5 New Books for Bettering Yourself or Your Business

There are a lot of great business and personal development books coming out this month — almost too many, in fact.

I’m serious. We haven’t had a lot of fiction catch our eye this month, but the non-fiction side of things is like an embarrassment of riches out here. The following five (pictured above) are the ones we’re most excited about diving into.

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Atomic Habits »

James Clear’s soon-to-be-released (and first full-length!) book, Atomic Habits, aims to be the most comprehensive and practical guide to forming better habits in your life by getting 1% better every day. It will help you design a system where good habits emerge naturally and unwanted habits fade away:

If you’re having trouble changing your habits, the problem isn’t you. The problem is your system. Bad habits repeat themselves again and again not because you don’t want to change, but because you have the wrong system for change. You do not rise to the level of your goals. You fall to the level of your systems. Here, you’ll get a proven system that can take you to new heights.

Pre-order the book in these formats:

• Kindle ($14)
• Apple Books ($14)
• Hardcover *($17)
• Audible audiobook ($19)

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It Doesn’t Have to Be Crazy at Work »

The latest book by Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson of Basecamp takes everything you’ve ever heard/read about the insane, grueling, “always on” nature of startup culture and flips it on its head, pushing hard against the entire concept:

It Doesn’t Have to Be Crazy at Work is all about growing a company that not only takes care of its customers, but also its own people. Crazy, right? As one particularly fascinating chapter points out, Basecamp doesn’t even track metrics in any conventional sense:

At the company level at Basecamp it’s not hyperbole. I’m not speaking for individuals, but as a company we don’t have sales targets, performance metrics anyone is personally judged on, or anything that would resemble a measurable goal in any traditional sense of the word.

Check out our recent post about the book to read an excerpt that will give you a taste of what to expect.

Get the book in these formats:

• Kindle ($10)
• Apple Books ($15)
• Hardcover ($19)
• Audible audiobook ($17)
• Audio CD ($40)

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The Messy Middle »

Behance founder Scott Belsky knows that success isn’t a linear, gradually upward journey, but a rather volatile one with many highs and lows along the way. In The Messy Middle he’s collected a bunch of lessons, interviews with leading entrepreneurs/artists/writers/executives, and his own hard-won experience to help you traverse your own path to success.

From the official website:

The Messy Middle distills 5+ years of interviews with legendary founders, artists, and executives about their middle journeys, along with lessons from his own experiences. The result is over 100 essential insights for getting through the middle of new ventures and bold creative projects, like:

• How to accept and manage the burden of processing uncertainty.
• How to short-circuit your team’s reward system to power through.
• Why you should value conviction more than consensus.
• Why innovation happens at the edge of reason, and how this impacts who you hire.
• Why a mock-up is worth a thousand meetings, and how to present ideas without promoting them.
• How to tackle “organizational debt” before it tackles your team.

I love this blurb by Airbnb co-founder Joe Gebbia:

Starting a new venture is like jumping off a cliff and sewing a parachute on the way down. This book is the parachute.

Get the book in these formats:

• Kindle ($15)
• Apple Books ($15)
• Hardcover ($18)
• Paperback ($14)
• Audible audiobook ($24)

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The Snowball System »

Mo Bunnell is a speaker and consultant who founded the Bunnell Idea Group (BIG). In his new book, The Snowball System, he gives you the tools and advice you need to be great at bringing in business. It’s a complete, authentic guide written for the kind of people who want to grow their business but may not be comfortable with sales side of things.

From the description:

Whether you are gregarious or introverted, whether you are a part of a small startup or a massive multinational, Bunnell’s science-based system is effective and efficient, and easily adapted into your day-to-day work. With The Snowball System, you will not only succeed at growing your business, you’ll learn to enjoy doing the activities that drive that growth. You’ll be happier, and so will your clients.

In the book trailer, Mo explains how business development is a skill that can be learned, just like your core craft:

Get the book in these formats:

• Kindle ($17)
• Apple Books ($17)
• Hardcover ($18)
• Audible audiobook ($25)

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Thirst »

Scott Harrison is the guy who founded charity: water, a non-profit organization dedicated to bringing clean, safe drinking water to people in developing countries. His book, Thirst, tells the personal story of how he went from a rebellious, amoral young man to the hopeful philanthropist he is today:

At 28 years old, Scott Harrison had it all. A top nightclub promoter in New York City, his life was an endless cycle of drugs, booze, models – repeat. But 10 years in, desperately unhappy and morally bankrupt, he asked himself, “What would the exact opposite of my life look like?” Walking away from everything, Harrison spent the next 16 months on a hospital ship in West Africa and discovered his true calling. In 2006, with no money and less than no experience, Harrison founded charity: water. Today, his organization has raised more than $300 million to bring clean drinking water to more than 8.2 million people around the globe.

[…]

Thirst is a riveting account of how to build a better charity, a better business, a better life—and a gritty tale that proves it’s never too late to make a change.

Get the book in these formats:

• Kindle ($14)
• Apple Books ($14)
• Hardcover ($18)
• Paperback ($24)
• Audible audiobook ($24)