4 Life-Changing Books to Read in 2024

hey friends welcome back to the channel if you're new here my name is Ali I'm a doctor turned entrepreneur and the author of Feelgood productivity which is a book about how to be more productive in a way that feels good but in this video I want to talk about four books other than my own that can genuinely change your life now before we go into that this idea of books being lifechanging or whatever is a bit of a clickbait thing that we often see on YouTube and I've made videos in the past where I say this book has changed my life and there are always people in the comments that are a bit cynical or skeptical about that like how could a book possibly change your life so before we dive into these four books which I suspect most of these books you've probably not heard of and you probably not read I want to share a little bit of my thoughts and philosophy around what it means for a book to completely change your life and this video is sponsored by HubSpot but more on them later so the way in which a book changes your life is that a book exposes you to a particular idea now that idea then leads to a decision and that decision then leads to action and then that action then leads to result and that result is the thing that changes your life so for example I would say that the book The 4-Hour Work Week by Tim Ferris completely changed my life why did it change my life because it exposed me to the idea that I could make passive income and that I could build a business that generates money while I'm sleeping so that I can then live life on my own terms broadly that was the key idea that the 4our work week exposed me to it's got a couple hundred Pages it's got a bunch of other ideas but that was the key thing that I took away from it now it wouldn't have been a life-changing book if I didn't then make a decision based on that idea and the decision I made after reading that book was I am therefore going to spend my years in medical school building a business on the side that can generate passive income so that when I work as a doctor I can do it for fun rather than because I have to and that decision led to action it meant that while I was going through medical school I was looking for ways that I could possibly make money on the side I learned how to code I improved my skills with programming and I ended up building a business while I was going through medical school that was making me around $40 $50,000 a year which is what I would have been earning had I been working full-time as a doctor so that was pretty sick and that business then morphed into this YouTube channel which has completely changed my life and so when I say that the book the 4our work week changed my life it's because it gave me that particular idea and so if you watch these sorts of videos about you know this book changed my life please don't think that I'm just trying to clickbait you here with this freaking title is like oh every other day 's life has changed Changed by a godamn book it kind of is it's probably not every other day but anytime I read a book what I'm on the lookout for is an idea that could potentially change the course of my life and so the four books that I want to talk about in this video are books that I think if you were to read them and genuinely apply them and they hit you at the right time these books can give you an idea that causes you to make a decision which causes you to take action that leads to results and then you will look back on this video and say wow this video changed my life because it gave me the idea to read these books that I might not have read otherwise now this is quite a wide assortment of books and so I'd recommend you skip around in the timestamps because realistically you probably don't want to read all four of these right now because like chances are one of these will resonate more with you than the other three and that's totally okay I would recommend reading that one and applying the insides from it and seeing if you can potentially make a decision which leads to action which leads to results based on just that one recommendation but because lots of people follow this channel thankfully thank you for that um I want to kind of share a bit of a variety and these are all books that I discovered this year number one is a book called The Practice by Seth Goden and this book is aimed at anyone who does creative work basically if the thing that you do or the thing that you'd like to to do involves shipping creative work than this book is for you so what does shipping creative work mean and here's a quote from the book that explains it shipping because it doesn't count if you don't share it creative because you're not a cog in the system you're a Creator a problem solver a generous leader who's making things better by producing a new way forward and work because it's not a hobby you might not get paid for it not today but you approach it as a professional The Muse is not the point excuses are avoided and the work is why you are here and the core idea that I've taken away from this book that I think can change your life if you take this idea and really apply it on board is the idea that it's going to sound cliche but the process and the practice is what counts not the output Seth Goden writes the practice is not the means to the output the practice is the output because the practice is all we can control the practice demands that we approach our process with commitment it acknowledges that creativity is not an event it's simply what we do whether or not we're in the mood sculptor Elizabeth King said it beautifully process saves us from the poverty of our intentions and BAS basically this whole book is just Seth