September 21, 2025 • 44 mins
Last month I celebrated my 59th.
It had me reflecting on the biggest influences that rerouted my path, especially the books that shaped my mindset, my career, my health, and even my view of the universe.
These aren’t just books I enjoyed.
They are turning points that literally changed how I live.
Some helped me become a better teacher, others taught me discipline and financial independence, and a few opened up my sense of purpose.
Here’s the list in the same order I cover them, with a personal note on why each mattered to me.
Mindset, Self-Discovery
Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff, Richard Carlson
I stumbled into this book in 1997 after literally knocking over a stack of them in Barnes & Noble. It sparked my lifelong love of self-help. Its short chapters and practical reminders taught me to let go of stress and focus on what actually matters, which helped me lead my teams (and my life) with a clearer head.
You’ll See It When You Believe It, Wayne Dyer
This is the book I’ve re-read more than any other, sometimes daily for weeks at a time. Dyer’s lessons on manifestation and the “seven attachments” helped me release ego, control, and the need to be right, which created more peace and focus in every area of my life.
Stumbling on Happiness, Daniel Gilbert
Gilbert proves we’re never as happy or as sad as we think we’ll be, because we can’t fully predict our future selves. This freed me from chasing perfection and helped me embrace the journey, knowing joy comes more from growth than from reaching the finish line.
Storytelling, Career Transformation
Made to Stick, Chip and Dan Heath
A dearly-departed friend gifted me this book in December 2007, and it completely changed how I thought about communication. Its framework for making ideas memorable became the foundation of my Interview Intervention methodology, and eventually the blueprint for the storytelling systems I still teach today.
Interview Intervention, Yours Truly
I wrote this book in just five weeks at the end of 2011, and it completely transformed my career. For the first time, I captured years of coaching into a system anyone could use, and that was the first official step that turned me from recruiter to teacher to author.
Choice, Goals, Perspective
This Is Water, David Foster Wallace
This slim book, adapted from a 2005 commencement speech, is one of the most powerful I’ve read. Wallace’s simple but profound message, that you can choose what to think about, has reshaped how I approach daily life, teaching me to stay present and compassionate in the middle of life’s noise. It also served at the stimulation for the next book on this list.
Out of Reach But in Sight, Me Again
Born from a keynote I gave to scholarship students, I turned the speech into a book. Capturing timeless lessons on setting and pursuing goals, it later evolved into my Goal Setting Masterclass and proved how small steps can inspire big transformations.
Wealth, Health
The Millionaire Next Door, Thomas Stanley and William Danko
At 30, this book confirmed that wealth is
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
I want to talk to you about some books that are very, very special to me,
the meaning of my life and how they've shaped me. And I've been wanting to do something like this
for a very long time. There's lessons wrapped in all of these books. Maybe you can add a few
to your shelf. So, get in chat, say hi. Let me know where you're watching from. Carlos,
great to see you. Elena Fox, Michael, say hey to you. And Elaine Thomas, what's up? Edward,
(00:24):
how are you? Unlo, thank you for the birthday wishes. Sue AG from Kauaii. Oh, jealous. Amanda,
I'm jealous. A Starker, thank you. Thanks for the birthday wishes and and thank you for all of you
who emailed me yesterday or DM'd me or those of you that have my phone number, texted me. I I I
read and responded to everyone. And if I haven't gotten to your message on social media, I will
(00:49):
because I read all of those because it just brings me joy. Okay, speaking of joy, we are going to we
are going to talk about books today. Before we do that, let me know where you're watching from. Uh,
if you have any job search related questions or career development questions, we're going to do
our usual Q&A after I run through these books. So, put some question marks in front of them.
(01:09):
If you're a boot camper, let me know that or a leader. We've got a lot of things coming up for
you this month. And I always like to cheer you on. Uh, with that, let's get let's get rolling. So,
today I wanted to talk about a number of books, 10 specifically, that are very meaningful to me in my
life. Now, I love when influencers actually share books they've read. Uh whether they're health
(01:32):
books, finance books, a lot of self-improvement is always on my shelf. And I like when they run me
through them, and I could probably run you through these books in 10 minutes, but I don't want to do
it that way. I want to share with you a list of books that truly transformed my life because of
of the trajectory that they put my life on. And the lesson is there inside each of these stories
(01:57):
that I want to share with you because I think that the story itself will apply to your life
even if you don't even if you're not interested in looking at the book. So I'm going to run through
10. Uh I might have a couple of honorable mentions that I I I sneak in. So maybe there's a dozen or a
baker's dozen here, but I think it'll be a lot of fun. So buckle up. And I'm going to start with the
(02:20):
first one. And it was Wednesday, November 26th, uh, 1997. I'm pretty sure I got that date right.
You sort of don't you sort of don't forget days like this. It was a Wednesday. It was,
uh, the Wednesday of Thanksgiving weekend, and it was snowing like crazy in my uh, in my in my town.
(02:42):
And um, I had been managing a project with a lot of people uh, at one a consulting company that I
worked for. I was doing a project for for an oil client of ours and we were working nonstop 7 days
a week from early in the morning till 1000 p.m. at night. Um much we probably were working you
(03:03):
know 8 to 5 on Saturdays and Sundays and it was it was a real grind and I needed I needed a few
hours just to to get my head wrapped straight and I was I told my team I had 12 team leaders. They
all had a bunch of people that reported to them. So, it was a pretty pretty large uh project. The
why we were working all those hours is a whole another story, but it was Wednesday and it was
(03:27):
about midday right after lunch. And so, I was in a Barnes & Noble in uh in near near where I lived at
the time and I was standing in line and in line in front of me had to be no less than 15 people. Now,
I uh I had a I had my arms. My arms are, you know, my arms are not they're not very big,
but I had books in in this arm and books in this arm, and I was probably using my hips to
(03:52):
hold them. I I got a stack of books because every night at 10:00, I would drive home, I would crawl
into bed, and I would I would I would I would pull a book out, and I would read until I until I fell
asleep. And I get up and I do the same thing the next evening after I worked the long day. So, I'm
standing in line with absolutely nowhere to go. But my impatient self at the time I was 31 and I
(04:14):
I'm not as involved as I am now. And I was huffing and puffing like, you know, all these people are
in my way and you know, why are all these people here? And the only the minutes that I have free
time of myself and I was wound tighter than a top. And as I leaned over to see how many people were
in line in front of me, I there was this pile of books on the floor stacked maybe, I don't know,
(04:37):
yay high, maybe a few feet, but I I didn't see it. I wasn't paying attention and I'm like, "What the
hell are these books doing on the floor?" And I knocked over the entire pile. So, I put my books
down on the floor. I bend over to clean up the pile. And it was Don't Sweat the Small Stuff,
and it's all small stuff by the late great Richard Carlson. I had never heard of him before. I didn't
(05:00):
know what this book was, but I obviously wasn't going anywhere. So, I pick the book up and I start
leafing through it. And then I start reading the titles of the chapters. I'm like, I need
this book. So, I I put a pile I put the copy on the pile. I ultimately made it to the checkout,
got in the car, got home, read the whole book that afternoon, and then got back in my car, drove back
(05:25):
to the Barnes & Noble and bought 12 copies for my team leaders. And I mean, we literally would have
like book club and then there was the flip charts and the calendar charts and, you know, they came
out with things that look like, you know, that that look like this. And we bought all that stuff.
And anyway, this really while I had always appreciated self-help, I I was learning more
(05:47):
about myself and the areas that I really needed to improve. And so I think this book is what really
really got me to fall in love with self-help. So, I absolutely love this book and um and I've
bought many more of his and he he died at I think 47 years old, which was is a tragedy uh because of
(06:07):
all the great material he's put out. So, don't sweat the small stuff. This is number one. And
by the way, I probably should have said this. I'm not necessarily going through these books in the
order in which I read them, but I I grouped a few of these mindset and self-help books up front uh
because I I I really really enjoy these. So that's that's that's number one. The book that absolutely
(06:31):
be made me become a Wayne Dyer disciple. And this this may very well be, if not the best book I've
ever read, definitely one of the top three to five. And it's called You'll See It When You
Believe It. I've read this book no less cover to cover no less than six times or seven times. And
(06:55):
I've read pages 181 to 206 no less than probably 30 times. And there was a there was a period, and
I'll explain what those are. There was a period in 2022 I remember waking up every morning meditating
and then then the first thing that I did was I wiped off my calendar for my morning activities.
