10 Best Self Help Books of 2017

Igor Kheifets: Welcome back to another edition of the List Building Lifestyle with
your host, Igor Kheifets. We’re closing on the end of 2017, and this is a
tremendous time for anyone involved in the area of marketing. Right now, you’re
stepping into the marketplace that’s booming. When I started in this marketplace
almost 10 years ago, it was nowhere near the size that it is right now. There were
nowhere near as many opportunities to make money, and there was nowhere near the
amount of information, guidance, education, mentoring, and other resources to help
you actually achieve that goal. In and of itself, this is a great thing. Of
course, it can also be a challenge, because of the choice, the paradox of choice
where you’re … because of the sheer amount of things to choose from, you’re not
really able to arrive at a decision. But that’s probably a topic for another
episode. What I want to do in this episode is focus on a few books that I read in
2017 that really, really helped me get ahead in my business and in my life.
These books will be ranging from marketing to writing to fiction to just reportive
journalism, but I will explain why each and every one of these books has helped
me. And again, just the sheer scope of the information available, of the guidance
and education available gives you an idea that 2018 can be your winning year if it
still hasn’t. And if it has, then 2018 can be even bigger than what 2017 been. But
what’s important is to hand pick the correct information from all the available
resources, so that’s why I decided to make this episode about the 10 best
self-help books of 2017 for me.

The first book on that list is called “Scale”. This book is all about how to get
more customers, how to get customers easier, how to get better customers that
spend more money, and how to build a better brand. I’ve honestly haven’t read a
book as good about brand-building, about marketing, about positioning than this
“Scale” piece by Hoffman and Finkel, and it really … the reason it’s probably
one of the better books on the subject is because Jeff Hoffman, one of the
co-authors of the book, is just tremendously knowledgeable and just extremely,
extremely skilled marketer. I got to see him speak at London, and I got to
interview him on the show as a result as well, and Jeff is just … he’s been
involved in virtually every single industry, ranging from selling hotel rooms
online to producing a music or label record for somebody.

The dude can market anything, and he knows exactly how to do it. I can’t say he’s
got an exact system for each and every little thing, but if you need something
marketed, and you want to get as close to a guaranteed success as possible, you
will go and you will talk to Jeff Hoffman. He’s also the founder of Priceline.com
and, I think, co-founder or founder of Booking.com, the big website where you can
go and book a hotel room. So again, the guy knows a thing or two about marketing.
I’m not sure about his co-author. I never looked too deep into him, David Finkel,
but the book itself is totally worth your time, because it can get you some
game-changing ideas and open your eyes to things you’re not doing right now or
doing wrong trying to market your business.

The second one on that list is “Make Every Word Count” by Provost. “Make Every
Word Count” is designed for people who are already involved in some form of
writing. In other words, if you’re a copywriter, and you’re writing emails or
sales letters, if you’re a fiction writer, if you’re a blogger, doesn’t matter
whether you write for fun or for profit, if you write, you want to get your hands
on “Make Every Word Count”, because Gary Provost gives you some awesome tips, some
really concrete “do this, don’t do that” sort of advice about how to make your
writing better. And I can tell you, even if you’re a great writer right now,
you’ll read that book and you will at least increase the quality of your writing
by 20, 25%. It’s an incredible manual, and I highly recommend keeping it on your
shelf, or if you’re a Kindle animal like me, keeping it on your Kindle, because
this is the kind of stuff, this is the kind of book, the kind of resource you will
go back to again and again and again.

Third on that list, and probably one of the most influential books on my success
in 2017, is “Never Split the Difference” by Chris Voss. “Never Split the
Difference” tackles the conventional idea that you have to bargain with people and
settle on the difference. So if I want to sell something for 10 bucks, and you
want to only pay me five bucks, we will eventually settle on seven and a half and
shake hands and seal the deal. Voss says, and he’s a professional negotiator for
the FBI, ex-professional negotiator for the FBI should I say, Voss says this is a
complete false philosophy when it comes to negotiations, when it comes to securing
deals, or when it comes to just buying your next vehicle. If you’re into that sort
of stuff, if you want to understand how to successfully negotiate anything, then
even if you’re negotiating with your children and trying to get them to eat
vegetables, like I been trying to do for the last couple years, I highly recommend
that you get this book, “Never Split the Difference” by Chris Voss, and that you
also check out the Chris Voss interview I’ve done earlier this year about
successful negotiating tactics.

