005: The 13 Books You Need to Read This Year!

The Modern CEO podcast episode five. Hey, Modern CEO. I'm your host, Amber McHugh and I am so glad you are here. This workshop style podcast is designed to inspire you to run a better business, because a better business means a better life. Our goal with each episode is that you find a new strategy you can take away, make your own, and implement to fall even more in love with your life. Let's dive into today's episode. Hello. Hello, I'm your host, Amber McHugh and I'm so excited to be here with you on another episode of the Modern CEO podcast. I have a little fun fact before we dive in. This is not my first time practicing, you know, doing something like a podcast or a radio show. When I was in high school, I was on the speech team, the 4N6 team. And one of the things I did for a year or two maybe was I practiced like I was doing a radio show and it was a news radio show. So I had to collect the news sources and put it together and practice my radio voice. So I never ever, ever, ever, ever thought that that would be coming to mind or a skill that I would think about using again. But as I'm working these podcasts, I am definitely thinking about my days and the high school speech team where I made up my own news radio show. So that was fascinating. I did not stay on the radio track for very long. It kind of bored me. This podcast is so much more fun than that. But I ended up switching to dramatic interpretation and dramatic duets. So I'm all about the dramas. I tend to watch dramas on television more than I watch comedies. It's a running joke in my family. Go watch something depressing. Romantic comedies, I do quite a bit, but generally I lean toward the drama and they all want to watch something funny. Like, yeah, I'll join you guys later. I'll pop back in and out. So the dramatic interpretation was actually me standing up and then popping from one character to the next. So I'd play like five different characters in a dramatic interpretation, just me standing there by myself. And then of course, in the duet, I would partner with another person and we'd act out little scenes. So a little fun fact, a little history there, and I'm bringing back some of those radio scenes skills. So. But today we are actually going to talk about reaching goals and the importance of measuring our goals. And then we're going to dive into one big goal that I set over and over every year. Probably for the last three or four years, I've set this goal and how I realized that I was meeting that goal and I didn't even know it. And this goal, and I wonder if you've set this goal yourself before too, is to read about 50 books in a year. I don't know why I don't say 52. I feel like I need those two breaks of leeway there, those two weeks of leeway. But I have set a goal for so many years that I wanted to read about a book a week, 50 books minus those two for vacation. And have you ever challenged yourself to do that and then not met the goal? What typically happens for me is that I start the year and, you know, I'm reading good, I'm loving the books, and then something happens in life. So I have to take a break one week or two weeks, and then I think, oh, I'm never going to catch back up. It's over, and I give up my goal. But what I found and discovered this year as I was digging in and reading, I got about to the end of March and I thought, oh my gosh, I did not even set the book a week goal this year, and I'm actually going to meet it. And then I thought, I wonder if I've met this goal in prior years. And I didn't realize it because I wasn't measuring progress toward my goal. Have you guys ever heard that quote, what gets measured gets done? Another variation of it is what gets measured gets managed, or what gets measured gets focused. This is why it is so important that we set a goal that we can measure progress towards. And measuring progress does two things. It helps us identify and stay motivated because we know we're actually making progress toward that goal. And measuring progress towards something actually increases happiness. It's a little bit of gamification in there as well. So it's so important to measure our progress toward a goal. And this year, like I said, I didn't even set the goal. But I'm so on Track to read 50 books or more this year. So I'm going to break down how I tackle reading my books. I've got some strategies that you can get the most out of when you read and the books that I've recently read. So I'm going to break down the books that I've recently read, and I've got 13 on the. Actually, maybe that's 14. I don't have one written down there. 14 on the list this year already for you. And, you know, as I built this list, I realized, hey, I've been reading mostly nonfiction this year. Nonfiction, business and some personal development smattered in there. And last year I read a ton of fiction. So I also threw in after I built this list, one fiction book. So I've got one fiction book under my belt. But when I read fiction, I have trouble because if it's a good book and I usually stop reading if it's a not a good fiction book or if it's not one that's grabbing my attention and really drawing me in, but when I am reading a good fiction book that has me super engaged, I don't sleep. I will wake up in the middle of the night to read it. So then my migraines kick in. So I've got to kind of watch myself on the fiction and practice a lot of self discipline. And I am reminded of that as I picked up the fiction book, which I will reveal because that is last on the list. But you know, one of the ways that I get through books and I see and experiment and explore different books is using an app called Blinkist. Do you have this app on your phone yet? It is so cool. There is a free book every day that they