Below is a selection of books I have collected for those who have been looking for inspiration or a sign from above for immediate change.
"Emotional Intelligence 2.0" by Travis Bradberry, Jean Greaves
A real leader or just a successful person just needs to be able to manage their emotions to calmly achieve their goals. You can have an incredibly high level of intelligence and skills, you can take any of the many courses and listen to lectures by respected and qualified trainers, but it will still not be enough. Not enough to keep your emotions under control and interact effectively with others. We all need to develop the emotional intelligence (EQ) that Jean Greaves and Travis Bradberry talk about in their book. The authors' advice does not require any serious effort from you (such as yoga or meditation) and will help you to understand how to develop self-perception and how to properly manage your emotions. After all, all this will ultimately affect the quality of your life.
Jeff Sanders, "Good morning every day. How early to get up and do it all"
As Mark Twain used to say, there are three kinds of lies: lies, blatant lies, and statistics. So, according to statistics, 40% of the population of industrialized countries belong to the chronotype of "owls", 25% - to the "larks", and the rest - to the "pigeons". But each of us has faced the problem of a morning spike one way or another. Late rise has a number of obvious drawbacks: sleepiness during the day, sluggishness, desynchronization with others. But much more terrible is the fact that we simply wake up the ideal interval in a day. Scientists (and not only British - a joke) repeatedly proved that early morning is the most productive and useful time for creative work, privacy, reflection, sport and everything else in the world. The book by Jeff Sanders is an easy to use guide that will save you from problems with lifting and the need to set up a few alarms. Not only will you keep up with everything, but you will also feel much better.
Mark Manson, "The fine art of shambles. A paradoxical way to live happily"
This case is really delicate. At least because people around us often confuse this very "shame" with indifference and selfishness. In his book, Mark Manson denies "positive for the sake of positivity" and in no way suggests looking at the world through pink glasses. On the contrary, he admits that life is constantly throwing shit at us and, according to Mark, our main goal is to find "the shit we want to deal with". You might think the author's views on life are cynical, but they are not. They are simply pragmatic. Unlike countless psychologists and coaches who have failed us with their work on how to be happy, Manson is really trying to teach us how to be happy. With simple, effective advice and reasoning in the spirit of "confidence is the enemy of growth," "it's impossible to go through life without getting scars," "our brain is a machine with flaws.
Jason Schreyer, "Blood, sweat, and pixels. The Bottom Side of the Video Game Industry"
If you still think that computer games are the destiny of children and men who have stopped developing, I have news for you. A couple of years ago, the Ministry of Sport of the Russian Federation officially recognized cybersports as one of the sports disciplines, prize funds at international tournaments reach several million dollars, and our main federal channel about sports, Match TV, has a thematic program called "Cyberatletics". Not bad for toys, is it?
The gaming industry was built for many years before it reached its climax. The book by Jason Schreyer "Blood, sweat, and pixels. The "reverse side of the video game industry" has absorbed a lot of interesting stories told by the developers of the cult games of our time. From Diablo III to Witcher 3, from Uncharted 4 to Destiny. How was this or that game created? What were the challenges faced by the developers in order for their product to eventually become legendary? Schreyer and mostly his conversation partners reveal all the secrets that will be of interest not only to gamers with experience but also to people far from this industry as a whole. Welcome to the 21st century.
Phil Knight, "Shoe salesman. Nike's story, told by its founder"
It is now Nike - one of the most recognizable brands in the world with a huge army of ambassadors in the face of the world's top sports stars, collaborations with the top designers of today and an annual turnover of $ 30 billion. Few people know that 50 years ago it all started with $50. Oregon University student and runner Phil Knight borrowed them from his father and decided to resell Japanese sneakers. By the way, now you can hardly buy a pair of Nike sneakers for $50.
"Shoe salesman" - a strong, impressive book, which should be read even those who do not wear sneakers and do not do sports. I can't help but quote Knight himself: "People make mistakes when they think of athletes as great Olympians. Everyone is an athlete. If you have a body, you are an athlete.