TOP 10 BOOKS YOU MUST READ
TOP 10 BOOKS YOU MUST READ – Dr Atul
Dhage MBBS, DPM, MD(AM).
It was the month of January 2018. I was
living mediocre life. I was earning good & more than enough. I had reached at a stage in my life which I
had thought about. But I was not satisfied with that. Something, somewhat was
going in my mind but didn’t know what it was. I wanted to go somewhere further
in my life but didn't know where? I wanted to achieve something more but didn't
know what? And it started changing in few days after that occasion. One day I
saw advertise in a newspaper about motivational seminar. I decided to go for that
motivational seminar. Though I was dealing with people’s mind as psychiatrist,
my mind too needed servicing due to some issues in my life.
It was a very
good program & proved to be a turning point in my life. Though there were
many points & things that were told in seminar. But two most important
concepts changed my thinking & changed my life. And those were a habit of
reading & concept of financial freedom. Though I have not achieved
financial freedom yet (but I am working for it & currently in good
financial position and I will achieve it soon)
Today I am good reader & have consumed more than two
hundred books & audio books. That has changed my thinking & life. It
was not that I didn’t use to read books before but I did not know what &
how to read. I had read many books in past that were either related to medical
field to fill my brain with knowledge or stories & fictions to entertain.
And in last 5 years in haste of life I had almost given up reading. I had never
read the things that will make me think, introspect, reflect on self or help in
taking decision.
It was this program that taught me to what to read. I don't go to
library now to lend a book rather I purchase it whatever & whenever I like
& have good collection of almost 350 to 400 books with me within 2 years. It
was rightly said by Austin Phelps "Wear the old coat & buy the new
book." I had almost heard more than 1000 hours of audiobooks while driving
in my car or while travelling. Though transformation will take time, I’m getting
better and better day by day. James Clear has said in his book ‘Atomic habits’
“if you get better 1% daily, you get better by 37% at the end of year”.
Reading is essential for those who seek to rise above the ordinary, who
seek to be better every day, no matter who you are, no matter what you do. If
you want to rise in your life, if you want to be successful in any area of your
life, if you want to be happy start reading. Start reading, start thinking,
start learning, start reflecting, start following those ideas & start
growing & evolving. It is said what you will be after 5 years depends on
what you are feeding your mind, which in turn depends on books you read &
persons you are surrounded by. So stop wasting your time on social media that
will lead you nowhere, rather use this time to read books or listen to audio
book that will help you grow in life. Reading had been common pastime habit of
many successful people in life. Rather they attribute their success to habit or
reading. Third richest man of the world Mr Bill Gates still reads two hours a
day and almost 50 books per year. But yes, you need to decide & choose what
you read. Here by I am telling you in very brief about list of Top 10 books one
must read.
It is one of the top selling books of
the all-time. It is must read for everyone who wants to make difference in
themselves or any area related to them like business, job relationship, health
etc. It’s based on the 7 habits or 7 principles which you can use in any
situation. Those 7 key principles are Be
proactive means take responsibility and ownership, Begin with the end in mind
means set clear goals, Put first things first means prioritise, Think win-win, Seek
first to understand, then to be understood, Synergize means work as a team to
improve outcomes, Sharpen the saw means work on yourself rather than just
working hard. These books don’t tell about techniques only but emphasise on
need of character and values that can help in long run.
2.
The 5 AM Club – By Robin Sharma
It is one of my favourite books. It
has given many amazing concepts like five rules for great life, three steps
success formula, four focuses of history makers, the four interior empires, Habit installation
protocol, The 20 / 20 / 20 formula (victory hour) and 10 tactics of life long
geniuses. These concepts are just wonderful and must read for everyone. I’m
writing less just because I want you to read it once to experience these
amazing concepts.
3.
