Success Reading List

Normally when someone calls you a name, it is a bad thing.  If someone, however, calls you "a Fred," not only is that a good thing, it is a great compliment. "Why" you ask would such a thing be true?  How is calling me "Fred" a good thing when my name is not Fred, it is David, or Bill, or Sally or whatever? The answer can be found in The Fred Factor by Mark Sanborn., where we are introduced to Fred the postman. "Well, this doesn't sound very exciting," you may be saying to yourself, and on the surface you are correct.  Fred is a postal carrier, he has a fairly mundane job that is repetitive and could even be classified by many as tedious or even boring. This is the point of  The Fred Factor.   In the book Sanborn introduces us to his real life postal carrier, Fred, and it is quickly apparent that Fred is no normal postman.  Fred has learned the secret to being happy at work and in life.  He does not see his job as something that mus...

It has been said that the only thing that is constant is change and there may not be a truer statement.   We see change is continuously all around us.  Change is evident in the political climate.  The weather changes on us daily if not even hourly.  There are changes in the economy, where we work and even in our families.  Everywhere we turn we can see that things are changing. T hings change internally as well.  From the physical standpoint we are aging and our bodies are changing with the days and years.  Mentally we are changing, hopefully for the better, as we read good books, get around quality people and mentors and strive for more in our lives. Why then, if change is always happening, are so many of us afraid of change?  Why do we resist it? This is the subject of Who Moved My Cheese? by Spencer Johnson, M.D. who weaves a wonderful fable of change and how it is something we should expect and even plan for. In  Who Moved My ...

How many times have you heard someone say "They don't make an owner's manual for life," or "I wish there was an instruction book for growing up?"  Well now there is. In a nutshell, Adulting 101: #Wisdom4Life by Josh Burnette and Pete Hardesty is just that, a guide to growing up and becoming an adult. Adulting 101 is written specifically for the high school or college age person who is really just starting to find their own way in the world.  The person who is starting to take on new responsibilities and stand on their own. This is one time that I happen to personally know one of the authors and when I asked him why he wrote the book the answer was simple.  As an operator of a Chick-fil-A, Josh Burnette, is around a number of young people, many of whom are not ready for life.  They have no idea how to write a check, mail a letter, buy a car or get insurance for a car once they have purchased it.  After being approached by a number of his employees wit...

It is interesting to note that if I was only allowed to have two "leadership" books in my library, that both of them would be derived from a military viewpoint.  Taking it a step further, both of the books actually come from a Navy background. Personally I have neither a Navy nor a military experience myself.  While I respect the men and women of our military at the highest level I am capable, I never had the honor of serving with them in their endeavor to keep our people and our country safe. The reason I bring this up is because I want you to understand that while Extreme Ownership: How U.S. Navy SEALs Lead and Win does have military elements and stories, and it pulls its leadership lessons from these events, you do not need to be a military person to enjoy this book and learn from its valuable lessons. Written by Jocko Willink and Leif Babin,  Extreme Ownership really gets to the heart of what it takes to be a leader, the concept that all responsibility for eve...

If there was one book that I had to say was the most important to me personally in the last few years it would be Chase The Lion: If Your Dream Doesn't Scare You, It's Too Small by Mark Batterson. In my early life and through school I didn't really like to read.  Maybe the books were just not interesting.  Maybe it was that I didn't get to pick what I wanted to read.  Or maybe it was just the simple fact that I was being forced to read but whatever the reason I was not a reader.  Soon after graduating from school, however, I got around people who read because they wanted to.  I finally understood that reading is one of the best ways to learn, to gain knowledge and really grow.  I also learned that when you are picking the books you want to read, you can find ones that interest you and hold your attention and if they don't, put them down and find another one that does. For years I read heavily.  As time went on, though, I fell out of the habit of r...

With any new project there invariably comes the question, "why did you do that first?"  In this particular case that question could be reworded to, "why did you choose that book first?" Ultimately, one book simply had to be first and as this list grows I am sure you will find many that just as easily could have been first.  For our purposes here, however, I chose The Butterfly Effect: How Your Life Matters by Andy Andrews to get everything kicked off and rolling. The reason for this choice is twofold. First, The Butterfly Effect is a short and easy to read book.  It can be read in right around 20 minutes and should be consumed in one sitting. Second, The Butterfly Effect shows us how "every move we make and every action we take, matters."  This knowledge and understanding of your unique importance to not only your life but the lives of everyone around you and many, many more whom you have never met is a principle that should be the foundation up...