The Seven Books That Changed My Life In 2018

I used to hate reading books.

As a kid, I diagnosed with dyslexia and had this bizarre belief that I was ‘bad’ or ‘slow’ at reading. In reality, I never read anything that genuinely interested me or solved my problems. I used to associate reading with school, the school with homework and homework with the bane of my existence. I joke. Kinda.

One day, while I was on a university exchange program in America I decided to be a responsible young adult and I attempted to read a book. There was one big issue. I have a lot of energy and find it hard to sit down for more than three minutes. Surprisingly, I managed to sit in one spot and read 10 pages. Till this day I cannot remember the book but it must have been mildly interesting.

After a few weeks of reading five to ten pages a day, I began to realise the secret to all this reading stuff. Every problem or tricky situation I ever had in my life can be solved through a book. None of my issues or challenges were ever unique and I can almost guarantee someone has written a book with a solution to most of my problems.

Then in 2018, I read a couple of books that made a massive impact on my life either by changing my perspective, my actions or my habits. I realised when I was reading these books, I only digested about one to three concepts that I actually applied to my life. So I thought I’d share the seven books that made the biggest Impact on my life in 2018.

1.Total Money Makeover by David Ramsey

I was absolutely rubbish with my personal finances. This year I’ve attempted to change that. I found Total Money Makeover and It completely changed my view on my own personal finances. It's probably the simplest, most straightforward game plan to completely changing ones money management. Since the summer I have to implement some of Ramsey's formula outlined in the book and It has made personal finances a whole lot easier to handle.

“We buy things we don't need with money we don't have to impress people we don't like.” David Ramsey

2. The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz

I listened to this short book via audible and It blew me away. The book is about how we have been domesticated from a young age to live by rules we haven’t chosen for ourselves. The four agreements outline personal principles to live by that can give us back our personal freedom.

The Four Agreements

1. Be impeccable with your word.

2. Don’t take anything personally.

3. Don’t make assumptions.

4. Always do your best.

I am not perfect but applying these principles have literally changed my relationships with people and improve certain aspects of my life. I’ve started speaking with more integrity, stopped gossiping as much, communicate clearer, attempted to avoid self-judgment and the judgement of others.

3. Principles by Ray Dalio

Ray Dalio is the CEO of Bridgewater Associates, which is the most successful fund in history. His company manages $160 billion worth of client’s funds and was voted 1 of the 5 most important businesses in America. After working in the financial sector for 40 years, Dalio wrote this book about the principles he has applied to his life that have made him a billionaire. There are many great concepts in the book but the most impactful part of the book for me was a pretty simple principle.

"Pain + Reflection = Progress" Ray Dalio

When I read this line it made me stop and reflect. I released in the long term, pain is a good thing. I couldn’t help but appreciate all of the challenges and issues I’ve had in my relatively short existence.

4. The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho

The Alchemist has been translated into 67 languages and has sold over 65 million copies throughout the world. So it's pretty popular.

My dad handed me this book last year at Christmas and wrote a small note inside the front. I don’t mean to be cheesy but they say when the student is ready the teacher appears. Well, this book was most definitely the teacher I needed. The book is a story about a young lad called Santiago embarking on his own hero’s journey to follow his dreams. Now, this is more than a self-help literature. It’s actually a very enjoyable story about the trials and tribulations we all face in life when we start a new project.

“It's the possibility of having a dream come true that makes life interesting.” Paulo Coelho

5. Shoe Dog: A Memoir by Phil Knight

I had no clue who Phil Knight was and for those of you that still don't, he was the founder of Nike. This book details the risks and daunting setbacks that stood between him and setting up his company. Essentially, It’s the untold story of how Nike was built. Growing up I used to accept that Nike was this giant brand has been around since the dawn of time. I never realise that this brand was built by one dude and an Idea in his head. Reading his story was very insightful and a powerful realisation that I should probably attempt some of the ideas I have in own my head.

“So that morning in 1962 I told myself: Let everyone else call your idea crazy . . . just keep going. Don’t stop. Don’t even think about stopping until you get there, and don’t give much thought to where “there” is. Whatever comes, just don’t stop.” Phil Knight

6. The Obstacle Is The Way by Ryan Holiday

Ryan's books have gained a cult following from coaches, athletes, entrepreneurs, artists or anyone who is looking for a framework for overcoming the obstacles and adversities in life. The NFL team 'The Patriots' read this book in 2014 before Superbowl 49 when they came-back from a deficit to win in the fourth quarter.

This book introduced me to Stoicism, Which I have wrote about in previous articles. The main concept I took from this book and applied to my life is:

“There is no good or bad without us, there is only perception. There is the event itself and the story we tell ourselves about what it means.” Ryan Holiday

I used to create stories about events or situations that would happen to me. When I began to reflect upon it, they were all self-limiting and made up. Releasing this, I began to be much more present and stopped worrying so much about certain people or events.

7. The War of Art by Steven Pressfield

Pressfield discusses how people battle with this term called “resistance”. Which is any force that stops you from pursuing meaningful work, conversations, and projects. This could be fear, procrastination, turning up late or even spilling your coffee. Resistance tends to show up in life just before our most important pursuits.

Over the last year, I struggled with fear. I know I’ve wanted to express myself in some form of content creation but I was terrified. Every time I went to write or shoot a video ‘resistance’ would show up. Finally, I managed to push through resistance and I release fear is an illusion that was holding me back from doing the projects I wanted to pursue the most.

“Are you paralyzed with fear? That’s a good sign. Fear is good. Like self-doubt, fear is an indicator. Fear tells us what we have to do. Remember one rule of thumb: the more scared we are of a work or calling, the more sure we can be that we have to do it.”  Steven Pressfield

“If you only read the books that everyone else is reading, you can only think what everyone else is thinking" Haruki Murakami

If you enjoyed reading this or have any book recommendations, I’d appreciate your feedback: either by a simple Emoji or by writing your thoughts in a response below. Thanks! Ryan?