give really an end to end overview of the book. It's almost like a Cliff Notes version of a book. And what I think is cool about Blinkist is different free. You know, blinks fall into my lap through this app and they're books that I wouldn't necessarily read on a regular basis. Like once I came across a book on parenting, I'm like, oh, I haven't even been thinking about reading a parenting book lately, but I'm going to check this out. So it kind of exposes me to new books that I wouldn't have read or wouldn't have thought about reading. In addition, it gives you a sense of, hey, do I need to finish this book right now? Is this something I really need to think about in my life? Or do I have a pretty good sense of this based on this blink? And I'll pick that up again later, you know, if I have a goal that I'm working toward around it or if I want to dive deeper. And actually, the first blink I ever read was the miracle morning. And so many people were talking about it. I wanted to know more about it. I wanted to make sure that I understood the concepts, even if it was at a surface level. Because I'm not working on a miracle morning goal right now. Although I'm getting better. When it warms up and the sun starts coming out, I just naturally wake up earlier. So that's a Win. That feels really good. But I'm not, you know, specifically trying to wake up earlier right now. So the blink gave gave me a lot of insight about the book. And then I can decide to go deeper, of course. And these are a little bit different, for example, than Kindle samples or ibook samples, which I do download. But the blink is cool because it gives you a summary of the end to end. And the Kindle samples or the ibook samples are typically like the first chapter or the first few chapters if they're smaller chapters. And how I typically use my Kindle samples are to download and hold books that I know I want to read and I know I want to come back to. So it really just becomes a list of books that I know I want to read at some point that I haven't gotten to yet. And the other way that I use Kindle samples is if it's a fiction book, if it pulls me in in the sample, I'm gonna keep on rolling. So that's a good indicator for me, like, okay, I think I'm gonna like this fiction book. So I will download the sample first and keep on rolling. But on the nonfiction side, it's basically just a list for me of all the books I want to be reading at some point. And then when I read, I'm typically reading on Kindle Apple ibooks. And then I do from time to time pick up some real life books. I actually have three real life books sitting in front of me that I have grabbed this year. And I grab those when I'm hopping on an airplane so I don't have to worry about connection or my battery dying or the charger, the outlet not working and my seat. And so I've got a hard copy book and I can read on my trip from BWI to California, read a book and a half. And then on the way back I read another book. So that is my approach for when I'm on an airplane. I definitely try to grab the hard copy book. I also have a tendency in my Kindle and my ibooks to take notes in a very structured way. Someone said to me once, like, how do you remember all of these stats? I'm like, oh, I don't. I've got them highlighted and I've got a system, so I might remember that. Oh, that book business, brilliant, which I'll tell you more about in a bit, you know, had this great stat in it. I'm sure I highlighted it. And then of course, I go back to the book and I highlight it In a certain color I highlight everything that I want to go back to at some point and pull into my research or the podcast or the work I'm doing with my clients or deliverable that I'm preparing or a workbook that I'm preparing. And I will make those notes in one color and sometimes I'll put a note by them like this will be good for xyz so I can very easily go back and find them. And then in real life books I do the same thing. So on the entire front and back covers I've got page numbers and the reason why I'd want to go back to that page number or the note or reference that reminds me of what is happening on that page and while why I will want to go back to that. So I use the same structure in print copy as I do on the electronic copies to sort of organize my notes. But I tend to go more toward electronic now because it's just an easier filing system and then an easier to just I can't take, you know, massive piles of books with me. So I like having that research and that data right on hand in the Kindle app or on Apple ibooks. The other thing I love using, I am so excited to tell you about this, if you aren't already aware of it, is Whisper Sink. Have you guys heard of this? I used this to read the Hunger Games series when that was out. And the book Delivering Happiness, also a great book by Jen Lim and Tony Hsieh from Zappos and Whisper Sync. So this is so cool. What it does is when you buy a book on Kindle, a Kindle book, you can read it on the Kindle app, which is what I do. And then if you need to flip to audio, you can pick up right where you left off on the audio version. And the books I bought the audio version was just a simple upgrade price wasn't the full price of a full audiobook or didn't use my audible credits, but it was just a few dollars upgrade to get the audio version as well. So if I was reading a book and really into it, but I had to get up to help the kids with something or we had to go somewh where I could flip to audio and keep reading. Which is heaven to me because like I said, I have trouble putting down the book if I am super into it. And I was definitely into the Hunger Games series and delivering happiness. So that is a winning solution if you need to hop between things as well. And sometimes I love to read the book