Get Smart! by Brian Tracy
The best time to read this book is when you're 8-10 months into your first job, or your new job, or maybe you're just in a rut at your current job.
I say that because this book felt like a splash of cold water. It will wake you up.
Brian Tracy promotes long-time thinking over short-time thinking, rich thinking over poor thinking, and so on. It's entertaining to learn and not hard to agree why I should think long and think rich. However, it is actually effective and more powerful to first demystify and challenge one's current perspective before introducing a new one. Tracy does just that and he does it so simply that you'll find yourself feeling really connected.
But before you feel connected, you might feel disturbed because he keeps real in the ways he highlights how you just might be screwing yourself over by the way you're thinking today. Now, you'll need to keep it real with yourself, too if you want to gain the most out of this self-help guide.
My biggest lesson learned came from chapter 5. It moved me in the way that my perspective on my job right now and my future career has changed. It was about how your "earning ability" is your most valuable financial asset. This is why I prioritize the experience I'm getting in my work over my salary.
“You could lose your job, your home, your car, and all your savings and investments and be left there standing on the sidewalk with only the clothes on your back. But as long as you still had your earning ability, you could earn it all back and more.
Why do the CEOs of Fortune 500 companies earn an average of more than $10 million per year? It’s because they have developed their earning ability to the point where they can results are sometimes hundreds of times greater than their salaries in terms of profitability for their companies.”