If you are over the age of 10 here are 5 books, I see right now on my bookshelf that you should have read by yesterday. These will give some great perspective on life, and give you the basic rules to handle just about anything that is thrown your way. Enjoy being smarter and getting more out of life. Smart people make me smile!
- How to Win Friends & Influence People - I have read this book time and time and time again and I love it every time. The title sounds corny and fake, but I promise you that the information inside is not. This is just a good basic set of rules when dealing with other people. How to get people to talk, how to get people interested in what you are saying - all great stuff. If you abide by these rules and are sincere in your efforts, you cannot help but get along with people. Isn't that what we were put on this planet for anyways?
- How to Lose Friends & Infuriate People: Leadership in the Networked World - Yeah - I know. Kind of the opposite of the last book. But this book is about going against the grain and doing your own thing in business and in management. By doing that you are bound to isolate people and piss them off. After all - you will be making some great progress in life and they will be tooling along living their same old live by their same old rules. Break the mold. You might lose some friends and piss them off along the way. But it is all about you anyways right?
- What Matters Most : The Power of Living Your Values - There is a reason that Hyrum Smith and Franklin-Covey got involved together. When you have million things that you have to get done this book (to me) is a calming reminder of some very simple processes you can use to define yourself and what you want. It is not the least bit complicated. When you are done you will have learned a lot more about yourself.
- The Speaker's Handbook - If you have a pulse then you have to communicate. Personally, I love the verbal kind and I am pretty good at it. Whether you are great or looking to get there this book is always good to have around for reference. And... now that I am looking at it again... it is not bad for reference when writing also. It gives advice on humor, presentation, timing, and other things to make your speech memorable. Get it and refer to it often before and presentation - verbal or otherwise.
- The Flawless Consulting Fieldbook and Companion - You are good at something - everybody is. Sometimes however it is a challenge to figure out how best to convince other people that information and advice that you have is valuable and worth listening to. This is a book that I bought right after I started my own company in 1998 and it has served me well. It gives you some great ideas on how to find your place and how to make sure that what you have to say is understood and accepted. It may not always be agreed with, but the important thing is to make sure that your clients get what they are paying for. Your goal should be to convince them that your advice (whether they use it or not) is worth paying good money for.