Goden saying again and again and again in a bunch of different ways that when you are in the business of shipping creative work you've got to focus on the process you've got to not be attached to the outcome and you've got to focus on just showing up for the process showing up like a professional and getting better at that thing over time and that itself is the reward the reward for doing good work is the ability to do more good work this morning I was going through my highlights of this book I've made about 70 different highlights from this book I'll put a link down below if you want to see them to my notion page for the Highlight but this book resonated with me so much because as a Creator sometimes I struggle with the process I know that you know when I was writing my book that the creative work was in showing up and doing the writing every day I know that for making YouTube videos the creative work is in showing up and filming the videos and preparing the videos but I often let emotions and feelings and like oh I don't feel like doing this therefore I don't want to do it like there are a lot of times where I don't treat it like a professional but weirdly on the times where I do treat it like a professional where the reason I'm making the video is not for the sake of a sponsor deadline or for the sake of like some sort of external metric but the reason I'm making the video is so that I can genuinely share from the heart share with the with the intention of love and contribution and service and then show up and make the video it just feels freaking amazing it's sort of like kind of like going to the gym sometimes you don't feel like going but if you actually just push yourself and make yourself do the thing and just focus on the process and focus on showing up as your best self at the end of it there's no world in which you don't feel good having been to the gym and it's the same with this sort of creative work and the reason that I think this book is life-changing is because I know so many creators who struggle with having their selfworth to attach to the outcome of the process they're not focused on the process they're focused on the outcome they feel bad if a video doesn't get that many views I've been through this myself they feel bad if the video gets negative comments it feel bad if for example someone someone replies being like oh this wasn't that helpful whereas the creators who I know who are the happiest are almost the ones who detach themselves from the outcome they're just showing up they're focused on the process and for them it's a win if they get the video out if they spend the time filming the video if they spent the time writing the thing even if they've written a th000 words and the next day they delete all thousand words the fact is they are still proud of themselves because because they showed up and they did the work and you know when it comes to these sorts of non-fiction books I would know having having written one myself often there are just like one to three key ideas in the book and the rest of the book some people would say very cynically is just fluff but actually I could tell you right now through this video yeah just focus on enjoying the process but like you know that intellectually but through experiencing it and through reading a book about it that tells you the same thing again and again and again in loads of different ways with loads of different examples that is when it becomes more than just intellectual knowledge that's when it starts to seep into your soul into your body into your heart whatever terminology you want to use and this is why reminders are super helpful this is why you know Atomic habits is an amazing book fundamentally the one thing he he says is small habits lead to Great results but if you read the book you know it's freaking amazing it's really really really helpful even though he's just saying that one thing so it's not filled with fluff as cynics kind of sometimes say it's almost like for example if you're watching a comedy show and they just gave you the punch line that's not a very fun comedy show to watch you kind of need the build up to benefit from the punchline similarly if you're listening to a musical performance and all you had was climaxes and the crescendo that's not particularly fun because the buildup IS what makes the crescendo and the climax worth it in the words of alen wats so I'd encourage you if you take even one thing away from this video please do not dismiss the value of non-fiction books like this if the right book hits you at the right time and gives you the right idea oh man that can completely change your life and the practice by Seth Goden is one that's completely changed my own creative process because now I'm less focused on myself more focused on service and more more focused on showing up even if I don't feel like it I will still show up and maybe I won't film a video directly because I kind of feel like I want to film videos when I feel like it but I'll at least show up get myself to a coffee shop drink a cup of coffee and at least do some creative work do some writing get some highlights from a book summarize what I think about it write it for my weekly email newsletter and the more I stick to this process and focus on the process the better everything in my life becomes so that is the first book The Practice by Seth Goden and if you are a Creator in any form I think you will get enormous value and I think that book might just change your life now this book is all about shipping creative work but if you are like me and you ship creative work and then you also want to create a business out of it then you might like to to check out HubSpot who are very