5 life-changing books you must read in 2024
Summary
TLDRIn this insightful video, the speaker recommends five transformative non-fiction books, covering topics from happiness and relationships to self-improvement and financial behavior. 'Stumbling on Happiness' challenges our predictions of future joy, while 'The Surrender Experiment' explores letting go and embracing life's flow. 'The Way of the Superior Man' delves into masculine and feminine energies, offering relationship insights. 'The Most Important Thing' illuminates the impact of behavior on financial success, and 'The Body Keeps the Score' addresses the profound effects of trauma on our bodies and minds. The summary encourages viewers to explore these paradigm-shifting reads for personal growth.
Takeaways
- π The speaker recommends five books that can induce paradigm shifts in one's perspective on life.
- π 'Take Five Seconds' exemplifies how selective focus can lead to overlooking certain elements, like 'sleep', in a list.
- π€ 'Stumbling on Happiness' by Dan Gilbert explores our limited ability to predict what will make us happy and the flaws in our cognitive biases and decision-making.
- π§ 'The Surrender Experiment' by Michael Singer illustrates the idea of letting go and allowing life to unfold naturally, as opposed to forcing outcomes.
- π° 'Way of the Superior Man' discusses the balance of masculine and feminine energies within individuals and the importance of understanding these energies in relationships.
- π The book emphasizes the need to focus on self-improvement in relationships rather than seeking the 'perfect' partner.
- πΈ 'The Most Important Thing' highlights the significance of behavior in financial success, using the story of Ronald James Reed, a janitor turned investor.
- π° The script points out the misplaced priorities of spending on lottery tickets over building an emergency fund, especially among lower-income households.
- ποΈ 'The Body Keeps the Score' delves into the physical and psychological effects of trauma and how it is stored in our bodies.
- πββοΈ Physical activity and movement are suggested as effective ways to manage stress and change one's physiological state.
- π The importance of understanding the psychology of money and adopting sound financial behaviors is underscored for long-term wealth accumulation.
Q & A
What is the main theme of the first recommended book, 'Stumbling on Happiness'?
-The main theme of 'Stumbling on Happiness' is the exploration of how humans predict what will make them happy and the cognitive biases that affect our decision-making and predictions about the future.
What is the unique ability of humans that the first book discusses?
-The unique ability discussed in the first book is humans' capacity to think about the future, which includes daydreaming, manifesting, setting goals, predicting, and worrying.
What is the central message of 'The Surrender Experiment' by Michael Singer?
-The central message of 'The Surrender Experiment' is about letting go and allowing life to unfold with you, as opposed to forcing outcomes and being overly attached to specific life goals.
How does the book 'The Way of the Superior Man' define 'superior'?
-In 'The Way of the Superior Man', 'superior' does not mean above others or women; it refers to becoming the most superior version of oneself, understanding and balancing both masculine and feminine energies within.
What is the main point of the book 'The Way of the Superior Man' regarding relationships?
-The main point is that understanding and balancing one's masculine and feminine energies can lead to better relationships, as it promotes understanding between different perspectives and communication styles.
What is the significance of the story about Ronald James Reed in the context of the book about financial behavior?
-The story of Ronald James Reed illustrates the power of consistent investment behavior in blue-chip stocks and the long-term impact of such habits, showing that financial success is more about behavior than starting with wealth.
What is the main argument of the book on financial behavior regarding the role of behaviorism in financial success?
-The main argument is that behavior plays a more significant role in financial success than external factors like wealth or high-paying jobs. It emphasizes the importance of disciplined and informed financial behaviors.
What does the book 'The Body Keeps the Score' suggest about the relationship between trauma and the body?
-The book suggests that trauma is stored in the body, manifesting as physiological responses to situations that remind individuals of past traumatic events.
How does the script suggest using movement to cope with stress and anxiety?
-The script suggests that engaging in physical activities like running, walking, or dynamic meditation can help release stress and change one's emotional state, emphasizing the connection between physical movement and mental well-being.
What is the overarching message about self-improvement and self-healing in the context of relationships presented in the script?
-The overarching message is that instead of solely focusing on finding the right partner, individuals should concentrate on becoming the best version of themselves, as this will naturally attract a compatible and high-quality partner.