Atomic Habits – By James Clear
It challenges the conventional
thinking that if you want to change, you need to think big. It claims real
change comes from the compound effect of hundreds of small decisions. These
small changes will have transformative effect on your career, your relationship
and your life. If you get 1% better every day, you will be 37% better at the
end of one year. It gives practical way for starting good habits and stopping
bad habits. It’s based-on Habit Loop – Cue-Craving- Response-Reward. It tells the
4 Laws of behaviour change. To create good habits, one must make cues Obvious,
craving attractive, response easy and reward Satisfying and to eliminate bad
habits one should make cues invisible, craving unattractive, response difficult
& reward unsatisfying. It focuses on system rather than goal and tells
advantages of doing so. It suggests 3 layers of behaviour change and focuses on
Changing identity and then process so that outcomes will change accordingly.
4.
How To Win Friends & Influence
People – By Dale Carnegie
It is all time greatest of books on
human relationships. It teaches ways to make friends quickly & easily,
teaches ways to increase your popularly & win people to your way of
thinking, to increase your influence, your prestige, your ability to get things
done. It also teaches how to handle complaints, avoid argument to have smooth
& pleasant human relationship which most of us find difficult. And most
importantly it teaches us how to become a better speaker &
conversationalist.
5.
Attitude Is Everything – By Jeff
Keller
It tells about 3 step process - Think
- speak - act. If you don’t won't to read big book then read this small book to
achieve more. It won’t take more than 6 to 8 hours to complete it. As others it
says “Success start in mind”, and your attitude is your window to the world. It
teaches about visualisation process to change attitude and thinking & to
think and convert your problems to opportunities. It clears about power of your
words and what you speak & about stopping complaining. In action phase it
tells importance of associating with positive people by explaining difference
between toxic people & nourishing people and importance of networking.
6.
The 80/ 20 Principal By Richard Koch
It is based on Pareto law but author
takes us beyond that. "Time management is not about organising your
essential daily task & dumping the rest. This book shows how we can achieve
much more with much less time & effort, simply by concentrating on the
all-important 20%. It tells you what 80/20 principal is, how to think 80/20
& how successful companies used 80/20 principle in corporate world. It
teaches how you can work less and earn & enjoy more.
7.
Think A Grow Rich - By Napoleon Hill
The author has written this book
after Interviewing hundreds of America’s most affluent people and author claims
by thinking and acting like them you can become like them. It tells about thirteen
step programme to achieve wealth which we can apply to achieve success is any
field that we want. It tells about these thirteen Principals or steps &
mention details about how to apply it in your life. Some of These eleven
principles are Burning desire, Faith, visualisation, autosuggestion, specialized
knowledge, imagination, Organised planning, Decision to master procrastination,
persistence and master mind.
8.
The Magic Of Thinking Big – David Schwartz.
It teaches habit of thinking &
acting big by providing practical ideas, techniques & principal that will
help you living on grand scale by achieving success, happiness &
satisfaction. This book was written in such a way that you can take any topic
& start reading. Each Technic is taught with real life case study. It teaches
us to think in every help & every aspect of life may it be personal,
social, occupational or family life. It helps us to get into action habit, to
build confidence & destroy fear, to think creativity, to think and acts
like a leader. Just take any topic a day, start reading & start applying.
9.
You Can Win – by Shiv Khera
“Winners don’t do different things
they do things differently” is its tagline.
It teaches of importance of attitude
and how to build positive attitude. It tells about obstacles in becoming
successful and ways to overcome it. It mentions about qualities person should
have to be successful-Desire, commitments, responsibility, and hard work. It
tells 20 reasons why we don't achieve excellence, 14 steps plan to improve your
self-esteem, 25 steps to build a positive, 41 Day formula to form positive habits.
10. The Now Habit - By
Neil Flore
Procrastination is major problem for many of us. Even if it
is major or minor problem for you then this is book is for you. It explains
various reasons for why people procrastinate, how people procrastinate through
real life examples & how they can come over it. If you can find out the
reasons & implement the technique step by step, procrastination won’t be a
major problem for you. It explains about working in flow state with learning to
focus by focusing exercise & relaxation technique.
I would like to end this with a quote of Patric Rothferss because it
somewhat fits to me too now. What he said is that “I always read. You know how
sharks have to keep swimming or they die? I am like that if I stop reading, I die”.
Wish you a
happy and fruitful reading.
Dr Atul Dhage MBBS, DPM, MD(AM)
Comments
Waiting for such next blog
Best wishes