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Although a big reader, I was encouraged earlier this year to start reading more business type books. But like most of us with kids spare hours are few and far between, so someone suggested listening to audio books. Now the drive to and from work is filled with inspiration and plenty of fresh ideas, while not taking any more time 

Some of them have been absolutely superb and would strongly recommend you read/listen, challenging what you think you know and making you think smarter.

My current personal favourites are:

The E Myth by Michael Gerber

The E Myth takes you through a scenario of a struggling business, in which the owner is trapped as an employee rather than a business owner. The book charts the process from creating yourself a job to having a systematised business that you work on and runs independently without you.

Certainly resonated with me and I realised I didn't spend enough time working on the business as opposed to in it.

Entrepreneur Revolution by Daniel Priestley

I found this a fascinating insight into the mentality of how people view work, the world and business. Well worth a read, in fact I read it twice. We we are programmed into the industrial age, going to work for someone else, working hard for someones else's goal, so you can  retire, have a couple of holidays in retirement, play golf and die with dignity.

Daniel argues that this age and mentality has moved on and we are now moving into an entrepreneur revolution, and you shouldn't be ashamed of enjoying life now and working for yourself rather giving all your effort for someone else.

The 10X Rule by Grant Cardone

Grant Cordone seems to attract admirers and criticism in equal measure, but I listened to the audio book which is narrated by himself and you can't help but feel energised listening to his enthusiasm. I thought he spoke a lot of sense and his thought process in a nutshell is it will take you 10 times more effort than you think it will to achieve a goal.

So adjust your goals accordingly, increase them by a factor of 10 and apply 10 times more work to achieve them. It's better to only make 60% progress on a £10,000 revenue goal than a £1000 one. 

The Chimp Paradox by Prof Steve Peters

One of my favourite all time books and have applied it's teachings to my team and also to my home life. It's completely changed the way I deal with people, confrontation and now have a much better understanding of why situations occur and how to deal with them.

Prof Peters uses humour and day to day scenarios to explain how the human brain works, why we act as we do and breaks down complex brain science into simple easy to understand areas, the chimp, the computer and the logical brain. The chimp is the emotional part of your brain who is trained to fight or flight, is always on the defensive and is unfortunately 10 times faster than your logical brain. Understanding this is key to confrontation, negotiation and lots of handy techniques for recognising when your chimp is out of control and how to calm him down. He explains everything from road rage, unpleasant confrontations, to marital bickering or even affairs! Can't recommend highly enough  

If you go for the audio book, it's narrated by Prof Peters himself.

You can search for any of these on Amazon or Audible.

So always looking for more inspiration, has anyone got any good suggestions or read/listened to any decent business or self-help books recently?

Big Brother 13th June 2017 10:34 AM

Ha ha, welcome back Centric, I've missed that 

Could Labour be the right move..? 13th June 2017 10:29 AM
This is the first election I have ever put up a poster saying who I am voting for and it has meant I have bonded with a few neighbours and fallen out with a delivery man. Hahaha. Whatever your opinion having a strong opposition can only be a good thing. ”
 

Keep your poster handy, I suspect you may need it again in the near future 

Morrisons Meal Deal Con 13th June 2017 10:26 AM
I think.....you have way too much time on your hands and too much money if you buy lunch every day from a supermarket. Hahaha.  However, I would be equally annoyed if I was you and this is exactly the kind of thing that I would be LIVID about! I hope they pull their finger out on Twitter. ”
 

Not every day, but nice to have an occasional treat after the trauma of the school run  

Was hoping for a response, but Morrison's have obviously misunderstood the social element of social media 

Could Labour be the right move..? 9th June 2017 3:30 PM

Feels like we have been bobbing from one political crisis to the next for the last few years.

So much for firm and steady and stability.... At least the Unions a bit more secure.

I think we have lost credibility, influence in the world and are playing Brexit poker with a weak hand  Maybe I'll wake up pre 2015 and all will be well with the world 

 

Morrisons Meal Deal Con 9th June 2017 10:28 AM

Well nothing from Morrisons customer service, but at least my meal deal went through this morning.

So I maybe politically grumpy, but at least I've got a spicy chicken baguette for dinner  

Could Labour be the right move..? 8th June 2017 4:40 PM

Well vote done... 

The election started as a foregone Tory landslide. It finished in Tory shambles with Corbyn going from a ridiculed figure with no trust from his own MP's, to coming over as a very credible candidate, polished and putting May to shame.

It's amazing what a marketing makeover can do. Still don't believe a word of his fairy story economic policy,  but when you promise everything to everyone, it's going to go down well.

Meanwhile the Tory campaign (terrorist attacks not included) has been shockingly bad. Disjointed, confused and I'm personally left with the feeling what was the point of it all?

Tomorrow we will know the outcome, but I wonder if May will snatch defeat from the jaws of what should have been an easy victory, or scrape in by the skin of her teeth. One thing I'll put money on is there will be no landslide for anyone.

I think the worst outcome tomorrow will be a hung parliament. Regardless of how the maths plays out and who makes up the government, it really would be a coalition of chaos. In which case I really do think Cameron should be sent to the Tower for putting us all in this mess in the first place 

Can we have a break from major votes and elections for a while before we send the country into the economic abyss...

Blimey, I stand corrected 

Maybe it's big business mentality, plus if you are dealing with hundreds/thousands of applicants I suppose email/online is naturally more efficient albeit less personal. 

I want to talk to all of our applicants as it's the first stage of filtering, but we have the luxury of being small enough to be able to keep it personal.

Air Ticket Taxes 6th June 2017 5:05 PM

How bizarre? So sounds like some kind of aid budget?

I'd imagine a lot of Greeks would welcome some of that investment closer to home 

Mr Trump has not got involved, yet.....”
 

I saw it a different way, Mr Trump visited the MiddleEast, next thing there is crisis and chaos

I didn't realise Qatar was (allegedly!) such a hotbed of extremism, I thought they were more Western and capitalist in their approach to the world.