The Achievement Habit by Bernard Roth Review

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Some great takeaways I got from reading this book are:

How I can adapt a more productive perspective

Why I must stop making excuses

How I can move beyond certain specific roadblocks to reach my goals.

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The Author of this book, Bernard Roth, who is an engineering professor and a 

co founder, and the academic director of Hasso Plattner Institute of Design at Stanford University (aka the d.school)  ____________________________________________________________________

This book is about microscopic insights from a great mind, that any individual can use, to live a better life. When I was reading it, I felt as if Bernard Roth, was some kind of Yoda (from star wars) like, life expert, sent here to help me avoid certain mistakes. The scary part was some of the life lessons he preaches about in his book, I had to learn about the hard way, an there are a few activities and tweak, I'm yet to try in my life, but Roth, has already have me sold, and I cannot wait

to try them out.

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Here are a few of the major takeaways I got from reading his book:

1. How I can adapt a more productive perspective
1. A step by step activity I can use to get myself to react with the best possible response, rather than the first response, which Roth says is not always the smartest course.
2. A tweak I can use to remind myself, of how our world really works, with regards to taking on certain tasks, with low probability for success. Roth, emphasizes, for a person to think about how he/she would approach that project, if he/she no longer worried about there mistakes.
3. A tweak I can use to redefine my efforts, Roth says that we should praise how hard we try, and not our outcomes, (which is exactly what made me think of him like Yoda from star wars) in order to focus less on negative thoughts, and more on positive self affirming comments.
2. Why I must stop making excuses
1. A tweak I can use to help me stay the course, by keeping the big picture in mind.
2. A step by step activity I can use, to change my self image, Roth, also does a great job of helping me (the reader) understand the importance, and beginning stages, of our self image. (read this book!)
3. How I can move beyond certain specific roadblocks to reach my goals.
1. A step by step activity I can use to escape my current perspective to see things in a different light.
2. A tweak I can use in my day to day activity to help me redefine how I feel about certain mundane activities. (just this one tip alone was worth the time I invested into reading this book)
3. A step by step activity I can use to better understand the meaning of my life, (this one sounds cheesy but OMG!!! the results of this one is astronomical, consider this quote from his book to better understand the importance of this activity, “Once you accept that you give everything in your life its meaning, you feel like the master of your life, not a powerless victim of circumstance and chance.”

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This book is intended for everyone, (Buy the book here) especially if you are fairly young in life, and haven't had much guidance, I can say without a doubt, I wish I had read this book earlier on in my life, it would have prevented me from so much unnecessary routes and wasting of my energy.

Make It Matter by Scott Mautz

My biggest takeaways from reading this book are:

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1. Employees finding meaning in the work they do for an organization can lead to higher productivity rates, and more fulfilling time for the worker.
2. If a person is unhappy with where they work, there are steps that can be taken to readily, assess their situation, and create meaning in the job they are doing, in all cases.
3. Accepting feedback about the job from employees, and objectively considering their input, to see if it can improve the day to day tasks of the job in a positive way, and putting that new idea, into place, can help foster meaning for that employee, since these actions indicate that the employee is treated with respect, and the manager cares about that employee and his/her feedback.

Mautz, goes in depth, on ways having meaning can benefit the overall business, and employees. and gives step by step approach to finding meaning for employees. 

There is not much to be said about this book, that wouldn't be obvious. 

I highly recommend this book to any employee who is more curious about finding a meaning in their work and also any employer who has yet to instill a program of instilling meaning in the culture of the work place.

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The Marshmallow Test by Walter Mischel

The main takeaways I got from reading this book, were:

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1. Self control in all humans can be learnt overtime, since our brain is malleable.
2. The Marshmallow test experiment, was a phenomenal indication of the importance of delayed gratification vs immediate gratification.
3. Teaching young children traits to help them develop self control, can have extreme long term benefits, in terms of how they deal with stress and their overall development as humans.

