Category: Psychology

1. Read ASAP! · Book Review Actions · Book Reviews · Novel Concepts and Interesting Research · Philosophy · Psychology

BR 100: The Happiness Hypothesis by Jonathan Haidt

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Category: 1 – Read ASAP! (All Categories are 1 – Read ASAP!, 2 – BUY it!, 3 – SHELF it, 4 – SOMEDAY it)

Comments: Fitting that the 100th book review would be about one of the best books I have read.

Top 3 Learnings:

1. Emotions trump logic ANY day! The relationship between the two is akin to a rider atop an elephant. If the elephant (emotions) decides to go some place, the rider makes up reasons to go to that place.

2. We all have natural thresholds for happiness. Some have higher thresholds – that’s natural. What that means is that our happiness levels fluctuate between a range. And it gives us a simple goal –  stay on the top end of the range!

3. Everything in moderation..

4. Little things done daily have huge impact on our happiness. Keeping a journal, reflecting, counting our blessings etc

I really could go on. This is one of those books that you will never regret reading. A true masterpiece. Go get it.

3. SHELF it · Book Review Actions · Book Reviews · Psychology · Self Improvement

BR 99: Awaken the Giant Within by Anthony Robbins

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Priority: 3 – SHELF it  (All Categories are 1) Read ASAP! 2) BUY it! 3) SHELF it 4) SOMEDAY it)

Comments: Short book. A few interesting insights.. the rest tended to be close to the typical ‘self improvement’ talk that tends to drive many people crazy..

Top 3 Learnings:

1. Everything we do in life is influenced by the pain pleasure principle. We either do things to avoid pain or to derive pleasure.

2. Mental conditioning is incredibly powerful. When legendary basketball player Larry Bird had to shoot for a commercial that involved him missing a basket, he  had to shoot 9 times to make sure he missed. The moment he had a ball in his hand, his conditioning took over!

3. We react more to loss than to gain.

3. SHELF it · Book Review Actions · Book Reviews · Novel Concepts and Interesting Research · Psychology · Self Improvement

BR 98: The Law of the Garbage Truck by David J Pollay

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Category: 3 – SHELF it (All Categories are 1 – Read ASAP!, 2 – BUY it!, 3 – SHELF it, 4 – SOMEDAY it)

Comments: One of those simple concept books that gave me a lovely light hearted framework to look at situations. Enjoyed it.

Top 3 Learnings:

1. There are a lot of people out there who walk around with pent up emotions, frustrations, anger i.e. garbage. As this garbage piles up, they are constantly looking for an excuse to dump on other people. Don’t take it personally. Wish them well and move on.

2. ‘Wish them well’ is very important. That means we make sure we don’t take it in. If we take it in, we process it. And garbage is not worth processing.

3. We are all guilty of dumping/venting from time to time. We just have to make sure we let the other person know that that’s what we’re doing!

3. SHELF it · Book Review Actions · Book Reviews · Novel Concepts and Interesting Research · Psychology

BR 94: Gifts Differing by Isabel Briggs Myers

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Priority: 3 – SHELF it  (All Categories are 1) Read ASAP! 2) BUY it! 3) SHELF it 4) SOMEDAY it)

Comments: A book that really resonated when I read it – explains the “why” behind Myers Briggs. I had a whole post dedicated to it on my long form blog.

Top 3 Learnings:

1. We are all different. We have VERY different ways of seeing the world. Not right or wrong. Just different.

2. It is very helpful to understand the different kinds of characteristics in people because it helps us understand ourselves.

3. And when we begin to understand ourselves and our preferences, we begin to be more accepting of ourselves, and the world around us.

Add on Mar 16, 2016: A few years after reading this, Myers Briggs Type Indicator is trashed by nearly every self respecting psychologist. It still doesn’t change my view on the book much – it still taught me a lot and helped me understand my own introversion at a time when I needed just that.

1. Read ASAP! · Book Review Actions · Book Reviews · Novel Concepts and Interesting Research · Psychology

BR 92: Switch by Chip and Dan Heath

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Category: 1 – Read ASAP! (All Categories are 1 – Read ASAP!, 2 – BUY it!, 3 – SHELF it, 4 – SOMEDAY it)

Comments: Another masterclass by the Heath brothers. This book is a gold mine of learnings, stories and inspiration – under the excuse of ‘Change’. Switch aims to describe how to drive change when change is hard.

Top 3 Learnings:

If I went down the learnings path, I would go on forever.  At the time of writing, I have already featured 2 book learnings here , here and here. And many more to come. Rest assured, this book is top class.

2 lines that have stuck..

