{"id":72674,"date":"2015-05-04T14:24:56","date_gmt":"2015-05-04T20:24:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.biggerpockets.com\/renewsblog\/?p=72674"},"modified":"2023-11-07T13:42:24","modified_gmt":"2023-11-07T20:42:24","slug":"2015-05-04-5-powerful-books-changed-direction-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.biggerpockets.com\/blog\/2015-05-04-5-powerful-books-changed-direction-life","title":{"rendered":"5 Powerful Business Books That Changed the Direction of My Life"},"content":{"rendered":"

(I wrote this post originally for Entrepreneur.com, and they have been gracious enough to let me repost it here for the BiggerPockets audience. Here’s the original<\/a>.)\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

Quiz time: Can you name\u00a0Newton’s first law of motion?<\/p>\n

No?\u00a0(Don’t feel bad, I had to look it up, too.)<\/p>\n

Newton declared, “Every object in a state of uniform motion tends to remain in that state of motion unless an external force is applied to it.”<\/p>\n

In other words, if you\u00a0are flying in the International Space Station and toss an apple out the window (come on, use your imagination), it will keep going in that same direction forever, unless something stops it (like a planet, gravity\u00a0or alien life form).<\/p>\n

Although Newton was talking about physics, little did he know he was also describing\u00a0life.<\/p>\n

People tend to move in the same direction as they\u00a0always have\u00a0unless some external force is applied.\u00a0I don’t know about you, but I don’t want my life to be lived in a straight line. I want to change, to improve, to\u00a0crush it.<\/p>\n

This is why I\u00a0read.<\/p>\n

A book is\u00a0a powerful external force that can completely knock your life off its mundane straight line and change everything about who you are.\u00a0The following are five books that did just that in my life.<\/p>\n

1.\u00a0Rich Dad, Poor Dad
\n\"\"<\/h2>\n

Something was eating me alive inside. (No, it wasn’t a parasite.)\u00a0It was an idea.<\/p>\n

Something about work, life, money, wealth\u00a0and freedom — but I couldn’t quite say what that idea was. For months it weighed on me, but I couldn’t find words to express it.<\/p>\n

Then came\u00a0Rich Dad, Poor Dad<\/a><\/em>\u00a0by Robert Kiyosaki.<\/p>\n

Related: The 21 Best Real Estate Books Ever!<\/a><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Finally, there were words for the internal dialog that was taking place\u00a0every minute of my life. I could finally\u00a0form my abstract thoughts about money into actual speech — and it changed my life forever.<\/p>\n

It’s hard to say exactly what\u00a0Rich Dad, Poor Dad<\/em>\u00a0is because it means so many different things to so many different people. But the gist of it is this: The poor work for their money, but the rich make their money work for them. It’s a mindset book more than anything, but with enough stories and examples to keep you captivated. It’s no wonder this book is hands down the most popular book recommended by guests on The BiggerPockets Podcast<\/a> that I co-host each week.<\/p>\n

Kiyosaki taught me to stop\u00a0saying, “It can’t be done,” and start\u00a0asking, “How\u00a0can it be done?” in every area of life. He\u00a0started me on a journey that led me to buy my first rental property, followed by dozens of other investment properties that got me out of the “rat race” by the time I was 27.<\/p>\n

For the first time, I began to see that\u00a0wealth is\u00a0not an accident, but an action.\u00a0(Yes, I expect you to tweet that! I worked hard on that line!)<\/p>\n

Do yourself a favor and pick up a copy of\u00a0Rich Dad, Poor Dad<\/a><\/em>\u00a0this week.<\/p>\n

2.\u00a0The Total Money Makeover
\n\"\"<\/h2>\n

A year after reading\u00a0Rich Dad, Poor Dad,<\/em> a friend from church recommended I read through Dave Ramsey’s book\u00a0The Total Money Makeover<\/a><\/em>, and once again, my life took a turn for the better after a rude awakening: my spending was out of control!<\/p>\n

I was spending $1,000 a month more than I was making.\u00a0How did I not realize this?<\/p>\n

The Total Money Makeover<\/em>\u00a0helped me to look at my personal finances with more seriousness and gave me a passion to pay off debt, live more frugally, and save more money.<\/p>\n

Suddenly, having a budget didn’t seem like a chore, it felt like I finally had a reign on my wallet. I was in control of my spending. My spending was not in control of me.<\/p>\n

As an entrepreneur, some months are financially better than others. However, because of the lessons I learned from\u00a0The Total Money Makeover<\/a><\/em>, I’m better prepared to handle the difficult times because I have a strong personal finance foundation.<\/p>\n

3.\u00a0The 4-Hour Workweek
\n\"4<\/h2>\n

No, I don’t work four hours a week.\u00a0No, I don’t travel to exotic countries to salsa dance.\u00a0I don’t even know what Chinese kickboxing is.<\/p>\n

But Tim Ferriss’ story and philosophy about business and life resonated with me in a powerful way\u00a0that altered my life, my relationships, my free time\u00a0and my purpose.<\/p>\n