What is the script's stance on the current discourse around trauma in pop culture?
-The script acknowledges the importance of discussing trauma openly but criticizes the misuse of the term for minor inconveniences, emphasizing the need to respect the severity of true traumatic experiences.
Outlines
π Book Recommendations for Paradigm Shifts
The speaker introduces a list of five books that have the potential to shift one's perspective on life. The first book, 'Take Five Seconds', illustrates the concept of selective focus and cognitive biases, using an example to demonstrate how our brains filter information. The second book, 'Stumbling on Happiness', by Dan Gilbert, discusses the unpredictability of what makes us happy and our flawed decision-making processes. 'The Surrender Experiment' by Michael Singer is the third book, which tells the story of a man who embraces an Eastern approach to life, letting go of control and allowing life to unfold, leading to unexpected success. The speaker emphasizes the importance of both Eastern and Western philosophies in achieving a balanced approach to life.
π§ββοΈ Embracing the 'Way of the Superior Man'
The fourth book, 'The Way of the Superior Man', challenges the traditional views on masculinity and femininity, advocating for understanding and embracing both energies within oneself. The book provides insights into the different perspectives of men and women, suggesting that understanding these differences can lead to better relationships. The speaker shares personal experiences of how the book impacted their views on relationships and encourages self-improvement as the key to attracting the right partner.
π° The Power of Behavior in Financial Success
The fifth book discussed is about financial behavior and mindset, rather than just wealth accumulation. It tells the story of Ronald James Reed, a janitor who became a multi-millionaire through disciplined investing in blue-chip stocks. The book emphasizes the importance of behavior and psychology in managing money, contrasting the lottery mentality of many lower-income individuals with the long-term investment approach of successful investors. The speaker highlights the need for financial education and the impact of behavior on financial outcomes.
ποΈββοΈ Healing Trauma Through Physical Movement
The final book mentioned, 'The Body Keeps the Score', delves into the topic of trauma and its physical manifestations. The author, with over 30 years of experience, explores how trauma is stored in the body and affects both mental and physical health. The speaker shares a personal anecdote about using dynamic meditation as a form of physical release to alleviate stress and trauma. The summary underscores the importance of physical activity in healing and the mind-body connection in processing emotional experiences.
π Reading Challenges and Continuing Education
The speaker concludes by inviting the audience to explore further reading challenges, such as a previous endeavor where they read seven books in seven days. They offer a follow-up video that summarizes each book and shares key takeaways, encouraging continuous learning and self-improvement through literature.
Mindmap
Keywords
π‘Selective Focus
π‘Stumbling on Happiness
π‘The Surrender Experiment
π‘Behaviorism
π‘Dynamic Meditation
π‘The Way of the Superior Man
π‘Tax Evasion
π‘Trauma
π‘Behavior and Money
π‘Self-Improvement
Highlights
Reading certain books can give you paradigm shifts that will stick with you.
Selective focus and flaws in our neuroscience are highlighted through an example involving the words gasoline and sleep.
Stumbling on Happiness by Dan Gilbert explores cognitive biases and overconfidence in predicting future happiness.
The Surrender Experiment by Michael Singer illustrates the concept of letting go and allowing things to unfold naturally.
The Way of the Superior Man by David Deida discusses masculine and feminine energies and how understanding these can improve relationships.
The importance of becoming the best version of yourself to attract the right partner is emphasized.
The Psychology of Money by Morgan Housel argues that behavior and psychology play a bigger role in financial success than having a high-paying job or a lot of money.
The story of Ronald James Reed, a janitor who amassed over eight million dollars through consistent investing, highlights the impact of behavior on financial success.
Behaviorism and misplaced priorities are exemplified by the high spending on lottery tickets compared to the inability to come up with emergency funds.
The Body Keeps the Score by Bessel van der Kolk explores trauma and its physiological impact on the body.
Dynamic meditation and other physical activities can help release stored trauma and improve mental and emotional well-being.
Exercise and movement are crucial for managing stress and improving overall mental health.
Learning about financial behaviorism can motivate better financial actions, such as investing wisely.
Understanding masculine and feminine energies can bridge the communication gap between genders in relationships.
