If You Only Read A Few Books In 2020, Read

Photo by Joyce McCown on Unsplash

My reading list is always growing instead of shrinking, even though I average

reading a book per week. I wish it weren’t the case, but every day it seems like a
stumble on another great read.

Reading is what inspires me most but also what teaches me the most
important lessons I’ve learned in my life.

A few years ago, I came across the following quote by Matthew Dicks:

“Read more. It allows you to borrow someone

else’s brain, and will make you more interesting
at a dinner party.”

Admittedly, I’m not particularly interested in the second part as I don’t join
many parties anyway.

The first part, however, still excites me every time I think of it.

Borrowing someone’s brain…I mean, isn’t that fantastic?!

Just think of all the people writing and publishing books.

Or of anyone who wrote a book years or even decades ago.

Now, I don’t say writers are in any way better or smarter than non-writers, but
I believe most great minds in history left us with books and even today, the
majority of successful people in any field, may it be sports, entrepreneurship,
nutrition, cooking or whatsoever, are writing books.

I don’t know about you, but for me, the idea of borrowing someone’s brain
sounds pretty sexy.

That’s probably why I’m reading so much.

I want to learn more and understand different perspectives, and reading is my

favorite way to do so.

And as I believe I borrowed some of the most magnificent brains for the past
years, here are my favorite books, including why they are relevant and when
you might want to read them.

Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert

Most people know Elizabeth Gilbert for writing Eat, Pray, Love, but
admittedly, I find Big Magic much more valuable, especially for people in
creative careers.

Gilbert teaches how to be creative despite fears and uncertainty and where
innovative ideas actually come from.

An absolute must-read for anyone who is holding herself back from pursuing
her dreams and hesitating to take the next big leap in life.

“Creative entitlement simply means believing

that you are allowed to be here, and that —
merely by being here — you are allowed to have
a voice and a vision of your own.”

Finding Your Element by Ken Robbinson

I love Ken Robbinson. Especially his TED talk about creativity and our
education systems.

In Finding Your Element, however, Robbinson helps us to get a deeper

understanding of who we are and of the life we could live.

The book is not only packed with inspiration that will empower you to go out
and live your best life, but it also includes actionable tasks and ideas on how to
find your passion, or element, as Robbinson calls it.

The ideal read for anyone who is still on the path of finding his passion and
calling in life.

“If you’re doing something that you love, by the

end of the day you may be physically tired but
spiritually energized.”

Blink by Malcolm Gladwell

This is a fantastic piece that will convince you to speed up your decision-
making process, no matter how important the decision seems to be.
Gladwell describes how most of our decisions are based on our gut feeling and
what happens when we listen to our intuition instead of over-thinking and
creating endless pro-contra lists.

A must-read for anyone who’d like to make quicker decisions and let go of
overthinking, packed with fantastic storytelling and advice that you won’t
forget too quickly.

“If we are to learn to improve the quality of the

decisions we make, we need to accept the
mysterious nature of our snap judgments.”

21 Lessons For The 21st Century by Yuval Noah

Harari
This one is quite different from the rest of the list, but it’s worth being
mentioned.

21 Lessons For The 21st Century summarizes today’s highlights in terms of

politics, culture, and economics in a way everybody can relate and still make up
their own opinion.

The book was published in 2018, and I actually believe it could be even more
powerful to read it now as we faced a pandemic, and many of his assumptions
might need to be questioned.
I’m not into politics, culture, or economics at all, but this piece is a fantastic
way to get an overview of all the changes that might be relevant to all of us
pretty soon.

“In a world deluged by irrelevant information,

clarity is power.”

High Performance Habits by Brendon Burchard

This book is the ultimate must-read for anyone who wants to level up her
performance and life in general.

I read this masterpiece after having consumed hundreds of other books on

personal growth and habits, and I still found so many valuable lessons to apply
in my daily life.

I actually believe this is a personal growth bible at its best, delivering

profound research plus actionable advice on how to elevate our lives. Big love!

