- Today I wanna talk about the six books
that have had the greatest impact on my life.
(laid-back music)
When I first started out as a freelancer
I knew that I wasn't gonna be able to do it alone.
And I didn't know many other people
who were following a similar path to myself.
So books became very important.
I absorbed everything that I could.
Anytime somebody that I respected recommended a book,
whether through a tweet or in person,
I made sure to add it to a running list.
So today I wanna talk about the six books
that had the greatest impact on me
and really changed the direction of my life.
"The War of Art" by Steven Pressfield.
This book demonstrates and clearly articulates
what it takes to bring something meaningful into the world.
"There's a secret that real writers know
that wannabe writers don't,
and the secret is, it's not the writing part that's hard.
What's hard is sitting down to write.
What keeps us from sitting down is resistance."
You have a battle every single day to get to work.
The resistance is gonna try to prevent you
in any way possible from getting the work done,
but that's where greatness lies.
That's where you're able to truly deliver yourself
to your craft.
When you actually sit down, avoid procrastination,
and just get started.
"The Dip" by Seth Godin.
It's really hard to choose just one of Seth Godin's books
that have had the biggest impact on my life
because he's written many and I've read almost all of them.
But I chose "The Dip" because it was the first book I read.
It's very digestible, very short,
and it shows what most creators, most entrepreneurs,
most creatives go through
when they first start out a project.
"Strategic quitting is the secret
of successful organizations.
Reactive quitting and serial quitting are the bane
of those that strive, and fail, to get what they want.
And most people do just that.
They quit when it's painful
and stick when they can't be bothered to quit."
In the beginning of a project, it's so exciting.
You have so much energy.
You're working on the logo, the branding,
and all the fun stuff.
And then eventually you enter the dip.
You enter the place where things get a little bit
more difficult and where most people quit.
The thing about this book though,
is it tells you that it's okay to quit.
And there are some times when you should quit.
And there are times when you should stick.
And really the greatest entrepreneurs and
the greatest creators are those that know the difference.
"The Art of Possibility" by Ben and Ros Zander.
I remember this book having a very transformative effect
on my life and it reminded me of what was most important.
It reminded me to not take myself so damn seriously
all the time.
"Mistakes can be like ice.
If we resist them, we may keep
on slipping into a posture of defeat.
If we include mistakes in our definition of performance
we are likely to glide through them
and appreciate the beauty of the longer run."
It shows you to treat other people with dignity and respect.
It will ignite curiosity and an entire world
of possibility once you read it.
And it might be one of the reasons why I'm trying to get
The Rock on my podcast.
I told myself I wouldn't freak out,
but The Rock just tweeted at me.
Anything in life is possible.
Anything is within reach with the right attitude.
So many people think that these ideas are not possible
and are never gonna happen.
So most people don't try.
So that means that the few that actually do
have a better shot at it.
Okay, so I have to talk about this book because if I didn't,
I would be lying.
The first book that I ever read within the world
of self-development was "The Game" by Neil Strauss.
It is a book in which he penetrates a secret society
of pickup artists to learn how to talk to women.
It probably tells you a little bit about
where I was at in college when I read this book.
"I've never been a true believer in anything.
I've preferred to combine teaching and wisdom
from various sources, find what applies to me,
and discard what doesn't."
So before this book, I was not
into personal development at all.
I was not into self-help books.
It wasn't something that interested me.
I thought I had it all figured out
and then it kind of opened my eyes up
to realize that I didn't know shit.
That I had so much to learn.
How do you feel about the fact that "The Game"
is one of the books that inspired me most in life?
- I feel betrayed.
I feel angered.
I feel-
- [Matt] Full of shit?
- Yeah. (both laughing)
I'm actually intrigued.
- This is the book that led me to read every other book.
So really it was one of the most important things for me.
Tim Ferris's "The Four Hour Workweek"
was one of those books that I read early on
that got me to think deeply about productivity,
about what it means to live a fulfilled life,
what it means to define success for yourself.
"$1,000,000 in the bank isn't the fantasy.
The fantasy is the lifestyle of complete freedom
it supposedly allows.
The question is then, how can one achieve
the millionaire lifestyle of complete freedom
without first having $1 million?"
It's really the book that kind of
tipped the whole lifestyle designed movement.
It is about creating a life and thinking intentionally
about the lives that we are creating.
As many of you know, I graduated college
with $97,000 in student loan debt
and immediately bought a brand new car.
I didn't make the best decisions in life at a young age,
but one of the best decisions I did make
was buying "The Total Money Makeover" by Dave Ramsey.
For the longest time I refused to look inside,
to look inside my wallet,
and inside myself to realize I had a problem,
to realize that my personal finances were completely,
fucked, to put it lightly.
"If you keep doing the same things,
you will keep getting the same results.
You are where you are right now financially
as a sum total of the decisions you've made to this point."
And when I finally looked in,
I realized that there was a way out.
And there was an opportunity
to have a tremendous amount of freedom
by simply getting out of debt.
So, which book or books have had the greatest impact
in your life?
Leave a comment below.
I can't wait to hear from you.
(laid-back music)