(07:15):
I have a very reg regimented morning routine that works for me but I changed it so that I could read
those pages and I read them every single day for two weeks. and those pages. While this book is
really about the manifestation of your life and that what what you want to come into your life,
you need to literally see it first. You need to believe that it will be there. You need to have
(07:39):
faith in making it happen. You need to work toward it. But what this book really really did for
me that that I couldn't figure out and no other book could ever do until I saw this was he talks
about the seven attachments that really cause suffering. And I I I want to spit them off really
quickly so you understand what I mean. And his his belief, Dr. Wayne Dyer's belief is that you you
(08:04):
you become attached to to things and that these attachments that you have physically or literally
or spiritually or mentally or whatever are what cause your ruin. And so to rattle them off,
you get attached to stuff, to people, to the past maybe like your traditions, to your form, to the
(08:25):
body, to your ideas and being right, to money, and to winning. And so those pages 181 to 206
really talk about these seven attachments. There's there's no other book I've turned to more. And I I
looked at this book the other day and and there's a number of pages that are dogeared. But what I
really what really brought a smile to my face is there's different color underlines and markers and
(08:49):
highlights based on the year in which I read the book. I would always take it with me on vacation,
especially if I was going somewhere sunny and was going to sit around in the sun. But anyway,
this book to me, it and I've read I'm I think I've read every book of his that I could that
I remember there. My my shelf is filled with his books. They're all fantastic, but this book to
(09:12):
me is like it's it's top shelf, pun intended. I mean, it is it is really really good. Now,
one other author who also another self-help mindset book that I'm so disappointed he only
wrote this one book, but Harvard professor Daniel Gilbert, I think it's Harvard, um, wrote this book
(09:35):
called Stumbling on Happiness. Daniel Gilbert, it's an upside down bowl of cherries. And I hope
I hope I got I think it's I think I'm pretty sure it's Harvard, but if if not, forgive me,
Mr. Gilbert. But this book is so unbelievably awesome. And the the the punchline or the
main message in this book is that as you look out into the future, as you look out into the future,
(10:03):
you will never be as happy or as sad as any event you would have imagined. That's basically the
book in one line. Although that wouldn't do it justice. It really helps you understand um you
know those of you that have children, could you ever imagine a loss or a death or somebody who's
married to imagine divorce or somebody who wants to to get that promotion or earn $100,000 or a six
(10:29):
figure salary or a seven figure salary or an eight figure salary a year. You will never be as happy
or as sad as you imagine. And the reason that you will never be as happy or as sad is because it is
impossible to project your feelings be in the into the future because into the future will be
(10:50):
a different you. You will you will have learned things. You will have loved things. You will have
lost things. Uh you will you will change the way you think about things. And you can never simulate
what you will be like in the future when that happens. So, why bother? But this book, much like
(11:11):
uh much like the Dire book, you'll see it when you believe it. These two are are so near and dear to
me, but also probably two of the top five books I've ever read for what I what I enjoy, right? and
and what I'm sharing with you today are all are all non-fiction books, but um but obviously, you
(11:33):
know, novels and those kind of things, I don't I don't read them anymore. Uh I did it at one point,
but I'm so invested in in my development that I spend my time reading. My my my reading is is
for pleasure, but it is always for education. So So those are the those are the first three. Now,
(11:55):
this next one is a really good book. And um I I was living in a condominium um between uh 2004
and 2017. And in 2007 in at toward the end of the year, I believe it was I believe it was December,
I walked down to my into my foyer area to get my to get my mail. I was just taking a break going
(12:21):
to stretch. So I go down the stairs and in the you know kind of the main mezzanine level was
was my was my mailbox but on the floor there was this book made to stick and it's written by Chip
and Dan Heath. Now if you are in in in sales or marketing or any kind of storytelling or social
or whatever and you have not read this book you are behind. Consider yourself behind. It is a
(12:47):
phenomenal book with the tagline why some ideas survive and others die. Now how this changed my
life when I read this book I got this book from a friend of mine who's since passed on. It says
Andy here's to continued success business and personal Mike Christie December 2007. And so
(13:07):
he gave me this book and a great great man and a great entrepreneur. I'm just going to
apologize in advance for the waterworks. I'm never going to make it through this without
without getting choked up. So he gives me this book and he business owner runs run a real estate
development company. So the the the the the main thrust of the book is about why some some ideas
(13:32):
and stories survive and become memorable. And the Heath brothers had a methodology that was
six stages that that um that that showed you the characteristics of stories that that stick. They
are simple, unexpected, there's a concreteness to them. They're credible, emotionable,
and then they're wrapped in a story. So, this book in and of itself is a dang good book. And
(13:56):
I wouldn't call it one of the top 10 books I ever read, but it's a masterful piece of work. But
the reason that this book is important to me is because I took this little note. This is this is
um another a dog of mine since past Ridge was my was my dog at the time. So I had this Ridge
notes pad on my on my desk. So, as I got done reading the book, I reached for this this note and
(14:21):
I I said, as I coach my job candidates for their interviews as an executive recruiter, I would prep
the job candidates for their interviews. I said, I need to use the Heath Brothers, the backbone of
their methodology as the methodology that I use to teach job candidates. So I literally would prepare
(14:44):
individuals for their jobs that would they would go in and talk to my clients and I made the in
what is known to many of you now is the interview intervention methodology of storytelling where
instead of that simple language it was it was really about keeping it simple. The unexpectedness
is capture and keep their attention. The concretess is talking in their lingo. Um the
(15:06):
credibility is make them believe you. the emotion. The emotional aspects is getting them to care and
the story aspect is getting them to act based on your inspiration and becoming memorable. And
this note card is is what I would use. And it it would sit it sat on my desk. And so between 2008,
9 and 10 and almost into 11, I would continue to talk this methodology to individuals. Now, some
(15:34):
of you that have read the zebra code, you know that I articulated this way of coming up with new
ideas that are spawned from things that you see. I call it L aliqua out of something as opposed
to X nhilo which which is or ex it's x aliqua out of something as opposed to x nilo out of nothing.
(15:55):
But great ideas are spawned from things that you see and they're around you all the time. So what
was happening as I would coach individuals and they would tell me how much they enjoyed this
methodology, I knew that at some point I would need to put that book together. And although
interview intervention was not the first book that I wanted to write, it seemed like um the thing to
(16:18):
do especially during this time. Now, any of you that are old enough to remember what 200 20 the
end of 2007 8 9 10 11 were like, for any of you that think that this is a tough employment market,
um I I want you to imagine an employment market that was a total meltdown where I had reached out
(16:40):
um I went out online and and posted an ad for a personal assistant, a job that would be likely
$10 to 12 an hour. I received 503 applications and I was getting people with bachelors, masters,
PhDs, probably people earning $2 $300,000 a year that wanted to take a $10 job to be my assistant.
(17:03):
And that's how bad the employment market was. Now, as an executive recruiter at the time,
we didn't fall off. We made some smart moves. We kept grinding, but it I still absorb the
emotion of the people that I coach and train and recruit and all of that. So,
um I was going through some personal things in my life. I had gone through a breakup in 2010 of
(17:25):
a 14-year relationship. I had just gone through another breakup of a year relationship in 2011.
And I realized toward the end of the year that I needed to do something differently. And I thought
if I could write a book and even if it would help me to number one do something different, number
two, um I don't know where this is going to go. I don't know anything about the publishing industry,
(17:49):
but I do know that if I can package this up, at a minimum I could give the book or the ebook to my
job candidates and have them read what I've been sharing with them verbally that would take me like
an hour to prep them. So interview intervention number five uh between Friday Thanksgiving of 2011
(18:10):
and I I started writing and I wrote each morning for the next five weeks and then on January
2nd the book was done. So it basically took five weeks to package up this book that now many of you
um not to mention another you know 250,000 people or more somewhere in the world have a format of
(18:32):
this book whether it's an ebook or or a paperback or a hard cover and this book this book really it
it it it not it truly changed the trajectory of my career because it was it was the first
piece that put me on the path not just to helping more people but really becoming a trainer in this
(18:52):
format. And so when a lot of you look at things in your life and you you you don't necessarily
think anything of it, I I have an I have this story and another story that is really really
going to change the way you think about everything that goes on around you. The world, the universe
is sending you signals day in and day out. History is calling you. But are you paying attention? And
(19:19):
so you you you got to be looking for the signs. You got to be looking and and when when you get
in a grind and everything that you're doing seems to not be working or you're not making progress or
nothing is changing or you're not catching that break you want. You got to change your pattern.
