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.