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I love reading. But hasn’t always been the case. I only started reading a lot of books in the past few years. The main reason for this is because I started reading what I am genuinely interested in and not books just for the sake of reading!
I love the quote from Naval Ravikant that says “Read what you love, until you love to read.” BTW – I would strongly recommend reading Naval’s book “The Almanack of Naval Ravikant – A Guide to Wealth and Happiness." Here are the top three books that I have read 2022 to-date that will help with your Professional Development. I have also summarised my key takeaways from the books.
1. The Four Hour Work Week - Tim Ferriss
This is a fantastic book. Tim Ferriss effectively provides the template and great advice to become a better time manager and to live life to its fullest. Most people assume being rich is all about how much cash you have!
But Ferriss in the book says the “New Rich (NR)” are the people that don’t necessarily have lots of money but they have unrestricted mobility i.e. the ability to do what they want, when they want. My key takeaways from this book were:
Get out of your comfort zone – A person’s success in life can usually be measured by the number of uncomfortable conversations he or she is willing to have.
More is not better – Stopping something which is boring or unproductive, is often 10 times better than finishing it.
Time management – Most things make no difference. Being busy is a form of laziness – lazy thinking and indiscriminate action. Shorten work time to limit tasks to the important (Parkinson’s Law).
2. Mindset – Carol C. Dweck
The message from this book is very simple. People really only have two Mindsets i.e. a Fixed Mindset or a Growth Mindset. People with a Fixed Mindset are essentially stuck in their ways and not prepared to change.
On the contrary, people with the Growth Mindset are constantly looking to learn, develop and get better. My key takeaways from this book were:
People with a growth mindset have / believe:
Mindset is more important than talent – When the Oakland Ahtletics won the championship with Billy Beane (Moneyball) as General Manager in 2002, they had 103 victories, almost breaking the American League record for consecutive wins. They didn’t buy talent, they bought mindset.
Abilities can be cultivated.
Setbacks and failure can be motivating and provide great learnings.
3. The Wim Hof Method - Wim Hof
Wim Hof is a character that divides opinion. Personally, I found this book fascinating. The book is all about the benefits of exposing your body to the cold and breathing. In the book, Wim Hof speaks about the Three Pillars, which are:
Cold Exposure
Conscious Breathing
The Power of the Mind
My key takeaways from this book were:
Cold exposure – The cold is a stressor. If you're able to get into the cold and control your body's response to it, you will be able to control stress. He recommends taking a two-minute cold shower every day.
Conscious Breathing – Stressful activities in our lives cause inflammation in our cells. Using Wim Hof’s conscious breathing techniques described in the book, we can change our body’s biochemistry from acidic to alkaline and cleanse ourselves of biochemical residue, which is the primary cause of disease.
Hopefully you found this blog interesting, you learnt something and if nothing else, it inspired you to either read these books or start reading more.
I will continue to share my thoughts on the best books I have read on other topics in 2022.
Yours in sport,
Craig Bewley
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CEO
SPORTSKEY