“You must change!” It’s the general message we get repeatedly from books designed to give us motivation. And, no, they’re not always wrong. We usually can improve. Sometimes, however, isn’t it nice to be reminded that we’re not half-bad to begin with? That we’re not broken? In no particular order, here are five books that will help you swim against the current of yes-people in your life and the disabling bosses they follow. Click the Amazon banner beneath each title to view each book on Amazon.
How To Stubbornly Refuse to Make Yourself Upset About Anything
Albert Ellis
Dr. Ellis, founder of Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT), will have you looking at yourself and your problems in a completely different way. This is no overstatement. Following his model can drastically reduce the sadness, anxiety, and anger we feel. Why? A good deal of what makes us upset is due to the irrational beliefs we hold. Take away the beliefs and the negative emotions begin to melt away. This book doesn’t make the reader right and the world wrong. Instead, it removes our irrational need to be right at all costs.
Leaders Eat Last: Why Some Teams Fail and Others Don’t
Simon Sinek
It’s nice when people have the courage to voice their opinion – especially when it’s in sharp contrast to traditional thinking. Most of us have been taught our whole lives to respect authority. In doing so, however, we sometimes needlessly take on fear and self-doubt. Mr. Sinek is here to tell you that strong leaders work for their employees and happy employees work for each other. Using compelling examples from the US Military, he tells stories, not of tyrannical toughness, but of bravery and self-sacrifice. Anyone who endures a work environment of fear and survival of the fittest, should read this book.
Minimalism: Live a Meaningful Life
Joshua Fields Milburn and Ryan Nicodemus
The authors of this down-to-earth book are two former, successful, Telcom execs who abandoned their corporate careers. In doing so, they left lives of stress, poor health, and unhappiness to pursue careers in the motivation of others. This book inspires the reader to emulate the authors’ healthy outlook on life without selling the traditional “get rich like me” happy ending we often see in career-change stories. Anyone who is tired of comparing themselves (or being compared) to others in terms of monetary success and lifestyle can benefit from reading this book. This book has a corresponding Netflix documentary by the name of Minimalism.
The Obstacle is the Way: The Timeless Art of Turning Trials into Triumph
Ryan Holiday
Sometimes, the person we have to prove wrong is ourselves. This is not your typical mindless pep-talk book. Mr. Holiday uses example from history of people who persevered through seemingly impossible situations. This book will introduces the reader to the ancient philosophy of Stoicism which helps us determine what’s in our power to control and disregard that which isn’t. Approaching an old challenge with renewed energy or abandoning unproductive goals for new ones are just a few of the motivation that this book delivers.
Thinking Fast and Slow
Daniel Kahneman
This Sociology book is very readable and has some very important real-world implications. Most impactful is how Dr. Kahneman explains the large variety of cognitive biases that cause us to make erroneous or sometimes irrational conclusions. Unlike the books discussed above, that mostly empower the reader internally, this is one provides motivation to prove someone wrong. It teaches us to respect the complexity and randomness of the real world and understand the patterns we see are often merely convenient illusions. As a result, one begins to see how the judgements and expectations placed on us in the past may never have been realistic in the first place.
Sincerely,
Meaning2work
Ps. Please click on the images below the books titles to find these books on Amazon. I’d love to hear your thoughts on any of them. Also, if this article is valuable to you, be valuable to someone else and pass it on to a friend!