5 BOOKS I RECOMMEND YOU READ – PART 2

Apr 27, 2022
Mark Carroll

G’day once again everyone! Fun LEARN blog this week on one of my very favourite topics – BOOKS! Now, this is my second LEARN blog on recommended reading. If you missed the first one, please go check out my  previous blog on recommended books as funny enough – that has been our MOST popular LEARN blog, which is pretty cool! 

Now, before I get started on these recommendations…as always, these are MY personal favourites. I don’t expect you all to have the same taste as me. 

These are books which have served me well at different phases in my life. We are all at different levels in life, some of these may be great for you now, some may be great for you in the future. Don’t expect every book to change your life right away. Sometimes, you need to go through a certain stage in life to really appreciate what you are reading. 

Important…this is not financial advice. I am just a PT who loves to read. PLEASE do not see this as a “OMG Mark said to read this and do this with my money” it’s not that!!! It’s purely books to give you all some ideas to get out there and read and learn. THAT’S IT! I repeat, NOT FINANCIAL ADVICE 

Now that we have that covered, let’s do it!

1 – Elon Musk: How the Billionaire CEO of SpaceX and Tesla is Shaping Our Future 

By Ashlee Vance

Since Elon Musk is in the news every which way currently as not just being the richest man in the world but also as of yesterday when writing this, just acquired TWITTER for 61 BILLION Australian dollars… yes billion. I think this is a good time to recommend one of my most enjoyable reads about someone’s life. 

Now, I am not an Elon Musk fan boy. Not a huge fan of Tesla the car, I am a big fan of space though so that’s cool. Did you know Elon Musk was one of the creators of PayPal? 

So why do I recommend this book? 

Growing up I did not come from money. I always looked at rich people and thought wow they are just so lucky. Must have been born into it somehow, etc. I had a very negative perception of people with wealth and my parents installed that as they were not fans of rich people at all.

Now, I see often on social media people think these insanely successful people must’ve gotten really lucky, or born into it, I get it! I used to think the same as well. But, after working for years and years, and slowly moving up the ladder. I can assure you, most people are going to be very much self made. It doesn’t come easy. It doesn’t come quickly. But, working your ass off can lead to progress. Big progress!

This book is about Elon’s life growing up and his twists and turns going from a small start up business to then being the world’s wealthiest man. It doesn’t just happen. I find stories like this inspiring especially when I am feeling down. Feeling like it’s never going to happen for me. 

Reading that other people 10000x more successful than me started in a similar place I always find motivating. Sure, we most likely will never be the richest person in the world, but we can also start somewhere not that amazing, but then finish somewhere a whole lot better than we probably imagined with a whole lot of hard work and self belief. When I read this book I knew nothing about Elon Musk, I just wanted to learn about someone who was incredibly successful. 

2 – The Psychology of Money: Timeless lessons on wealth, greed, and happiness 

By Morgan Housel

I read this late last year and it’s honestly an absolute must read for anyone wanting to learn about personal finances and investing; it’s a simple and short read, yet very powerful. 

I know from my daily messages, people want to learn about money. Here is a cool book about the good, the bad and the ugly when it comes to money. Money can lead to amazing things like helping charities etc, and can lead to exceptional greed as well. 

A lot of people even when they were stupidly wealthy, have committed crimes to lose everything they had at the quest of getting a touch more wealthy. Makes no sense! 

One of the chapters is about knowing when “enough is enough.” Knowing that being able to pay your bills off and live stress free should be wealthy enough for most people. But, history shows time and time again that many smart people can fall into the trap of never knowing when to stop and say that’s enough.

Great read for those wanting to understand money and finances in general. But also knowing that more money does not always mean a happier life. Important!

3 – The One Thing: The Surprisingly Simple Truth Behind Extraordinary Results 

By: Gary Keller, Jay Papasan

Here’s an excellent short read about getting the most out of yourself and your day. I actually got this book recommendation from CHARLES POLIQUIN, the late great strength coach. 

Everyday I know I am met with a laundry list of to dos. It never seems to end, just grows that list. First hand I can tell you, without a plan of how to combat that endless list it leads to doing nothing all that well. 

The one thing – is about priorities. What is the one thing that is most pressing in your day? What is the one goal you have to work on that can give you the most bang for buck on your life right now? 

Find that one thing. Prioritise that! Push everything else behind that.

Focus on that ONE THING. 

By targeting what is most important. We allow us to attack what most needs to be done and what will have the biggest return on investment for you. 

Instead of trying to do 5 things well at a time and doing them all averagely. Pick one most pressing thing, short term, mid term and long term and go all out on that goal! 

Fantastic book you could read on a weekend or a long flight!

4  – 2 books – 1 for my American international audience and 1 for my fellow Aussies

America / international: The Total Money Makeover – By Dave Ramsey

Australia: The Barefoot Investor: The Only Money Guide You’ll Ever Need – By Scott Pape

Both these books are excellent personal finance books for people who: 

  1. A)    Have very beginner level knowledge on managing their money
  2. B)    Struggling with bills and debt 

I have to say that B) was definitely me a few years ago!

Now why both books? 

Dave Ramsey is extremely famous in America on personal finance. Think he has an audience of 4-5 mil on YouTube. But his messaging is very much to an American audience in the terms of investing in 401k, etc

The Barefoot Investor book is written by an Aussie financial guy and basically both follow very very similar terms and structures to managing your money and getting out of bad debt! 

Very similar books which are fantastic starting points for families or young people who always just feel like their money magically seems to vanish after they get paid. 

Then those credit card debts continue to rise and rise. 

These 2 books are excellent at giving you a nice little plan of attack to improve your situation. Helped me out massively a few years ago! 

5 – Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance – By Angela Duckworth

Our final book on our list for this month is GRIT. 

Now, this is a longer and slightly dryer read I must say, but still excellent. 

What makes winners in life? 

Good chance it’s not just being born with insane talent. But, the power of perseverance to handle bad patches in life and keep moving forward. 

GRIT – is that 

GRIT is when everything in the world is trying to make you quit. When the pain is so bad that any mere mortal would tap out…well not you! 

GRIT is about showing you the power of getting through those tough periods with not just your typical motivational quotes. But this book is actually extremely science based. Lots of research has gone into this book and it shows through science, how winners in life commonly don’t have anything all that more special about themselves in talent or where they grew up. But their GRIT is what has allowed them to go to amazing levels in life. 

If you are struggling at the moment. Feeling lost. Feeling defeated and wanting to quit. Argh, I know that feeling well believe me…well GRIT will help show you the power of pushing through.

So that’s it guys.

5 more books I have found valuable at different parts of my life.

I hope 1 or 2 of them can help inspire you in whatever journey you are going through.

Mark