- Hey guys.
So it finally happened.
I finally moved into a new house
and don't let this backdrop deceive you.
My room actually looks like this right now.
Things are definitely still in flux.
I'm not even near finished setting up this room,
so this week I wanted to bring you a quick video
where I recommend three of the books that really helped me
become a more effective student.
And I'm gonna go ahead and say
that each of these three books is something
that you should read if you're a student.
So, my first book recommendation is
"The Power of Habit" by Charles Duhigg.
And as I've said before, and if you're on my mailing list,
you know that I think habits are one of the core things
that form your ability to become a successful student.
Your habits and the patterns
that are ingrained up in your head
are largely what define what you do on a day to day basis.
And as time goes on, the accumulations of those actions
really define whether or not you achieve your goals.
The reason I love "The Power of Habit" is because
it explains how habits are formed.
It goes over something called the habit loop
and shows how routines are formed in your head.
They are triggered by certain things and they end up
leading to certain rewards.
It also shows you how you can start changing your habits
with the knowledge of this habit loop,
how you can break bad habits
or start building good habits that you don't have yet.
My second book recommendation is one I mentioned last week,
"The Personal MBA" by Josh Kaufman.
Now, "The Personal MBA" is the author's attempt
at building a education in a book
that can sort of replace actually going back
to graduate school for an MBA.
And while he's not very serious about that claim,
he obviously isn't saying that two years of intense
graduate level education is gonna be replaced by this book,
what he wants you to realize is that there are
certain foundational concepts to each aspect of business.
Accounting, working with others, sales, marketing,
value creation and in my opinion,
all these aspects of business
are useful to know no matter what your major is.
And the reason for this
is that you probably want a job after you graduate.
No matter what your major is,
you're looking to get hired by a company
that has to conduct business.
So if you understand the fundamentals of business,
if you understand value creation, value delivery,
if you understand how marketing works,
if you understand how your brain works,
how to work with others and how to work with yourself,
all concepts that are gone over in this book,
then you're gonna be a better candidate.
It's going to compliment
the actual in class information you get
that's specific to your major.
And my final book recommendation
is "Debt-Free U" by Zac Bissonnette.
Now this book, I think, is the most essential book
for anyone looking to go to college in the US.
I can't really say that it's essential
for people in other countries because I know
that the financial situation with education is different.
But for US students at least, read this book.
It can save you thousands and thousands of dollars.
The book contains a wealth of information
about student loans, the cost of debt
and how hard it might actually be to pay off,
and most importantly, whether or not
you actually need to take debt to get a good education.
He breaks down a lot of the flaws in the college rankings
that drive a lot of student's college decisions,
and shows how you can get a really good education
at an in-state public university,
or even a community college.
He also shows in actual detail,
how you can afford that education without taking on debt.
Now, so far this channel has been mostly about
studying and productivity.
But that's only one of the focuses I have
with my website, College Info Geek.
I also wanna teach students
how to become better job candidates
and how to become financially stable.
And the first step is helping them stay out of student debt
or pay it off as quickly as possible.
That's why "Debt-Free U" is probably my favorite
student focus book of all time.
And if you've ever seen
my essential reads for students list,
which you can read by clicking the card right now,
you'll see it right at the top above my own book.
So, that's it for this video.
Hopefully you find these books useful,
and you'll find other recommendations
over on my essential reads page.
You can also get my book
"10 Steps to Earning Awesome Grades (While Studying Less)"
for free.
And while I'm not going to list my own book
as essential for students, I do think you'll find it useful.
So, I'm gonna get back to cleaning this house up
and building a proper backdrop for next week's video.
So, I will see you in that video.
And also if you're waiting on
the 10,000th subscriber bonus video, it is coming.
These past few weeks have been really hectic
and I haven't had time to film it,
but I will be getting it out as soon as I can,
and I'll show you how I actually shoot these videos.
So, look forward to that.
(upbeat music)
Hey everybody, thanks for watching this video
on my book recommendations.
If you wanna get new videos every single week
on being a more effective student, then you can click
that big red subscribe button right there.
If you wanna get links to these books
and also see the other books I recommend for students,
then go to the companion blog post for this video
by clicking the orange logo right there.
If you also want a copy of my book on improving your grades,
just click the picture and I'll send you a copy.
You can also check out last week's video
on building your ability to focus if you missed it.
And lastly, if you've got ideas for new videos
or just wanna connect,
I'm @TomFrankly on Twitter or you can leave a comment.
Thanks!