Every Self-Help Book Has This In Common
I took up the task to start reading more last year, and the majority ended up having self-help and business themes because I was starting my MBA program and just wanted more out of life. I was tired of watching my career and personal life stagnate and desperately wanted something better.
Here’s a list of all the books I read:
- Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill
- The Culture Code by Daniel Coyle
- How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie
- The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Dale Carnegie
- Better than Before by Gretchen Rubin
- The 4-Hour Work Week by Timothy Ferriss
- Peak Performance by Brad Stulberg , Steve Magness
- 12 Rules for Life by Jordan Peterson
- Shoe Dog by Phil Knight
- The Ride of a Lifetime by Robert Iger
I noticed that every single one had one idea in common: Your mindset is everything.
People were successful because they refused to give into a negative, fearful mindset. They were constantly running into roadblocks like stingy bankers, pessimistic friends and colleagues, and uncontrollable sways in the market. But none of them mattered. The protagonists in each book knew what they wanted and worked relentlessly to achieve it.
In Think and Grow Rich, Napoleon Hill described one’s path in life as a river. You can either solidify a positive mindset and relentlessly paddle against the current, or give up and let the tide take you towards mediocrity with everyone else.
A growth-focused mindset does not guarantee success, but it’s a prerequisite. Conversely, a mentality based on fear will ensure failure.
The Culture Code by Daniel Coyle highlighted how powerful organizations and teams become from having growth-focused members, and how they can collapse by just a few hopeless pessimists who spread misery like COVID-19. He highlighted an experiment where planting someone in meetings who continuously brought everyone down with negativity and hopelessness, singlehandedly dismantling group morale. However, there was one exception: He met his match with someone who refused to give into despair and kept the group confidently optimistic, even winning over the defeatist plant.
Throughout my young academic and professional career, I noticed my performance directly correlated with my closest friends. I was incredibly fit, happy, and conscientious with my friends who ate well, stayed on top of their studies, and had absolutely no fear. I was depressed, lonely, and struggled in every way imaginable when I hovered around those who lived their lives the most safe, quiet, predictable way possible.
I’ve committed myself to finding people that are going somewhere so that I can hop on for the ride. They don’t have to be rich or powerful. They just have to keep paddling up the river despite all the numerous things that could go wrong.
And you can do it too. Just don’t be afraid to hop off when the boat starts changing course and going with the flow. This doesn’t mean to burn bridges, but you owe it to yourself and others to live a life devoid of fear and abundant in possibilities.