Finding the right books to read is hard to come by, especially when self-help guidance during this time is something you definitely need. The pandemic has altered the course of our lives, and to fight that morose feeling that lies inside, you need books that can act as your guide.
But it is not something that is easy to find. The market is flooded with books around productivity – all talking in abstracts while providing no ways to implement the tips they claim will help you grow. For those of you struggling, reading such “guides” can make you lose sight of what you seek.
Thankfully, the time inside gave me a lot to think about, and I found the right books to help me stay productive, and remove any sense of self-doubt.
With these top 5 books to read in 2024, you can have a wonderful and productive year ahead of you.
Disclaimer: If you click on the book links and then purchase the book, I’ll receive a commission. No worries though, you’ll still pay the standard amount so there’s no cost on your part.
Book 1: Profit First: Turning your business into a cash-eating machine.
I got to be honest. As far as books are concerned, I generally am apprehensive about those claiming tall tales. They have style in abundance, but when it comes to substance, half of the stuff they stay is a hindrance.
But that is not the case with this book.
Authored by Mike Michalowicz, it is one read that you cannot let go, especially if you think accounting is boring but you understand its necessity.
Here, you get a book with a conversational tone with the perfect balance of storytelling – something that you don’t expect from a book that claims to be an “accounting hack”. But what I got from here corrected the course of my business.
As a busy bee who is often suffering from information overload, I have always hankered for something that I can absorb easily. And, if that book is something that doesn’t take a lot of time to finish, I feel more confident in picking it up.
Profit First caters to both of these desires. Not only is it easy to read and has an abundance of information, but it also has principles that can prime your business finances towards success. Removing all the abstract and biting the pain points right at the throat, Profit first is indeed a beast that will help you succeed for sure.
Book 2: The Psychology of Money
What do you think about money and how you should think about it?
These are the questions answered in The Psychology of Money – a crisp book with high-quality content written by award-winning author Morgan Housel.
The way it delves into the realistic expectation of monetary gain was enough to make it to my top books to read in 2024.
Taking an unconventional approach towards how you think about investment, this read took my mind for a spin.
Over my years of being an entrepreneur, I have always held some beliefs that got stronger with time. There were not many parables that would have questioned my approach, but this book did that. Patience, wisdom, and self-awareness are the lessons this read has given me.
Almost a spiritual read (of course, it is subjective to me), this book will make you introspect and look deep inside your entrepreneurial mind. Morgan is aware of this particular mindset, for he understands its anxious state. But instead of giving some explicit lessons, he says that it's alright to feel that way.
“But there’s only one way to stay wealthy: some combination of frugality and paranoia.” – is a quote that will stay with me throughout my entrepreneurial journey.
Book 3: Eat That Frog
If you want a read that will push you back into action so that you can focus on the important aspects of your life, read Eat that Frog. This book shows you 21 great ways to stop procrastinating and get more done in less time. In fact, I loved this book so much that I wrote a dedicated article for it.
Every sentence presented in this book has a conversational tone. All the words you will encounter will enforce the need to move. And move after reading them, you will.
Authored by the Canadian-American Motivational Speaker Brian Tracy, Eat that Frog emphasizes embracing the discomfort to embrace success. And he has done so in the form that I prefer above all else – through storytelling.
Taking the most innocuous stories you can imagine, Brian Tracy playfully directs this conversation into a series of lessons that you can implement daily. He accentuates the need to have the clarity of the goal before taking the steps to achieve it. And then, he uses that as the foundation to exposit 20 other rules to take you out of bed and into productivity.
Book 4: Steal Like an Artist
To steal an art is to infringe upon it – that’s the statement I have heard most often. Taking that as a sermon, I have always contemplated originality, not realizing that it doesn’t take long for your creative tank to go empty.
Thankfully, I had Steal Like an Artist handy. It is not a conventional book. It is filled to the brim with quotes. But there is a difference – all of them are implementable. Nestled in those quotations and quick remarks are lessons that will help you understand the need of emulating rather than emulating.
The entrepreneurial journey is filled with trials that often consist of stolen ideas. And that’s what pushed me into reading this book. At first glance, I thought it was a book that teaches ways to plagiarize.
But that wasn’t the case.
Instead, it is a writing handbook that will teach you how to read with purpose.
It tells you how to set your sights between the lines of every sentence and to go as deep as possible to glance at their meaning.
Follow the music, and you will know how to sing too. – that’s the sense I got from reading this book. For those of you who are writers, this read is a lifesaver.
Book 5: Rest: Why you get more done when you work less
Anxiety, desperation, and still have the yearning to achieve perfection – do these words remind you of anyone?
It made me think of myself. Ignoring rests, I worked and worked with no reprieve in sight. It was only later that I realized the fallacy of my actions.
And I have Alex Soo Jung-Kim Pung to thank for that. This consultant of Silicon Valley with a scholarly aptitude wrote this book to help workaholics like us understand the value of rest.
- You rest, you recharge.
- And when you recharge, you can think.
- And when you can think, you can plan.
- And when you can plan, you can implement.
That is the crux of this read – and that’s why it is one of the top books of 2024.
Final Words
If you want to stay productive forever, make sure to grab these reads and absorb the lessons they provide.
Hopefully, 2024 will become the best year for you.