4 Powerful Books That Changed My Life
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Taking advantage of geoarbitrage in Thailand after quitting my job in 2010. Thanks to reading the 4-Hour Workweek by Tim Ferriss.
I already shared how my first personal finance book had created a personal finance obsession within me and has lead to me diligently track my finances via my Monthly Financial Updates. Over the years, I've read a handful of other books since college that have dramatically changed my life and the way I think. These books may not be for everyone but if you want to make massive improvements in your life and start living the life you are daydreaming about then these books will certainly help you get there.
1. The 4-Hour Workweek: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich by Timothy Ferriss
Like many people who read the 4-Hour Workweek, I absolutely loved the case-studies presented in that book. This was a game changer for me and sparked so many ideas in my head and had a huge impact on the way I thought of working and a career going forward. When I was just a staff accountant at the time, I was trying to figure out how I could apply the 4HWW to my own life and be able to work anywhere in the world. Concepts such as geoarbitrage, travel hacking, the new retirement, and outsourcing the stuff you don't want to do were things I started thinking about and changing in my life. Ultimately, I would escape the 9-5 years later, but it was this book that sparked the fire inside me to start getting the wheels in motion. In fact, it was this book that really opened my mind to traveling to such places as Thailand where the cost of living is insanely inexpensive and I would go on to quit my job and travel there for a few weeks. I am so thankful that Tim Ferriss wrote this book as he started a massive movement.
2. How to Win Friends & Influence People by Dale Carnegie
I wish I could remember the person who recommended this book to me years ago because I would thank them for sharing this with me. This book changed my mindset on how to interact with people. After reading it, you start thinking about other people more and will be less focused on you. You start creating win-win situations and getting more out of life than you imagined. The title of the book makes it sound a little bit shady, but trust me, all it really means is that you will be able to start finding common ground with anyone in life and build relationships which is key to having a wealthy life.
3. The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Personal Change by Stephen R. Covey
I received a copy of this book from my former boss. In fact he bought copies for the everyone in the Accounting Department I worked with. Talk about investing in your employees, because this book is a great investment. If you want to start getting shit done in business then this book is MUST READ. The title pretty much explains it all. If you want to be highly effective in business and life, then you need to start building these habits into your daily ritual. And this is the type of book that you can read slowly and let the concepts marinate in your brain. It's also a good idea to read multiple times as to really make sure you are continuously practicing these habits and making strides.
4. The Game by Neil Strauss
Kind of an odd one to add to a list of business books but this book was crucial nonetheless. This one was unique to my situation because I am an introvert and grew up really shy. I've since come out of my shell and I owe a lot of that to this book. It's a book about a journalist, the author Neil Strauss, who goes undercover in the pickup artist community. He makes rapid transformations in his life and becomes a magnet to women. Now, I know you may be thinking, this may be a little slimey and I'm going to agree that there's certain things that pickup artists do that are deceptive and dishonorable. I never set out to become a pickup artist. I simply wanted to be better with women. As I care to improve all aspects of my life, building meaningul relationships was one of them. And it worked. I've become a better communicator and stopped doing a lot of things that your Average Frustrated Chump's do. I've recommended this book to several of my friends because I wanted to share how impactful it had been on my life and how it may have a positive influence on theirs.
Summary
All of these books remain relevant in today's world and have so many important concepts to be thought about. I'm not a big consumer of books but I'm glad that I've had the opportunity to read these. Even if you choose one of these books and start implementing some of the concepts into your routine, you will see massive improvement in your life. I never really liked reading in high school or college because I was forced to read their books. I judge a book by whether it's easy to put down or not. These books were really hard to put down because of their eye-opening ideas and could envision how I could implement them in my life. When you think about return on investment, I know that these books have not only contributed to my wealth in terms of money but more importantly wealth in terms of building long lasting, meaningful relationships.
Readers, are there any books that you can recommend?
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