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In a year that saw the coronavirus, racial and political strife, environmental disasters, and an embattled economy, these books provided hope, wisdom, sage actionable advice and a welcome respite from life’s troubles. These 2020 must read books will open your mind to new possibilities and will quite possibly change your life!
I think we can all agree that 2020 has been a muther. There have been many, seemingly unrelenting challenges, and it’s been tough, no doubt. Many of our friends and family have lost the ability to work. Some have gotten sick. Others (heck, probably most of us!) are stressed, isolated, and frustrated at our upended schedules, lack of social interaction, and lack of a clear view of how and when things will get better.
But as the saying goes, “never waste a good crisis.” Or “crises are opportunities in disguise.” Or some such thing 🤷♂️. At any rate, the point here is that, embedded within difficult times, have been opportunities to learn and to grow.
Maybe you were able to continue working, but from home. It’s still work, but work is much nicer when all the creature comforts of home are available to you. Maybe you’d been burning the candle at both ends, and all of the time quarantining has allowed you (forced you?) to take a much needed break, maybe spend more time with family.
And for many, the time at home has allowed them to spend more time on things that are important to them. Pursuing a hobby, learning a skill, and of course having more time to read have all been made just a little bit easier simply by having more time at home. Personally, over the course of this year, I’ve read a lot of books, many of which have been extremely inspiring and impactful.
With that in mind, I present to you here the six most life changing books I’ve experienced this year, with the hope that one of these will give you some new ideas, techniques, or optimism that you can use to make your life better.
Every single one of these books has changed me in some way, inspired me, and encouraged me to be more intentional with how I approach my life, in terms of time, effort, and money dedicated. If you’re also interested in improving an area of your life (or many), or if you just want some inspiration, check these out. I can’t recommend them highly enough! Now on to the list!
1. Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future by Ashlee Vance
I love biographies in general. Hearing a person’s life story, the challenges they’ve faced, as well as learning about their triumphs always presents lessons and insights that we can apply to our own lives. I first read Ashlee Vance’s Elon Musk bio in February of 2020. Since then I’ve listened to the audio version of it twice more.
Is there a person working today that better symbolizes what the human race is capable of? Maybe. But the persona of Elon Musk just speaks to me. Born in South Africa, Elon read constantly as a young boy, coded (and sold!) his first game when he was 12, earned degrees in business and physics and went on to form and run multiple million- and billion-dollar companies, the most well known being SpaceX and Tesla. He’s often been called the real-life Ironman.
Elon is on a mission to change the way we live and work, and even has the end goal of saving the human race by making it possible for us to travel to and colonize other planets. How’s that for visionary thinking?
Even if you only have a remote interest in science and technology, give this one a read. It’ll give you some insight into one of the most important figures in our world today. A man who, although he may have appeared insane just a few short years ago, is now steadily and confidently bringing his audacious vision into reality.
2. Can’t Hurt Me by David Goggins
This one definitely lives up to the hype. I had heard David’s story on a few different podcasts, and so I kind of put off picking up his book for a while. Finally, I had an audible credit I needed to spend and went with the audio version. This is another one that really benefits from this format, and I suggest going this route if you can. Most of the book is narrated by his biographer but in between chapters the two of them expand on the ideas and stories presented in a quasi-podcast type format. There is some really insightful (and funny!) material here.
David Goggins is a former Navy SEAL and endurance athlete who is known for his mental and physical toughness. But, that’s a bit of an understatement. Physically capable people, military special operators and all-around bad asses are typically inspiring figures. There’s no surprise there. But David and this book are different.
I will tell you it’s really tough, at least for me, to end my 5-mile run early when I’m actively listening to David talk about his first 100 miler. It’s hard to feel sorry for myself when I listen to him talk about his grueling hell week experiences (all 3 of them!) where he ran on broken legs. With this in mind, David’s become my running companion of late and listening to his words and ideas has been a real boost to my fitness habit, especially where conditioning is concerned.
Now I know that ultimately, we need to be intrinsically motivated if we want to be successful in the long run. David even says that you need to motivate yourself. Eventually, the spark of motivation that I get from listening to the book may wear off. That’s okay though, because when it does, something else will have replaced it. The Stay Hard mindset. That’s another way of saying that the habit of pushing myself daily to do the uncomfortable things will be firmly in place. It’ll be a part of me and not something I need to reach for outside of myself.
Give this one a try if you need something to shake you out of your oh-so- comfy routine.
3. The Millionaire Fastlane by MJ DeMarco
Ah money. While certainly not the end all, be all solution to all of life’s problems, having more of it does certainly make things easier. At least up to a point.
Like many, I started taking my finances more seriously with Dave Ramsey’s Total Money Makeover. My wife and I took care of our debt (except the house), we never use credit cards, and we started saving money for retirement.
Over the past two years especially, I’ve continued to educate myself about personal finance to include mutual funds, UTM accounts, high yield online savings accounts, and old faithful…the index fund. I would think to myself, “Maybe it will take me my whole life, but eventually I AM going to build some wealth and secure the future for my family and future generations!”
These are all good, responsible things to do. However, during this time there was something that bothered me, that gnawed at me as an irritating thought that scratched at the back of my brain. If it takes me till the age of 70 to save up enough money to enjoy my life….will I have enough life left to enjoy? Is the reason that traditional finance gurus continue to amass fortunes really because they saved their entire lives with index funds? But…..they’re not that old yet, and aren’t they already financially wealthy, in their 30’s, 40’s, and 50’s???
