Books and beyond

After watching my beloved University of Kentucky Wildcats win the NCAA basketball championship on April 2nd, I’ve been in a really successful frame of mind, like nothing is beyond my abilities. I have no idea why, because reality shows I’m pretty incompetent. Certainly neither my cheering nor any of the lucky game day rituals I go through as a dedicated fan (many of them frighteningly pagan) powered my team to victory. Still, despite being an absolute bystander, I couldn’t help feeling like I was a part of UK’s success.  Call me delusional if you want to, but also make sure to call me happy.

I think being associated with success can color your outlook on life and turn up the wattage on the morning sun. Success breeds success, as the old saying goes. It doesn’t have to take much either. In my case, for example, all it required was clapping when my team scored.

In the early 20th century, Napoleon Hill’s Think and Grow Rich attempted to create quantifiable formulas for success and essentially sparked a sub-genre of self-help publishing that remains very popular. There are now over one thousand books written on the topic of success, though often it seems like 975 of them were written by Wayne Dyer.

Let’s take a look at some noteworthy, non-Wayne Dyer books on success available through the library:

18 Minutes: Find Your Focus, Master Distraction, and Get the Right Things Done, by Peter Bregman. Are 18 minutes a day standing between you and a more successful life? This is a great book when it comes to organizing personal priorities.

The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, by Stephen R. Covey. Easily one of the most popular works on success ever published, this book identifies seven habits found in most successful people in all eras, and shows you how to embrace them.

Mindset:  the new psychology of success, by Carol S. Dweck. Stressing the power of a positive attitude is not new in books on success, but Dweck’s work takes it further using new psychological breakthroughs. Do you have a fixed mindset or a growth mindset? If you have no idea what I’m talking about, pick up the book to find out!

Outliers:  the story of success, by Malcom Gladwell. This unusual and recent look at the factors that make people successful including genetics, geography, and economy.

The Success Principles: how to get from where you are to where you want to be, by Jack Canfield. This is an energetic and inspiring read very much in the vein of old school books on success. Some readers may find there’s a bit too much emphasis on wealth as being the standard for success. As standards go, however, money’s not bad.

The Greatness Guide, by Robin S. Sharma. This book offers 101 insights into making yourself more successful, whether it’s in your personal life or business. The advice is easy to digest and Sharma’s enthusiasm is catchy.