In much of my coaching, I get to work with entrepreneurs. People like you who want to make a difference. Today, I'll cover my tips for the top 10 books for entrepreneurs.
You might know I have written a book, Pathological Positivity. I'm not going to put it on the list because it was too hard to narrow it down anyway. Honestly, it starts with your mindset and my book deals with that. If you want to read it, I will help you to get it by giving it to you for free, if you will just pay the shipping. Go to drpauljenkins.com. This book tells you more about my journey and how I learned about everything that I share here on the channel. I want to share that with you, so, I will throw that out first. This, I think is the starting place for changing your mindset about money.
Now, for the real top 10, and disclaimer, because I love personal development psychology. That genre just lights me up. There are so many good books in that space. I've been doing a podcast called Live On Purpose Radio since 2007, before podcasting was even a thing. I've interviewed many authors. Some of those books actually made my list today. This is the list as it occurs to me today. It does not exclude some of those other great authors and people that I've actually talked to, but there are reasons I picked each of these. Coming in at number 10, The Dog Poop Initiative by Mister Kirk Weisler. This looks like a children's book, it's animated and it rhymes. Don't be deceived. This is a powerful entrepreneurial and leadership content. It describes the difference between being a pooper who just causes problems or pointer who sees the problem and points it out to other people, or a scooper who takes initiative to make the world a better place for everyone else. It is the only reason to be an entrepreneur in the first place. Kirk Weisler, you did an awesome job with this. Go get The Dog Poop Initiative. Number 9 on the top 10 countdown for top entrepreneurial books is, Rich Dad, Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki. This, I think is the starting place for changing your mindset about money. Robert Kiyosaki is an expert in personal finance, but he also understands the entrepreneurial mind. This book and the others that he's written, I'm thinking also of, Cashflow Quadrant, Who Took My Money. Kiyosaki has been very instrumental in changing my thinking that has allowed me to become a successful entrepreneur. Rich Dad, Poor Dad comes in at number 8 today on our countdown. My friend Kevin Clayson wrote a book called, Flip the Gratitude Switch and that comes in at number 8. This is based on sound psychological principles that allow you to take your discontent and flip a little switch in your brain. He calls it the gratitude switch. This changes the energy from complaining and being in a victim mindset over to something that can powerfully move you forward to create some really awesome stuff. That is pretty important for an entrepreneur. Number 7 on today's list comes from Art Coombs, who wrote his book, Don't Just Manage, Lead. As an entrepreneur, you get to be a leader as well. Art gives us the recipe for how leaders are made, and it's not about a title. It is not about power and authority. It is about your ability to influence other people. Even in saying that, I think of 4 or 5 other books that I would love to recommend, but for today, Art's book comes in at number 7. There is even an endorsement from Dr. Paul on the book.Number 6 is written by Bob Burg and John David Mann. Together they wrote this brilliant little book called, The Go-Giver. When you become an entrepreneur, people might think of you as real Go-Getter. That is the wrong mindset to be successful, you have to have an attitude of giving or providing value for other people. This brilliant book captures that better than any book that I know. I got to have breakfast with Bob a couple of years ago. This is on my shelf of fame. Bob did a nice job along with his co-author John David Mann on helping us to change our mindset about what this is all about.
If you are out there to get something, people will feel deprived, cheated, sucked dry. When you are out there to give, people will feel enriched. That is going to get you a lot of mileage as an entrepreneur. Read The Go-Giver. Some of the books I've highlighted already from Kirk Weisler and Bob Burg and Art Coombs had been featured at my podcast, Live On Purpose Radio. Go look that up and get to hear my interview with the authors.One that didn't make today's list because I kind of assume that it is required reading for everyone is Viktor Frankl's, “Man's Search For Meaning.” A beautiful, beautifully written book about how everything can be taken away from you except the last of human freedoms to choose your attitude, regardless of your circumstances. Doctor Frankl wrote this based on his experiences as a prisoner of the Nazi’s during World War II. He went to Auschwitz. He was in concentration camps. I didn't even list that one, but I wanted to mention it.