kindly sponsoring this video HubSpot is powerful flexible and easy to your software that's built for growing your business and we are actively using in our business as well we've been dreaming about having the perfect trm for our parttime H accelerator for years and we finally switched to HubSpot and it is such a breath of fresh air and it's so magical to be able to connect all of our data all in one place through the platform you get a ton of insight into your entire sales process by being able to track all of your leads all of the way from when they first sign up to something to when they're a loyal customer and that is insanely helpful and whether or not you're at the stage yet where you want to build a whole sales and marketing and customer success CRM HubSpot actually has a bunch of quick practical online courses that you can take as well along with Comprehensive certifications so that you can learn everything you need to know about the most sought-after business skills they also have a great free template for being more productive at work which has loads of information and tips about how to manage your day and your energy which is the sort of stuff that I talk about in my book as well as well as stuff about remote working and actually the hubs sport resources on remote working have been super helpful for me and my team over the last few months as I've been traveling the world and switching to a remote lifestyle you can check out HubSpot and get all of these resources completely for free by by hitting the link in the video description so thank you so much HubSpot for sponsoring this video and let's move on to book number two okay the next book that we're going to talk about that is a book that you've almost certainly not heard of and it's called The Strangest Secret by Earl Nightingale now Earl Nightingale is this American motivational speaker author coach kind of guy who was around in like the 1950s in the US on Radio and on TV Earl had this classic kind of ragar richer story he was born during the time of the Great Depression and he grew up in poverty and the stranger secret is actually a record that he recorded in 1956 it's like an audio program which has been converted into a book and his whole thing apparently was that he was trying to figure out why is it that some people grow rich and prosperous and why does do people like his family end up growing up in poverty and so he did a bunch of reading and ended up becoming like this motivational speaker and stuff and so this book The Strangest Secret is like one of these OG from like the 1950s self-help books that has a core message and the core message is going to sound weird it's going to sound cliche but I think if you take the idea on board it can completely change your life and that idea is the power of knowing what you want and writing it down that's basically it his the whole I'm not a huge fan of the second half of the book but the first half of the book I highlighted the absolute Living Daylights out of and there's a quote here about the secret to success he says I'll tell you who the successful people are a success is the school teacher who is teaching school because that's what she wanted to do the success is the woman who is a wife and mother because she wanted to become a wife and mother and is doing a good job of it the success is the man who runs the Corner Gas Station because that's what he wanted to do the success is the successful salesman who wants to become a top-notch Salesman and grow and build with his organization a success is anyone who is doing deliberately a predetermined job because that's what he decided to do deliberately but only one in 20 people actually does that and I actually really like this definition of success he's not saying that success is trying to be rich he's not saying success is trying to become famous or popular or whatever the thing is he sayings you are successful when you are working towards doing the thing that you actually want to do that's it whether it's being a mom or a housewife or a teacher or a businessman or entrepreneur or a YouTuber or author you are successful if you are actively taking steps to work towards the the thing that you actually want and the problem is very few people actually know what they want for example if I were to meet you in a coffee shop right now and we were having a conversation for whatever reason and I were to say hey can you show me where you've written down your goals for the next year you'd probably say what goals for the next year if you've thought about your goals then you probably haven't written them down there there are very few people who a know what they actually want to do and to be write it down somewhere and ear Nightingale and a lot of these books like Think and Grow by Napoleon Hill anything by Jin Ron anything by Tony Robin like all of these self-help type people including me ultimately land on the conclusion that if you know where you are trying to go then you'll figure out the how of how you're going to get there but so few people actually know where they're trying to go that like they end up Meandering around all the all over the place and ear's definition of success is you are working towards the thing that you actually want to do so this is not actually that hard the whole thing is just figure out what you actually want to do and turn it into a goal and just write it down doesn't need to be a smart goal doesn't need to be that specific or measurable or achievable orisk you just need to have some idea of where you're actually trying to go and the way I think of goals is that that setting a goal is like understanding where is the destination and that's not to say that you are then fixated on