Not sure where to get started? Here is a short list of 10 great books that I believe every young adult, student, potential entrepreneur and a person in their mid-life crisis should read in order to make ever-lasting changing in their lives.
How to Win Friends and Influence People – Dale Carnegie
This book went on to become a best-seller and is the teaching of this book resonates with a lot of university students who are entering into the work-life phase. It should be read by everyone who wants to learn how to build relationships effectively and expand your network and communication skills, some of which are critical when adjusting to a new environment and new people.
Business Adventures – John Brooks
Bill Gates asked Warren Buffet what his favourite book was. Warren Buffet suggested ‘Business Adventures’; a book he read at a young age. After Bill Gates read the book, he described the author as “my favourite business writer” and the publication as the “best business book I’ve ever read”. This book engages with the reader and gives an insightful look into the corporate and financial life in America and improves the understanding intricacies of corporate life with a load of drama and adventure!
Magic of Thinking Big – David Shwartz
MTB is for those who struggle with looking at the bigger picture, tend to procrastinate on their dreams and for those narrow minded and negative thinkers. The author offers plenty of personal advice that enables you to change your mindset and help you get inspired and motivated to create a bigger and more positive life for yourself, which can lead to a more lucrative and rewarding life ahead.
The 4 Hour Work Week – Tim Ferris
4HWW teaches you how to escape the dreaded and monotonous 9-5 working day, live anywhere and join the rich. It shows readers how to live more and work less and is popular amongst students and entrepreneurs. The book examines how the author went from $40,000 per year and 80 hours per week to $40,000 per month and 4 hours per week, including the art of delegating responsibility.
The 4HWW isn’t just for guys and girls who want to start a small online business. The book also mentions smart moves and techniques to deploy such as outsourcing, following the 80/20 rule, and automating processes which should be understood and implemented by all.
Rich Dad Poor Dad – Robert Kiyosaki and Sharon Lechter
You should not be graduating university without reading RDPD! The book has sold over 30 million copies and is treasured by millennials worldwide as it teaches the art of being financially independent and increasing your wealth and savings through various forms of investments and diversification of income. The work of Kiyosaki and Lechter focuses on improving financial intelligence and increase one’s entrepreneurial and financial aptitude.
Focal Point – Brian Tracy
Got a lot on your to-do list? This is a must-read for university students particularly. Focal Point offers advice and tips as to how one can develop a disciplined lifestyle and learn the art of focusing on a single task before moving on to the next one. The book claims to guide in clearing clutter and improve organisation and productivity.
Think and Grow Rich – Napolean Hill
The concepts in this book have been well received by readers.
Think and Grow Rich focuses on optimism and realizing how positive thinking can change your life and create a reality you always imagined for yourself. It explores the concepts of how thoughts, good or bad, can create your beliefs in the form of taking actions, which sequentially transform into habits.
If you focus your thoughts on success, achieving it will be much more likely than thinking about obstacles, failures and everything else that can get in your way. A must-read!
One Minute Manager – Kenneth Blanchard
This short book teaches how to incorporate three important practical management techniques: One Minute Goals, One Minute Praising’s, and One Minute Reprimands. This best seller also gives examples of such techniques being put in place in medicine and behavioural sciences and how it has worked well for so many people across the globe. As described, ‘The book is brief, the language is simple, and best of all … it works.’
The Lean Startup: How Today’s Entrepreneurs Use Continuous Innovation to Create Radically Successful Businesses – Eric Ries
If you’re thinking of starting up a business post graduation, this book is for you. Lean Startup explores the mind of Eric Ries who describes his startup strategy for startup companies and growing businesses. The author focuses on preventing the failure of new businesses and the approach to adopt to build innovative companies and launching new products. The book is all about learning what your customers really want and how best to cater to them. It is all about testing and challenging the vision you have for a successful company.
Purple Cow: Transform Your Business by Being Remarkable– Seth Godin
Few authors have had the kind of lasting impact and global reach that Seth Godin has had and this effect has been strengthened by the Purple Cow. He has taught generations of readers how to make remarkable products and spread powerful ideas.
In Purple Cow, Godin launched a movement to make truly remarkable products that are worth marketing in the first place. Through stories about companies like Starbucks, JetBlue, Krispy Kreme, and Apple, coupled with his signature provocative style, he inspires readers to rethink what their marketing is really saying about their product. In a world that grows noisier by the day, Godin’s challenge has never been more relevant to writers, marketers, advertisers, entrepreneurs, makers, product managers, and anyone else who has something to share with the world.