Mischel, is a cognitive researcher, and his research will stand the test of time, for years to come. In his book, he speaks about several ways, to increase self control. and ways to improve a person's ability to delay gratification. Some of which, he recommends are:

• Meditation (20 minutes daily)
• Making the gap between your future self and your present self, smaller and more realistic, that way a person is likely to act in the best interest of his future self (doing things like investing into his/her retirement, etc)

In my personal studies, I found other aspects to also improve self control, after learning that our willpower(or self control) is like a muscle, based on research conducted by Roy F. Baumeister. In Mischel's book, he speaks about self control being based on context as well, saying a person is likely to be strong in one area, (such as resisting chocolate for example) and be weak in other areas(such as resisting sex for example)...I disagree, and I think our brain does too. In Mischel's book, he speaks about the cool system(prefrontal cortex) and our hot system(limbic system) in our brain, saying how the hot system, is likely to make a person excited about the temptation, whereas the cold system, would be direct strategies a person would use, to calm their desire for gratification now, in order to delay the gratification for a better reward later! I read a study once that was done in 2012, that 25% of Americans, have at least six months of their rent saved, I strongly believe this is also a result of a lack of self control by three(3) in every four(4) Americans!

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Remember, Reading makes you unsuitable to live like a slave!

2 Second Lean by Paul Akers Summary: How to Grow People and Build A Lean Culture

Watch the animated summary here

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My Three Biggest Takeaways from reading the book are:

1. From experiencing the author's passion about a lean culture in the workplace, it made me take a few steps back towards how I view scaling projects and see the humbleness that can come with the territory. Akers (the author), shared several story of humble chief executive officers, even one who would clean the toilet daily, yes daily!!. Humility can be expressed in different ways, and Akers recommend letting employees have a voice, and a sharing in leadership opportunities.
2. The Idea of a "One Piece Flow" surprisingly taught me a valuable lesson, of less being more, and ultimately being way more. Sometimes we tend to multitask and take on a huge amount of work at the same time, for example, If i have to build one hundred(100) widget before my shift is over, I may realize that this is a big goal and decide to take on the responsibility of building 10 widgets at a time, then go onto the next batch of ten(10) and the next and so fort. Why? see after reading this book, its obvious to me now, the benefits that can come from a "One Piece Flow" but before, I saw taking on for example the ten(10) widgets at a time, as a sign of my strength and my ability to focus. silly me :).
3. The idea of brining these Lean principles into my home, Noting the very important point by Akers, to leave family out of it, and never teach your spouse or children to be lean. For obvious reasons :).

Watch the animated summary here

I've Given you my biggest takeaways from reading 2 Second Lean by Paul Akers. Click This Link to purchase 2 Second Lean for a smart overview on implementing a Lean culture in your organization, and growing employees in that culture.

The One Thing by Gary Keller: Blueprint to Your Success (What I Learnt From Reading)

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My three biggest takeaways from reading this book are:

1. The no nonsense approach that Gary Keller (the author of The One Thing) suggests, it takes to become an expert in your industry. It is a very simple concept to grasp, but to believe in such a concept is not simple nor easy at all. What helped me to overcome that hurdle, was the success of Gary Keller.
2. I learned from reading another book, titled Willpower that our self control/willpower is tantamount to a muscle that can be exercised and strengthened overtime when in use. After reading The One Thing, i learnt that developing habits over the course of sixty six(66) days is what is needed to reach the point where the lowest amount of willpower is used to do the stuff we need to do daily. In other words, if during the first sixty six(66) days studying for three hours would take around 8 units of your willpower/self control/energy, at the end of the sixty six(66) days, the same amount of studying will take around 2 units of willpower/self control/energy.
3. Pareto Efficiency, 20% of the things we do is responsible for 80% of the results we get....roughly. and so its in your best interest to double down on that 20% part of your schedule and get the bang for your buck.  Get the most results possible. This concept by itself wouldn't be that applicable to anyone. (except maybe a business) but along with all the other gems in this book, it proves to be the most important concept, and the reason why the author suggests such a different approach to accomplishing your goals.

I've Given you my biggest takeaways from reading The One Thing by Gary Keller. Buy this Book today for a firm blue print, on what it takes to be successful in any industry.