178 – 3 Impacting Books I Read in 2019

What books did you read in 2019? What resources did you find most valuable?

In this episode of The New Music Industry Podcast, I share the three books that made the biggest difference for me in 2019.

Podcast Highlights:

• 00:34 – My recent reading habits
• 01:17 – The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck
• 03:17 – Your Best Year Ever
• 05:05 – You Were Born Rich
• 07:13 – What books did you read in 2019?

Transcription:

You can find my past recommendations here:

5 Impacting Books I Read in 2014
5 Impacting Books I Read in 2015
6 Impacting Books I Read in 2016
4 Impacting Books I Read in 2017
1 Impacting Book I Read in 2018

Some years, I’ve made a point of reading 52 books – one book for each week in the year.

Other years, I’ve limited my input to just what I wanted or needed in that moment.

I’m starting to get back into this habit, because of the many ways I’ve consumed content, I still feel one of the best ways to learn something is to read.

Though I certainly didn’t read 52 books last year, I dug into a few that I found valuable. So, in this episode, I will be sharing the most impacting books I read in 2019 .

There won’t be any sponsor breaks or extra call to actions in this episode, as that would simply be too much. Let’s keep the focus on the three books I talk about here.

So, with that, here are the three impacting books.

The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck: A Counterintuitive Approach to Living a Good Life by Mark Manson

When I think of books that made a difference for me in 2019, this is the one that immediately comes to mind.

I also talked about it on The Gyst Life podcast . If you’re interested in hearing a candid interview with yours truly, you can go to MusicEntrepreneurHQ.com/gyst to hear it. That’s g-y-s-t.

The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck prompts us to challenge what we think we know about self-improvement and the difference it can make for our lives.

Author Mark Manson is quick to suggest that the recent personal development wave hasn’t been shown to improve our lives. If anything, it can have us looking up at the pinnacle, wondering when we’re going to reach it. But we would all do well to accept that we are basically unremarkable and average.

We would all do well to accept that we are basically unremarkable and average.
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In the perfectly polished and manicured world of the online and social media , we end up playing a dangerous game of comparison , hoping our lives will one day look like the 10%. And, let’s be honest – most of us are secretly hoping that one day will be today.

So, what does Manson suggest we do instead? He suggests we nurture our curiosity.

Being curious helps us sidestep arrogance. It helps us remain open to the world around us and it safeguards against being a know-it-all in a world where you can’tknow it all.

Being curious helps us sidestep arrogance. It helps us remain open to the world around us and it safeguards against being a know-it-all.
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Who knows, if we stopped pretending to know it all, we might even learn something!

The paradox that some readers may not have picked up on is the fact that this book isn’t anti-personal development at all. If anything, it’s just asking us to stay humble and remain open to possibilities, for the sake of our own growth.

The thesis is that growth isn’t unimportant. But trying to become like the 10% might be. It might be more damaging to our psyche than we even realize. So, we may want to change the way we think about growth.

If this book got your attention, go to MusicEntrepreneurHQ.com/subtleart to learn more about it.

Your Best Year Ever: A 5-Step Plan for Achieving Your Most Important Goals by Michael Hyatt

Have you ever thought to yourself, “You know, I’m doing pretty good, but I wish I was doing better”?

Or maybe, “I just had an awesome year, but I wonder what it would look like if I had an over-the-top, blow it out of the water, pinnacle of the mountain kind of year”?

I just had an awesome year, but I wonder what it would look like if I had an over-the-top, blow it out of the water, pinnacle of the mountain kind of year!?
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If you can apply everything suggested in Your Best Year Ever by Michael Hyatt, then you should be able to set yourself up for that possibility.

Hyatt’s book has us evaluate various aspects of our lives to determine how we would rank ourselves in each area and what we could be doing to achieve greatness in each.

Failing to plan is planning to fail, and Hyatt’s book gives you an insane number of frameworks you can use to ensure you set achievable goals and reach them.

I would suggest applying one framework at a time, however, or getting a handle on this material might prove an uphill battle.

There are other profound insights, such as the idea that regret is pointing to opportunity.

People generally have negative feelings when it comes to regret, and actively deny having them. I have a song about regrets, and at shows, before pl