You got to change your pattern. And while at at the time my business was going pretty well,
(19:41):
I was definitely not in the right frequency with with my universe. And so this book and writing
this book really got me out of that. And so this combo is is incredibly special to me. Number one,
this book gave me the ideas that then were implanted here and they have evolved since.
But it's helped a lot of people. And so I know that a lot of you have this uh and and and we we
(20:08):
still to to this day to this day we give this book away um for free for if you kick in a few bucks
for materials and handling. So So those are that rounds out the top five. Now there's another book
that I have a similar story in 2013 in August. I had given a speech um to to about somewhere
(20:32):
between three and 400 uh collegiate students. They were scholarship students that uh that
were given these scholarships by the Western Golf Association and they were having a um a career day
and I was invited to be the keynote speaker. And so without going into a lot of details about this,
I had um been contacted by the project manager who was running the event. She said, "Andy, we're
(20:58):
really looking for somebody who will inspire these kids. We want you to speak on leadership for life,
setting and accomplishing your goals." That was the topic. And I I thought to myself, well, A,
I don't really have any goals. And B, what the hey am I going to tell these 18 to 22 year olds when
much of what they're focused on right now is is schooling and I don't really want to talk to them
(21:20):
about how to get through school or something that's going to be super short-lived. So,
I thought about it and for about an hour a day for a week, I I basically penned a a um a talk
that I gave them. The talk was 47 minutes. It was about how to get everything you want out of life
and have fun doing it. So, I wanted to make them something that was ageless. It was timeless. It
(21:45):
was genderless, professionless. It didn't make any different. It would transcend all of that.
And so I gave that speech in August of 2013. Uh a handful of months later, I was having lunch with
Jim Vaselopoulos. Some of you may know Jim from the leadership podcast. He's also done some guest
appearances on my on my uh podcast and he wrote a book called Clarity. He and I would get together
(22:09):
about once a quarter. We would just because we're friends, we would talk about life, love, work,
whatever is going on. And um he asked me what I was doing. and I had, you know, just some things
that were special that I had done over the quarter that since I hadn't seen him. And I told him about
this speech and then he'd asked me what the topic was and what the format was. And then he asked me
(22:32):
whether I had ever heard of this is water. I said, um, I I haven't heard of of This is is water. Um,
he said, well, do you know who David Foster Wallace is? And I said, infinite. I did this. I
the infinite Jess guy. The book's like a thousand pages. um you know, colorful, creative guy,
very smart. He said, "Yeah, he gave a a speech to Kenyon College in 2005. This is before he he he
(22:57):
killed himself. Um and and it was a very inspiring speech. It sounds like what you gave was a lot
like what he what he gave." And so he said, "I'll I'll tell you what. I'll send you this video,
this YouTube clip. It's about 10 minutes. some advertising agency took a portion of his speech
and made a montage of, you know, kind of B-roll of it to his to to the to the audio. So, he sent
(23:21):
me the he sent me the link to the YouTube video. I absolutely loved it. I ended up buying the book
on as an ebook. I read the book and I loved it and I wanted to physically see the book. So,
this is water. You may or may not be able to see this simple simple book, but this book is
(23:42):
is not only is it an amazing piece of work. It's it's it's epic. It is truly truly transformative
because it he gives this speech which was probably 20 minutes and it's it's about not how
to think but that you have a choice what to think about. And I, you know, much like the dire book,
(24:04):
I've probably read this book three dozen times. I've listened to the audio three dozen times. It
is so important for us to understand how to turn off our automated way of thinking to get out of
ourselves and realize that we are not necessarily the center of the universe even though we process
(24:26):
the world that way. But the the the the way in which he explains it is so amazing that I I I
I got it. I read it and then I looked at it and I said to myself, you know, this is a great format.
So why don't I turn the speech that I gave into a book? And so my friend Laura said to me, "Well,
(24:50):
they gave you, you know, they had the audio on their website." So we downloaded the audio. She
put her earbuds in. She typed it all out for me. And this book, Out of Reach, but in sight,
using goals to achieve your impossible, is the 47minute speech that I gave to the Western Golf
Association. Every month, I get the royalties from the Amazon. I I self-published this. I all
(25:11):
I cared about was wrapping it in a book. I I I ordered 150 copies of the book and I took them
to the country club that I belonged at at the time and I gave them to the caddies which are
these students that get these that become eligible to get these scholarships. So all the caddies got
a got a signed copy from me. I literally signed them all for them uh individually and and it
(25:34):
just this this book you could read this book in a in a half an hour or or you could listen to the
audio if you have my audio. But anyway, the same kind of thing, the idea that my friend planted
in my brain that then I looked at this book and not only is this book just incredibly amazing,
but but it also gave me the idea to just package up the speech. I used Amazon at the time that
(26:00):
Amazon had this self-publishing platform that you could use um called Create Space. I got my cousin.
We threw a we threw a cover together and the book sells every month and uh it's light reading and
it's more of a motivational than a how-to book. But this this book also became a course called
the goal setting master class that's even more detailed. But anyway, these this is the book
(26:22):
that really that really did that for me. Next, uh I want to switch gears to uh to to money.
So when I was when I was 30, I I had been working really hard to save and invest my
money. I had been doing it for eight years of my my entire professional life. Even before that,
(26:44):
even when I was in high school and and in college and at the at this time when I was 30, this book,
The Millionaire Next Door, came out. Now, it is one of my absolute favorite financial
books because it talks about the mindset of the millionaire. And there is a reason,
and this is according to the Ramsay group, they've done surveys about professions that become
(27:09):
millionaires. There's a reason engineers uh are are the most popular millionaires and accountants
and teachers. Yes, teachers and other business managers and people of that ilk because there is
a method and a practice to becoming wealthy. It is not about having the bank. It is about making
the money that you're getting work for you. And this book really cemented a lot of the things that
(27:36):
I was doing at that time. But I would say this is the book that probably got me to fall in love with
financial books. Now I' I've done a financial talk uh before. I've done a leadership uh
session or two on on personal finance. I've also talked about money books that I absolutely love.
This might not be my absolute favorite money book, but it was the one that really steered me in the
(28:01):
direction and kept me going as what what um you know what the authors and and Thomas Stanley calls
a prodigious accumulator of wealth. It has more to do with what you do with your money than the
amount of money that you earn. So, this one has a special meaning. I've given this book away to
dozens of people. It's, you know, obviously it's third almost 30 years old now, but it is a big
(28:23):
uh a big big help to those that are interested in personal finance. I also like if you're interested
in other ones, the only investment guide you'll ever need by Andrew Tobias. I do love the
psychology of money as well. I like a simple plan to wealth by JL Collins. Uh so there's a there's
a number of good ones. And then when it comes to my health, I don't feel like there is anything
(28:48):
that is a higher priority than my health. Nothing is a higher priority. My relationships matter to
me. My vocation matters to me. You all matter to me. My my friendships, all of that, my siblings,
my puppies. But I can't be the best me unless I'm in great shape. Meaning mind, body, spirit. And I
(29:10):
didn't know what it meant. truly truly meant to eat right and take care of yourself until
I read this book, Good Energy. It's relatively new compared to the other books I've shared with
you by Casey Means. I've read probably, I don't know, 70 to 80 books on health, diet. I've tried
different formats of diet. I I don't diet to reduce calories or anything like that. When
(29:35):
I say diet, I'm talking about the formats of the foods that I put in my body. Once I understood all
uh the rules of of metabolism and metabolic health, the my my entire existence changed.