Other powerful authors, I'll never have the opportunity to interview are next. This one coming in at number 5 today is, Think and Grow Rich, by Napoleon Hill. I used to lead study groups taking this book a week at a time as we went through different chapters. As we discussed the power and the implementation of the principles that are in this book, it was a powerful way to get your mind into a position that allows you to be very productive. Think and Grow Rich. I consider it to be a classic and a powerful part of our list today.Now, I have a real dilemma. Because number 4 on our list is a tie. I'm going to put them both on there. The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle and Solve For Happy by Mo Gawdat. These two books have been probably the two most influential books I have read in the past year. I probably should have read both of them earlier because of the way they have impacted my own thinking. I have referred to, The Power Of Now, by Eckart Tolle many times in my YouTube videos. He makes a strong point that all we have is now, and we have the power now to experience peace and joy. That puts us in a position to be enormously more productive than we would be otherwise.
The other one that tied for 4th place is Solve For Happy by Mo Gawdat. Mo Gawdat is a Civil Engineer. It was so awesome for me to read his book and see that he arrived at the same principles I did in my book, but from a very different perspective, from the perspective of Civil Engineering. How do you learn about happiness from an engineering standpoint? You are going to love this book if you have an analytical brain. And I do. I started in engineering before I ever became a psychologist. My major in college was chemical engineering, so, maybe that is one reason that it spoke to me. I think it is brilliantly written and it will help you to wrap your head around some other reasons that the principles that we talk about in Pathological Positivity are actually very valid and real.Number 3 might surprise you and I'm going with this one for a number of reasons. First of all, I love Elizabeth Smart, she is a dear friend of mine. We have collaborated on a number of different projects. Her book, Where There's Hope, I think is a game changer when it comes to understanding adversity. If you don't know Elizabeth's Story, her first book, My Story by Elizabeth Smart, tells the story of when she was abducted as a 14-year-old girl from her home in Salt Lake City. She was held captive and severely abused by captors for 9 months. Now, you think that would tip you over. Elizabeth has taken a powerful approach in this book, “Where There's Hope,” to highlight the stories of other people who have experienced extreme setbacks or tragedies in their life and how to find hope in those experiences. It's brilliantly and beautifully written, and I highly recommend it for that purpose. Also, because I introduced her to about five of the people that she interviewed, and I just love reading those stories. I think you are going to find it inspiring, and it will help you get out of your own way as an entrepreneur. Number 3, Where There's Hope, Elizabeth Smart.
Coming in at number 2 today is Leslie Householder. She collaborated with Garrett Gunderson, who is the author of Killing Sacred Cows, a great book that didn't make today's list but is on my bigger list. Leslie's story, The Jack Rabbit Factor, is one of the first stories that I read that really opened up my mind to the power of intention and what I think is at the root of all entrepreneurial energy. The Jack Rabbit Factor is paired in some editions with, Portal To Genius. That's the one that she collaborated with Garret Gunderson on, also a brilliant story. When you read this together, you get a whole new mindset around creating value and how to solve your money problems. That could be very valuable, and that is why Leslie's book is coming in at number 2 today at my list.And honestly, my list might change from day to day just depending on what I've recently read or what I'm thinking about, but number one today for me is Ayn Rand's, Atlas Shrugged. This is not a quick read, it's about 1500 pages. Ayn Rand defected from communist Russia and writes passionately about capitalism and about the power of the human mind to create value for others. She also makes a big distinction between consumers and producers. And for me, that's some mindset. It's a paradigm. Probably one of the most influential books that I've ever read when it comes to entrepreneurial thinking. Ayn Rand’s, Atlas Shrugged had a profound effect on my thinking.
Wow, that was fun for me. I love books. I love authors. I interview them all the time. I hope you take an opportunity to check out my podcast, Live On Purpose Radio, where you will hear me interviewing some of these amazing author's that I've highlighted today. Also, if you haven't yet received a free copy of my book Pathological Positivity, now is the time to do that. Go to drpauljenkins.com where you can pay for the shipping and I'll pay for the book and ship it right out to you.