Running a business involves hiring the right people, polishing old skills and learning new ones at the same time, and most importantly, embracing the good and bad days with the same level of motivation. So where does an entrepreneur go for motivation on bad days? The easiest source is to immerse yourself in an inspiring book.
After all, there are so many success stories to learn from, which can lift you up on your bad days and remind you why you chose this path.
Today, Entrepreneurship 101 lists books that are useful guides for the high and low days, and will help you better navigate the entrepreneurial path.
zero to one
This book by the renowned businessman and investor Peter ThielAlong with Blake Masters, it has often been hailed as the first book every entrepreneur should read before embarking on their journey.
Recommended by the likes of Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg, zero to one presents a new way of thinking about innovation. It makes the reader ask questions and find value in the least expected places.
As the name suggests, the book focuses on creating something new, something the world has never seen before: it’s about being someone who doesn’t engage in a rat race with your competitors, but one who focuses on creating unique businesses. that escape the competition. .
The blurb says:
“The next Bill Gates will not build an operating system. The next page from Larry or Serget Brin will not make a search engine. If you’re copying these guys, you’re not learning from them… It’s easier to copy a model than to do something new, doing what we already know how to do takes the world from 1 to 1, adding more to something familiar. Every new creation goes from 0 to 1. This book is about how to get there.”
Source: Amazon.com
How to win friends and influence people
Probably one of the first self-help books in history, How to win friends and influence people for Dale Carnegie it might have been written in the 1930s, but it still has value even today. Ranked as one of the best-selling international books of all time, it has been translated into 31 languages.
Through this book, Carnegie provides practical advice on how to deal with and understand people. As the title suggests, reading this book will help readers deal with people better. Carnegie was of the opinion that great leaders are those who can express their ideas, take leadership, and get people excited about a mission or goal. He therefore teaches these same skills throughout this book by dividing it into six parts:
- Fundamental techniques in managing people.
- Six ways to please people
- How to win people to your way of thinking
- Be a Leader: How to Change People Without Offending or Resentful
- Letters that produced miraculous results
- Seven rules to make your home life happier
Source: Amazon.in
why do we sleep
We have already established the importance of resting well. Why We Sleep: The New Science of Sleep and Dreams is written by matthew walker, the Director of UC Berkeley (Center for the Science of Human Sleep). The book focuses on explaining how not sleeping 8 hours can degrade the quality of life. Neglecting sleep not only impairs decision-making and creative abilities, it also leads to memory loss, impaired heart and mental health, disrupts the immune system, and can even shorten life.
This book is the ultimate motivator for entrepreneurs who often ignore their rest and sleep cycles. It’s a reminder to take a break and get a good night’s sleep so you can perform well the next day.
In fact, businessman Bill Gates shared a note about this book where he writes:
“It took me a little longer than usual to finish why do we sleep– ironically, because I followed Walker’s advice to put down the book I was reading a little earlier than before, so I could sleep better at night. But Walker taught me a lot about this basic activity that every person on Earth needs. I suspect his book will do the same for you.
Source: Amazon.in
7 habits of highly effective people
This self-help book Stephen R Covey guides entrepreneurs to achieve their goals effectively by aligning with principle-based goals based on the ethics of character and personality. Covey writes that entrepreneurs can be more effective if they can balance their goals carefully, which helps them achieve their goals.
In addition, this book also talks about the importance and values of eternal principles: courage, fairness, integrity, honesty, human dignity, and a sense of justice. As the name suggests, it discusses seven essential habits that every individual must adopt to lead a fulfilling life:
- be proactive
- Begin with the end in mind
- put first things first
- think win-win
- Seek first to understand, then to be understood
- Synergize
- Sharpen the saw
Source: Amazon.com
The hard things about the hard things
The Hard Things of Hard Things: Building a Business When There Are Easy Answers is written by Ben Horowitz about the challenges he faced during his journey as founder and CEO at Andreessen-Horowitzone of the most valued risk firms in the world.
Going back to where we started, many believe that undertaking is the most difficult jump. In this book, Holowitz talks about how it’s even more challenging to keep a business going. It is an account of the entrepreneur on the sale, purchase, management, investment and orientation of technology companies.
The hard things about the hard things is a first-hand account of Horowitz’s journey, sharing practical advice on how to tackle the toughest challenges of business travel.
Source: Amazon.in