I mean I I went from high energy to super high energy. I went from healthy to super healthy. I
(29:56):
don't have one hangail or a pain in my body and I put my body through hell. Not just I mean not just
working out, but I'm talking about just the way I attack my work. um just the mental the mental
energy I expend the physical energy I expend when you understand how to um evaluate foods
(30:20):
what will work for you and how it's registering my whole life has changed so I've I've been on
a very strict diet since uh early in December so let's call it nine full months and I have never
felt this good and I've I've gone through detoxes before but I've never felt this good, this alert,
this razor sharp, this physically sound, and I'm well, you know, I'm 59 and I mean, I just I
(30:46):
feel amazing. And so what Casey means does is she educates you on, you know, the metabolic health,
helping you understand what it is, how it is, how you get it, how you lose it. But then she
also breaks down the tests that you ought to eva and how to evaluate them. The foods and how to
evaluate them and what the what the foods do to your body. And so for those of you that know my
(31:10):
diet, I subscribe to her philosophy. What she calls if you can get rid of the unholy trinity,
it will truly truly make the hugest difference. And the unholy trinity is refined sugars,
refined grains, and seed oils. And so I don't there ain't any of that in this house. Uh not and
(31:30):
and my wife eats pretty much the same way. We have virtually the same kind of diet. And I couldn't
believe the transformation in only a short period of time when ultimately I reduced sugar. Now,
I don't eat candy bars and things of that nature, but when you strip out all the refined grains and
all the carbohydrates that generate that sugar in a format you don't want, uh it it really really
(31:56):
not only transformed the way I feel, but also my body composition. And I know obviously you
only see me here from the sort of from the chest up, but it it really makes a huge difference. So,
this is the best book I've ever read on this subject, and it has given me new insight into
what it means to eat, right? All right. Next book. This book, yes, it's my own book. Uh but this book
(32:21):
uh this book is hard to describe what this book did for me and and and and means to me because
there are interview intervention and out of reach but in sight and even the hiring prophecies which
I didn't mention my my third book um those books are written on a on a very narrow subject but to
(32:43):
try to bring form to what I think is the most important not to mention most complex aspect
of our vocations, our lives. Your career is a big part of your happiness. And while many
people want to get by on doing the minimum, making the maximum, earning the maximum, I wanted to try
(33:04):
to create something special for those that truly wanted to give it their all. And I ch I took what
I thought was the most complicated problem. I took 36 years of experience. I tried to build it into
a methodology that people would understand and then give them the very very best lessons that to
help them. And the the book itself is it's really hard to describe all the skills that I you need to
(33:31):
draw upon in order to bring something like this to life. Now bringing a book to life is not the
toughest thing in the world. But if you want to solve a problem that has is been un unsolved by
billions of people and you want to create it into a format, you have to sell it to somebody in order
(33:52):
to get it published. You have to draw on your experience in order to build the methodology.
You have to draw on skills to write it. But the other thing is the the level of discipline that it
takes to put a h 100red,000word book in uh in play while you are also working full-time and then some
and trying to run your business and do all these other things. And then there's the skills that it
(34:15):
takes in order to come up with the individual lessons. There's the discipline it takes to
show up every day in the darkness, in the in the private time where it is dead freaking silent,
where you are driven by a level of discipline that nobody could ever see or imagine and and what what
you do to call upon yourself to show up when no one's watching and then to record the audio and
(34:40):
then to try to market it and all of those things and then continue to help people understand how
it'll change their lives. It it it draws a lot out of you. And so what this book did for me was it
it this is probably no this is without without a doubt the toughest thing that I ever had to do put
into one thing. And when you could do something like that where you show up every day when no
(35:04):
one's watching, you'll you'll know what you're made of. So So this this book this book this was
a rough one. So I hope I hope you enjoy that one. Now the last one, this is something I came to new
recently. So one of the things that you probably um get the sense of even if you haven't seen this,
(35:29):
but even if you just showed up right now and you you saw some of my YouTube videos, you
see the way I teach, you see the way I approach life, you see the way I answer the questions. I
I have not had trouble finding avenues to improve myself. Training programs, books,
all of all of these all of these things that all of these things that the books, the lessons,
(35:56):
the lessons are easy to find. And so knowing knowing that I can improve something if I could
just keep working at it, that's that's one thing. But the but I'm a searcher. I'm a real dreamer and
I want answers and I will go to any length to try to find them. And so one of the things that has
(36:19):
always escaped me is why I am the way I am. So I can improve myself. I can write books. I can
become a better writer. I can become a better teacher. I could become a better communicator.
I could become better at audio visual and any of this stuff. I mean I could always figure that out.
I could become more empathetic. I could become more focused. I could become more organized.
(36:43):
But I I couldn't figure out why I am the way I am. And I was looking for answers. And so I discovered
uh this book by Michael Newton called Journey of Souls. Uh it's lives. I don't know if you can
see it. Case studies of lives between lives. Now I'm not going to tell you what to think,
(37:03):
what to feel. I was raised Catholic and always taught certain things about the afterlife and
but I'm very open-minded and I do pride myself on being open-minded because if you're open-minded,
not only are you a lot less stressed, but you are also able to take in information
(37:26):
and evaluate different perspectives. So, you'll have better perspective, you'll have more wisdom.
And so my wife and I were talking and she said, "Have you ever heard of this book?" And she said,
"I'll buy it for you." I said, "Okay, great." So she bought it for me and I I read it. And
Michael Newton is a therapist who didn't really didn't believe in reincarnation. Didn't believe
(37:46):
in in having multiple lives. He thought it was a bunch of hogwash, he said. But he started to
see this pattern of people he was trying to help as a therapist through this regression
therapy. and that these people were coming up with the same stories that after they died
um there was a certain process they went through. I won't go into all the details but the punchline
(38:06):
of the book is that we have lived many lives and he describes what happens with your soul and he
describes the process of being reincarnated and and all of the things that are associated with
how souls are managed, how they how they live, how they what they think, how they are. And that
(38:26):
that we as incarnated humans are are basically a these are my words maybe not his but like like a
vessel for your soul and that your soul is very very interested in evolution and that he went so
far as to say that your soul even chooses the life that you are living now. There's a soul contract
and and and so on. Now, I'm not saying you need to believe this, and I'm not saying that I believe
(38:52):
100% of all of this, but I I am greatly interested in why I am the way I am, and maybe what my soul
is trying to work on through this life. And and so I'm learning more and more about it. But this has
really opened my mind to the afterlife. And I will tell you that, and my wife has gone through past
(39:14):
life regression therapy. I have had a session of past life regression therapy. It is greatly
interesting. It is very intense. Um, but it is it is and I'm sure that a lot of people will think
it's it's hogwash and and that's okay. I'm just sharing with you that I'm open-minded enough to
look at this and and you know, who knows? Um, you know, my uncle Frank used to say to me, you know,
(39:40):
Andy, if if if you know the heaven and hell thing, if if there is no God, um, that's fine, but, you
know, isn't it better that you're a good person just in case there is? I don't know, you know,
where my soul is going to go after this life or if I've, you know, lived many lives. I I don't know
(40:00):
any of that. But what I do know is I'm open-minded enough to to just to look for the information to
help me see is there something possible that I could learn that might help me understand how
why I am the way I am. I don't know why that is. I just wanted to share that with you. The book
itself um it it it did it did take me a number of of of sittings to get through it. Um, and
(40:25):
the first half isn't nearly as good as the last half, but I stuck with it because I was greatly
interested in the information. He goes through 29 case studies. There is a lot of information. Um,
I think another book my wife got me was Many Lives, Many Masters. I haven't read that yet. And
other ones like this. There's also there's lots of of stuff on on YouTube that I've come to really
(40:48):
enjoy on the topic. And um and it just it's really taught me a lot about about why I could be the way
that I am. But it's just more information for me to become a better person to fulfill my mission
in life, my purpose. Why am I so driven to want to teach you and help you? It's uncommon. I don't
(41:09):
know where it comes from. No one around me is like this and no one in my family is like this. So,
um it's it's it's rare. So, I'm always looking. So anyway, so this was this was number 10. Uh
just kind of going backwards. The zebra code was very meaningful. You want to be healthy and don't
don't yell at me if you start taking stuff out of your diet that you love. The millionaire next door
(41:33):
uh for the finances. Obviously, this is water is this is one of my fa This is definitely one
of my top five books. And then obviously it helped me spawn my little goal setting book.
Let's see what else. going backwards. Interview intervention. I hope you have this one. Made to
stick is really great if you're if you're telling any kind of stories in your life. Daniel Gilbert,
(41:57):
this book is mind-blowing and fascinating as is the dire book. You'll see it when you believe it.
And then don't sweat the small stuff. So, those are my 10 or maybe there was a couple extras in
there. Uh Cara has I hopefully been putting the links in along the way. Uh, I don't I don't know
if she's been do Yeah, she's been do been doing that. And then also in the description of this
(42:21):
YouTube video, there will also be links to the book. So, I hope you enjoyed that. I know it was
a little bit different. I wanted to try to get it done in 45 minutes, which which seems like I did.
