A primary tenet in Chess is that you only win with combinations and coordination of pieces. A single marauding piece will not – under challenging conditions – give a win. It’s exactly the same in life. If you think you can go it alone, well I would argue that’s impossible – we are always in a society of some kind. Even Ted Kaczynski went into town for supplies.
It’s very tough to find mentors or, these days, folks you can know well enough to make an example of for your life. Growing up, Pete Rose and Johnny Bench and Sparky Anderson and even Brett Butler of the Royals, were role models, guys who played all aspects of baseball well. Not a single steroid monger in the lot, but I digress.
Books are old school, perhaps, but in a world flipped upside down and as thoughtful as a brick, they are still a most excellent way of obtaining the thoughts of thoughtful minds. Here are some that have recently helped me and I hope to leave to my kids in real, tangible form on my bookshelf. Maybe they’ll help you too when you read them.
- THE ART OF DECISION MAKING by Joseph Bikart
- HOW TO THINK LIKE SHAKESPEARE by Scott Newstok
- FOUR THOUSAND WEEKS by Oliver Burkeman.
- PERSONALITY ISN’T PERMANENT by Benjamin Hardy, Ph.D.
- HOW TO BEGIN by Michael Bungay Stanier
- EVERY MOVE MUST HAVE A PURPOSE by Bruce Pandolfini
- THE ONE THING by Keller/Papason
- THE FIVE ELEMENTS OF EFFECTIVE THINKING by Burger & Starbird
- THE WARE OF ART / TURNING PRO both books by Steven Pressfield
- SWITCH ON YOUR BRAIN by Dr. Caroline Leaf
- LATE BLOOMERS by Rich Karlgaard
- FRAME IT AGAIN by Jose Luis Bermudez
- MINDSET by Carol S. Dweck, Ph.D.
- CAPTIVATE / CUES both books by Vanessa Van Edwards
- THE BOOK OF BEAUTIFUL QUESTIONS by Warren Berger
- Any book by Barbara Sher
- NUDITY & CHRISTIANITY by Jim C. Cunningham
- CHRISTIAN BODY by Aaron Frost
- NAKED FEAR by Dennis Craig Smith
