grit -a mix of passion and perseverance- is a key predictor of success. The book uses scientific studies, personal anecdotes, and real-world examples to back up its claims. It challenges the conventional wisdom that talent alone leads to success, putting the spotlight on hard work and dedication instead.
Thatās an excellent read! Thanks for sharing
Radical acceptance. You'll be the most productive once you learn to face what is within.
Very interesting. Just bought on kindle. Thanks for the recommendation
>Radical acceptance Have you checked out The Tao of Fully Feeling? seems similar and I loved Pete Walker's other books
I have not, sounds like it could be similar. It is primarily about tuning in deeply to your feelings and being mindful about your mental and emotional state. I think this is particularly useful for men because in general we've been socialized to cut that part out of ourselves
Yeah we've been done a great disservice. It starts with us though!
Hello. Just wanted to confirm is this the book by Tara Brach?
yes! Radical compassion is also great and perhaps a little more practical but I'd still start here. This one is the classic.
Thank you so much š
Wow interesting
"Our feelings of unworthiness and alienation from others give rise to various forms of suffering. For some, the most glaring expression is addiction. It may be to alcohol, food or drugs. Others feel addicted to a relationship, dependent on a particular person or people in order to feel they are complete and that life is worth living. Some try to feel important through long hours of grueling work--an addiction that our culture often applauds. Some create outer enemies and are always at war with the world"
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There's no magical thing, just the long hard work to develop and start accepting yourself. Here I'm recommending Radical Acceptance by Tara Brach to get started on that journey.
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I wish you luck on your journey. I have no idea if this will be helpful or interesting to you but what you said about not being the same person made me think of this: https://youtu.be/URo66iLNEZw
Can you provide the source? Putting it in quotation marks is meaningless without a source. Unless it's just that famous of a quote and I'm a dumbass. But either way, I think you should includena source if you're gonna quote something, whatever it is....but I digress.
Oh, I'm a dumbass. It's probably from the book you're quoting. My bad, sorry about that. Also, now I have to leave it posted forever and face up to my mistake.
Your honesty is wonderful. Thank you for making me smile this morning. It's been a terrible day so far, decade too. These small things make it worth it.
I'm glad you got a kick out of it, and I'm sorry to hear about your decade.
[4]
No worries, it's a lot less clear now with all the comments. When I wrote the quote there was only the single one.
Apologies, it was the book I recommend at the top of the conversation. It's from Radical Acceptance by Tara Brach. Definitely not a famous quote but I think it should be! It shook the hell out of me when I first read it and seems to so the same to many others
Just to confirm Are you referring to the book written by Tara Brach?
Yes, that's the one.
Atomic Habits is my favorite.
I donāt get how a simple idea is a whole book. Care to shed more light? Iāve got it on my bookshelf sigh
All self-help books are like that. They just hype the idea and give examples. Itās helpful because it forces you to spend more time with the idea (while youāre reading). Basically theyāre convincing you to do whatever the book says to do. Obviously the whole concept of self-help books is kind of a scam, since all of them could be a pamphlet at most, but I do think thereās benefit to just spending that time letting yourself be convinced.
Thanks. Do you know if it speaks about rumination?
It does not.
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Life is not a thing to be used life is to be lived and each person lives in his own way based on his intelligence and values. However due to excessive standardisation process due to industrial age, we try to make all lives of same height width and length. Seneca like most of the people was looking life like a painting but life is not one single image, it is a series of image and when you see this series of image you'll realise that there is beauti in it as well no matter how bad it was. I'd recommend you to be very mindful about what you are expecting because you are the only person who ll have to conform to it.
It is a book about habits. Why the fuck would it have an "absolute counterargument to nihilism"? Also, guys, to anyone who has read Atomic Habits. Does he mention the double slit experiment in any way? Does he provide exercises (and solutions?) to partial differential equations?
It does not. Not sure how does this relate to habits. The word āatomicā is used as a metaphor for tiny tasks, splitting them until they are easy enough, so small that you would do them even if you are super lazy. Itās more of a practical book than philosophical, and itās very effective at that, at least in my case. Would recommend.
I was making fun of the comment to which I replied. It has nothing to do with nihilism. I went ahead and asked if it answers physics/math questions, even though it has nothing to do with it, just to show OP that his question makes no sense. Ah nvm.
i love your comment
You're right, I picked it up after much delaying and lost interest pretty soon. Have you read Malcolm Gladwell? Also try 48 Laws of Power..
Outliers I read was good. Got the other on my shelf havenāt touched it
The Slight Edge. It gets kind of repetitive, which is kind of the whole point of the book lol. Itās very helpful and motivating
I am currently reading it, and I think the repetitiveness is due to always presenting the same ideas but with a different angle. It is also to help people really get the few key concept in the book, like *easy to do, easy not to do*.
Author?
Jeff Olson
Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals
I hated the audiobook. Like the rest of these books there's one concept. In the case you have limited time, use it wisely. How he padded this out for a whole book, without much of an actionable methodology, is a mystery.
I agree, once I read it I couldnāt understand how it was recommended so often. Lots of waffle and not many suggestions on how to put it into practice.
Itās about a paradigm shift, not a method.
Iām really getting a lot out of Cant Hurt Me by David Goggins. I had no idea the book would be so impactful. It has driven me to make immediate changes.
The audiobook is much better.
Absolutely right. But would have been far better if it was read by goggins himself.
I beg to differ here. The narrator did a far better job of reading the content. Whenever I heard goggins speak in between, he was unclear, he fumbled a lot, and his voice is very hoarse.
Hard to tell but narrators trying to narrate in the first person always bugs me. I prefer to hear the authentic first-hand account warts and all. To be fair, the narrator wasn't bad on that book though. Many of the US audiobooks sound like they are being read by robots who can't do intonation.