So, I hope you enjoyed that. Maybe add a book or two to your to your library or your shelf.
And uh just really I hope you have fun um you know with reading. One thing that I will say I'm I'm
(42:45):
actually reading this book right now, Stolen Focus uh by Johan Hari. I think you I think it's Johan
Hari. Um it's it's an amazing book that just is I happen to be about halfway done with the book.
And one of the things that he said is, you know, it's it's, you know, we're reading less and less,
but we're and we're remembering less and less simply because of the digital age we we live
(43:09):
in. But that people that re that actually read physical books retain so much more information,
like 20 or 30 or 40% more information than those that read on digital devices because of a number
of things. because when we're reading on a digital device, we have a tendency to want to scan for the
highlights. Uh there's a number of other things. But anyway, I'm I'm all about making sure that
(43:33):
I'm managing my attention. We don't manage time, we manage attention. And so I'm always looking
for ways to better do that. So that's what I happen to be reading right now. I love that book,
too. So maybe put that one on the pile. But I do hope you enjoyed it. If you did like this,
please click the thumbs up button. Share it with people who are book lovers. Like I said,
add a few to your own pile. If you're here with me live, we're going to the chat.
I want to talk to you about some books that are very, very special to me,
the meaning of my life and how they've shaped me. And I've been wanting to do something like this
for a very long time. There's lessons wrapped in all of these books. Maybe you can add a few
to your shelf. So, get in chat, say hi. Let me know where you're watching from. Carlos,
great to see you. Elena Fox, Michael, say hey to you. And Elaine Thomas, what's up? Edward,
(00:24):
how are you? Unlo, thank you for the birthday wishes. Sue AG from Kauaii. Oh, jealous. Amanda,
I'm jealous. A Starker, thank you. Thanks for the birthday wishes and and thank you for all of you
who emailed me yesterday or DM'd me or those of you that have my phone number, texted me. I I I
read and responded to everyone. And if I haven't gotten to your message on social media, I will
(00:49):
because I read all of those because it just brings me joy. Okay, speaking of joy, we are going to we
are going to talk about books today. Before we do that, let me know where you're watching from. Uh,
if you have any job search related questions or career development questions, we're going to do
our usual Q&A after I run through these books. So, put some question marks in front of them.
(01:09):
If you're a boot camper, let me know that or a leader. We've got a lot of things coming up for
you this month. And I always like to cheer you on. Uh, with that, let's get let's get rolling. So,
today I wanted to talk about a number of books, 10 specifically, that are very meaningful to me in my
life. Now, I love when influencers actually share books they've read. Uh whether they're health
(01:32):
books, finance books, a lot of self-improvement is always on my shelf. And I like when they run me
through them, and I could probably run you through these books in 10 minutes, but I don't want to do
it that way. I want to share with you a list of books that truly transformed my life because of
of the trajectory that they put my life on. And the lesson is there inside each of these stories
(01:57):
that I want to share with you because I think that the story itself will apply to your life
even if you don't even if you're not interested in looking at the book. So I'm going to run through
10. Uh I might have a couple of honorable mentions that I I I sneak in. So maybe there's a dozen or a
baker's dozen here, but I think it'll be a lot of fun. So buckle up. And I'm going to start with the
(02:20):
first one. And it was Wednesday, November 26th, uh, 1997. I'm pretty sure I got that date right.
You sort of don't you sort of don't forget days like this. It was a Wednesday. It was,
uh, the Wednesday of Thanksgiving weekend, and it was snowing like crazy in my uh, in my in my town.
(02:42):
And um, I had been managing a project with a lot of people uh, at one a consulting company that I
worked for. I was doing a project for for an oil client of ours and we were working nonstop 7 days
a week from early in the morning till 1000 p.m. at night. Um much we probably were working you
(03:03):
know 8 to 5 on Saturdays and Sundays and it was it was a real grind and I needed I needed a few
hours just to to get my head wrapped straight and I was I told my team I had 12 team leaders. They
all had a bunch of people that reported to them. So, it was a pretty pretty large uh project. The
why we were working all those hours is a whole another story, but it was Wednesday and it was
(03:27):
about midday right after lunch. And so, I was in a Barnes & Noble in uh in near near where I lived at
the time and I was standing in line and in line in front of me had to be no less than 15 people. Now,
I uh I had a I had my arms. My arms are, you know, my arms are not they're not very big,
but I had books in in this arm and books in this arm, and I was probably using my hips to
(03:52):
hold them. I I got a stack of books because every night at 10:00, I would drive home, I would crawl
into bed, and I would I would I would I would pull a book out, and I would read until I until I fell
asleep. And I get up and I do the same thing the next evening after I worked the long day. So, I'm
standing in line with absolutely nowhere to go. But my impatient self at the time I was 31 and I
(04:14):
I'm not as involved as I am now. And I was huffing and puffing like, you know, all these people are
in my way and you know, why are all these people here? And the only the minutes that I have free
time of myself and I was wound tighter than a top. And as I leaned over to see how many people were
in line in front of me, I there was this pile of books on the floor stacked maybe, I don't know,
(04:37):
yay high, maybe a few feet, but I I didn't see it. I wasn't paying attention and I'm like, "What the
hell are these books doing on the floor?" And I knocked over the entire pile. So, I put my books
down on the floor. I bend over to clean up the pile. And it was Don't Sweat the Small Stuff,
and it's all small stuff by the late great Richard Carlson. I had never heard of him before. I didn't
(05:00):
know what this book was, but I obviously wasn't going anywhere. So, I pick the book up and I start
leafing through it. And then I start reading the titles of the chapters. I'm like, I need
this book. So, I I put a pile I put the copy on the pile. I ultimately made it to the checkout,
got in the car, got home, read the whole book that afternoon, and then got back in my car, drove back
(05:25):
to the Barnes & Noble and bought 12 copies for my team leaders. And I mean, we literally would have
like book club and then there was the flip charts and the calendar charts and, you know, they came
out with things that look like, you know, that that look like this. And we bought all that stuff.
And anyway, this really while I had always appreciated self-help, I I was learning more
(05:47):
about myself and the areas that I really needed to improve. And so I think this book is what really
really got me to fall in love with self-help. So, I absolutely love this book and um and I've
bought many more of his and he he died at I think 47 years old, which was is a tragedy uh because of
(06:07):
all the great material he's put out. So, don't sweat the small stuff. This is number one. And
by the way, I probably should have said this. I'm not necessarily going through these books in the
order in which I read them, but I I grouped a few of these mindset and self-help books up front uh
because I I I really really enjoy these. So that's that's that's number one. The book that absolutely
(06:31):
be made me become a Wayne Dyer disciple. And this this may very well be, if not the best book I've
ever read, definitely one of the top three to five. And it's called You'll See It When You
Believe It. I've read this book no less cover to cover no less than six times or seven times. And
(06:55):
I've read pages 181 to 206 no less than probably 30 times. And there was a there was a period, and
I'll explain what those are. There was a period in 2022 I remember waking up every morning meditating
and then then the first thing that I did was I wiped off my calendar for my morning activities.
