How to Talk to Anyone at Work | Leil Lowndes

Perhaps so far you haven’t been that fortunate at work. Most people aren’t. You may be stuck with a boss who constantly criticizes you, is a control freak, micromanager, or just plain jerk.

When you were a kid, nothing prepared you for these workplace characters, because, hopefully, you had parents and relatives who believed in you and complimented you when you did something good.

No matter what you do or where you earn your living, your work can be either a dream job or a nightmare. It’s all up to you.

What’s the Number One Skill You Need? You guessed it: whether it’s online or in person, it’s the rare ability to communicate effectively with everyone in your place of employment. I’m not just talking about regular communication skills, the kind people need to get along in everyday life. I’m talking about specific techniques necessary for success on the job.

It’s the people we work with that make our jobs gratifying or grueling.

Eleven Rings: The Soul of Success | Phil Jackson & Hugh Delehanty

I learn a lot from the biographies and the true stories of professionals. During his storied career as head coach of the Chicago Bulls and Los Angeles Lakers, Phil Jackson won more championships than any coach in the history of professional sports. And he has a lot to share in his book: Eleven Rings: The Soul of Success. Besides, there are great quotes in this book. Here they are:

When you do things from your soul, you feel a river moving in you, a joy.

                                     RUMI

Life is a journey. Time is a river. The door is ajar.

                                     JIM BUTCHER

Think Again | Adam Grant

Think Again is a must-read for anyone who wants to create a culture of learning and exploration, whether at home, at work, or at school... In an increasingly divided world, the lessons in this book are more important than ever. - Bill and Melinda Gates

Organizational psychologist Adam Grant is an expert on opening other people's minds--and our own. As Wharton's top-rated professor and the bestselling author of Originals and Give and Take, he makes it one of his guiding principles to argue like he's right but listen like he's wrong. With bold ideas and rigorous evidence, he investigates how we can embrace the joy of being wrong, bring nuance to charged conversations, and build schools, workplaces, and communities of lifelong learners. You'll learn how an international debate champion wins arguments, a Black musician persuades white supremacists to abandon hate, a vaccine whisperer convinces concerned parents to immunize their children, and Adam has coaxed Yankees fans to root for the Red Sox. 

Think Again reveals that we don't have to believe everything we think or internalize everything we feel. It's an invitation to let go of views that are no longer serving us well and prize mental flexibility over foolish consistency. If knowledge is power, knowing what we don't know is wisdom. 

Decoding Greatness | Ron Friedman

Decoding Greatness is a game-changing approach to mastery that will transform the way you learn new skills and generate creative ideas.

For generations, we've been taught there are two ways to succeed—either from talent or practice. In Decoding Greatness, award-winning social psychologist Ron Friedman illuminates a powerful third path—one that has quietly launched icons in a wide range of fields, from artists, writers, and chefs, to athletes, inventors, and entrepreneurs: reverse engineering.

To reverse engineer is to look beyond what is evident on the surface and find a hidden structure. It's the ability to taste an intoxicating dish and deduce its recipe, to listen to a beautiful song and discern its chord progression, to watch a horror film and grasp its narrative arc.

Extreme Ownership | Jocko Willink and Leif Babin

In Extreme Ownership, Jocko Willink and Leif Babin share hard-hitting, Navy SEAL combat stories that translate into lessons for business and life. I have read an updated edition of the blockbuster bestselling leadership book that took America and the world by storm, two U.S. Navy SEAL officers who led the most highly decorated special operations unit of the Iraq War demonstrate how to apply powerful leadership principles from the battlefield to business and life.

It is a great read of the lessons on the battlefield and how they can be applied to everyday business efforts.

Sent to the most violent battlefield in Iraq, Jocko Willink and Leif Babin's SEAL task unit faced a seemingly impossible mission: help U.S. forces secure Ramadi, a city deemed "all but lost." In gripping firsthand accounts of heroism, tragic loss, and hard-won victories in SEAL Team Three's Task Unit Bruiser, they learned that leadership—at every level—is the most important factor in whether a team succeeds or fails.

Below you may find out my key take-aways from each part of this book. I hope you will enjoy and learn from my highlights.

Greenlights | Matthew McConaughey

Another great book is over as of this Father's Day (2021, 20 June). I really loved the quotes from this book. Normally I am a big fan of biographies and autobiographies and this book was a good example of why I love this type of books. In short, they make me learn from other people's experiences. Do you also like to learn from others' mistakes and take-aways, then you should have a look at this book. 

From the Academy Award®–winning actor, an unconventional memoir filled with raucous stories, outlaw wisdom, and lessons learned the hard way about living with greater satisfaction.

Unflinchingly honest and remarkably candid, Matthew McConaughey's book invites us to grapple with the lessons of his life as he did—and to see that the point was never to win, but to understand.—Mark Manson, author of The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck

 

I've been in this life for fifty years, been trying to work out its riddle for forty-two, and been keeping diaries of clues to that riddle for the last thirty-five. Notes about successes and failures, joys and sorrows, things that made me marvel, and things that made me laugh out loud. How to be fair. How to have less stress. How to have fun. How to hurt people less. How to get hurt less. How to be a good man. How to have meaning in life. How to be more me.