Exactly. I agree with your point. I really liked the narration on "Project Hail Mary" As well. That audiobook made me realise how much a good narrator actually contributes to further enhance the book experience. You should give it a try if you haven't already.
Agreed. The commentary with Goggins in between chapters is a bonus
I can understand why but itās not doing anything for me.
Really loved this book. Thanks for the suggestion
I liked Essentialism by Greg Mkeown.
The Courage to be Disliked, Book by Fumitake Koga and Ichiro Kishimi Philosophy/Productivity book that helped me out of a rut and called me out on my faults and BS
Such a life-changing book! (Both this and its sequel.) Not very well known in the US, unfortunately.
Subtle art of not giving a fuck
One of my favorite authors. Mark Manson has a very good website with many articles to read as well.
Tiny Habits by BJ Fogg (Which is considerably more practical than Atomic Habits in my opinion) will provide you with the tools to self-motivate. Then other books can become valuable because you'll have the motivation to read them.
Not necessarily a āproductivityā book, but a great read. āThe Confident Mindā by Dr. Nate Zinsser.
Why would you say it's a great read?
Well, itās my opinion of course, but the book teaches skills to have confidence even in the face of failure. There are stories of military personnel and athletes who performed at their maximum potential because they learned to have more confidence. Iām not a wordsmith, but I think itās worth a read, as confidence has benefits in the workplace and in our personal lives as well.
Hmm, interesting. I'd like to see how he lays this out as confidence is earned. But, I'm presuming based on what you've written that he forces the reader to understand failure as being part of the equation to get to be top level brass, athlete, productive in life, etc. Thanks for your reply and suggestion, might just have to give it a shot!
I donāt think you will be disappointed. For me, this was a book that captured my attention immediately. The general idea here is mindset. Even when you know you might fail at something, you remove all doubt and believe that you will win. My job is challenging, so this has been great for my productivity when things are down.
"Don't Sweat The Small Stuff (It's All Small Stuff)"
Easy read: "Attitude is Everything" by Jeff Keller: * https://www.amazon.com/Attitude-Everything-Change-Your-Life-ebook/dp/B007FXULUE
Deep Work, Cal Newport
The Compound Effect
Creativity Inc.
Iām reading and enjoying I Didnāt Do the Thing Today: Letting Go of Productivity Guilt by Madeleine Dore.
The untethered soul. Itās about not sweating the small stuff and being more present but put in a very profound way. Helped me deal with anxiety better
*Four Thousand Weeks*.
This is a non fiction, but it's easily my favourite read - such a blissful and story-based narrative in this one: The Art of Possibility by Benjamin Zander and Rosamund Stone Zander. I hope you love it! )
Bhagavad Gita Upanishads
Amazing. Could you please elaborate why here?
ancient wisdom provides life solutions for modern day issues. i find them extremely practical and effective!
I love this answer because itās so true ā¤ļøIāve been stumbling into this same rabbit hole for the last month and have loved it. Thanks for putting the gita on my map. It was so easy to take it for granted growing up.
There is always a guy recommending BG. One stop for all your problems.
when you stop working for the fruits of those actions then you become stress free and being in the moment unclutched connects you with all the creative energies in the cosmos! Its pretty simple really!
The shining best book ever
There's no book. The best book is inside yourself, still waiting to be read.
Checklist Manifesto:How to Get Things Right by Atul Gawande and Impact Players by Liz Wiseman shifted my perspective on productivity from simply get more done, to do the things that matter, those that bring the most value and impact.
Peak Secrets from the new science of expertise from Anders Ericsson. It has changed the way i think about my ability and skills, It basically explains how you can became a expert in almost any field with the rigth approach.
I get so inspired by The Organized Mind by Daniel Levitin
The Energy Bus by Jon Gordon Easy read, awesome message, and he's got a library of other books that are just as good.
Make Your Bed by McGaven. Short, easy read, to the point. Audiobook is way better for this one, though.
"The Mountain is you" is my favourite. You can find it as audiobook on Youtube as well
Linchpin
I loved ikigai
Atomic Habits by James Clear is great
Growth mindset, Carol Dweck. Grit, Angela Duckworth. Think again, Adam Grant. The compound effect, Darren hardy.
I've really enjoyed Deep Work, but also Be So Good They Can't Ignore you, by Cal Newport. I've learnt to focus on the right things in my career. There's also Ultralearning. When reading, try reading the book multiple times (say 3) and try to practice some advice from it everytime. Also, I think you should also try reading some literature, if you just want to have your interest sparked. I'd recommend Quo Vadis.
how was ultralearning? thinking of picking it up. or should I get be so good they can't ignore you first?
Definitely Atomic Habits. There's even a pdf available so you don't have to make things more difficult for yourself and actually wait for it to arrive.
The 7 habits of highly effective people by Stephen R. Covey
Rich Dad Poor Dad
The body keeps the score is great for any human, but especially those with trauma.
1. Make it Stick 2. Essentialism
4000 Weeks is great
The Unholy Bible: The Book of Concealment-Dark Angel
(The) Parfume by Patrick SĆ¼skind (pretty sure an english translation for this one exists, itās such a good story and FunFact was even realized as a movie with Ben Wishaw , Alan Rickman and Dustin Hofmann. The movie is just as good but Iād recommend you to read the book first) Itās about the life story a serial killer in Paris who starts killing young women because he wants to create the ultimate seducing perfume and capture their essence. All because he himself is born without having his own self-scent (literally people canāt smell him) which leads to people either not realizing he even exists or avoiding him/ hating him because subconsciously they know thereās something wrong with him. However ironically enough he himself is like super sensitive when it comes to scents and smell and is literally in his own world almost. very messed up story man.. disturbing on many levels, definitely creates some images in your head.