Number four on that list is “The Subtle Art of Not Giving a Fuck” by Mark Manson.
This is mostly just a complete collection of Mark Manson’s blog posts, and if you
would like to get the book for free rather than buying it, you can go to
MarkManson.net and read all the articles. The guy is an incredible social
scientist, if you will, that’s how I want to call him, because he’s bringing forth
some of the most incredible ideas that have propelled my ability to recognize my
own flaws and biases and to not let these things get in the way of my own success,
or at least not as much as I used to let them in the past.

So if you’re looking for a good kick in the ass and something refreshing when it
comes to self-help education, I highly recommend getting “The Subtle Art of Not
Giving a Fuck”, because this book will almost guaranteed to shock you out of your
complacency and give you the inspiration and the new ideas necessary in order for
you to sort of just grab ahold and start being more in control of your life,
oftentimes by adopting a completely different and revolutionary beliefs than what
you’re used to seeing and hearing in your everyday life. So highly, highly
recommended, “The Subtle Art of Not Giving a Fuck”, definitely in the top 10 books
of all times for me. Now the next one is a reportive journalism story. It’s called
“Whale Hunt in the Desert” by Castleman, and this book tells the story of a guy
whose job was to bring high rollers into Las Vegas and gamble. In other words, if
you’re making a billion dollars and you love to gamble, this guy would headhunt
you down and bring you into Las Vegas on a private jet for free just so you
gambled in the casino that he works at. The reason this book was fascinating for
me was first off, because it was written so well. It just reads extremely smoothly
and extremely fast. Every single page, you just turn it as if you’re eating candy,
very, very easy.

And the story itself is fascinating, because it gives you an inside look into the
world of Las Vegas gambling, and especially the whales, the high rollers, the
billionaires and the multi-millionaires that lose a lot of money almost every
weekend in Las Vegas, who are one of the reasons Las Vegas exists and prospers,
because they end up funding a lot of that growth and a lot of that rah-rah and
woo-hoo, whatever you want to call it. Like all these billion-dollar hotels and
resorts. That’s the reason they’re built, not for the average people, for us that
spend very little money compared to what these whales drop. I mean, I’m talking
about a guy, common to most of the guys, by the way, coming in and dropping a good
$3 million in a weekend losing to the casino. That’s how you fund a casino. You
don’t fund it by selling $20 all-you-can-eat buffets. So, “Whale Hunt in the
Desert”, as far as entertainment, as far as having an inside look into how Las
Vegas operates, this is an incredible reportive journalism story.

The next one is another writing book. It’s called “On Writing Well” by Zinsser,
and this person really blew me away, because again, just like Provost, he’s able
to put writing into very specific do’s and don’ts. He’s able to give you a very
specific example of how writing works, on what you should do, what you shouldn’t
do, and how to make existing writing that sucks a little bit better. So “On
Writing Well” is definitely up there with the other writing manuals written by
Provost, because any time that I feel that my writing is not up to par, all I have
to do is just go back to the notes I took on this book, “On Writing Well”, and I
can immediately improve it by rereading some of the tips that the author is giving
us. So “On Writing Well” is highly recommended to anyone who’s an author, a
blogger, an email marketer, a marketer, if you’re doing Facebook posts. Doesn’t
matter what you do. If you want to write well, you should totally get that book.

Next, number seven is “Extreme Ownership” by Willink and Babin. This book was
written by an ex-Navy Seal who’s now doing leadership coaching and leadership
training, and he’s giving examples from the battlefield about how to operate in a
team environment and how to lead a team effectively. So if you’re a team leader,
if you want to become one, if you want to build a large organization, or if you’ve
got staff, or if you want to just be a great leader for your family and for people
in your community, you absolutely have to get your hands on “Extreme Ownership”,
because it will kind of strengthen your position, it will give you the tools
necessary to become a great leader, and it will also give you an inside look into
how the US Army, and specifically the Navy Seals, do their job of leading people
into the battlefield, often risking their lives.