Focusing on self-improvement and self-healing can lead to better relationships and personal satisfaction.
Transcripts
here are the five books I'd recommend
you read this year weird flex but I've
read over 300 in the non-fiction space
finances relationships self-improvement
self-healing there's a lot of books out
there that kind of say the same thing
you know what I mean so I think if you
take this list read them this year it's
going to give you some Paradigm shifts
that will stick with you
book number one take five seconds and
read the list of words in front of you
now
got it we good okay
now which of these words was not on the
list
if you're like most it's obvious
gasoline but there's another word that
also wasn't on the list that one sleep
if you don't believe me rewind five
seconds and look at the list you knew
gasoline wasn't on the list because it
was so out of place but you didn't catch
sleep because it fit in that example
explained selective focus and a bit of
the flaws that are wired into our
Neuroscience behaviorism call it
whatever you want we're learning a lot
about it in the last 20 30 years in fact
the first book I recommend stumbling on
happiness goes over just that my
favorite idea from the book is what
makes you unique it's our ability to
think about the future it seems so every
day to you because you can do it but
your ability to daydream to manifest to
set goals to predict to worry anxiety
right that's living in the future seeing
things going wrong
super unique to the human race it's
estimated around 12 percent of all your
thoughts throughout the day are related
to the Future now a lot of us are using
that prediction machine to try and
predict what will make us happy well if
I get a certain amount of money I'll be
set if I just had more experience or the
house or the job then you know then
things will be happy one day so we're
always trying to predict what will make
us happy but what Dan Gilbert says in
this book so brilliantly we don't
actually know it's called stumbling on
happiness but I think it should be
called humbling happiness because it
makes you realize how little you
actually know and going over a lot of
the cognitive biases and how our
decision making is flawed and how we
have overconfidence about our
predictions of the future it really does
humble you to another side of what it
means to be human
book number two what do billionaires
hippies FBI raids and meditation all
have in common they're in this book The
Surrender experiment Michael Singer
singer's got a crazy story literally was
just this hippie who wanted to meditate
in his van in Mexico and like be left
the heck alone and slowly as his story
unravels he gets a carpentry job and
then he gets really good and then he has
this company and then they start
building churches and houses and
construction and it gets bigger and
bigger and bigger and then he gets into
Computing and that gets bigger and
eventually he finds himself I don't want
to spoil too much here being the CEO of
this multi-billion dollar company crazy
story crazy book and why I'm telling you
this why I recommend it so hard is a
couple reasons the first is that it
illustrates just that what does it mean
to let go because here's a guy who took
the polar opposite approach that a lot
of like the West teaches with
self-improvement set goals work your
face off hustle and grind sacrifice the
best years of your life for a future
outcome but then there's the whole more
esoteric Eastern approach which is just
be in the present moment allow things to
come to you don't be too attached let
the universe if you believe this let the
universe unfold with you and guide you
have intentions but don't like force
things because to the degree you force
things it's like having a breeze on a
hot summer day flowing through your
house you want it to last forever you
shut all the doors and all the windows
and it kills the breeze of what you love
it's the approach that this book talks
about and so this book really turned my
beliefs in my 20s on my head because I
had been operating if you know my story
from that Force energy for such a long
time that was all I knew and then as
soon as I got into my 30s you know I
moved to Arizona I started experimenting
with some more of this like letting go
Eastern approach to things and I got a
whole new batch of results and neither
is better I do believe you need both
this book really emphasizes what it
looks like to let go to tap into that
new camp the last note on this I would
highly recommend you get the audible
version because he's reading it and it
feels like a mini course or a deep dive
that's 10 hours long I put that on I
went on a lot of walks I think I
finished it in a week throughout just
walking up and down my golf course get
your 10 000 steps in and learn what it
means to let go foreign
this next book bit of a Funny Story it
was a book I read in college and it blew
my mind you know when someone connects
the dots of sporadic areas in your mind
and it feels like oh I understand this
now like yes well this book did it for
me in relationships I started being like
well everyone needs this book you get a
copy you get a copy you get a copy so I
was given amount to like my friends my
family to people I didn't really even
know that well because it helped me so
much and one of the people I gave it to
dude it was a good book but there's some
