Three Must-Reads For The New Year
A lot of people have been asking me for book recommendations, which is a bit tough. There are so many great books on every possible topic, and it's hard to please everyone’s taste. However, in regards to business development and entrepreneurship, I would like to share three of my favorites.
The first book is “Life is Good” by Bert and John Jacobs. As founders of the successful socially conscious clothing brand, Life is Good, the Jacobs brothers share their entrepreneurial story – how they built their brand despite the many obstacles they encountered along the way. A true tribute to the power of having an optimistic approach on life, the brothers explore the 10 “keys” that unlocked the doors to the greatest opportunities in their lives. To name a few: humor, gratitude, simplicity, openness, courage, authenticity and love.
Last year I was lucky to meet one of the founders – Bert Jacobs, and he shared that their inspiration and biggest mentor in life is their mother. Always optimistic and trying to find good in every situation, their mother would start every family dinner with these wise words: “Tell me something good that happened to you today.” Bert said it was these words that would cheer them up daily and help them move forward. I highly recommend reading this book. We often don’t realize how many great things we have in our lives, and this book brings our many blessings to the forefront.
The second book that interested me a lot is “The Art of Thinking Clearly” by Rolf Dobelli, which presents readers with 99 of the most common cognitive errors and ways to avoid them in all aspects of their lives. I found this book particularly useful, as it truly helps you analyze situations better and transforms your decision-making. By intertwining science with interesting stories, Dobelli exemplifies certain human behaviors in a fun way that is easily understood. If you are interested in logic and reasoning, this is a great book to read!
Deeply impressed by his spirit, energy and ability to articulate and inspire his audience with what he has learned over the years, my final book recommendation is "The Way of Seals" by Mark Divine.
In brief, Marc Divine is a retired commander of the US navy seals, and his book shares his story of why he decided to become a seal, the principals of seals training – mental strength, physical conditioning, goal setting and vision– and how they can be applied to all parts of our everyday lives. What I really liked about this book is that Divine teaches specific principles that anyone can apply when visualizing their ultimate goal, creating vision for their life and setting specific goals.
This triangle created between vision, physical strength and the spiritual world is what Divine teaches us to apply in our real life. He also gives specific lessons on how we can break our patterns of doing things to achieve a different level of extraordinary results. While reading the book, I tried each of his exercises in a separate notebook. I was astonished how each chapter became more vibrant and more connected to what I had already discovered about myself as a result of doing exercises from the previous chapters.
Clearly inspired by this book, I not only took time to visit Devine’s website to learn more about the seminars he offers in Canada, but also ordered around 100 copies to give to all of my team members at Russian Pointe. We have also discussed certain exercises in our strategy meetings. If you are looking for a life-changing book, I highly recommend you read “The Way of Seals”.