the destination but it is to say that you are then taking steps so moving in the direction of that destination and given that you know roughly what the destination is you can also then assess am I on the right path to go towards that particular destination if you know for example that you want to write three books in the next 10 years cool that's really useful to know that means on average one book every 3 and a half years and so you can then assess am I actually taking the steps to get there this is not to say you're fixated on it it's not to say that you know that you're wedded to that particular timeline maybe it'll be 12 years maybe it'll be 8 years but you're way more likely to write three books if you have set the intention of I want to write three books in the next 10 years here's another great quote from the book people with goals succeed because they know where they're going think of a ship leaving a harbor and think of it with a complete Voyage mapped out and planned the captain and crew know exactly where it's going and how long it will take it has a definite goal 99,999 times out of 10,000 it will get to where it started out to get now let's take another ship just like the first only let's not put a crew on it or a captain of the helm let's give it no aiming point no goal no Destiny we just start the engine and let it go I think you'll agree with me that if it gets out of the harbor at all it will either sink or wind up on some deserted Beach a derelict it can't go any place because it has no destination no guidance and this book has had a major impact on me because it literally in like the half an hour it took me to read the first half of this book completely sold me on the idea of setting goals in the past if you've been following the channel for a while you know I've had a bit of like I'm not really sure whether setting goals is worthwhile or not and I'm like of course it is it's useful to have a destination in mind because there is no Journey without a destination in mind again not to say you're going to be fixated on the destination but if you know where you're going then you are far more likely to Marshall resources and to find a way to get there and to enjoy the process of getting there which is the whole thesis of my book feel-good productivity like how do you find a way to make the journey itself feel good because sure maybe you'll get to the destination but you'll realize when you get there that the journey is What mattered in the first place but crucially even though the journey is what matters you cannot have a journey without a destination without feeling Meandering and without feeling like you don't know where your life is going and all this kind of stuff and the more clarity you can have on where you're actually trying to go the the more likely you are to actually get there and to enjoy the process along the way so if you currently do not have goals and do not have them written down somewhere perhaps you might enjoy reading The Strangest Secret by L Nightingale it will take you like half an hour to read you can skip the second half I don't really like the second half or you know I'm sure it's good but it didn't Vibe with me at this stage of my life right now but the first half completely Vibes me and I was like oh my freaking God this is bloody incredible stuff and again I'll put my highlights in a link down below if you're interested in just reading the highlights and then you can decide if the book is for you or not all right book number three that I think might have the potential to change your life is a book called No More Mr Nice Guy by Robert Glover now I agree the title of this book is a little bit clickbaity and you might think No More Mr Nice Guy is this some book that's going to teach men to become even more assholish or like all that kind of stuff it is not that at all I've highlighted the absolute out of this I actually read this like 10 years ago and I've been every few years I find myself rereading it and taking new things away from it because it's basically a book if I were to sum it up in one sentence it's a book that encourages men to be mindful of and express their own feelings it's basically a book that says as a dude it's okay to have feelings it's okay to have needs and it's okay to express those feelings and needs and to love yourself for who you are rather than trying to perform kind of gain the approval of other people now if you are a guy like me and you struggle like me to understand and express your own emotions and feelings and needs then I think you will get enormous value from this book here's a fun quote consider this if you did not care what people thought of you how would you live your life differently if you were not concerned with getting the approval of women how would your relationships with the opposite sex be different nice guy seek external validation in just about every social situation but their quest for approval is the most pronounced in their relationships with women nice guys interpret a woman's approval as the ultimate validation of their worth signs of a woman's approval can take the form of her desire to have sex flutatious Behavior a smile a touch or attentiveness at the other end of the spectrum if a woman is depressed in a bad mood or angry nice guys interpret these things to mean that she is not accepting or approving of them nice guys have a difficult time comprehending that in general people are not drawn to perfection in others people are drawn to Shared interest interests shared problems and an individual's Life Energy humans connect with humans hiding one's humanity and trying to project an image of perfection makes a person vague slippery lifeless and uninteresting