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Nine books that changed the way I see the world

By on March 6, 2013 in Books, Business, Career, Inspiration

I’d be lost without books. I love ‘em.

But while some books simply add to my base of knowledge, every now and then a book will change the way I see the world.

Here are some of the books that have done that for me:

Rework by Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson

Linchpin by Seth Godin

Simple Life by Thom S. Rainer and Art Rainer

What I Wish I Knew When I Was 20 by Tina Seelig

The Art of Possibility by Rosamund Stone Zander & Benjamin Zander

The War of Art by Steven Pressfield

A Million Miles in a Thousand Years by Donald Miller

Delivering Happiness by Tony Hsieh

There is No Me Without You: One Woman’s Odyssey to Rescue Her Country’s Children by Melissa Fay Greene

Are any of those on the list of books that have shaped the way you see the world?

What’s not on this list that has been a game-changer for you?

 

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2011: 20 books

By on December 30, 2010 in Books

I love books.

When I get a little stir-crazy or Mary Craig just wants me to go have a few minutes to myself, she says, “Why don’t you go walk around the bookstore?”

It’s a happy place for me.

As much as I love books and as much as I love to read, with our action-packed family life (read: we have three kids) I don’t get to read as much as I’d like.

I read 14 books in 2010.

My favorites were:

  • Linchpin by Seth Godin
  • Rework by Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson
  • There is No Me Without You by Melissa Fay Greene
  • Delivering Happiness by Tony Hsieh
  • Radical by David Platt

The only way I was able to get 14 books read in 2010 was by waking up early to read most days and keeping the light on for a few minutes after Mary Craig went to sleep some nights.

I want to read 20 books in 2011. That means more early mornings. And more coffee, so I’m good with that.

 

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What are you studying?

By on November 29, 2010 in Books, Career, Choices, Inspiration

I wrote a post a while ago about how my tombstone is going to tell everyone that I took a lot of notes.

The first time I had to take notes was in college. When I got there, I didn’t really know what people did in college classes, so I just wrote down every word the professors said and then I’d try to memorize the notes before the exams.

I still don’t know if that’s what people do in college classes, but I graduated. So I’ve got that going for me, which is nice.

I can’t recall many of the facts that I scribbled in those classes in college, but the most important thing that happened as a result of all my time in the classroom is that something soaked into my bones: learning is for a lifetime.

So my parents paid a ton of money and I gave four years to a small private college. But that was really only the beginning of the learning process.

That’s why I’m in incessant note taker – because there are free classes happening all the time. Church is a free class. Work is a free class. Breakfast with a mentor is a free class. Books, podcasts and YouTube are free classes.

There’s more to learn than we can ever grasp, but God gave us minds than can handle it.

Life is a pretty awesome classroom. What are you studying right now?

 

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Saturday notes

By on August 7, 2010 in Books, Nonsense

A few quick notes from my seat next to the boy while he watches Curious George:

1) Last night, MC and I caught the last few minutes of a show on NatGeo called “My Child is a Monkey.” It was about people who have monkeys and raise them as children. I don’t have any problem with people having monkeys. Do what you gotta do. But when I see that there’s a TV show about it, and that there’s a show called “Cupcake Wars” I can understand why people in other countries tend not to be huge fans of Americans.

2) I talked with a guy the other day who runs a small business. He does really, really good work in a pretty unique niche. He quoted his price to do what needed to be done for a customer recently, and the customer said, “Well, what can I get if I spend $x,xxx?” which was about double what this guy quoted. When you do really good work, every now and then people will gladly pay double what you ask them to pay.

3) On Mary Craig’s recommendation, I’m reading There is No Me Without You by Melissa Fay Greene. I’m like 45 pages in and can’t believe how much I’ve learned.

4) A car drove slowly in front of the house last night, so we did a cursory cleaning in case someone wants to come see it. The general rule is that people only want to see it when it’s at its messiest. We’ll see.

Have a great weekend.

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These pages are multiplying at night

By on June 9, 2010 in Books

Most of the time when I order a salad in a restaurant, there comes a point when I just stop eating.

It’s not that I’m full. It’s not that the plate is empty.

I just get tired of eating.

I look down at the plate and think:

I’ve been eating this salad for 30 minutes and it’s not going anywhere. There’s as much there now as there was when I started.

I’m reading Switch by Chip Heath and Dan Heath, and I’m experiencing a little bit of that.

I’ve been in this book for a month and no matter how much I read, I’m still in the middle.

It’s a fantastic book, but it feels like there’s as much there as when I started.

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Book review: The X and Y of Buy

By on August 8, 2009 in Books

A few weeks ago, I joined Thomas Nelson’s Book Review Blogger program. I’ve done a little reading in the days since, so here’s my first review:

The X and Y of Buy: Sell more and market better by knowing how the sexes shop

By Elizabeth Pace

This shouldn’t be a shocker to anyone, but I’m going to say it anyway: men and women are different.

Even though that truth is glaringly obvious, it’s surprising how often we overlook it. In her book The X and Y of Buy, Elizabeth Pace makes the case that marketers can increase their effectiveness by understanding the unique differences between men and women.

As someone who needs to communicate effectively with both sexes to be successful, I found the premise of Pace’s book engaging. I’ve certainly finished appointments with clients or prospects thinking I’d knocked the cover off the ball, only to have the folks go elsewhere with their business. Reading The X and Y of Buy made me almost certain that I’ve missed some opportunities by not working hard enough to understand the way my customer makes decisions.

It wasn’t far into the book that Pace began to show that men are highly task-oriented people, while women are more process-oriented. Men buy and women shop, she says. Men are data-driven, while women are relationship-driven.

If I had to point to a weakness, I’d say at times I felt the book leaned a little too hard on the idea that gender traits haven’t changed that much since prehistoric times. I felt like I was being told that men are hunters and women are nurturers a few too many times.

I thought the book was engaging, and would be especially helpful for folks in sales, marketing, customer service and retail. I’m keeping it on the shelf as a reference book because there’s a healthy dose of practical, street-level advice for implementing gender-specific communication techniques.

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The Discipline of Fatherhood

By on January 12, 2007 in Books, Daughter, Faith, Parenting

A couple years ago, I read a great book by Kent Hughes titled Disciplines of a Godly Man. It contains a great chapter on fatherhood. In the chapter, he says we as fathers must evaluate the job we are doing by asking ourselves these questions:

  • Do you criticize your children, or build them up?
  • Are you overly strict, or reasonably strict – gradually granting your child greater freedom?
  • Are you impatient and irritable, or patient and self-controlled, when dealing with your children?
  • Are you consistent in your expectations?
  • Have you kept your promises?
  • Do you show favoritism?
  • Are you tender with both your sons and daughters?
  • Do you share in the discipline?
  • Are you spending time with your children, as a family and individually?

When I read the book the first time, Daughter was tiny, so I passed these with flying colors. Now that she’s three, they’re a little more convicting. Yet they remind me that every day is a chance to be a better parent than the day before.

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