“Books are the quietest and most constant of friends, they are the most accessible and wisest of counsellors, and the most patient of teachers.”
– Charles W. Eliot
Books never betray us. They are our friends, philosophers, and guides. Books open brand new worlds to us. They take us on exciting adventures over time and place. Be it fiction or nonfiction, books teach us important life lessons. They broaden our horizons and make us realize that the world is a vast place with infinite opportunities.
There are a plethora of books today. Every day, more and more books are getting published. For us bibliophiles, choosing our next read is both exciting and perplexing. Even with all the new books we get our hands on, there are certain reads that we get back to time and again. These books leave a lasting impact on us and compel us to come back to them time and again. If you ask me, I will be hard pressed to choose such a book. For me, there is more than one book that keeps pulling me back to them. One such book would be Charles Dickens’ Great Expectations. It was the first classic that my dad gifted me. So, I find myself revisiting it from time to time. Another such book would be Sidney Sheldon’s Sands of Time. I had swapped it from my dad’s library in my early teens. This book opened a whole new world to me.
Let us see what our experts have to say about books that we revisit regularly and what keeps us bringing back to them.
Deep Work Sharpens Focus and Defends Time
One book I return to often is Cal Newport’s Deep Work. I am drawn to its devotion to uninterrupted work amidst an interrupting world.
There are many lessons to be learned, and I appreciate something different each time. Initially, I learned to better organize my day to complete pressing tasks, and not be so distracted by other things. Eventually, it served as a cue to defend time in my schedule to allow for strategic considerations and tackle challenges and be more creative while doing so. Constantly finding more ways to focus and remove time-consuming tasks of little to no value to tackle large projects with the most value possible. Deep Work is full of great ideas for someone trying to balance deep work while juggling all the demands in a work day.
Asawar Ali, CEO, Link Building Agency
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Hemingway Inspires Grit through Daily Wins
I still keep The Old Man and the Sea on my bookshelf. This book is an excellent example of how one should be able to get through tough times with the small victories every day by the strength of their ability to “show up” for the fight, not just win the war. I read this story about a man who finds his way back to shore, time after time, every time he reads it; it helps put things into a different perspective when it seems like the world has gone crazy again with our complex systems, and everything else around us.
Shannon Beatty, Real Estate Investor, House Buying Girls
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Meditations Anchors Me and Clarifies Priorities
I often revisit reading through Marcus Aurelius’ Meditations. This classic diary has been an anchor, as tested by time, for me to keep my feet on the ground during turbulent times. Each time I have read this journal gives me a new and different way to view how our minds work. The template he provides for finding that feeling of peace we are all searching for, is timeless. He also shows me his wisdom which is simple yet very effective. Whenever he does remind me of what’s important to me, it makes it easier for me to focus, regardless of how difficult or mundane the tasks may be.
Mike Otranto, Founder, Wake County Home Buyers
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The War of Art Crushes Resistance
The War Of Art By Steven Pressfield is something I always have with me. I find that it has a very honest and direct way of breaking down ‘resistance,’ which is an internal force opposing to the creation of work or being productive. Recognizing resistance helps you reclaim your ability to focus on what needs to be done, and The War of Art serves as a guide for how to overcome procrastination. It is a valuable resource every time you need to start again in either a creative project or career.
Adam New, Principal Owner, The Cash Offer Company
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Essentialism Cuts Clutter and Elevates Results
In a world that is over connected, where there is an excessive amount of information and distractions coming at us from all sides, Greg McKeowns book “Essentialism” has become one of my most often returned to books. The essential idea behind this concept-the disciplined pursuit of less- provides a much needed filter to help cut through the clutter. Reading it again (and often) helps me find what is truly important to keep in mind while eliminating everything else so that I am able to use every bit of my mental clarity towards working on the things that will yield the greatest results.
Amanda New, Founder, Cash For Houses Girl
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The Psychology of Money Promotes Patience
I always come back to Morgan Housel’s The Psychology of Money. It isn’t about charts, it’s about how people actually behave with money. The stories about greed and fear remind me of my own investing mistakes. It pulls me back to thinking long-term, which is probably the best advice I end up giving clients anyway.