Enter MJ DeMarco and The Millionaire Fastlane. This book poses the questions above and challenges the reader to question traditional personal finance advice. Spoiler alert– The answer to how to get wealthy before you’re geriatric is….duh, make more money.
Increase your income. So simple! And obvious! Right!??? Well, if you’re like me you’ve followed a somewhat traditional life path of going to college, getting a 9 to 5, and then trying to eek out another promotion. Yes, promotions often come with a raise, but that’s really, REALLY, not what we’re talking about here in terms of increasing income.
Anyway, I don’t want to spoil the whole book for you. You need to read it for yourself. This book will challenge your thoughts about finance, about what is possible, and will definitely get the gears turning as to what to do about it.
4. The 10X Rule by Grant Cardone
Here’s a disclaimer up front- Sometimes Grant gives off major “used car salesman” vibes. I mean, he IS in sales and he used to sell cars. But don’t let that steer you away from what is a great collection of thoughts on being intentional with your life and striving for more than you thought possible.
MAN, do I love his energy! If you’re not familiar with Grant Cardone, he owns a ton of real estate, is known for teaching sales, and has a very active social media presence. He built his businesses after losing his father at a young age and struggling with addiction problems. Coming from that, you really get the sense that he wakes up every morning feeling excited and optimistic at life’s possibilities!
In fact, this is one of those books that really benefits from the audio version. If you can get it on audio, do, because Grant’s passion for life, having big dreams, and moving boldly towards achievements is infectious and incredibly inspiring.
The title, “10X”, refers to the idea that whatever you’re contemplating, whether it’s a goal, the number of hours of work you’ll need to undertake, or a financial number you need to hit, you should go ahead and multiply that by 10. It’ll always take more time, more money, more effort than you think.
This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, as we tend to match our level of effort to what we think is needed. This book sets us straight. If something is important to you, don’t set expectations of yourself low. Set them extremely high! Not only are you capable, but this mindset will motivate you to raise your daily effort and will ensure that you are much more likely to succeed in your endeavors.
And here’s the most important lesson, which Grant goes into more detail in the book: We too often sell ourselves short and place unnecessary limits on ourselves. You should 10X your dreams as well! (yes “10X” is a verb now, lol). This idea has been eye opening to me. The reason it’s such a big deal is simply that big goals are way more inspiring than mediocre ones. You can definitely achieve more than you thought possible if you’re willing to put in the work and create the VISION.
5. Every Tool’s a Hammer by Adam Savage
I’ve spent my whole 18-yr career as a musician and knowledge worker. Sure, playing and writing music gives you the opportunity to create, and in the book Adam mentions that “making” is an umbrella term that has broad application. But personally, I’ve often found myself wishing I had more tangible skills. Skills I could use to BUILD things. Anyone else out there feel the same?
Naturally, Adam Savage, world famous master maker and noted TV personality of Mythbusters fame, is the guy to make one believe they can actually do it!
This book is part memoir, part maker’s manual, and part life advice column all rolled into one. It contains funny stories about Adam’s career in the movie and TV industries, fascinating pictures and diagrams of projects, and practical recommendations on where to start as a maker and how to improve your process(es) as one.
Adam makes you feel as though the maker movement is all inclusive and you can be a member if you should so choose. Just start already, because we ALL have some level of creativity in us just waiting to be expressed.
6. The Alter Ego Effect by Todd Herman
I just wrapped this one up recently and was pretty thrilled with it. But not necessarily because Todd Herman’s The Alter Ego Effect introduced me to a new way of thinking. Have you ever had ideas about something but had a hard time articulating them? And then someone comes along and perfectly puts into words those thoughts and feelings you’ve had rolling around your head for so long? And does so perfectly!? That’s how I feel about this book!
By now it’s pretty clear that this website is all about taking figures and ideas from pop culture and using them as jumping off points for self-improvement. Todd Herman has been doing a similar thing with his clients for his entire 20+ year career. And he’s coached some of the absolute best. Olympic athletes, high powered business professionals, and famous entertainers are among those who have benefitted from his methodology, but that doesn’t mean that his concepts aren’t available to the rest of us.
Simply put, we as human beings, can often sabotage ourselves, or at least limit ourselves, by placing unnecessary governors on our beliefs about what we’re capable of. By adopting a persona, often based on a fictional or real hero of ours, we can circumvent those self-imposed limits, if only for the moment, so that we can reach our potential when it really counts.
In the book, Herman lays it all out. The underlying philosophy, guiding principles, and examples from real clients are all here. He also includes helpful exercises that take the concepts from being abstract thoughts to more concrete, actionable items you can use on a daily basis.
I think one of the reasons superhero shows and movies, as well as action movies with tough as nails heroes and heroines are so popular, is that when we watch these, we see a bit of ourselves in the characters. But why stop at just a bit? This book presents the idea that you’re capable of more than just admiring your heroes from afar. You can become the hero as well.
There, that’s it!
I read a bunch more books this year, but these are the ones that hands down had the most impact. I keep coming back to the concepts, guidelines, and inspirations I’ve gotten from these books, and I think that if I had to rely on only a handful of works to guide my self-improvement goals, these would take me pretty darn far. I highly recommend all of them and I hope you get a chance to give one of these a try. If you do, let me know what you thought down below in the comments. Till next time, keep reading, keep learning, and keep striving!
