5 Books 99% Ignore That The 1% Read (To Succeed)
Read these or stay the same...
The average stay average
In today’s world, the average person lacks meaning in their life. The average person has no idea what to do and lacks goals to work towards. The average person also does not read. It is no wonder the average person is… average.
According to this article, in 2023, 46% of American adults read 0 books and If you read more than 2 books you were in the top 50% of American adults.
The top 1% reads about 50 books every year. It is no wonder they are… the 1%.
All of my mentors have a tremendous library of books. They are also multi-millionaires.
A great way to live a fulfilling life:
Observe what most do
Do the opposite
Most people do not read. Go and read.
Most people do not workout. Go and workout.
Most people stop learning after high school. Go and commit to life-long learning.
I will never stop LEARNING
Elon Musk, Warren Buffett, Charlie Munger, and a vast majority of other successful individuals credit books as being one of the major reasons they succeeded.
Reading books is more than reading, it shows that you are committed to learning more. The vast majority stop reading or learning anything new after they graduate high school and then wonder why their life is the same. The 1% are obsessed with learning.
Close-mindedness is a guaranteed path to a mediocre life.
I used to hate reading books back in high school. I also thought that it was “nerdy”. I didn't want to appear as a “loser”. Little did I know that if I continued to think this way, I would end up employed by a “nerd”.
It’s not surprising that when I was in my “I hate books” phase, I was at one of the lowest points in my life:
I had shitty habits
I had a shitty mindset
I had a shitty self-image
I had shitty spending habits
Overall, I was not my best self.
Reading is one of the most life-changing habits I implemented into my life back in 2021. It is what helped me carve the path I am currently on:
it helped me learn new skills
It helped me improve my habits
It helped me create my purpose
It helped me improve my mindset
It helped me improve my self-image
It helped me become financially literate
it helped me avoid mistakes that waste a bunch of time and money
Without books, I would not be on this journey I am In, I would’ve been far behind.
5 books that will improve your life 10x
I want to give you 5 books that if you read will improve your:
Habits
Mindset
Routines
Purpose
Philosophy
Quality of life
When these are improved, it improves other areas in your life:
Health
Finances
Relationships
Life satisfaction
Let’s get into it.
The Alchemist
Last year, I read this book TWICE. I love this book for 3 reasons:
It’s not your typical self-improvement book, instead of being a “here are 3 things you need to do” it’s more of a story where the moment you read the 1st page, it captures your attention
it shows the journey of a young boy who follows his hearts desire. Something most people in today’s society are fearful of doing which adds on to the lack of meaning in their life
It’s a real life example of what having persistence can do in your life
It’s about a boy named Santiago who lives in Andalusia, Spain (I thought it was a made up town but it’s actually real and on my list of places to go) and he goes on an adventure to find a lost treasure in the pyramids of Egypt after having reoccurring dreams about a treasure being there and as he goes on his adventure to reach the end the pyramids, he encounters interesting people that helps him but also people that teaches him life lessons which all together shapes him into who he will be at the end of the journey.
Following your hearts desire is something most people avoid in today’s world. The irony is most people are lacking fulfillment as well. This book points out the importance of following your dreams or as the books calls it, your “personal legend”.
Like I mentioned, this book is a real life example of what happens when you remain persistent. In the beginning of the book, the author, Paulo Coelho, explains that the book was not successful when it first released. Only one person bought it the 1st week it released and after 6 months another copy was sold and it was to the same person. Based on this, his publisher cut him off the contract and gave him his book. This caused a lot of discouragement to the author but he did not lose faith. He started knocking on doors, getting publishers to notice his book hoping one would give him a chance.
Most declined until one didn’t. Slowly it began to sell in Brazil, where the book was initially released, the sales started to climb higher and higher. An American traveling in Brazil read the book and wanted to translate it in English to bring it to the American readers. An American publisher agreed and the book started to get recognized in America as well. Next thing you know, The Alchemist went from being unknown and a “flop” to being a New York Times bestseller and staying there for more than 300 weeks.