(07:15):
I have a very reg regimented morning routine that works for me but I changed it so that I could read
those pages and I read them every single day for two weeks. and those pages. While this book is
really about the manifestation of your life and that what what you want to come into your life,
you need to literally see it first. You need to believe that it will be there. You need to have
(07:39):
faith in making it happen. You need to work toward it. But what this book really really did for
me that that I couldn't figure out and no other book could ever do until I saw this was he talks
about the seven attachments that really cause suffering. And I I I want to spit them off really
quickly so you understand what I mean. And his his belief, Dr. Wayne Dyer's belief is that you you
(08:04):
you become attached to to things and that these attachments that you have physically or literally
or spiritually or mentally or whatever are what cause your ruin. And so to rattle them off,
you get attached to stuff, to people, to the past maybe like your traditions, to your form, to the
(08:25):
body, to your ideas and being right, to money, and to winning. And so those pages 181 to 206
really talk about these seven attachments. There's there's no other book I've turned to more. And I I
looked at this book the other day and and there's a number of pages that are dogeared. But what I
really what really brought a smile to my face is there's different color underlines and markers and
(08:49):
highlights based on the year in which I read the book. I would always take it with me on vacation,
especially if I was going somewhere sunny and was going to sit around in the sun. But anyway,
this book to me, it and I've read I'm I think I've read every book of his that I could that
I remember there. My my shelf is filled with his books. They're all fantastic, but this book to
(09:12):
me is like it's it's top shelf, pun intended. I mean, it is it is really really good. Now,
one other author who also another self-help mindset book that I'm so disappointed he only
wrote this one book, but Harvard professor Daniel Gilbert, I think it's Harvard, um, wrote this book
(09:35):
called Stumbling on Happiness. Daniel Gilbert, it's an upside down bowl of cherries. And I hope
I hope I got I think it's I think I'm pretty sure it's Harvard, but if if not, forgive me,
Mr. Gilbert. But this book is so unbelievably awesome. And the the the punchline or the
main message in this book is that as you look out into the future, as you look out into the future,
(10:03):
you will never be as happy or as sad as any event you would have imagined. That's basically the
book in one line. Although that wouldn't do it justice. It really helps you understand um you
know those of you that have children, could you ever imagine a loss or a death or somebody who's
married to imagine divorce or somebody who wants to to get that promotion or earn $100,000 or a six
(10:29):
figure salary or a seven figure salary or an eight figure salary a year. You will never be as happy
or as sad as you imagine. And the reason that you will never be as happy or as sad is because it is
impossible to project your feelings be in the into the future because into the future will be
(10:50):
a different you. You will you will have learned things. You will have loved things. You will have
lost things. Uh you will you will change the way you think about things. And you can never simulate
what you will be like in the future when that happens. So, why bother? But this book, much like
(11:11):
uh much like the Dire book, you'll see it when you believe it. These two are are so near and dear to
me, but also probably two of the top five books I've ever read for what I what I enjoy, right? and
and what I'm sharing with you today are all are all non-fiction books, but um but obviously, you
(11:33):
know, novels and those kind of things, I don't I don't read them anymore. Uh I did it at one point,
but I'm so invested in in my development that I spend my time reading. My my my reading is is
for pleasure, but it is always for education. So So those are the those are the first three. Now,
(11:55):
this next one is a really good book. And um I I was living in a condominium um between uh 2004
and 2017. And in 2007 in at toward the end of the year, I believe it was I believe it was December,
I walked down to my into my foyer area to get my to get my mail. I was just taking a break going
(12:21):
to stretch. So I go down the stairs and in the you know kind of the main mezzanine level was
was my was my mailbox but on the floor there was this book made to stick and it's written by Chip
and Dan Heath. Now if you are in in in sales or marketing or any kind of storytelling or social
or whatever and you have not read this book you are behind. Consider yourself behind. It is a
(12:47):
phenomenal book with the tagline why some ideas survive and others die. Now how this changed my
life when I read this book I got this book from a friend of mine who's since passed on. It says
Andy here's to continued success business and personal Mike Christie December 2007. And so
(13:07):
he gave me this book and a great great man and a great entrepreneur. I'm just going to
apologize in advance for the waterworks. I'm never going to make it through this without
without getting choked up. So he gives me this book and he business owner runs run a real estate
development company. So the the the the the main thrust of the book is about why some some ideas
(13:32):
and stories survive and become memorable. And the Heath brothers had a methodology that was
six stages that that um that that showed you the characteristics of stories that that stick. They
are simple, unexpected, there's a concreteness to them. They're credible, emotionable,
and then they're wrapped in a story. So, this book in and of itself is a dang good book. And
(13:56):
I wouldn't call it one of the top 10 books I ever read, but it's a masterful piece of work. But
the reason that this book is important to me is because I took this little note. This is this is
um another a dog of mine since past Ridge was my was my dog at the time. So I had this Ridge
notes pad on my on my desk. So, as I got done reading the book, I reached for this this note and
(14:21):
I I said, as I coach my job candidates for their interviews as an executive recruiter, I would prep
the job candidates for their interviews. I said, I need to use the Heath Brothers, the backbone of
their methodology as the methodology that I use to teach job candidates. So I literally would prepare
(14:44):
individuals for their jobs that would they would go in and talk to my clients and I made the in
what is known to many of you now is the interview intervention methodology of storytelling where
instead of that simple language it was it was really about keeping it simple. The unexpectedness
is capture and keep their attention. The concretess is talking in their lingo. Um the
(15:06):
credibility is make them believe you. the emotion. The emotional aspects is getting them to care and
the story aspect is getting them to act based on your inspiration and becoming memorable. And
this note card is is what I would use. And it it would sit it sat on my desk. And so between 2008,
9 and 10 and almost into 11, I would continue to talk this methodology to individuals. Now, some
(15:34):
of you that have read the zebra code, you know that I articulated this way of coming up with new
ideas that are spawned from things that you see. I call it L aliqua out of something as opposed
to X nhilo which which is or ex it's x aliqua out of something as opposed to x nilo out of nothing.
(15:55):
But great ideas are spawned from things that you see and they're around you all the time. So what
was happening as I would coach individuals and they would tell me how much they enjoyed this
methodology, I knew that at some point I would need to put that book together. And although
interview intervention was not the first book that I wanted to write, it seemed like um the thing to
(16:18):
do especially during this time. Now, any of you that are old enough to remember what 200 20 the
end of 2007 8 9 10 11 were like, for any of you that think that this is a tough employment market,
um I I want you to imagine an employment market that was a total meltdown where I had reached out
(16:40):
um I went out online and and posted an ad for a personal assistant, a job that would be likely
$10 to 12 an hour. I received 503 applications and I was getting people with bachelors, masters,
PhDs, probably people earning $2 $300,000 a year that wanted to take a $10 job to be my assistant.
(17:03):
And that's how bad the employment market was. Now, as an executive recruiter at the time,
we didn't fall off. We made some smart moves. We kept grinding, but it I still absorb the
emotion of the people that I coach and train and recruit and all of that. So,
um I was going through some personal things in my life. I had gone through a breakup in 2010 of
(17:25):
a 14-year relationship. I had just gone through another breakup of a year relationship in 2011.
And I realized toward the end of the year that I needed to do something differently. And I thought
if I could write a book and even if it would help me to number one do something different, number
two, um I don't know where this is going to go. I don't know anything about the publishing industry,
(17:49):
but I do know that if I can package this up, at a minimum I could give the book or the ebook to my
job candidates and have them read what I've been sharing with them verbally that would take me like
an hour to prep them. So interview intervention number five uh between Friday Thanksgiving of 2011
(18:10):
and I I started writing and I wrote each morning for the next five weeks and then on January
2nd the book was done. So it basically took five weeks to package up this book that now many of you
um not to mention another you know 250,000 people or more somewhere in the world have a format of
(18:32):
this book whether it's an ebook or or a paperback or a hard cover and this book this book really it
it it it not it truly changed the trajectory of my career because it was it was the first
piece that put me on the path not just to helping more people but really becoming a trainer in this
(18:52):
format. And so when a lot of you look at things in your life and you you you don't necessarily
think anything of it, I I have an I have this story and another story that is really really
going to change the way you think about everything that goes on around you. The world, the universe
is sending you signals day in and day out. History is calling you. But are you paying attention? And
(19:19):
so you you you got to be looking for the signs. You got to be looking and and when when you get
in a grind and everything that you're doing seems to not be working or you're not making progress or
nothing is changing or you're not catching that break you want. You got to change your pattern.
You got to change your pattern. And while at at the time my business was going pretty well,
(19:41):
I was definitely not in the right frequency with with my universe. And so this book and writing
this book really got me out of that. And so this combo is is incredibly special to me. Number one,
this book gave me the ideas that then were implanted here and they have evolved since.
But it's helped a lot of people. And so I know that a lot of you have this uh and and and we we
(20:08):
still to to this day to this day we give this book away um for free for if you kick in a few bucks
for materials and handling. So So those are that rounds out the top five. Now there's another book
that I have a similar story in 2013 in August. I had given a speech um to to about somewhere
(20:32):
between three and 400 uh collegiate students. They were scholarship students that uh that
were given these scholarships by the Western Golf Association and they were having a um a career day
and I was invited to be the keynote speaker. And so without going into a lot of details about this,
I had um been contacted by the project manager who was running the event. She said, "Andy, we're
(20:58):
really looking for somebody who will inspire these kids. We want you to speak on leadership for life,
setting and accomplishing your goals." That was the topic. And I I thought to myself, well, A,
I don't really have any goals. And B, what the hey am I going to tell these 18 to 22 year olds when
much of what they're focused on right now is is schooling and I don't really want to talk to them
(21:20):
about how to get through school or something that's going to be super short-lived. So,
I thought about it and for about an hour a day for a week, I I basically penned a a um a talk
that I gave them. The talk was 47 minutes. It was about how to get everything you want out of life
and have fun doing it. So, I wanted to make them something that was ageless. It was timeless. It
(21:45):
was genderless, professionless. It didn't make any different. It would transcend all of that.