“Be more intentional about who you want to

become. Have vision beyond your current
circumstances. Imagine your best future self,
and start acting like that person today.”

What I Know For Sure by Oprah

I love Oprah, and I adore this book.

It’s basically a look into all the lessons Oprah learned throughout the past
decades.

She openly shares all the struggles she faced and the lessons learned on her
path to becoming one of the most influential people of today’s wold.

“What I know for sure is that every day brings a

chance for you to draw in a breath, kick off your
shoes, and step out and dance — to live free of
regret and filled with as much joy, fun, and
laughter as you can stand.”

You Were Born Rich by Bob Proctor

Even though the title is provocative, this is one of my favorite books about the
law of attraction and wealth.

It’s actually not only about making money and being rich but
about designing a life you truly love.

Bob Proctor is one of the few people who are teaching universal laws for several
decades, and this piece is a collection of anything you need to know to finally
attract all the greatness you truly desire.
“When you succeed in convincing your
subconscious mind that you are wealthy and
that it feels good to be wealthy, your
subconscious mind will automatically seek
ways of making your “imaginary” feelings of
wealth manifest themselves in material form.”

The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin

This one is a fantastic step-by-step guide on how to create a happier, more
joyful life without much effort.

Rubin describes her own happiness project, which she practiced for 12 months
and openly shares which strategies best worked for her and how you can apply
them as well.

Most of the advice provided is so simple yet effective that you will be surprised.

“The belief that unhappiness is selfless and

happiness is selfish is misguided. It’s more
selfless to act happy. It takes energy,
generosity, and discipline to be unfailingly
lighthearted, yet everyone takes the happy
person for granted.”

You Are A Badass by Jen Sincero

I’ve heard about this book so many times until I finally decided to read it.

Admittedly, I didn’t expect much, I thought it would be usual mindset fluff.

How wrong I was!

Jen Sincero talks about topics like the law of attraction and manifestation in a
way everybody can understand and apply the lessons.

An absolute recommendation for anyone who wants to make the universal

laws work for them and finally attract all their biggest desires.

“You’ve gotten to where you are right now by

doing whatever it is you’re doing, so if you’re
less than impressed with your current situation,
you clearly need to change things up.”

Keep Going by Austin Kleon

This one is a fantastic read for anyone who struggles to keep going and stay
creative and productive when things get hard.

In my opinion, it’s a must-read for anyone doing any kind of work, not only

creatives.

Austin Kleon provides ten concrete, actionable lessons on how to spark

creativity and keep going during good times and bad, and admittedly, this book
convinced me to read more about creativity in general.

“We have so little control over our lives. The

only thing we can really control is what we
spend our days on. What we work on and how
hard we work on it.”

The 4-Hour Workweek by Tim Ferriss

This one is pretty cliché, I know. But as long as it’s not required reading in any
school in the world, it’s worth mentioning.

I’ve read all books of Tim Ferriss, but this is by far his best piece.

In my opinion, The 4-Hour Workweek is a bible for personal growth and

business.

Ferriss teaches so many strategies on how to live better and build lasting,
automated businesses. This sounds like too much to cover in a single book, but
he truly delivers the value. Promise.
“Doing less meaningless work, so that you can
focus on things of greater personal importance,
is NOT laziness. This is hard for most to accept,
because our culture tends to reward personal
sacrifice instead of personal productivity.”

The Four by Scott Galloway

Scott Galloway is a real genius in understanding and teaching how the most
prominent companies of today’s world operate.

In The Four, he summarizes how Amazon, Facebook, Google, and Apple are
changing our lives and economies across the globe.

But he also shows how even small businesses can learn from these companies’
failures as well as successes.

Even though it was published in 2017, it’s a must-read for anyone who wants to
understand how today’s most significant companies operate and what we can
expect from these businesses in the upcoming years or even decades.

“Failure and invention are inseparable twins.

To invent you have to experiment, and if you
know in advance that it’s going to work, it’s not
an experiment.”