Imagine if you’re trying to build an epic marketing organization, you’re trying to
get people to just give you some money and trust you with their financial life,
now imagine what it’s like to lead someone into the battlefield and ask them to
put their actual life on the line for you and the rest of the team. “Extreme
Ownership” is all about that. “Extreme Ownership” is definitely recommended to
people who want to become leaders in their little organizations or large
organizations or in their society or community. Or if you’re just looking to lead
people through marketing, that too applies here if you’re smart enough to see
through the tips and strategies that Willink and Babin are sharing.

Now, if you are somebody who prefers for someone else to break those principles
down for you, and you’re a marketer, then definitely check out the “Extreme
Ownership” episode that we published this year about this particular book and the
principles, and how they are applied in internet marketing.

Next up is “Deep Work” by Cal Newport. This book is really for people who are
looking to know and understand how to work fewer hours but get just as much done,
or even more done, in that short timeframe. This book, the biggest impact on me,
that it showed me how I lose so much time and so much focus on the things that
really do not produce much or at all meaningful progress and impact on my life,
not just my business. I completely redesigned my routine after reading “Deep
Work”, and my productivity not only doubled, but my fulfillment level shot up, and
I was able to start spending more time with friends and family while getting more
work done while working less, actually.

So if you’re looking to understand how to get more work done in less time and have
more energy and focus left to give to your loved ones and to your hobbies, then
you absolutely want to check out “Deep Work”, because trust me, the way the author
presents the data will not leave you untouched. It will absolutely and definitely
change the way you look at your own life and at the way you treat your time, and
what you choose to fill it with. So definitely get “Deep Work” if you’re like a
productivity freak like me.

Next up, it’s “Boomerang” by Michael Lewis. Michael Lewis is the author that
brought us “The Big Short”, so if you read the book or maybe saw the movie, “The
Big Short” was an incredible in and of itself. “Boomerang” is sort of like
continuing with that same storyline, and it explains where did that crisis from
2008 started. It’s funny, because most people think it was just the US, but
actually, the entire freaking globe collapsed at the same time, and it all started
with the weirdest places like Iceland and Greece.

So you definitely want to check it out if you’re interested in the financial
markets, and if you tend to enjoy really good writing, then I highly recommend
checking out “Boomerang”, because it too, just like “Whale Hunt in the Desert”,
it’s written in a very exciting way. It doesn’t leave you untouched. It actually
just makes you want to read more and more and more and makes you want to take
interest in the topic, which I find to be a very rare thing when it comes to books
these days. Very few books actually get to my heart and make me say I want to find
out more about the topic because of the way that the author writes about it. Lewis
has done a great job, and I highly recommend you check out the book.

And last but not least is “The Art of Living” by Epictetus. This is not a brand
new book, just so you understand, this book has been written thousands of years
ago, but it applies today more than ever to the way we live our life, because we
forgot all these principles of great living. If you are somebody who’s
continuously striving to educate and improved themselves, if you would like to
live a life that’s righteous, that’s correct, that’s fulfilling, that’s just good
life, you definitely want to check out “The Art of Living”, because the principles
this philosopher shares with us are incredibly valuable in today’s life,
especially when there’s so many distractions, so many things that steal our
attention, and so many things where we end up just forgetting who we truly are.

I know it sounds sort of wishy-washy, and I’m not really used to selling you on
that sort of material, but “The Art of Living” is definitely worth your time if
you’re somebody who strives for continuous improvement.

This pretty much sums up the 10 best self-help books of 2017. I really wanted to
put more books on that list, but I had to stick to just 10. But trust me, you read
these 10 books, you’ll be much better off. Now, I will also be doing an episode
about the 10 worst books of 2017, because there were plenty of books that I was
really, really disappointed in, both self-help books and fiction books. So stay
tuned for that, and until next time we chat, have a good one.

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This is Igor Kheifets until next time we talk, have a good one.