This book has so many gems that are applicable to real life, a must read.
Outwitting The Devil
I wrote a separate newsletter about this book. In fact, I made a YouTube video about this book. It’s that good.
You can read that newsletter here
You can watch it here:
The book is about an interview that Napoleon Hill has with “the devil”. He asks the devil questions like:
How he makes sure people live unhappy lives
How he tries to control people’s lives
What tactics and tricks he uses
What fears he uses
And so much more
The devil reveals that he controls 98% of the population using the tricks he describes.
Fear is a major obstacle people face in their daily lives. We all have fears. But we must not let them dictate our lives because the devil uses that to his advantage. He mentions 6 basic fears that he uses to control people’s lives:
Fear of death
Fear of old age
Fear of poverty
Fear of criticism
Fear of ill health
Fear of loss of love
This book opened my eyes even further and made me realize what the evil forces wants us to do so we live mediocre, unfulfilled lives.
If you know what the opposition, the evil forces, wants you to do in order to control you and make you unhappy then all you have to do is do the opposite of what they want you to do in order to live a happier, fulfilled life.
Read this book or stay the same.
Psycho-cybernetics
This book made me realize how vital having a positive self-image is.
The book was written by Dr. Maxwell Maltz, who was a plastic surgeon and what started his fascination with the self-image was when he noticed that people who got plastic surgery would still not be satisfied with themselves because their self image remained the same. They had changed their exterior without ever trying to change their interior.
We all have a certain way we view ourselves and sadly the majority have a negative view of themselves. I know I did back in 2020.
What we fail to realize and what the book made me realize is that whatever our self-image is, we will prove It to be true with our actions without being aware that we are.
If you have a self-image that you are a failure then you will create situations where you fail. You’ll be in a situation where you are close to succeeding and then you will self-sabotage to fail because of your negative self-image.
He makes a key point that if we work to change our thoughts and beliefs, we can change our life.
Another idea he presents is the power of self-hypnosis. Believe it or not, you have been hypnotized since the day you were born till now. You have adopted beliefs that were passed down to you and some of those are not for your benefit.
Till this day, people are still being hypnotized by the media and the news by dumping constant negativity in your mind and he points out the importance of hypnotizing your self that can benefit you in installing new beliefs that will help your growth and satisfaction in life.
A positive self-image is vital to your success because if you have a negative self image whether you are conscious of it or not you are acting according to that self-image to prove it is true.
This book gives a lot of actionable steps so you don’t just read and move on to the next book but you read and take action to truly understand it.
The Art Of Focus
I used to follow Dan, the author, when I was on twitter (now known as X) and I would always see his tweets and they were always interesting and made you think. Dan is like a modern-day philosopher. I found out he had released a book and since his tweets were always interesting I thought the book would be too.
It was more than interesting, it made me realize the untapped potential I still have to tap into.
We live in the attention economy.
Look around you.
There are social media apps that are fighting to take your attention.
We are more distracted than ever before.
Focus is more valuable than ever before.
If you are able to stay focused in a distracted world, you are valuable. You will get ahead of 99% of people.
Creating your own goal is vital to your happiness and life satisfaction. Dan points out why you should question everything up until this point in your life. Look at the goals you have, are they YOUR goals? Or are they goals someone else gave you? Question the path you are on. Is this the path you chose? Or someone else’s path?
The book title says it all, The Art Of Focus, the importance of focus in a distracted environment. But not only does he talk about focus, he dives into other important topics as well. He talks about the new rich. In a world where everything is changing rapidly and jobs that are available now won’t be in a couple of years due to AI, you need to adapt in order to come out on top and not be left behind. He explains the evergreen skills that if learned will help you navigate and excel in the new world we live in:
Writing
Speaking
Marketing
Sales
This is where it made more curious and excited to learn new skills that will upgrade my character and grow to new heights.