Introduction

This is a playbook, based on adventures in my life. Adventures that have been significant, enlightening, and funny, sometimes because they were meant to be but mostly because they didn’t try to be. I’m an optimist by nature, and humor has been one of my great teachers. It has helped me deal with pain, loss, and lack of trust. I’m not perfect; no, I step in shit all the time and recognize it when I do. I’ve just learned how to scrape it off my boots and carry on.

Get Good with Money | Tiffany Aliche

Get Good with Money is a book of a ten-step plan for finding peace, safety, and harmony with your money—no matter how big or small your goals and no matter how rocky the market might be—by the inspiring and savvy “Budgetnista” Tiffany Aliche.

Tiffany Aliche was a successful pre-school teacher with a healthy nest egg when a recession and advice from a shady advisor put her out of a job and into a huge financial hole. As she began to chart the path to her own financial rescue, the outline of her ten-step formula for attaining both financial security and peace of mind began to take shape. These principles have now helped more than one million women worldwide save and pay off millions in debt, and begin planning for a richer life.

Introduction

Budgetnista: My dad sat me down and I had my very first, purposeful, conscious money talk. I learned that things cost money and that the choices I make have a direct impact on my quality of life. In other words, there is no such thing as a small financial choice. We each must learn how to weigh our short-term desires against our long-term goals. The question is, will you choose water or ice cream?

I had a condo I no longer lived in and a problematic tenant. I owed massive debt. I had no job and no savings, and I lived at home. My parents, although awesome, were super strict (I had a curfew even though I was almost thirty). And my youngest sister, Lisa, was staying in my high school bedroom suite in the basement, so I was relegated to my middle-school bed, in what was now my mother’s second closet/guest room. And I was still single. Big surprise. I lived this way for two years. I didn’t go out. I avoided my friends and stopped picking up the phone when my money ran out and the bill collectors started calling. Ultimately, the bank would foreclose on my condo.

Decisive | Chip Heath and Dan Heath

In Decisive, Chip Heath and Dan Heath, the bestselling authors of Made to Stick and Switch, tackle the thorny problem of how to overcome our natural biases and irrational thinking to make better decisions, about our work, lives, companies and careers.

When it comes to decision making, our brains are flawed instruments. But given that we are biologically hard-wired to act foolishly and behave irrationally at times, how can we do better? A number of recent bestsellers have identified how irrational our decision making can be. But being aware of a bias doesn't correct it, just as knowing that you are nearsighted doesn't help you to see better. In Decisive, the Heath brothers, draw on extensive studies and stories...

High Performance Habits | Brendon Burchard

Twenty years ago, author Brendon Burchard became obsessed with answering three questions:

Why do some individuals and teams succeed more quickly than others and sustain that success over the long term?

Of those who pull it off, why are some miserable and others consistently happy on their journey?

What motivates people to reach for higher levels of success in the first place, and what practices help them improve the most?

After extensive original research and a decade as the world's leading high performance coach, Burchard found the answers. It turns out that just six deliberate habits give you the edge. Anyone can practice these habits and, when they do, extraordinary things happen in their lives, relationships, and careers.

Which habits can help you achieve long-term success and vibrant well-being no matter your age, career, strengths, or personality?

Zero Negativity | Ant Middleton

This book will not tell you who to be, where you should live, or what job you should do. That’s up to you. What this book is for, however, is to give you the tools you need to become the best possible version of yourself, to own who and what you are, and to live your life with Zero Negativity. Here is a good read with great insights and mindsets to follow from Ant Middleton. Interesting to have his wife's input on this one as well and goes to show that it's not all for the book, the man completely lives by what he writes. Here are my key take-aways:

The Biggest Bluff | Maria Konnikova

It's true that Maria Konnikova had never actually played poker before and didn't even know the rules when she approached Erik Seidel, Poker Hall of Fame inductee and winner of tens of millions of dollars in earnings, and convinced him to be her mentor. But she knew her man: a famously thoughtful and broad-minded player, he was intrigued by her pitch that she wasn't interested in making money so much as learning about life. She had faced a stretch of personal bad luck, and her reflections on the role of chance had led her to a giant of game theory, who pointed her to poker as the ultimate master class in learning to distinguish between what can be controlled and what can't. And she certainly brought...

Tiny Habits | BJ Fogg

When our results fall short of our expectations, the inner critic finds an opening and steps on stage. Many of us believe that if we fail to be more productive, lose weight, or exercise regularly then something must be wrong with us. If only we were better people, we wouldn’t have failed. If only we had followed that program to the letter or kept those promises to ourselves, we would have succeeded. We just need to get our act together and pull ourselves up by our bootstraps and do better. Right?

Nope. Sorry. Not right.