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2013

My head still hurts from New Year's Eve. But I think it's more from an impending sinus infection than from what else you would probably think would cause it. 
It's the first day of the new year and like everything that I do in my life, I'm trying to post something with only a few minutes of the first day of the new year remaining.
For me, 2012 was about personal restructuring. As part of that effort, I read so many books and blog posts that I really wanted to just stop reading. However, because I swung the balance of my life so far to the left of complacency, I didn't want my intellect to deteriorate any further. Lucky for you, I'm only going to list my top 5. 
  1. Mojo: How to Get It, How to Keep It, How to Get It Back if You Lose It - If there is one thing that this book taught me, it's that I have no idea what I'm doing with my life.
  2. StandOut: The Groundbreaking New Strengths Assessment from the Leader of the Strengths Revolution - First of all, I'll be the first one to tell you that I'm a big Marcus Buckingham fan. That said, this book gave me insight into the types of situations that I thrive in. Main takeaway - I have no idea what I'm doing with my life. 
  3. How Will You Measure Your Life - Clayton Christensen is brilliant and his blog posts are excellent. He's smart enough to define how to define your purpose. Key takeaway from this book - I may not know not what I'm doing with my life, but at least now I have an idea of which direction to move.
  4. Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us - I'm cheating because I read this in 2011 and am reading it again because of a book club that we have at work. (Yes, that's true). Surprisingly, I have a different takeaway from this and it's that prestige and money only drive you for so long. My only regret is that it took me this long to actually figure that one out. 
  5. Steve Jobs - Define the likeness of who you want to be. Steve Jobs isn't necessarily my role model. But his story is his legacy and we all want to leave behind something that we'll be remembered for. My key takeaway from this book is don't give a flying *bleep*. If you believe in something, persist it, dog it, and be an a*hole about it. Everyone that's been successful has a little bit of an a*hole in them. 
Happy New Year and define who you want to be and become it. 

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