I often refer to nice guys as Teflon men they work so hard to be smooth nothing can stick to them unfortunately this Teflon coating also makes it difficult for people to get close it is actually a person's rough edges and human imperfections that give others something to connect with I've got so many highlights from this book it's really really good again I'll share a link to my highlights down below if you want to check them out but basically the whole book is about teaching guys that it's okay to have feelings and it's okay to have needs and it's it's okay to express them and you don't need to have shame around the fact that you have feelings and needs and your own preferences and actually you know this narrative that we're taught as men that like your job on this Earth is to sacrifice yourself for the sake of the other people in your life you know maybe there's some truth to that we're going to talk talk more about that in the fourth book but it's like that thing with the in the airplanes like you put your own oxygen mask on first before helping other people with it and I think this applies to me this applies to basically most of my male friends we really struggle to express our emotions and feelings and needs and the exercises and journaling prompts and everything in this book no more Mr a nice guy are super helpful and could potentially change the course of your life if any of this sort of stuff has resonated with you so far and now we're on to book number four which is an amazing book called the second Mountain by David Brooks now the whole thesis of this book is that there are two mountains that we climb in life the first mountain is the mountain of the self it's the mountain of achievement it's the mountain of Freedom it's the mountain of I want to make money I want to be successful I want to make something of myself and then one of very things happen either we get to the top of the first mountain in AR number one or we get knocked off that first mountain and into the Valley through someone close to us having a health problem or dying or ourselves having a health problem or dying or some kind of major life event that takes us off of the first mountain and then we end up in this Valley and in the valley is when we realize that oh there is actually a second mountain and the second mountain is the mountain of commitment it's the mountain of service it's the mountain of where your life is not just about you it's about serving other people it's about committing to something it's about building a family it's about contributing to something greater than yourself it's about getting involved in your local community getting involved in your local church or Moscow whatever the thing might be like really going for your business because of the service that it provides David Brooks argues that while the first Mountain might make you happy and give you Freedom the second Mountain gives you Joy and Lasting Joy is actually way better than momentary happiness now if any of that resonates with you if you're at a stage of your life where maybe you've been on the first Mountain for a long time as I have and you might find you know In fairness I've I've got to the top of the first Mountain uh I've got freedom I've got success I'm famous people come to me on the streets and they say how much they love me how much my Works change of life all this kind of crap I've got L money all this kind of stuff this is all like first Mountain crap this is all like I'm optimizing for Freedom I'm focusing on myself I want to be famous I want to be rich I want to be successful but you get there and you realize that it's not all it's cracked up to be and when you're at the top of the first Mountain sort of feels a bit Hollow it sort of feels like uh do I really want to continue working for more Fame and more achievements and more accolades and more freedom and more like optionality and more like lack of attachment really is that really what I want and when I read this book I read it I've been slowly reading it on and off over the last year and again so much stuff in this has resonated with me going to read out some highlights cuz I like reading highlights there's a crucial way to tell whether you are on your first or second Mountain where is your ultimate appeal to self or to something outside the self if the first mountain is about building up the EGO and defining the self the second mountain is about shedding the ego and losing the self if the first mountain is about acquisition the second mountain is about contribution if the first mountain is elitist moving up the second mountain is egalitarian planting yourself amid those who need and walking arm in-arm with them ah beautiful here's another one people on the first Mountain have lives that are mobile and lightly attached people on the second Mountain are deeply rooted and deeply committed the second Mountain life is a committed life when I'm describing how second mountain people live what I'm really describing is how these people made maximal commitments to others and how they live them out in fervent Allin ways these people are not keeping their options open they are planted people on the second Mountain have made strong commitments to one or all of these four things a vocation a spouse and family a philosophy or faith and a community good stuff I'm at the moment like I'm currently in La filming this um cuz I'm in the in the middle of a digital Nomad traveling around the world and I know a lot of people who have done this sort of thing and they usually say somewhere between 6 12 18 24 months into the journey you realize that actually all of this travel and all this freedom is no longer that fulfilling I haven't done it