but then I can flip to audio, too, as needed. The other great thing Haley Dale just told me about was Goodreads, and that's how she tracks the books she wants to read and books that she's already read. And I thought, what a great way to start measuring progress, because I'm hopping through my different apps as I prepared this list. All right, what did I read? What did I read? What did I reread then? Oh, yeah, I am counting my rereads as books I have read this year because sometimes you need to go back to something and revisit it, reabsorb it, process it. You'll experience it in a different way, and you'll get new insights from that book as well. So I'll share with you which ones I have reread this year as well, which we are going to dive into now. So if you're looking for some good book recommendations, I've got a list for you. And we cover the gamut of topics too. So book number one that I read this year was the book called Present Over Perfect by Shauna Nyquist. And I was so interested in this book. I was seeing it pop up in a bunch of people's feeds, and I thought, you know, I have been on that journey before. So I wanted to see how Shauna went through it. And the first half the book I was relating so much like this was my journey, going from busy to enjoying life more and still how am I productive in my work and experiencing more balance and more joy and more presence. And, you know, her journey was my journey. What she experienced was very similar to mine. So as I was going through the first half of the book, I could really relate to what Shauna was feeling and thought, yes, I have been there, girl. I have been there. And then the second half of the book sort of processed how Shauna dealt with and got to that point where she moved from, you know, trying to be perfect to being more present and experiencing more joy. And that I, because I had been on this journey as well, I thought, okay, this is interesting to see what she had went through. So you've got some practical in there too, and it's got a little bit of a Christian bend. So FYI on that. So great read. I really enjoyed that first half most, though, because I could relate to it and I was head nodding the whole way. Could relate to resonate emotionally with what Shawna had gone through. The second book I read was the Brain why Customers Buy and why they Don't. So this, I thought, was a really Fun, simple. Read on. You know how to think about getting testimonials and how to word and phrase your copy a little bit differently for your clients. It's going to take you through a lot of the things, if you've studied online marketing that you already know. But I found that there were just some really good reminders in there and the author really worded things in a way that made it feel really simple. So that's a fun read if you're thinking about, okay, how can I tweak my copy? Your ideal client, getting testimonials, follow up processes just sort of end to end that client experience in the marketing related to that. Again, that's the brain audit. Why customers buy and why they don't. The third book I read this year was Covert Persuasion. And that name sounds a little bit sneaky. Sneaky. But you have to use this for good, not evil. So I trust, of course, that is us, we will use this for good, not evil. And as I was reading it, you know, I was reminded of a lot of in person strategies to use when you're selling or trying to invite someone, you know into a program or into working with you. So there were a lot of things like in person know if you mimic someone's hand motions or if they're leaning forward, you lean forward a little bit too. And of course not revealing that you're totally copying them, but just letting them know like, we are in this together through your nonverbal communication. So that's one example of a strategy. But then they went through all of again, if you're an online marketer that you probably are aware of, like give to receive, have an opt in, right? And give someone experience with you, let them get some results in advance. And so they went through a lot of marketing strategies that you may already be aware of. But again, good reminders on some things. And I just found the way that they phrase some things sort of interesting as well. The other book I read was Ask Key Takeaways and Analysis and Review. So this was a shortened version of Ask that Michael Gilbre put together. And I was hearing so many people talk about Ask and I've done segmentation before. I'm familiar with bucketing your audience and segmentation and having different triggers and communications going to different audiences. So I thought, you know, I don't want to read the whole book just yet. I want to see if what, you know, if there might be something new in this book and what I need to take in right now. So I read that shortened version in the key takeaways and analysis. And it was great. A good overview, solidified what other people were saying and some of my points of views and perspectives on that. The sixth book I read was the Happiness Equation and I actually read this one in hard copy, so I'm going to flip that open right now. And I have notes up and down the front and the back with page numbers that were had interesting stories on them for me. For example, page number one, oh two. There is this thing in Japan called I'm totally going to say this wrong, so if you know how to pronounce this, please feel free to give me a shout out on social media at Amber McHugh and correct me, but ikigai I k I G A I and basically what this is is the concept of everybody needs a reason to wake up in the morning. And then the author goes a little bit into why retirement is broken. And Neil talks about this concept in Japan of even when you retire, you still find a reason to wake up in the morning. You're