New year. New you. New reading material. It’s finally 2023 and your bedside table is in desperate need of some updated literature. If you’ve been looking for reading material to inspire and educate, you can’t do better than the following books.
Whether you read for pleasure or information, books have the power to change your life.
If you haven’t built out your personal library in a while, consider filling it with these 10 books over the coming 12 months. To make things easy, each book has been assigned to a different category. Feel free to read through all the works in a category or skip around for a more buffet-style experience. Either way, set up a plan to make sure that by this time next year, you’re familiar with them all.
1. Books for becoming more comfortable in your own skin.
Resilience and adaptability. Self-love and self-respect. Health and wellness. They’re all great goals that can seem elusive. And when you aren’t confident in yourself, you can wind up with a case of debilitating imposter syndrome. Fortunately, these books will remind you of what makes you special, unique, and worthy.
Start your journey with Shona Schwartz’s recently published How to Stop Caring What Others Think: For Real. Schwartz teaches you how to disconnect your value from outside elements like your occupation or social standing. By freeing you to recognize your intrinsic self-worth, Schwartz helps you reimagine your narrative—and build joy.
Follow up How to Stop Caring with The Mountain Is You. Author Brianna Wiest explains why you’re probably making life harder than it needs to be. If you’ve ever resisted good changes, you’ll find out why with Wiest’s assistance. Best of all, you’ll be able to take back the control needed to break the self-sabotaging habits keeping you from success.
Once you’ve done a little good for your mind and soul, move on to your body. Take fitness. According to coach Steve Magness, most people take the wrong roads to get stronger. In Do Hard Things, Magness teaches how to supercharge your inner toughness the right way. A huge selling point of this book is that it has ramifications for you at home and at work. It’s like a double dose of learning in one package.
2. Books for taking your performance to a whole new level.
Most people would love to be high performers. Yet it can be tough to figure out how to get your high-performance game to go full-throttle. Maybe you have time management issues. Perhaps your tech or soft skills are in need of an upgrade. No matter why you want to up your abilities, reading more on pertinent topics will be beneficial.
Begin by getting familiar with Daniel H. Pink’s When. It’s a revolutionary way to discover how to tap into your peak productivity hours. With Pink by your side, you’ll be able to finally figure out when you should be working on tactical versus creative work. With this new-found information, you can coordinate your schedule to outmaneuver the clock.
Do you feel like your professional abilities have plateaued? Adam Grant wants you to Think Again. In Grant’s #1 New York Times Bestseller, he shows you how to unlearn so you can rediscover. Rather than letting outdated beliefs get the best of you, set yourself on a fresh path. Admit what you don’t know—and then go find answers!
To wrap up your business acumen, be sure to get a copy of How to Speak Tech. You live in a hyper-digital world. Be sure that you have all the jargon and lingo you need. It’s worth mentioning that this guide from Vinay Trivedi is especially useful if you manage technical people.
3. Books for whetting your entrepreneurial appetite.
Ah, the side hustle. At this point, more people than ever before are trying gigs. Some are working second jobs out of necessity. Others are joining the gig economy for fun. No matter if you sell crocheted items on Etsy or have a lawn care startup, you’ve entered the entrepreneurial fray.
Not sure how to make the most of being your own boss? Listen to what Jimmy Smith has to say throughout Side Hustle to Full Time Income. Smith has built a financial pipeline by implementing some proven side gig models. Side Hustle will open your eyes to the ways you can make more with your side gig than at your 9-to-5 job.
Do you enjoy a little entertainment from the business books you consume? Whet your appetite with Hangry. Written by Mike Evans, the innovator behind GrubHub, Hangry spells out real-world tips for building a startup. As the saying goes, the school of hard knocks is the best way to learn. But you can skip some of the jostling by learning from Evans’ lessons. Who knows? You might just end up unleashing a unicorn with your next brilliant idea.
To wrap up your reading, choose 12 Months to $1 Million. It’s a savvy roadmap to help you plan for what’s ahead if your hustle goes big-time. You’ll appreciate the straight-shooter narrative in this hefty guidebook that’s sure to be dog-eared. Don’t be afraid to buy an extra copy of Ryan Daniel Moran’s book to share with a favorite would-be entrepreneur.
4. A book for unraveling the mysteries of the metaverse.
You’re nine books in with one to go. This last suggestion is just to future-proof your mind: Navigating the Metaverse. What’s so important about being up to speed on topics like blockchain and web 3.0? Quite simply, they’ll be more relevant in the coming decade than you might assume. There’s no better way to get ready than to have a bit of a headstart in understanding all things metaverse before it’s a reality.
Is reading 10 books this year going to require a little commitment on your part? Sure. However, it’s a commitment that will pay off handsomely both personally and professionally
when the calendar rolls around again.
