Best books for soulpreneurs
I have read a fair number of books the last few years. Some that stand out often offer gems of wisdom gleamed from experience by experts who have walked the path, failed and picked themselves up again. Others that come from a deep spiritual practice. Rather than mention what are on many other websites’ lists ie. “The Power of Now”, “The Alechemist” or “Think and Grow Rich” (all of which I have enjoyed and gleamed insight from), I recommend some other books that offer transforming wisdom and that have been best sellers in their own right.
1. ‘Leap of Perception’ by Penny Peirce
Highly recommended by Dr. Martha Beck, this book has a very holistic view point and hence includes the way the brain thinks, our intuition, our past and present, and the mind-body connection. She is all about growing our perceptive ability and adjusting our ways of living accordingly. Hence Peirce covers how to create the life you want, resolve conflict issues, reduce fatigue and worry, and how to grow your intuition and creativity.
Note: Many writers and coaches use the phrases “left brain” and “right brain” rather liberally when in actual fact, science has shown that the brain does not have a clear delineation of thinking or of the subconscious. But I just took Peirce’s mention of left brain to mean analytical and logical thinking and the right brain to represent creative thinking and the subconscious.
2. ‘The Startup Survival System’ by Kurt Won
Business consultant K. Won shares some of his insights on how a startup can not only survive but thrive in its first 2 years of business. A large part of his knowledge comes from being adviser to over 1,000 entrepreneurs and business owners from 15 different countries.
This book offers practical guidelines that help you stay on focus, prioritize your business, and acheive results. It shows new CEOs how to prevent a business from failing while building a strong foundation, improve efficiency of operations, attain more sales, and increase profitability.
3. ‘The Hard Thing About Hard Things’ by Ben Horowitz
This book was endorsed by Larry Page and Mark Zuckerberg and rightly so, as it offers some unusual thoughts about business and entrepreneurship.
Horowitz claims that there is no set formula for success. He then goes on to explain that there are only lessons we can gleam from challenges that come our way. The good news is he also provides some helpful tips on how to get through the inevitable “hard times”.
4. ‘Nothing but the Truth So Help ME God’ by 73 Women on Life’s Transitions
It’s quite an amazing list of women in this book including public speaker, Gabrielle Bernstein, business notable, Janet Hanson and social entrepreneur, Megan Calhoun. The stories are incredibly personal. Journalist Vanessa Hua shares about how she managed with her Parkinson’s Disease father and another contributor describes how she copes after accidentally killing her father in a car accident. This is not just a book about achievement, it’s also a book about how certain episodes transform people and their engagement with the world.
5. ‘Choose Yourself’ by James Altucher
James Altucher was someone I discovered some years ago on Quora. I loved how he has often been able to offer a different lens on hot topics and current issues. This book is for anyone who aspires to being an entrepreneur with heart.
Altucher covers a whole array of situations we all go through including failure and rejection. He uses his own experience of gaining millions and losing them and subsequently regaining them, but this time on his own terms.
Note: Altucher has a website of the same name. There is advice on crypto-currency investments which I would read with caution. It’s a hot topic that even investment firms and Mark Cuban have discussed. The only sure thing one can say about it is crypto-currencies’ ability to climb and then spiral in the course of a few weeks, days even, something Cuban and Altucher can weather.
6. ‘What the Dog Saw’ by Malcolm Gladwell
I’ve always loved the way Malcolm Gladwell could take any topic and spin it in a different way that often lights up the proverbial light bulb. This book is a collection of some of his best insightful writing when he was working for The New Yorker.
All the essays have pieces of wisdom including one ‘The Talent Myth’, an article that details why companies do themselves an injustice by not promoting the right people. In Gladwell’s mind, some of us are seeing the idea of job talent in the wrong way.
7. ‘Make Your Creative Dreams Real: A Plan for Procrastinators, Perfectionists, Busy People and People Who Would Really Rather Sleep All Day’ by SARK
If you have ever procrastinated or wondered if you could somehow create the perfect service, do not despair, read this book! It’s filled with tips and written in such a way that you may chuckle while gaining some insight into how tiny steps can build your dreams.
I liked this book because it was a rather playful take on something we all struggle with especially when we have too many ideas or projects on the plate. Many books offer wisdom into the world of creativity, but few offer a step-by-step plan to get there.
Note : I skipped the first few pages about how we all have dreams that deserve our attention and got straight into the various steps of addressing our inner critic and procrastination.
8. ‘Mindfulness: an Eight Week Plan in Finding Peace in a Frantic World’ by Mark Williams and Denny Penman
The authors teach some incredibly useful ways to practice mindfulness based on Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT). The is one of the few step by step plans which you can use for yourself or your meditation group with a series of helpful practices.
Being science based, it really reminded me of a former group I attended, run by a psychotherapist and a mindfulness teacher who combined Cognitive therapy with many creative mindful exercises. These practice sessions are something you can simply follow to help you with anxiety, work stress, insomnia and even depression. It is a reminder that looking after our mental and emotional well-being takes work but work that can begin with simple mindful steps.
9. ‘Business Adventures’ by John Brooks
Writer John Brooks took his New Yorker articles and created this compilation of detailed profiles of the Piggly Wiggly stores, General Electric, Ford, and Xerox. Bill Gates and philanthropist CEO Warren Buffett have read it as it’s most definitely about the corporate big wigs. A fair bit of it gives a historic perspective but Brooks is an utterly engaging writer. I offer this book as a suggestion because new entrepreneurs tend to read “how to” books about online business and this one is at the other end of the spectrum which actually gives you the other side of business. Perhaps what is interesting about some of the accounts is the way stockbrokers and short sellers took advantage of certain scenarios which actually gives you an idea about stock market behavior if you see yourself as an interested investor.
10. ‘Tools of Titans’ by Tim Ferris
This book has come from Ferris’ interviews with hundreds of achievers from various backgrounds on his well known podcast. Ferris then garnered themes from each conversation and actually tested them out. Some might be misled to think that it’s all about business building by virtue of the title, but it’s more a collection of life hacks about exercise, diet and morning routines of the Titans. I included it as part of a soulpreneur’s journey which includes an actualized lifestyle.
