Looking for some fascinating beach reads this summer? Even when your head’s in the clouds you can keep your mind focused on winning with these strategy-centric books that everyone is reading right now. If you’re looking to start a business, create new work habits or even declutter your life, these best-selling books offer a number of ideas and solutions from experts in your field.
So even if you’re on vacation, toss these business books in your tote and get yourself on top of your game!
1. Business Adventures by John Brooks
Stories about Wall Street are infused with drama and adventure in this inside look at how iconic companies are defined by moments of fame or notoriety. Written by New Yorker contributer John Brooks, Business Adventures features financial journalism stories that will both entertain and inform readers. Don’t believe us? This quote from a little well-known businessman may sway you:
“Business Adventures remains the best business book I’ve ever read.” – Bill Gates, The Wall Street Journal.
2. Extreme Ownership by Jocko Willink and Leif Babin
Jocko Willink and Leif Babin are two former Navy SEAL’s who, after departing the SEAL Teams, launched Echelon Front, a company that teaches leadership principles to businesses and organizations. Extreme Ownership is a series of combat stories that are translated into lessons for business and life, showing how to apply the principles that enable SEAL units to accomplish difficult missions in combat to any team, family or organization.
3. The Healthy Habit Revolution by Derek Doepker
Summer is a great time to press the reset button on some of the more negative aspects of your life. The Healthy Habit Revolution promises that personal transformation only takes five minutes a day. This self-help bestseller uses cutting-edge research from behavioral, cognitive and human needs psychology and puts it into a daily step-by-step blueprint for creating better, healthier habits.
4. How To Read Literature Like A Professor by Thomas C. Foster
Sure, this may not sound like a business book, but its message appeals to many savvy leaders who understand how fiction is a great tool in teaching people how to influence and understand others. Thomas C. Foster’s guide helps readers to discover hidden truths by looking at literature with the eyes and literary codes of a college professor.
5. I Will Teach You To Be Rich by Ramit Sethi
This personal finance classic has been one of Amazon’s top sellers for over eight years. In I Will Teach You To Be Rich, Sethi offers readers in their 20s and 30s a 6-week personal finance program based around the four pillars of banking, saving, budgeting and investing. This books has remained a best-seller due in large part to its practical approach to finance and nonjudgmental style.
6. The Life-Changing Magic Of Tidying Up by Marie Kondo
Don’t feel like leaving the cool comfort of your air-conditioned home in the dead of summer? Spend some time indoors being productive and cleaning up your space! In the international best-seller The Life-Changing Magic Of Tidying Up, Japanese cleaning consultant Marie Kondo gives readers step-by-step instructions through her revolutionary KonMari Method on how to defeat clutter.
7. Manage Your Day-to-Day by 99U
If you’re feeling over-extended and overwhelmed at work, or even in life, take some time while you’re relaxing in the sun to work on how to de-stress during your normal busy day. 99U is a highly-regarded creativity and productivity website that provides actionable insights to help creative people push ideas forward, and Manage Your Day-to-Day is a toolkit for tackling new challenges 24/7. You’ll return to work rested, refreshed and ready to increase your productivity!
8. Mini Habits by Stephen Guise
If you’ve been thinking about making changes in your life, what’s holding up your progress might be your approach. Stephen Guise recommends implementing “mini habits,” which are small, positive behaviors that you force yourself to do every day. Mini Habits promotes the idea that the best way to make big changes is through baby steps.
9. The Power Of Habit by Charles Duhigg
The New York Times Bestseller The Power Of Habit provides another take on how to overhaul your habits. Pulitzer Price-winning business reporter Charles Duhigg leans on science to explain how habits are formed and broken, including engrossing narratives that show how, by understanding how habits work, we can transform our businesses, our communities and our lives.
10. Option B by Sheryl Sandberg and Adam Grant
Option B has landed on Amazon’s bestseller list three times in three different formats. It chronicles Facebook executive Sheryl Sandberg’s efforts to move forward after the tragic death of her husband. Her friend, psychologist Adam Grant, chimes in with eye-opening research on the power of resilience. Their stories reveal the capacity of the human spirit to persevere and rediscover joy.
11. Predictably Irrational by Dan Ariely
Believe it or not, the current economic turmoil is built in large part to our individual irrational decisions. Think about it—do you ever splurge on a lavish meal but cut coupons to save money on a can of soup? It’s the ultimate penny-wise, dollar-foolish mindset. Behavioral economist Dan Ariely refutes the common assumption that humans behave in fundamentally rational ways, examining instead how we consistently overpay, underestimate and procrastinate. He argues that these behaviors are not random nor senseless, but instead systematic and predictable.
12. The Second Machine Age by Erik Brynjolfsson and Andrew McAfee
The Second Machine Age examines how technology is radically disrupting the economy—however, the message of the book is still a positive one. Instead of only dwelling on the economic slump we’re currently in, it instead provides and optimistic and hopeful look at the future, identifying the best strategies for survival and new paths to prosperity.
13. 10-Minute Mindfulness by S.J. Scott and Barrie Davenport
Whether you believe it or not, there’s always time for mindfulness. In 10-Minute Mindfulness, authors Scott and Davenport teach readers how to anchor themselves in the present moment, even if only for a few minutes at a time through 71 different techniques. Incorporating mindfulness through your entire day promises inner peace and improved focus, productivity and happiness.
14. 13 Things Mentally Strong People Don’t Do by Amy Morin
What first appeared as a viral sensation blog post, 13 Things Mentally Strong People Don’t Do is now a best-selling book by psychotherapist Amy Morin. A few of the strategies she includes are:
- Don’t waste time feeling sorry for yourself
- Don’t give away your power
- Don’t shy away from change
- Don’t focus on things you can’t control
- Don’t worry about pleasing everyone
And many more that work for everyone, from homemakers to soldiers and teachers to CEOs!
15. The Upstarts by Brad Stone
The Upstarts is the perfect summer read for any entrepreneur. The book takes a look deep inside the new Silicon Valley, and how a new generation of entrepreneurs (like the founders of Uber and Airbnb) is using technology to upend convention and disrupt industries.
Who says you can’t work towards improving yourself or your business method even when you’re on vacation? These books are sure to help you move forward even when you’re taking it easy!
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Featured image via Business News Daily
h/t Inc