actually given and and you choose a specific role that you will continue to play. I remember one of the stories that was told that a grandmother, you know, retired. It was her job and her reason to wake up was to rock the baby. So taking care of the baby, right? And there are all sorts of other examples in there. But I love the happiness Equation. I actually read a lot of positive psychology, so this fit right in line with that. Oh, and Tony Hsieh, the author of Delivering Happiness, we read that book, has a quote on it, and he said the happiness equation will lead to tremendous changes in both your professional and personal life. So definitely on board with the happiness equation. That was a fun read if you're in deposit psychology. The next book I read in 2017 so far was Hitmakers and I have Hitmakers up here. Another great read. I read this one in hard copy on the plane and the Hitmakers talks about the science of popularity in an age of distraction. So I'm opening up the front cover and I'm just going to give you a little bit of a taste of something that I found interesting from this book. And I wrote down this concept of framing new ideas in context of something old. So the whole book, they're talking about why do things go viral and how can you sort of tap into the science of why things go viral to get your message out there in a bigger way? And this framing new ideas in the context of something old is one of that. And one of the examples that they gave was the context of something old. Could be Oprah. So is your product or service offering or your way of being the Oprah for X or the Uber for something? You know, maybe not the Uber or something. There's a lot going on there. There's a lot going on there with Uber. So you might have had a different analogy on that one. So that was just an interesting tidbit. There's a lot in here about understanding how people behave and how to build products to match that, to match what people need and aligning with something that's familiar and original and then pulling them into what's new and what's different with what you're doing. Meet people where they are and and then lift them a bit, move them to that new place of being with your solution. So there's a ton in there. Really fun book. I devoured this book on a flight and needed another book. I did not have another book at the time, but I could have used two. So my next flight I bought two books. But okay. The next book that I'm going to share is the 12 week year by Brian Moran. Now if you are into 90 day planning, I've been doing 90 day planning and I talk about that actually in my new video series@niceops.com video series. But I've been doing 90 day planning for quite a while. I think Bob Connor, when I worked at a consulting firm introduced me to this concept of 90 day or 100 day planning and the 12 week year breaks that down a little bit more and talks about why you want to think in terms of a 90 day plan or planning for 12 weeks at a time and how you can get as much done in 12 weeks as you do in a whole year. So that's a super fun book if you want to dive into accountability and productivity and want to accelerate your results. The next book, one of my favorites that I have reread many, many, many, many, many many times is Business Brilliant by my friend Louis Schiff. This book is so cool you guys. I mean from the first chapter my mind was bl dropped because it was breaking mental models that I have held onto and had for a very long time. The book Business Brilliant basically takes a look and researched the difference between self made millionaires and billionaires and the middle class. So in that book they're going to dive into, right? How many, how big are the networking circles of people in the middle class compared to those who are self made millionaires and billionaires and do self made millionaires and billionaires tend to DIY it or do they tend to outsource and find someone that can do it better than they can do it? I talk a lot about the Lewis's research from Business Brilliant in a lot of my work with my clients because they're simple, like, oh, okay, this is why I want to start to make this mindset so I can move further into abundance for good. And he just breaks down the science of it and shifts that we can make to start to make those pivots. Even if you're not going for self made billionaire status. Right? Just starting to shift your thinking a little bit around some of these concepts is going to set you up for your next level of growth and abundance. So I definitely recommend Business Brilliant by Lewis Shipp. The other book I read this year, actually I'm rereading this year, is E Squared by Pam Grout. And basically what Pam takes you through is nine exercises to start to play with this idea that your thoughts become your reality. And you know, I've constantly practiced that throughout my life, like since high school. It's a concept that my mom and I have talked about, we've talked about in our family. So it's something I regularly practice. But Pam really breaks down very specific exercises that you can do if you want to start to play with your thoughts becoming reality. And she's actually got a follow up book to that with another nine exercises that I haven't read. But if you like E Squared, you can check out, check out her follow up book on that. The other book that I read this year, I think we're on to number 10 now, is the Productivity Project by Chris Bailey. Oh my gosh, guys. And if you love reading out about productivity and how to be more efficient and how to get more done without doing a whole lot more and without feeling like you're spinning your wheels and going into overwhelm all the time, definitely check out the Productivity Project. So many cool insights in that book. And he shares, he shares two