before so I'm doing it but I kind of know full well based on people I've been speaking to and based on reading this book that the thing that's going to bring me lasting Joy is not the ability to just travel the world and do whatever I want thing that's going to bring me lasting Joy is getting married having a family committing myself to like a thing really taking my job seriously in like sharing ideas and showing up in full service mode and full contribution with love and contribution and stuff even and and not worrying about the money and I just know that if I just do that it'll bring me lasting joy and it'll probably make loads of money as well here's another highlight my first Mountain was an insanely lucky one I achieved far more professional success than I ever expected to but that climb turned me into a certain sort of person aloof invulnerable and uncommunicative at least when it came to my private life but when I look back generally on the errors and failures and Sins Of My Life they tend to be failures of omission failures to truly show up for the people I should have been close to they tend to be the sins of withdrawal evasion workaholism conflict and avoidance failure to empathize and a failure to express myself openly I have two old and dear friends who live 250 mi from me for example and their side of the Friendship has required immense forbearance and forgiveness for all the times I've been too busy too disorganized too distant when they were in need or just available I look at those dear friendships with a gratitude mixed with shame and this pattern not being present to what I love because I prioritize time over people productivity over relationship is a recurring motive in my life oh mate there's another really good one I I felt really called out by this he describes the sort of person who's in on the first mountain in centuries past emerging adults took their parents jobs faiths towns and identities but in the age of I'm free to be myself you're expected to find your own career path your own social tribe your own beliefs values life Partners gender roles political viewpoints and social identities as a student your focus was primarily on the short-term but now you need a different set of navigational skills to the far Horizon goals you'll begin to orient your life towards and then he goes on to kind of describe this person who lives on the first Mountain this is an excellent way to begin your 20s but the problem with this kind of Life only becomes evident a few years down the road if you haven't settled down into one thing if you say yes to everything year after year you end up leading what kard lamented as an aesthetic style of life the person leading the aesthetic life is leading his life as if it were a piece of art judging it by aesthetic criteria is it interesting or dull pretty or ugly pleasurable or painful and here is where I felt really called up such a person schedules a Meditation Retreat here A Burning Man visit there one Fellowship one year and another one the next there's swing dancing one day Soul cycle twice a week Krav mgar for a few months bigm yoga for a few months more and occasionally a cool art gallery on a Sunday afternoon your Instagram feed will be amazing and everybody will think you're the coolest person ever you tell yourself that relationships really matter to you scheduling drinks having lunch but after you've had 20 social Encounters in a week you forget what all those encounters are supposed to build to you have thousands of conversations and remember none the problem is that the person in the aesthetic phase sees life as possibilities to be experienced and not projects to be fulfilled or ideals to be lived out he will hover above everything but never land in in the aesthetic way of life each individual day is fun but it doesn't add up to anything in the aesthetic way of life each individual day is fun but it doesn't seem to add up to anything and if you feel like this concept this metaphor first Mountain second Mountain resonates if you feel like maybe you're like me and that you've been chasing your own selfish needs for success and freedom and fame and money and all that for way too long and now you feel like actually there's something more to life there's something there's more joy to be found in commitment in attachment in settling down as it were and view settling down is not a bad thing if you're at that stage of life I think you're going to love this book it's really really good mate David Brooks what a Legend what a fantastic book now if you got to the end of this video and you've been vibing with the way my philosophy on this sort of stuff you might like to check out this video over here which is a life update video that I did recently that's very long that shares some of these sentiments around this sort of second Mountain stuff and some of the realizations I've had around kind of serving the self serving other people doing what I want like chasing money fulfillment all happiness all that kind of stuff that's in a video right over there thank you so much for watching and I'll see you next time bye-bye

Channel: Ali Abdaal

Views: 427,415

Keywords: Ali Abdaal, Ali abdal, ali abdaal productivity, how to read more, best books, how to read more efficiently, how to read more books, how to read more effectively, how to read more in less time, how to read more often, how to read more books in less time, how to read more than one book at a time, ali abdaal books, how to read more books in a month, how to read more books effectively, how to read more books in 2024, read more, read more books, how to read 100 books, 2024

Id: AvKGYyowFK4

Length: 23min 54sec (1434 seconds)

Published: Wed Dec 20 2023