178 – 3 Impacting Books I Read in 2019

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What books did you read in 2019? What resources did you find most valuable?

In this episode of The New Music Industry Podcast, I share the three books that made the biggest difference for me in 2019.

Table of Contents

Podcast Highlights:

00:34 – My recent reading habits
01:17 – The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck
03:17 – Your Best Year Ever
05:05 – You Were Born Rich
07:13 – What books did you read in 2019?

Transcription:

You can find my past recommendations here:

5 Impacting Books I Read in 2014
5 Impacting Books I Read in 2015
6 Impacting Books I Read in 2016
4 Impacting Books I Read in 2017
1 Impacting Book I Read in 2018

Some years, I’ve made a point of reading 52 books – one book for each week in the year.

Other years, I’ve limited my input to just what I wanted or needed in that moment.

I’m starting to get back into this habit, because of the many ways I’ve consumed content, I still feel one of the best ways to learn something is to read.

Though I certainly didn’t read 52 books last year, I dug into a few that I found valuable. So, in this episode, I will be sharing the most impacting books I read in 2019.

There won’t be any sponsor breaks or extra call to actions in this episode, as that would simply be too much. Let’s keep the focus on the three books I talk about here.

So, with that, here are the three impacting books.

The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck: A Counterintuitive Approach to Living a Good Life by Mark Manson

When I think of books that made a difference for me in 2019, this is the one that immediately comes to mind.

I also talked about it on The Gyst Life podcast. If you’re interested in hearing a candid interview with yours truly, you can go to MusicEntrepreneurHQ.com/gyst to hear it. That’s g-y-s-t.

The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck prompts us to challenge what we think we know about self-improvement and the difference it can make for our lives.

Author Mark Manson is quick to suggest that the recent personal development wave hasn’t been shown to improve our lives. If anything, it can have us looking up at the pinnacle, wondering when we’re going to reach it. But we would all do well to accept that we are basically unremarkable and average.

We would all do well to accept that we are basically unremarkable and average. Click To Tweet

In the perfectly polished and manicured world of the online and social media, we end up playing a dangerous game of comparison, hoping our lives will one day look like the 10%. And, let’s be honest – most of us are secretly hoping that one day will be today.

So, what does Manson suggest we do instead? He suggests we nurture our curiosity.

Being curious helps us sidestep arrogance. It helps us remain open to the world around us and it safeguards against being a know-it-all in a world where you can’t know it all.

Being curious helps us sidestep arrogance. It helps us remain open to the world around us and it safeguards against being a know-it-all. Click To Tweet

Who knows, if we stopped pretending to know it all, we might even learn something!

The paradox that some readers may not have picked up on is the fact that this book isn’t anti-personal development at all. If anything, it’s just asking us to stay humble and remain open to possibilities, for the sake of our own growth.

The thesis is that growth isn’t unimportant. But trying to become like the 10% might be. It might be more damaging to our psyche than we even realize. So, we may want to change the way we think about growth.

If this book got your attention, go to MusicEntrepreneurHQ.com/subtleart to learn more about it.

Your Best Year Ever: A 5-Step Plan for Achieving Your Most Important Goals by Michael Hyatt

Have you ever thought to yourself, “You know, I’m doing pretty good, but I wish I was doing better”?

Or maybe, “I just had an awesome year, but I wonder what it would look like if I had an over-the-top, blow it out of the water, pinnacle of the mountain kind of year”?

I just had an awesome year, but I wonder what it would look like if I had an over-the-top, blow it out of the water, pinnacle of the mountain kind of year!? Click To Tweet

If you can apply everything suggested in Your Best Year Ever by Michael Hyatt, then you should be able to set yourself up for that possibility.

Hyatt’s book has us evaluate various aspects of our lives to determine how we would rank ourselves in each area and what we could be doing to achieve greatness in each.

Failing to plan is planning to fail, and Hyatt’s book gives you an insane number of frameworks you can use to ensure you set achievable goals and reach them.

I would suggest applying one framework at a time, however, or getting a handle on this material might prove an uphill battle.

There are other profound insights, such as the idea that regret is pointing to opportunity.

People generally have negative feelings when it comes to regret, and actively deny having them. I have a song about regrets, and at shows, before playing it, I would often ask the audience to raise their hand if they had any regrets in their lives. Most people were much too scared to put up their hand.

So, I think we would all do well to reframe our regrets and understand that they are valuable. They are simply pointing to areas of life where breakthrough is possible.

We would all do well to reframe our regrets and understand that they are valuable. They are simply pointing to areas of life where breakthrough is possible. Click To Tweet

Will you have your best year ever simply by picking up and reading this book? Mileage will vary, as that largely depends on how well you understand the material and how well you apply it to your life.

As with any other book, however, if you have two to three valuable takeaways, you’ve more than gotten your money’s worth.

I intend to revisit this book to see what more I can apply to my life and business.

If you’re interested in reading this book, you can go to MusicEntrepreneurHQ.com/bestyear to learn more.

You Were Born Rich: Now You Can Discover and Develop Those Riches by Bob Proctor

You remember when The Secret was popular, right? It was written by Rhonda Byrne and it talked about the law of attraction. It came out in 2006 and there was also a movie.

Anyway, I thought it was a good book and have read it no less than three times.

Bob Proctor’s You Were Born Rich was originally published in 1984, but the book is very much in the law of attraction vein and may have even been updated to reflect Proctor’s appearance in The Secret movie.

This book has high ratings across the board, and some people have even published extensive study notes on it.

I need to be honest when I share that I felt most of what was in the book couldn’t be applied in any practical way. Don’t get me wrong – I think this book serves a slightly different purpose.

For anyone who’s still relatively new to personal development, reading this book may help you shift your mindset from where it is to where it needs to be to get your finances on track.

Shift your mindset from where it is to where it needs to be to get your finances on track. Click To Tweet

But you may still be asking yourself why this book is on my recommended list for the year.

It’s because of the simple financial model that Proctor laid out in the book.

He suggests:

Paying yourself first and saving 10% of your income.
Putting 20% of your income into a debt clearance account.
Getting life insurance.

By the way, this isn’t exactly how it was presented in the book. I had to keep distilling it until came out looking as simple.

This was helpful to me, because I’ve been able to layer it into my existing money management methods.

I had never thought to create a debt clearance account, nor had I heard anyone else talk about it before. I now do this very thing.

I also got life insurance. This goes much deeper than I had originally thought. In Canada, with a life insurance policy, you can leverage something called the Infinite Banking Concept.

I’m not a practitioner, so I’m not going to try to explain it, but I’ll be sure to include a video in the show notes of this podcast episode, which you will be able to find at MusicEntrepreneurHQ.com/178.

And, if you’d like to check out You Were Born Rich for yourself, you can go to MusicEntrepreneurHQ.com/bornrich.

Final Thoughts

So, what books did you read last year? What did you find valuable? What will you be reading this year? I would love to hear your thoughts. Feel free to send a message to musicentrepreneurhq@gmail.com.

In 2020, I’m looking forward to reading books by the likes of Cal Newport, Derek Sivers, Seth Godin and more.

Of course, if all goes well, I will be publishing several of my own books this year and letting you know as they become available.

I’m David Andrew Wiebe and I will see you on the stages of the world.

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David Andrew Wiebe

Founder & CEO at Music Entrepreneur HQ

Award-winning composer, best-selling author, professional musician coach, and podcaster of over 10 years. Wiebe helps musicians like you unlock your full potential. If you'd like to be notified whenever the blog is updated, click here to subscribe.

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