1. What looks like a people problem is often a situation problem.

2. What looks like resistance is often a lack of clarity.

And of course, the learning on Elephants and Riders is a paradigm shifter!

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BR 89: Yes! by Robert Cialdini

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Category: 3 – SHELF it (All Categories are 1 – Read ASAP!, 2 – BUY it!, 3 – SHELF it, 4 – SOMEDAY it)

Comments: Robert Cialdini doesn’t disappoint with this book. Well researched and well delivered piece of work. Lots of little nuggets and learnings.

Top 3 Learnings:

1. I recently blogged about ‘Even a penny will help’. And I am sure you will see more of these nuggets pop up.

2. Another one I remember is that we negotiate better when we are happy. Staying positive is of extreme importance to serial negotiators.

3. Our desire to be ‘consistent’ with who we have been in the past is very important to us. Hence, it matters a lot to us that we keep promises we made in the past, act in accordance to the way we behaved in the past.

4. Social proof matters a lot. The wisdom of the crowd does matter.

5. The best way to get people to buy into a big decision is to have them buy into smaller bits first. Before you request people to join a campaign to add more speed breakers for example, requesting them put up a sticker on their door that says ‘we love safe drivers’ (seemingly harmless step) goes a long way in increasing their probability of saying yes.

and many more..

(I took the liberty to exceed ‘3’ thanks to the nature of the small bite sized learnings in the book. Definitely Enjoyable..)

1. Read ASAP! · Book Review Actions · Book Reviews · Novel Concepts and Interesting Research · Psychology · Self Improvement

BR 87: Change Your Questions Change Your Life by Marilee Adams

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Category: 1 – Read ASAP! (All Categories are 1 – Read ASAP!, 2 – BUY it!, 3 – SHELF it, 4 – SOMEDAY it)

Comments: 1 week after buying this book, I gifted 7 copies to friends and family and 2 others bought copies thanks to me raving about it.

The best thing about this book is it’s simplicity and the fact that the book’s learnings can be synthesized into 1 key concept – The Choice Map – THAT is genius!

Top 3 Learnings:

1. We are the questions we ask ourselves. And it is only by changing our questions can we change anything.

2. Questions drive results.

3. At every moment, we have a choice between being a ‘learner’ or being a ‘judger’. A learner asks questions like ‘what can I do to improve the situation? What can I learn from this?’ while a judger asks questions like ‘Why are things so bad? Why am I so bad?’ leading us down a negative path.

The single most powerful idea for me from the book is that every time we feel negative (i.e. low energy, upset, angry, jealous etc etc), it is likely because we are asking ourselves ‘judger’ questions. (See The Choice Map) And the moment we catch ourselves feeling negative, we have the power to switch, ask ourselves learner questions and get positive!

Very powerful stuff.

1. Read ASAP! · Book Review Actions · Book Reviews · Psychology · Self Improvement

BR 81: Ready for Anything by David Allen

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Comments: Top class productivity book from the master. David Allen delves into the ‘why’ behind time management. He also cushioned the (expected) staid flow of content with tons of inspiring quotes. I loved it!

I loved this book it had lots of simple ideas to streamline our productivity and workflow with a focus on ‘why’ rather ‘what’. In his classic book, Getting Things Done, David Allen focused more on the ‘what’ – practical tips and trips. This book focuses a lot more on the science behind it – how our brain works and how we can use this knowledge to alleviate stress and get things done!

3. SHELF it · Book Review Actions · Book Reviews · Psychology · Self Improvement

BR 80: 10 Natural Laws of Successful Time and Life Management by Hyrum W Smith

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Category: 3 – SHELF it (All Categories are 1 – Read ASAP!, 2 – BUY it!, 3 – SHELF it, 4 – SOMEDAY it)

Comments: A particularly good time management book that, for a change, is grounded in principles.

What to expect: I have blogged about Hyrum’s Prioritized Daily Task Lists here and here. And there is more to come. In short, this is an experienced time manager who believes (rightly so, in my opinion) that your daily task list should be indicative of your core values.

Add on Mar 16, 2016: I had long forgotten about this book but can see why I rated this highly. I think there have been better books since though.

3. SHELF it · Book Review Actions · Psychology · Self Improvement

BR 78: The Magic of Thinking Big by David Schwartz

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Comments: This book is a popular self help book but it didn’t have as much of an impact on me. I actually read it a few months ago but as I was about to pen down a review for it, I realized I remembered nothing. So, I had to re-read it to write this review.

What to expect: Lots of very very good ideas and suggestions. The only issue is Schwartz never uses stories to illustrate his ideas. There is a lot of ‘telling’ which is easy to forget. Nevertheless, many good learnings – a couple of them are here and here.