Ryan Nelson, Founder, Stock Calculator
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The Phoenix Project Restores Calm and Focus
“The Phoenix Project” is on my mind anytime we have a failed new infrastructure rollout. It’s about determining what IS wrong instead of constantly fighting every fire everywhere. That enables me to bring the team back to earth from hyperventilating and keep them in the practice of trying to get ONE thing working, then another.
That is one of the biggest things we learn, anytime we do a large upgrade which rarely runs flawlessly the first time around.
Jake Brander, President, Brander Group Inc.
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The Great CEO Within Transforms 1:1s
I frequently reread Matt Mochary’s ‘The Great CEO Within’ when challenges emerge at Acquire.com. In fact, his technique on 1:1 meetings literally made my team begin talking directly and openly with each other. They took ownership and morale improved – which is no small feat!
This, though, isn’t the case when his input on 1:1s far outperforms me guessing like the old days. If you’re leading people, buy this and skip your best guesses.
Andrew Gazdecki, CEO, Acquire.com
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Sprint Unblocks Teams and Accelerates Delivery
I was on a project that was totally stalled for months when I was working at Design Cloud, and I read this book Sprint, by Jake Knapp. And we basically just tried out his process, and things just started moving. Things started getting finished early, rather than finishing late… if you have creative block with something you are working on, I would just definitely give this a shot.
James Rigby, Director, Design Cloud
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E-Myth Revisited Champions Systems, Not Heroics
Being a creator of service and technology companies, I always go back to books that help me focus better while working under stress.
One of the books that I often read again is “The E-Myth Revisited” written by Michael E. Gerber. What makes me go back to this book again and again is the concept behind it, saying that business shouldn’t rely solely on the efforts of the founder himself. The process of work needs to be systemized.
This message becomes relevant each time a company starts growing. For instance, when a company operates in transportation, all exceptions related to clients, all questions raised by drivers, any vendor-related concerns, and even any particularities of bookings need to have an owner – and the owner cannot be the founder himself.
Thinking about our fleeter.ai, we try to stick to the same principle – we do not want to put extra effort into the process but to systemize it.
Arsen Misakyan, CEO and Founder, LAXcar
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Yoga Sutras Reveal Mind and Teach Stillness
The book that I always return to is the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali. I read it for the first time when I was doing my 200 hour teacher training in 2012 and I was like, “Oh, I get it.” But I didn’t. Not even close.
The Yoga Sutras is a collection of 196 aphorisms written by the sage Patanjali sometime around 400 CE, from the workings of the mind to the nature of consciousness to the practical steps of yogic discipline. The sutras are intentionally brief, sometimes only a few words long, as the text was meant to be memorized and then explored throughout a lifetime with a teacher. When I first read Sutra 1.2, “Yogas chitta vritti nirodhah”, which translates roughly as “yoga is the stilling of the fluctuations of the mind”, I thought it was a simple definition of yoga. At some point in year 5 of practicing, I started to comprehend it as a description of what the mind does all day and why stillness is so difficult to maintain. That same sutra now guides me in my teaching of breathwork, how I organize our meditation programs at Siddhi Yoga and, in all honesty, how I conduct meetings.
Meera Watts, Holistic Yoga Expert & Entrepreneur | CEO and Founder, Siddhi Yoga
About ‘What Experts Read’
In our unique series, ‘What Experts Read,’ discover the literary inspirations and must-reads of thought leaders and industry experts. Each article highlights the books that have impacted the viewpoints, tactics, and success of successful entrepreneurs and seasoned leaders in their respective areas.
Discover a wide range of sectors, including technology, finance, healthcare, and more, as professionals share their best book suggestions and talk about the significant influence these reads have had on their careers. Discover priceless information, expand your horizons, and gain insightful knowledge from experts at the forefront of their fields.
‘What Experts Read’ is an insightful look at the relationship between knowledge, experience, and the written word, and it may be of interest to anybody looking for motivation, strategic advice, or just to learn more about the reading preferences of prominent industry figures. Join us for this insightful tour of the most important leaders’ bookshelves of today.
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