Read These Behavior Changing Books in 2022
When was the last time you read a book that provoked you enough to question your existing behavior? I must’ve read close to 75 books in the past 2 years, and these 7 books did precisely that to me. Not only did they make me question my behavior, but they also pushed me enough to change it completely. Thanks to these books, I am a better person today than I was 2 years back.
In this article, I go into the details of these books and explain the behavior change that happened after reading them.
Book of the week
The Road to Character - David Brooks
This book was recommended to me by someone I respect deeply. When I started reading this, I could feel the difference between this book and most other books I’ve read (including the ones in the list I just shared above).
This book uses the example of Adam 1 and Adam 2 to talk about 2 sides of our existence. One is utterly and entirely focused on self and glory, and the other is on staying grounded and building a moral code.
Brooks defines character as a form of unshakeable commitment and living loyally in alignment with our promises. This book has many gems, but the ones that I found to be the most insightful were
a) Resume Virtues vs. Eulogy Virtues - The former make us look good on paper and our jobs while the latter determine what people will say about us after we’re gone. We all know our resume virtues, but do we know anything about our eulogy virtues?
b) Humility is our greatest virtue - It accurately depicts human nature relative to the seemingly infinite universe.
Podcast episode of the week
How I Built This with Guy Raz - Episode with Kathleen King (Tate’s Bake Shop)
When I moved to the US 6 years back, Tate’s cookies (White chocolate macadamia nuts) became my instant favorite. I couldn’t stop eating them. They were just too good.
So when I saw this episode on the podcast, I instantly hit the play button. What followed was an amazing story of an 11-year-old girl baking cookies and selling them on the farms. Her journey from there to building and selling Tate’s Bake Shop is so inspiring!
It has its share of ups and downs, but she overcame them all thanks to her determination and willingness to go to any length to make her dream a reality. To retain her business, she had to part ways with her own name (Tate’s was earlier called Kathleen’s). Not only did she do that, but she emerged much stronger with this new name.
Article of the week
36 questions that will make you fall in love - Aron and Elaine Spaulding
When was the last time you met a stranger who asked you about your hobby? We’ve forgotten the art of asking questions and being genuinely interested in others.
Aron and Elaine Spaulding conducted research (almost 4 to 5 decades ago) to see if they could create instant intimacy between strangers in a laboratory setting.
In doing so, Aron created a set of questions that, when asked in the correct order, make the subjects quite comfortable with each other and share things that brought them closer together.
Even if we take these questions out of a romantic setting, they can really help you build great conversations and learn more about the other person.
Research also shows that when you ask questions and listen intently, you end up building your focus muscle.
Have a great focused week ahead. See you next Sunday.