With 2014 approaching us quickly, it is a good likelihood that you received an Amazon or Barnes & Noble Gift Certificate as a secret Santa gift, a stocking stuffer, or under the tree. While reading has in a large part gone the way of You Tube and anything that will make us laugh in ninety seconds or less, engaging yourself in a really good book could help you personally, professionally, and even financially. I have put together my short list which contains a virtual cornucopia of different types of reads. Find one of these and put it on your to do list for 2014.
- Think Like A Freak, Stephen Levitt and Stephen Dubner– This book is one of the follow ups from Freakonomics and is scheduled to be released in the March to May time frame in 2014. Freakonomics is all about turning your brain inside out and being able to look at situations from an entirely different perspective. There is even an excerpt about the upside of quitting your job.
- The Coupon Mom’s Guide To Cutting Your Grocery Bills In Half, Stephanie Nelson– In the blogging world, Coupon Mom has been a top five blog for as long as I have ever been involved with the blogging scene. Stephanie can show you how to save thousands of dollars on your bills while not sacrificing quality in any way.
- Predictably Irrational, Dan Ariely– Have you ever wondered how marketing companies get us to do the things that we do every day? Ariely has a fascinating take through a series of case studies to show buying patterns of human behavior and why our emotions make us do the things we do. You’ll never look at the word FREE the same way again.
- Social Intelligence, Daniel Goleman– This one might be a good read for your teenagers as well. Goleman is most famous for his work on Emotional Competence (the whole IQ vs. EQ discussion), but this book has a fascinating look at how people interact with people and what skills it takes to become a socially competent person. Let’s start with the cell phone talk on airplanes . . . c’mon people!
- Leaders Eat Last, Simon Sinek– Why is that some people absolutely love their job while having fulfillment at work for most is like winning the lottery? This book is targeted at leads on creating an environment where people feel valued and trusted and are able to make the most of their talent.
- We Use Coupons, You Should Too, Nathan Engles– Since I gave you the Mrs. Coupon, it’s probably a good idea to meet the Mr. Coupon as well. This is a cheap read for only $5.00, and Mr. Engles personally got himself out of $80,000 of debt by using coupons and other strategies that can help save you money.
- First, Break All The Rules, Marcus Buckingham– You would benefit yourself immensely by reading all of Marcus’ books. Even though this one is over a decade old, I continue to see people spending time fixing their flaws as opposed to working on increasing their strengths. If you can lead and self-manage this way, you might find your results better in 2014.
- Epic Content Marketing, Joe Pulizzi– Everything you do and your company does will be around content in the future. You’ll hear ‘content is king’ until it makes you sick. Pulizzi shows you in this book how to ‘teach’ customers rather than ‘sell’ customers, which is the wave of the future.
There are so many good reads out there and I’ll be bringing you my own book at some point here in the near future. You’ll need to help me get to five stars on AmazonJ If you don’t have the time to read all eight of these, pick just one on your next airplane flight and see if it doesn’t improve your bottom line in 2014!
Written by:
Ted Jenkin
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