5 Books to Help You Dominate the Rest of 2018
It’s midway through the 3rd quarter of 2017 and whether you’re hitting your goals, in progress, or completely behind, it doesn’t mean you can’t catch up or set yourself up for an amazing 2019. I wrote an article in March of this year, 7 Books to Help You Dominate the Rest of 2018, which featured some of the books that helped me change my business around.
As we head into the end of the year, I got a chance to add some more to the bookcase and out of those, these particular books stood out to me as we head into the final quarter of the year.
1. The 12 Week Year by Brian Moran
“We mistakenly believe that there is a lot of time left in the year, and we act accordingly. We lack a sense of urgency, not realizing that every week is important, every day is important, every moment is important. Ultimately, effective execution happens daily and weekly!” – Brian Moran
This book I read while recharging my batteries on vacation over the summer and it helped my perspective into the remaining 6 months of the year. It’s another goal planning book but instead of the ordinary annual goal template, it suggests to try to accomplish these same annual goals, in 12 weeks, or a quarter.
Many people, including myself set our goals annually. There’s no problem with that, however, things change throughout the year and it’s extremely hard to plan out an entire year from start to finish. You may have a new idea, you may develop a new skill, or you may find a new opportunity that completely changes your entire plan. It made me think of something:
“Planning your goals out a year in advance is like having a sprinter run a marathon”
What do I mean by this?
Setting the “finish line,” or goals for the end of the year result often has us running out of steam by the time you get there. By setting hardcore 12 week goals, you’ll have a heightened sense of urgency. A sprinter now running on a sprinter’s track.
It’s not to get confused with having a vision. Whether 1 year or 10, it’s always good to have a vision. It’s also easy for the vision to change over time as you continue to grow personally and professionally.
2. The 50th Law by Robert Greene and 50 Cent
“Fear creates its own self-fulfilling dynamic- as people give into it, they lose energy and momentum. Their lack of confidence translates into inaction that lowers confidence levels even further, on and on.”
This book dives into the mentality of 50 Cent and his rise out of the drug game and into one of the country’s solid businessmen. A spinoff of the popular book “The 48 Laws of Power”
The 50th law is fearlessness as the book begins with the mindset and attitude towards fear.
We all act like it’s bad to have fear. That’s our brains doing what it’s suppose to. The skill we need to acquire is recognizing when fear is whispering in our ear, not when we’re in true imminent danger. The reason it’s a skill is because like a muscle, it needs to be worked out and developed.
The book covers how your environment has an affect on how you handle fear. Obviously with 50 growing up in the hood where your “business meetings” could get you robbed, shot (in 50’s case), or killed, there is no “fear” when walking into corporate million dollar business meetings. His life isn’t at stake. In order to change your environment, you have to attack what you fear head on. The more we attack our fears and see a favorable outcome, the more we will be comfortable with facing our fears.
He also talks about ownership as a staple of his success. 50 learned early if he didn’t own it, it could be taken away from him.
My favorite section of the book so far is the chapter that talks about “turning shit to sugar” – by changing your perspective on your obstacles. Your obstacles are there for you to develop into the individual you need to be to obtain your goals. Not only that, when seemingly “bad” things happen, there’s always a better outcome in the long run.
Overall, a great read as it addressed many principles surrounding the notion of fear and it’s a great read to exercise your fear muscles in your pursuit towards your dreams.
3. Brand Against the Machine by John Morgan
“What you do may not be unique, but you are. This is why putting your personality into your brand is so important. You’re not in a niche or industry that is without competition. The only difference between you and your competition is your brand.”
An interesting story about how I got this book. My fiance and I were walking the streets of Puerto Rico where we discovered a free library of books that were available to anyone who wanted them. On these shelves I found a couple of books that were already on my book list!
My fiance picked this particular book up and for a short while, I couldn’t put it down. I was reading it minute by minute
The book talked about the various ways to grow and market your business aside from the old school forms of marketing. Everything from using Blogs, Podcasts, Video, Social media, and other platforms to grow your business is covered in great detail. Basically, I consider it a “marketing bible” for our digital age.
This book is for anyone looking to grow their business to attract customers instead of chasing them down and to promote yourself without pestering people (which is what I hope I’m doing).
This book gives you actionable steps that you can take to start implementing your digital marketing strategy. I think most importantly, most digital marketing platforms are FREE! That’s a major benefits for individuals monitoring their profit and loss statements.
The internet has made it easier than ever to connect with anyone in the world. Your product, service, resume, and other qualifications have the same opportunity.
4. The Greatest Salesman in the World by Og Mandino
“I determine to render more and better service, each day, than I am being paid to render. Those that reach the top are the ones who are not content with doing only what is required of them.”
This book was another awesome read. You should be able to finish the book in a day or two. A great way to expand your professional development in business or any aspect of your life.
The book is about a camel boy named Hafid as he learns from his mentor how to become the greatest salesman in the world. The story is written as a narrative so I’ll leave you to find out how the story goes which was extremely entertaining.
The most important concept are the ten scrolls, or 10 secrets to a successful life filled with wealth and abundance. As he practiced those 10 secrets, he eventually became the greatest salesman in the world. Those 10 scrolls are great principles to practice daily as you chase any one of your goals. Some of those principles include practicing gratitude, persistence, and mindfulness.
This books helps develop business grit and ways live a spiritually filled life. I definitely recommend this book.
5. The 4 hour workweek
This will always be a book to revisit throughout the year as it helps when you’re looking to increase your income and time by increasing your value. By increasing your value, you’re only focusing on priorities that generate you more income. When that happens, you usually will find yourself having to offset some of your tasks. The more you engage in the less effective, menial tasks, the less amount of time you’ll have to spend on the important tasks that generate more income.
Even if you’re working a full time job, you may be interested in starting a business on the side. You’ll definitely need to apply the 4 hour workweek tactics in order to be able to run your business on the side without having to invest as much time.
It focuses deep on the Pareto Principle also known as the 80/20 rule which states that 80% of your income comes from 20% of the activities that you actually do. With this knowledge, we’ll understand that we don’t have to be doing a million things in order to make money. We’ll just need to focus on the few core activities that do so.
All that to say…..
As the collection continues to grow, I’ll be sure to share my new favorites and game changers along the way. We’re headed into the final quarter of the year so the game is not over yet. Nonetheless, you want to be able to establish a nice runway of momentum before you head into 2019’s plan.