Meditations
This book helped me get over the little slump i was going through towards the end of 2023.
It’s a journal that was released as a book by Marcus Aurelius, a stoic philosopher and roman emperor.
The mind has yet to be truly studied to its fullest extent. It’s so complex and so fascinating. Our mind is the most powerful. If we have control over what’s in between our ears, we have control of our lives.
Marcus points out several times throughout the book that what we believe to be true, is true. My dad always preached this to me growing up. Whatever I believe to be true is true and I will perceive life based on what I believe it to be.
If I believe I can’t, I can’t
If I believe I can, I can.
A major point that Marcus tries to make is that you are not going to live forever. You are going to die and this constant reminder helps the reader realize that since nothing is forever it’s best to do what we want while we are alive and not let others dictate our life.
So many people are living a life that is not true to them and are in constant misery. A reminder that you will die soon and those who criticize or judge your actions will die too gives you a liberating feeling that at the end their opinion does not matter. You will begin to realize that it’s much better to walk the path you desire not the path others think you should.
It’s also a reminder that we do not have an infinite amount of time. Many times we live our life thinking we have all the time in the world, we procrastinate and push things off, as if we are not living on borrowed time and this hinders our potential to reach new heights.
This book made me realize that I need to continue to pursue what i want without letting other people dictate what I do. Even now, i recently made a major move that is towards my goals and at first a bit of fear entered my mind which could’ve stopped me from taking action but i reminded myself of death as a way of reinforcing the fact that we won’t live forever.
Take a chance on yourself.
All the books I mentioned here are worth reading more than once.
i honestly believe if i were to not have started reading books back in 2021 then i wouldn’t have made the progress i’ve been making in my life. Self-education is extremely important especially in today’s world.
A hard pill to swallow: school does not teach you enough of what you need to know to actually succeed and grow in this world.
It is your job to self-educate and expand your level of thinking to grow to new heights in your life which ultimately leads to fulfillment. Books are great way to do that you can enter into the greatest minds by reading books and implement what you learned into your life and watch your life shift
There’s always a debate whether reading books is worth any time. Think about it like this: there’s a person out there who is more experienced and knowledgable than you that has written their secrets in a book that you can access for $10-$20 and can shorten your learning and improvement curve by a ton. Yeah, you could do it all on your own if you want, but it will take a lot longer to see results.
Books are great way to enter into the greatest minds. Read these books and implement what you learned into your life and watch your life shift.
📈 1 Insight from this week
The importance of self-analysis
If you do not do careful, accurate self-analysis, you will not see where you have weaknesses and where you have strengths. I used to go about life not doing any self-analysis and this is why I was making no improvement.
You cannot improve what you don’t know needs improving.
My boxing coach used to tell me “study yourself Bryan”.
Jim Rohn said it best:
Work harder on yourself than you do at your job. If you work hard on your job you’ll make a living. If you work hard on yourself, you’ll make a fortune.
I recently did self-analysis and realized some weaknesses and other areas I can improve on.
You can do self-analysis by:
Journaling
Meditating
Questioning
Answering self-analysis questions
I will create a self-analysis questionnaire that you can answer to know yourself more and help you improve significantly.
Self-analysis leads to self-awareness.
Self-awareness is the first step to change.
📚 Books I am reading right now
“Psycho-Cybernetics” - by Dr. Maxwell Maltz
I am re-reading this book. It’s such a great book to read, I am in the 2nd chapter. I highly recommend you get this book and start reading it. Your self-image is either helping you or holding you back.
💭 Quote of the week:
“Work harder on yourself than you do on your job. If you work hard on your job, you can make a living. If you work hard on yourself, you can make a fortune.” - Jim Rohn
Thanks for reading my newsletter! I hope you gained value from this.
Enjoyed these recommendations. Will definitely get those books. The one I’m most excited for the the Art of Focus. I too follow Dan Koe and he’s a brilliant mind.