Two books I’ve been LOVING lately…

Hey guys!

Just wanted to share a couple books I’ve been LOVING lately.  If any of them resonate with you, I totally recommend them!

1. Man’s Search For Meaning by Viktor Frankl – This book is INCREDIBLE. It’s not a business book per say, but you can use the lessons from it in business.

It’s one of the most inspirational, life-changing books I’ve ever come across.

I plan on writing an entire blog post about this soon (I have PAGES full of notes)… but for now, a quick overview:

Viktor was a Holocaust survivor. He went through some of the most horrifying things known to mankind.

Some of the stories he shared shook me to the core.

But the way that he went through and survived through things…. how he used his mind to get past things… amazing.

For example, he talked about one day how he was having a particularly bad day. He let his mind go to a lot of “smaller” things he ordinarily wouldn’t have worried about – like what he was going to do with his daily bread ration, if he should exchange it for a cigarette, how to avoid a certain guard, etc… and he was just getting very cranky about everything.

Instead of continuing to stress about the small things he couldn’t control, he took a mental picture of his reality that day, and kind of put it into a “movie screen” in his mind. He looked at the big picture. He saw himself lecturing to a crowd of people one day… in a well-lit room, with people sitting on padded chairs. He saw himself sharing his stories and helping people.

All of a sudden, his mind shifted.

He was able to get through the day and he was in a much better mindset.

And maybe it sounds like a small thing, but this was incredibly powerful to me. It showed how a quick perspective change could shift everything.

To put it into business terms… maybe you’re getting frustrated by some annoying technical work or something. If you make a perspective change – look at how this is going to help you build an empire, or see it as the temporary frustration eventually helping you support the people you love… it totally erases the annoyance.

I FREAKING LOVE THIS BOOK.

2. The Slight Edge by Jeff Olson – I love this book too. Dennis bought it for me a few months ago, and it’s just great. It basically talks about how a lot of us want instant gratification… but by making small progress every day, the compounding effect is huge.

I really learned this the other day with my 5 gallon water jugs. :)

Last time I tried to lift one of these things:

…I dropped it in the driveway and broke the container open. 5 gallons of water spilled everywhere.

But I’ve been doing a minute of planks every day now, and the other night, I was able to fill up 2 of them (50 pounds apiece)…. bring them into my house… AND turn them around and onto the stand, without spilling anything! In fact, I barely felt a thing.

The minute of planks hasn’t taken much from my day… but the gains in my strength have been HUGE.

So in business terms… this could look like writing a Facebook post every day, or a blog post a few times a week… maybe it doesn’t seem like a huge deal at the time, but the compounding effect is huge.

I’d definitely recommend this book too. The author lays things out really intelligently and definitely motivates you to make magic happen.

:)

And there you have it!

What Do YOU Think?

Have you read either of these books? Or have any book recommendations of your own? I’d love to hear them!