Two books that changed the way I think in 2017
I’ve been reading articles on Medium for over a year and I’ve noticed there’s a ton of articles on “How to read 100 books in a year” or “The 1000 books everyone should read in a lifetime”.
I don’t think there’s anything wrong about reading a huge amount of books but my approach in 2017 was more about mastering the content of 2 books that really made me question things, changed my perspective in a number of subjects and even helped me with my productivity.
I didn’t decide I was only going to read 2 books in 2017, I actually read at least 15 books this year but I did find two really helpful and life-changing ones.
The first book is The Code Of The Extraordinary Mind — 10 Unconventional Laws to Redefine Your Life and Succeed On Your Own Terms by Vishen Lakhiani
The second book is The 10x Rule — The Only Difference Between Success and Failure by Grant Cardone.
The code of the extraordinary mind
The concept that stuck in me the most about this book was what the author refers to as Brules or Bullshit rules. Or how those little senseless rules imposed upon us by society, family or religion don’t even make sense but manage to controls us and keeps us from getting things done or making decisions and ultimately affect our lives.
The author recommends: Question everything. And so I did
Now, this doesn’t mean you should go and commit a crime or anything like that but I changed the way I was seeing certain situations and stopped following some self-imposed rules.
I experienced things I never thought I could do before having enough money, time or just waiting for the right moment.
Sometimes you just have to forget about following people’s rules and just do things your way. Who knows, you might become the next Elon Musk or Steve Jobs. Just go for it and make your own plan. Be a rebel.
The universe has your back
Before reading this book, I wasn’t focused on my career as a web designer. I even feel I was losing my identity as a designer. In my mind, I wasn’t a creative and inspired person anymore.
Call it the universe, God or whatever you want, it might even be your own mind visualizing and moving you towards your goals.
The right ideas and opportunities started coming to my life because I created a clear vision of my goals, while at the same time, I was grateful for what I had already achieved. So, be grateful today. Lakhiani calls this concept Bending reality.
Meditation
If you are like me, you have read tons of articles about meditation and how it can truly change your life. Guess what, It’s true.
I have been trying meditation on and off for a couple of years and I must say I really see a different in every aspect of my life when I do it.
I haven’t mastered it yet and sometimes I don’t even do it as much as I know I should to see the benefits but when I do meditate, everything from how my mind feels clear and open to ideas to how I physically feel and how I react to stressful situations, changes.
Gratitude and forgiveness are a couple of elements Lakhiani recommends to include in the practice of meditation.
For me, it all comes down to stop living on autopilot and really begin to do what you want by believing in yourself, be with whom you want and achieve all those things you want from life without listening to the Brules of the world.
Photo by: Estée Janssens
The 10x rule
After I read Lahkiani’s book, I started having a specific set of goals for my professional life, though beyond knowing and visualizing those goals I needed to take action, massively.
I came across this book by chance and hey, maybe the universe put it in my life. The concept is so simple, yet so effective that it truly gives you a whole new perspective of how much effort to put towards your dreams.
The 10x rule is pretty much doing 10 times whatever you’re doing in order to get 10 times the results. It’s pretty obvious but most of us simply give up when we haven’t really put all the work necessary to achieve whatever we’re working on.
If you want to learn a new skill, practice 10 times what you’re practicing right now. You will be the best soon and the cool thing is, you should only be competing with yourself. That’s the only thing that will ensure you get better at whatever you are trying to do.
In my case, I wanted to start my own design agency. I am still working on it and I think it will always be a work in progress because I will always want to grow and be more successful, but I feel that in 1 month I did more than I did in a whole year of procrastinating and just none to “normal” amounts of work.
Anything you want to accomplish in life is possible, you just have to be ready to put enough effort and work into it.
The 10x rule can be applied to anything in life. Family, fitness, relationships, business, skills.
Go grab these two books and get ready to change your life starting today.
What books changed your life this year? Have you read any of the two books I talked about?
Be sure to leave your comments and book recommendations below.