things, research and concepts that have been tested. And then he tests different concepts in his own life. I think it was over the period of a year and he was documenting those on his blog, which eventually became his book the Productivity Project. So super, super cool. And he steps into, you know, how many hours should you be working a week and how many hours is too much? When do you lose that productivity gain? Would you? I'll spill the beans on that one. That's one of my favorite bits of the research he talks about. Talks. They find research that identifies that when you work more than 40 hours a week. You start to lose productivity gains after two weeks of working 40 or more than 40 hours a week. So for about two to three weeks you can sort of handle that and you'll get the benefit of working more than 40 hours a week. But after that productivity plummets and you might as well be working 20 hours a week. After that, productivity plummets and you might as well be working 20 hours a week. So lots of insights in that book like that and a ton to dig into that is super practical and a bunch to test in your life as well. So that's a lot of fun. The next book that I started this year, but I have not finished yet is Tools of Titans by Tim Ferriss. And it's funny, even at the beginning of that book Tim says, you know, don't feel like you have to read this book all at once. It's something that you can come back to and pop in and out of. I thought, no, no, no, I'm totally gonna read this book all at once. I want to read it. Everybody's talking about it. I know that there are good insights in it from what I'm hearing and the reviews I'm seeing. No, Tim was right. I totally should have listened to him. So I'm popping in and out of that book and it's a lot of fun. I'm getting good insights. But it was not one that I could sit down and read all at once. Another book I picked up this year and finished about 3/4 of of was no Limits by John Maxwell. I love John Maxwell. He is such a thought leader and a go to resource in the leadership space. Love a lot of his books. I've read a lot of his books so I thought, you know, this is a no brainer to sort of read through no Limits again. No limits. Blow the cap off your capacity and continue to excel and exceed and grow as a leader and in your life. And I thought this was a great book. I found myself nodding my a lot as I read through it, but I don't have a lot of notes on the front and the back cover. I did scribble and circle some things throughout as I as I usually do, but I also typically write some notes on the front and the back and you know, I this maybe it's because I've read so much John Maxwell before, but I just sort of felt okay about this one. I was nodding my head a lot thinking, yep, yep, this makes a lot of sense. I agree. I've heard this before so it may be a summary of concepts that John has has reviewed in other books. That's why I felt like, yep, yep, I've got this. I've got this. So good read. Found myself nodding my head a lot, but not a must read in terms of books for me this year. So that's why I just got about three quarters of the way through on the flight and haven't, haven't gone back to finish that yet. And then I mentioned to you that I was going to have a full list of nonfiction for you. And when I got to the end of it, I realized like, oh, you know, you can pick up a fiction book now. And the fiction book I picked up and crazy recommend is Behind Her Eyes. The reviews on it on Amazon were fantastic. So I thought, okay, I'm going to try this sample. And I quickly wanted to keep reading. So I went back and grabbed the whole book and it is definitely a psychological thriller with a twist at the end. Now, the twist was a little bit kooky, so be. I thought it was a little bit kooky, so be ready for that. But it was still a super fun read that kept me engaged until the very, very end and definitely surprised me at the end. So of course I'm not gonna spoil it. And even by telling you it's a surprise, I'll be curious if you guess the twist at the end before you actually get there because I had a bunch of theories and I was talking through the theories with my husband who wasn't even reading the book, and we did not come anywhere close to guessing this ending. So behind Her Eyes, if you're looking for a psychological thriller, and that is all of the books that I have read or reread and then a couple that I started and I'm still reading and popping in and out of or that I'm probably not going to finish this year. So in my 50 books for the year, I am definitely going to be measuring my progress so I can celebrate that goal and make sure I'm on track. Because like I said, I'm sure I have met this goal before and you know where I stand now in May, I do have a couple of books to catch up. So I've got some flights coming up and some train rides coming up and I am so excited to dive into some more books. So if you guys like this, I'll record another episode next quarter after I have read another round of books and I'll give you some reviews and I'd love to hear if you have some recommendations. Super, super, super open to fiction and nonfiction recommendations. So I cannot wait to hear from you and see what strategies you pull out and and put in place from this podcast. Tag mebermcugh on any of the social media channels, Instagram, Pinterest, Twitter, and Facebook. I'm all there as Amber McHugh, and I'd love to hear from you. I cannot wait to see if you've got a goal of reading 50 books this year. And if you do, don't forget to measure it. In fact, for any goals that you have, measure your progress toward the goal because you might be doing better than you think you are doing. Thank you so much for joining us on episode five of the Modern CEO podcast, and I will catch you next time.