Whereas\u00a0Rich Dad, Poor Dad<\/em>\u00a0taught me that\u00a0wealth\u00a0was mine for the taking,\u00a0The 4-Hour Workweek<\/a><\/em>\u00a0taught me that\u00a0life\u00a0was mine for the taking.<\/p>\n

I don’t need to wait until I’m 62 to enjoy the fruits of my labor. I don’t need to have $1,000,000 in the bank to achieve the life that millionaires brag about. I don’t need to\u00a0slave away at a job I hate just to pay the bills.<\/p>\n

There is another way.<\/p>\n

Part productivity handbook, part inspirational\u00a0and part lesson in entrepreneurship,\u00a0The 4-Hour Workweek<\/em>\u00a0refuses to be classified as anything but what it truly is:\u00a0life-changing.<\/p>\n

I think critics of\u00a0The 4-Hour Workweek<\/em>\u00a0tend to focus too much on the specifics of the book. “I can’t do that in my job” or “I don’t want to travel the world like Ferriss.” They are missing the point and can’t see the forest for the trees.<\/p>\n

You don’t need to hire a virtual assistant for $2 an hour to change your life (though, I did). You don’t need to start an online business that generates passive income (though, I did). You don’t even need to backpack Europe like a hippy (though, I did). However, there\u00a0are\u00a0ways you can improve your business and life through efficiency and optimization.<\/p>\n

For example, I hate talking on the phone with tenants, so after reading\u00a0The 4-Hour Workweek<\/em>, I hired someone part time to answer phones for me and show vacant units. The cost to me is tiny compared the amount of mental space it cleared up in my life, time that I could spend doing business activities I actually enjoy doing.<\/p>\n

To sum up\u00a0The 4-Hour Workweek<\/em>:\u00a0Find things\u00a0in life that make you passionate, pursue them with all your soul, and enjoy a glass of red wine while you are at it.<\/p>\n

Click here to pick up a copy of The Four Hour Workweek on Amazon<\/a>.<\/p>\n

4.\u00a0The Lean Startup
\n\"\"<\/h2>\n

The fourth book to cross my path at just the right time was\u00a0The Lean Startup<\/a><\/em>\u00a0by Eric Ries.<\/p>\n

I had used real estate investing to get out of the rat race and was able to jump into my passion: teaching real estate to others. BiggerPockets\u00a0was a small company at the time, with just the CEO (Josh Dorkin) and one developer.\u00a0When I came on board, suddenly I was over my head in a world I knew nothing about: startup culture.<\/p>\n

This is when\u00a0The Lean Startup<\/em>\u00a0changed everything for me.\u00a0No doubt, you’ve heard of this book, as the entire startup world has been transformed by lean methodology. Rather than building something that\u00a0I\u00a0want, why not build something\u00a0everyone\u00a0will want?<\/p>\n

The Lean Startup<\/a><\/em>\u00a0got me excited about building a business that mattered, not just a business that made some money.<\/p>\n

5.\u00a0The One Thing
\n\"\"<\/h2>\n

Life gets hectic, does it not?<\/p>\n

I was working 100 hours a week between managing my rental properties, flipping houses, working at BiggerPockets\u00a0and\u00a0working on side projects as well.\u00a0And I was burning out.<\/p>\n

That’s when this final book\u00a0book took me by the shoulders and gave me a good, hard shake.\u00a0The One Thing<\/a><\/em>\u00a0by Gary Keller and Jay Papasan is an easy to read but profound book that helped me to focus on keeping the main thing the main thing in all areas of my life.<\/p>\n

The One Thing<\/em>\u00a0asks,\u00a0“What\u2019s the one thing you can do such that by doing it everything else will be easier or unnecessary?”<\/p>\n

By asking this question a dozen times a day,\u00a0I am finding more time in my day to work calmly, taking less work home with me at night, fielding fewer\u00a0emails\u00a0and producing more income each month.\u00a0It’s like magic.<\/p>\n

Are you ready to escape the “straight-line life” and allow books to change who you are? If so, I highly recommend starting with these five books.<\/p>\n

Now it’s your turn! I’d love if you let me (and the rest of the community) know what books have had the biggest impact on your life.\u00a0Leave your comments below!<\/em><\/p>\n

\n
Image credit: rafaelsoares | Flickr<\/a><\/em><\/div>\n<\/header>\n
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(I wrote this post originally for Entrepreneur.com, and they have been gracious enough to let me repost it here for the BiggerPockets audience. Here’s the original.)\u00a0 Quiz time: Can you […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":710,"featured_media":72675,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5524],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-72674","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-real-estate-investing-for-beginners"],"acf":[],"comment_count":0,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biggerpockets.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72674","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biggerpockets.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biggerpockets.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biggerpockets.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/710"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biggerpockets.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=72674"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.biggerpockets.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72674\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biggerpockets.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/72675"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biggerpockets.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=72674"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biggerpockets.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=72674"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biggerpockets.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=72674"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}