Chapters at the end like you sure you
really liked it because it talked about
ejaculating up the spine and I was like
dude that was my favorite chapter I
promise to never do that again this book
way of the superior man superior man
doesn't mean above others it doesn't
mean above women it means the most
Superior version of yourself even man is
a bit of a misleading word because it
talks about masculine and feminine
energies which every single person has
there's men with a very strong feminine
energy and a very weaker masculine
energy there's women with a very strong
masculine energy and a very weak
feminine energy in general what this
book talks about is you have both men
typically have a very strong masculine
so they operate with a certain set of
parameters rules thoughts and women see
things through the feminine energy which
is a very different world view the way
to understand your woman is not
necessarily through the masculine frame
that's going to cause a lot of issues
problems and it's like you're speaking
English and they're speaking Chinese if
you're speaking English and they're
speaking a different language you don't
even understand it I love this book
because it goes beyond just 60 second
Tick Tock or YouTube shorts of this
whole like men versus women conversation
it feels like every single video on my
feed is just men do this and it sucks
women do this and it sucks we're better
nowhere better you don't understand us
no you don't understand us with the
occasional how to tell if your partner
is a narcissist and they give you like
five things that are so generic anyone
is a narcissist so it plants it in your
mind that oh I've dated narcissistic man
I've dated narcissistic women it's just
toxic and then the next video will be
like women standards of men are too high
the next video will be like don't settle
for a low quality man oh dude can we
stop fighting for two seconds can we try
to understand and have a good
conversation about this without just
trying to go viral and get views as the
currency it's very divisive and I think
that it comes from a very jaded Place
rightfully so like relationships cause
so much pain if they don't go right and
even if they're going right there's lots
of pinging wrapped up in them there's a
huge source of pleasure too some of the
most pleasure you'll get in your life
comes from relationships and also the
other side of the coin so much of the
pain comes from relationships a lot of
people internalize that they get jaded
and they fall into these extreme Echo
chambers of people telling them what
they want to hear and I think the one
thing we want on both sides is for us to
make a list of who we want and then to
become that list literally writing down
like 10 things you want in a partner and
be that I say it in every video but stop
trying to look for the right person and
start focusing on becoming the right
person
um
and I love that frame and that's why I'm
such a fan of this self-improvement and
self-healing work and what we talk about
here on this channel and why you know
you're watching these videos I I have so
much respect for you because that is
some of the best relationship advice out
there is to be the best version of
yourself because that's who you're going
to attract tend to track tens when you
raise yourself up to a level 10 person
emotionally spiritually financially
watch that person start to come into
your life that's way better alright
relationship talk over
book number four we talked about love
talked about happiness let's talk about
money some moolah baby this book is all
about Bitcoin and reading charts here's
a book on tax evasion in all seriousness
what makes someone good with money might
be tempted to say having a lot of money
or having a high-paying job so you have
money to invest
generational wealth not denying that
those can't help
but those play a smaller role than you
think the biggest role that this book
argues in your financial future how you
behave this book got a ton of Praise
when it came out it was a breath of
fresh air in the finance space and I
read a lot of financial books and I love
that area a lot a lot of the books just
are very logical like oh well you have a
hundred dollars you need seven percent
here ten percent here thirty percent is
yours and 50 you know it's just like
it's a spreadsheet download there's no
emotion or stories behind it and so I
think this book is very easy to digest
very easy to read it's fun to read and
there are some points that stuck with me
it really stuck with me and my favorite
idea is this story right here it's on
Ronald James Reed this guy was a janitor
lived in Vermont he was the first of his
family to graduate not College not PhD
but High School in in 2014 he passed
away you're reading his Tombstone his
obituary said Ronald James Reed was a
gas station attendant a philanthropist
and an investor three things that don't
seem to go together most people would
judge him and say was homeboy invest in
his eight dollars an hour somewhere
guess how much he was worth when he died
the age of 92 a couple hundred thousand
bucks no way that dude's worth a million
no way very private guy lived very
humbly so everyone was shocked just like
you and me it was worth over eight
million dollars left it to his kids in
his local hospital pretty impressive
most people like what was the secret how
many lotteries did he win how many