And so I gave that speech in August of 2013. Uh a handful of months later, I was having lunch with
Jim Vaselopoulos. Some of you may know Jim from the leadership podcast. He's also done some guest
appearances on my on my uh podcast and he wrote a book called Clarity. He and I would get together
(22:09):
about once a quarter. We would just because we're friends, we would talk about life, love, work,
whatever is going on. And um he asked me what I was doing. and I had, you know, just some things
that were special that I had done over the quarter that since I hadn't seen him. And I told him about
this speech and then he'd asked me what the topic was and what the format was. And then he asked me
(22:32):
whether I had ever heard of this is water. I said, um, I I haven't heard of of This is is water. Um,
he said, well, do you know who David Foster Wallace is? And I said, infinite. I did this. I
the infinite Jess guy. The book's like a thousand pages. um you know, colorful, creative guy,
very smart. He said, "Yeah, he gave a a speech to Kenyon College in 2005. This is before he he he
(22:57):
killed himself. Um and and it was a very inspiring speech. It sounds like what you gave was a lot
like what he what he gave." And so he said, "I'll I'll tell you what. I'll send you this video,
this YouTube clip. It's about 10 minutes. some advertising agency took a portion of his speech
and made a montage of, you know, kind of B-roll of it to his to to the to the audio. So, he sent
(23:21):
me the he sent me the link to the YouTube video. I absolutely loved it. I ended up buying the book
on as an ebook. I read the book and I loved it and I wanted to physically see the book. So,
this is water. You may or may not be able to see this simple simple book, but this book is
(23:42):
is not only is it an amazing piece of work. It's it's it's epic. It is truly truly transformative
because it he gives this speech which was probably 20 minutes and it's it's about not how
to think but that you have a choice what to think about. And I, you know, much like the dire book,
(24:04):
I've probably read this book three dozen times. I've listened to the audio three dozen times. It
is so important for us to understand how to turn off our automated way of thinking to get out of
ourselves and realize that we are not necessarily the center of the universe even though we process
(24:26):
the world that way. But the the the the way in which he explains it is so amazing that I I I
I got it. I read it and then I looked at it and I said to myself, you know, this is a great format.
So why don't I turn the speech that I gave into a book? And so my friend Laura said to me, "Well,
(24:50):
they gave you, you know, they had the audio on their website." So we downloaded the audio. She
put her earbuds in. She typed it all out for me. And this book, Out of Reach, but in sight,
using goals to achieve your impossible, is the 47minute speech that I gave to the Western Golf
Association. Every month, I get the royalties from the Amazon. I I self-published this. I all
(25:11):
I cared about was wrapping it in a book. I I I ordered 150 copies of the book and I took them
to the country club that I belonged at at the time and I gave them to the caddies which are
these students that get these that become eligible to get these scholarships. So all the caddies got
a got a signed copy from me. I literally signed them all for them uh individually and and it
(25:34):
just this this book you could read this book in a in a half an hour or or you could listen to the
audio if you have my audio. But anyway, the same kind of thing, the idea that my friend planted
in my brain that then I looked at this book and not only is this book just incredibly amazing,
but but it also gave me the idea to just package up the speech. I used Amazon at the time that
(26:00):
Amazon had this self-publishing platform that you could use um called Create Space. I got my cousin.
We threw a we threw a cover together and the book sells every month and uh it's light reading and
it's more of a motivational than a how-to book. But this this book also became a course called
the goal setting master class that's even more detailed. But anyway, these this is the book
(26:22):
that really that really did that for me. Next, uh I want to switch gears to uh to to money.
So when I was when I was 30, I I had been working really hard to save and invest my
money. I had been doing it for eight years of my my entire professional life. Even before that,
(26:44):
even when I was in high school and and in college and at the at this time when I was 30, this book,
The Millionaire Next Door, came out. Now, it is one of my absolute favorite financial
books because it talks about the mindset of the millionaire. And there is a reason,
and this is according to the Ramsay group, they've done surveys about professions that become
(27:09):
millionaires. There's a reason engineers uh are are the most popular millionaires and accountants
and teachers. Yes, teachers and other business managers and people of that ilk because there is
a method and a practice to becoming wealthy. It is not about having the bank. It is about making
the money that you're getting work for you. And this book really cemented a lot of the things that
(27:36):
I was doing at that time. But I would say this is the book that probably got me to fall in love with
financial books. Now I' I've done a financial talk uh before. I've done a leadership uh
session or two on on personal finance. I've also talked about money books that I absolutely love.
This might not be my absolute favorite money book, but it was the one that really steered me in the
(28:01):
direction and kept me going as what what um you know what the authors and and Thomas Stanley calls
a prodigious accumulator of wealth. It has more to do with what you do with your money than the
amount of money that you earn. So, this one has a special meaning. I've given this book away to
dozens of people. It's, you know, obviously it's third almost 30 years old now, but it is a big
(28:23):
uh a big big help to those that are interested in personal finance. I also like if you're interested
in other ones, the only investment guide you'll ever need by Andrew Tobias. I do love the
psychology of money as well. I like a simple plan to wealth by JL Collins. Uh so there's a there's
a number of good ones. And then when it comes to my health, I don't feel like there is anything
(28:48):
that is a higher priority than my health. Nothing is a higher priority. My relationships matter to
me. My vocation matters to me. You all matter to me. My my friendships, all of that, my siblings,
my puppies. But I can't be the best me unless I'm in great shape. Meaning mind, body, spirit. And I
(29:10):
didn't know what it meant. truly truly meant to eat right and take care of yourself until
I read this book, Good Energy. It's relatively new compared to the other books I've shared with
you by Casey Means. I've read probably, I don't know, 70 to 80 books on health, diet. I've tried
different formats of diet. I I don't diet to reduce calories or anything like that. When
(29:35):
I say diet, I'm talking about the formats of the foods that I put in my body. Once I understood all
uh the rules of of metabolism and metabolic health, the my my entire existence changed.
I mean I I went from high energy to super high energy. I went from healthy to super healthy. I
(29:56):
don't have one hangail or a pain in my body and I put my body through hell. Not just I mean not just
working out, but I'm talking about just the way I attack my work. um just the mental the mental
energy I expend the physical energy I expend when you understand how to um evaluate foods
(30:20):
what will work for you and how it's registering my whole life has changed so I've I've been on
a very strict diet since uh early in December so let's call it nine full months and I have never
felt this good and I've I've gone through detoxes before but I've never felt this good, this alert,
this razor sharp, this physically sound, and I'm well, you know, I'm 59 and I mean, I just I
(30:46):
feel amazing. And so what Casey means does is she educates you on, you know, the metabolic health,
helping you understand what it is, how it is, how you get it, how you lose it. But then she
also breaks down the tests that you ought to eva and how to evaluate them. The foods and how to
evaluate them and what the what the foods do to your body. And so for those of you that know my
(31:10):
diet, I subscribe to her philosophy. What she calls if you can get rid of the unholy trinity,
it will truly truly make the hugest difference. And the unholy trinity is refined sugars,
refined grains, and seed oils. And so I don't there ain't any of that in this house. Uh not and
(31:30):
and my wife eats pretty much the same way. We have virtually the same kind of diet. And I couldn't
believe the transformation in only a short period of time when ultimately I reduced sugar. Now,
I don't eat candy bars and things of that nature, but when you strip out all the refined grains and
all the carbohydrates that generate that sugar in a format you don't want, uh it it really really
(31:56):
not only transformed the way I feel, but also my body composition. And I know obviously you
only see me here from the sort of from the chest up, but it it really makes a huge difference. So,
this is the best book I've ever read on this subject, and it has given me new insight into
what it means to eat, right? All right. Next book. This book, yes, it's my own book. Uh but this book
(32:21):
uh this book is hard to describe what this book did for me and and and and means to me because
there are interview intervention and out of reach but in sight and even the hiring prophecies which
I didn't mention my my third book um those books are written on a on a very narrow subject but to
(32:43):
try to bring form to what I think is the most important not to mention most complex aspect
of our vocations, our lives. Your career is a big part of your happiness. And while many
people want to get by on doing the minimum, making the maximum, earning the maximum, I wanted to try
(33:04):
to create something special for those that truly wanted to give it their all. And I ch I took what
I thought was the most complicated problem. I took 36 years of experience. I tried to build it into
a methodology that people would understand and then give them the very very best lessons that to
help them. And the the book itself is it's really hard to describe all the skills that I you need to
(33:31):
draw upon in order to bring something like this to life. Now bringing a book to life is not the
toughest thing in the world. But if you want to solve a problem that has is been un unsolved by
billions of people and you want to create it into a format, you have to sell it to somebody in order
(33:52):
to get it published. You have to draw on your experience in order to build the methodology.
You have to draw on skills to write it. But the other thing is the the level of discipline that it
takes to put a h 100red,000word book in uh in play while you are also working full-time and then some
and trying to run your business and do all these other things. And then there's the skills that it
(34:15):
takes in order to come up with the individual lessons. There's the discipline it takes to
show up every day in the darkness, in the in the private time where it is dead freaking silent,
where you are driven by a level of discipline that nobody could ever see or imagine and and what what
you do to call upon yourself to show up when no one's watching and then to record the audio and
(34:40):
then to try to market it and all of those things and then continue to help people understand how
it'll change their lives. It it it draws a lot out of you. And so what this book did for me was it
it this is probably no this is without without a doubt the toughest thing that I ever had to do put
into one thing. And when you could do something like that where you show up every day when no
(35:04):
one's watching, you'll you'll know what you're made of. So So this this book this book this was
a rough one. So I hope I hope you enjoy that one. Now the last one, this is something I came to new
recently. So one of the things that you probably um get the sense of even if you haven't seen this,
(35:29):
but even if you just showed up right now and you you saw some of my YouTube videos, you
see the way I teach, you see the way I approach life, you see the way I answer the questions. I
I have not had trouble finding avenues to improve myself. Training programs, books,
all of all of these all of these things that all of these things that the books, the lessons,
(35:56):
the lessons are easy to find. And so knowing knowing that I can improve something if I could
just keep working at it, that's that's one thing. But the but I'm a searcher. I'm a real dreamer and
I want answers and I will go to any length to try to find them. And so one of the things that has
(36:19):
always escaped me is why I am the way I am. So I can improve myself. I can write books. I can
become a better writer. I can become a better teacher. I could become a better communicator.
I could become better at audio visual and any of this stuff. I mean I could always figure that out.
I could become more empathetic. I could become more focused. I could become more organized.
(36:43):
But I I couldn't figure out why I am the way I am. And I was looking for answers. And so I discovered
uh this book by Michael Newton called Journey of Souls. Uh it's lives. I don't know if you can
see it. Case studies of lives between lives. Now I'm not going to tell you what to think,
(37:03):
what to feel. I was raised Catholic and always taught certain things about the afterlife and
but I'm very open-minded and I do pride myself on being open-minded because if you're open-minded,
not only are you a lot less stressed, but you are also able to take in information
(37:26):
and evaluate different perspectives. So, you'll have better perspective, you'll have more wisdom.
And so my wife and I were talking and she said, "Have you ever heard of this book?" And she said,
"I'll buy it for you." I said, "Okay, great." So she bought it for me and I I read it. And
Michael Newton is a therapist who didn't really didn't believe in reincarnation. Didn't believe
(37:46):
in in having multiple lives. He thought it was a bunch of hogwash, he said. But he started to
see this pattern of people he was trying to help as a therapist through this regression
therapy. and that these people were coming up with the same stories that after they died
um there was a certain process they went through. I won't go into all the details but the punchline
(38:06):
of the book is that we have lived many lives and he describes what happens with your soul and he
describes the process of being reincarnated and and all of the things that are associated with
how souls are managed, how they how they live, how they what they think, how they are. And that
(38:26):
that we as incarnated humans are are basically a these are my words maybe not his but like like a
vessel for your soul and that your soul is very very interested in evolution and that he went so
far as to say that your soul even chooses the life that you are living now. There's a soul contract
and and and so on. Now, I'm not saying you need to believe this, and I'm not saying that I believe
(38:52):
100% of all of this, but I I am greatly interested in why I am the way I am, and maybe what my soul
is trying to work on through this life. And and so I'm learning more and more about it. But this has
really opened my mind to the afterlife. And I will tell you that, and my wife has gone through past
(39:14):
life regression therapy. I have had a session of past life regression therapy. It is greatly
interesting. It is very intense. Um, but it is it is and I'm sure that a lot of people will think
it's it's hogwash and and that's okay. I'm just sharing with you that I'm open-minded enough to
look at this and and you know, who knows? Um, you know, my uncle Frank used to say to me, you know,
(39:40):
Andy, if if if you know the heaven and hell thing, if if there is no God, um, that's fine, but, you
know, isn't it better that you're a good person just in case there is? I don't know, you know,
where my soul is going to go after this life or if I've, you know, lived many lives. I I don't know
(40:00):
any of that. But what I do know is I'm open-minded enough to to just to look for the information to
help me see is there something possible that I could learn that might help me understand how
why I am the way I am. I don't know why that is. I just wanted to share that with you. The book
itself um it it it did it did take me a number of of of sittings to get through it. Um, and
(40:25):
the first half isn't nearly as good as the last half, but I stuck with it because I was greatly
interested in the information. He goes through 29 case studies. There is a lot of information. Um,
I think another book my wife got me was Many Lives, Many Masters. I haven't read that yet. And
other ones like this. There's also there's lots of of stuff on on YouTube that I've come to really
(40:48):
enjoy on the topic. And um and it just it's really taught me a lot about about why I could be the way
that I am. But it's just more information for me to become a better person to fulfill my mission
in life, my purpose. Why am I so driven to want to teach you and help you? It's uncommon. I don't
(41:09):
know where it comes from. No one around me is like this and no one in my family is like this. So,
um it's it's it's rare. So, I'm always looking. So anyway, so this was this was number 10. Uh
just kind of going backwards. The zebra code was very meaningful. You want to be healthy and don't
don't yell at me if you start taking stuff out of your diet that you love. The millionaire next door
(41:33):
uh for the finances. Obviously, this is water is this is one of my fa This is definitely one
of my top five books. And then obviously it helped me spawn my little goal setting book.
Let's see what else. going backwards. Interview intervention. I hope you have this one. Made to
stick is really great if you're if you're telling any kind of stories in your life. Daniel Gilbert,
(41:57):
this book is mind-blowing and fascinating as is the dire book. You'll see it when you believe it.
And then don't sweat the small stuff. So, those are my 10 or maybe there was a couple extras in
there. Uh Cara has I hopefully been putting the links in along the way. Uh, I don't I don't know
if she's been do Yeah, she's been do been doing that. And then also in the description of this
(42:21):
YouTube video, there will also be links to the book. So, I hope you enjoyed that. I know it was
a little bit different. I wanted to try to get it done in 45 minutes, which which seems like I did.
So, I hope you enjoyed that. Maybe add a book or two to your to your library or your shelf.
And uh just really I hope you have fun um you know with reading. One thing that I will say I'm I'm
(42:45):
actually reading this book right now, Stolen Focus uh by Johan Hari. I think you I think it's Johan
Hari. Um it's it's an amazing book that just is I happen to be about halfway done with the book.
And one of the things that he said is, you know, it's it's, you know, we're reading less and less,
but we're and we're remembering less and less simply because of the digital age we we live
(43:09):
in. But that people that re that actually read physical books retain so much more information,
like 20 or 30 or 40% more information than those that read on digital devices because of a number
of things. because when we're reading on a digital device, we have a tendency to want to scan for the
highlights. Uh there's a number of other things. But anyway, I'm I'm all about making sure that
(43:33):
I'm managing my attention. We don't manage time, we manage attention. And so I'm always looking
for ways to better do that. So that's what I happen to be reading right now. I love that book,
too. So maybe put that one on the pile. But I do hope you enjoyed it. If you did like this,
please click the thumbs up button. Share it with people who are book lovers. Like I said,
add a few to your own pile. If you're here with me live, we're going to the chat.
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