crypto coins did he get in on the
ground floor and pump and dump the
answer was super boring but again it's
all about behaviorism he invested in
Blue Chip stocks publicly traded
companies he held them and he waited for
decades about as boring as you can get
no trust funds no generational wealth no
high paying job literally the same
resources that every single person has
access to a good example of behaviorism
and where we have misplaced priorities
lottery tickets in only U.S spend more
on the lottery than books movies video
games combined the sad part is that it's
mostly lower class people in America who
buy them Ronald James Reid type his Camp
you look at the data the lower the
income class in general the more money
they'll spend on lottery with the
average being about 412 dollars a year
per household now when also surveyed
they said that 40 of Americans can't
even come up with an emergency fund of
400 in the case of an emergency and it's
sad because what that says with the
behaviorism and how we're operating with
money is that we're blowing a safety net
we'd rather not have an emergency net so
we can take the behavior of a one in
what smallest fractional chance that
we're gonna hit big on a million yes
there's education to it yes there's
other factors but the biggest underlier
is behavior so if you can learn and
educate yourself on the behaviors on the
psychology of money guess what you're
going to be more amped to take those
actions like Ronald James Reed who grew
up in that camp that was a lot of ticket
camps educated himself and started
investing in Blue Chip stocks with over
eight million dollars when he died at
92. the next book was super dense super
impactful I loved it but it's on a heavy
subject the heaviest one you can write
about trauma and that's a buzzword I
think in the last couple years that has
gotten talked about more and more which
is a positive one of the Shadow sides of
it is that everyone experiences trauma
differently and some people say that
they got cut off in traffic and it was
traumatic I have so much trauma with
ubereats sometimes I order it and they
don't come the word trauma has taken a
different meaning in pop culture but on
the other side trauma is different for
everyone the worst thing you've been
through is the most traumatic thing
you've been through a book like this the
body keeps the score which is all about
trauma and it's written by someone super
qualified who has 30 plus years
experience in this industry working with
traumas studying traumas the effects on
your body your mental emotional physical
state absolutely fantastic and necessary
to read favorite big idea from it your
issues are stored in your tissues
assault victims who even if someone gets
close and tries to touch them they have
a physiological response they withdraw
maybe you got in a bad car accident when
you're in a car you can feel the
physiological stress of like tensing up
like oh they're gonna hit me again you
get nervous before a presentation you
physiologically start to sweat profusely
maybe a pit out maybe your stomach gets
in knots so so much of trauma is stored
in your body it's a physiological
response in my 20s one thing that I
learned through Osho the SC was a cult
leader he had some great ideas besides
the cult he had this thing called
Dynamic meditation it was a series of
bioenergetics but also this this
meditation that wasn't just sitting it
was expressing so you do like four or
five of these movements one was like
jumping up and down like oh
another was a cathartic release
you go as crazy as you can for a set
period of time and I would just take the
drums and go as hard as I can and
wouldn't even worry about playing things
right and it was a form of this Dynamic
meditation it didn't matter how stressed
I was how much in a low Vibe I was how
much BS had happened in my life what I
was going through I would go in there I
would do a dynamic meditation and I
would feel just complete Relief by the
end you're good things are gonna be okay
got that off your chest that's an
example of using your physiology to
change your state even something as
simple as just going on a run going on a
walk I mean when you're back from that
don't you handle stress a little
differently issues are in your tissues
we're not meant to just sit hunched over
for 10 12 14 hours a day some people are
like oh I have so much anxiety and I
feel depressed and then you look at
their lifestyle and it's like well do
you exercise no well when was the last
time you like got out and moved and
stretched and went on a run I don't know
I don't really work out I don't got
energy for it and then was something I
realized is that you don't need energy
to work out you get energy from working
out from movement flipping that from oh
I don't have energy to work out to no I
get energy through working out the times
I don't feel like it as soon as I'm done
I never regret doing it and I feel ten
times better if you're someone who likes
reading books you like big Ideas videos
like this you get things from them I'll
link up right here a perfect follow-up
video this is where I did a crazy
challenge reading seven books in seven
days but I summarize and give you a big
idea from each throughout the days I
personally think it's a fun video you
can go watch that now and I'll see you
there
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