This is a similar image of the poster that I have...
An ever-changing list of resources that inspire me in business, career, and life.
Being | Business | Books (not related to Being or Business) | Movies
Way of the Peaceful Warrior by Dan Millman : This was my introduction into leading an intentional life and sparked my fascination with mastery and human potential.
Everyday Enlightenment by Dan Millman : I was thrilled to learn about a non-fiction guidebook to apply what I had learned from Way of the Peaceful Warrior.
The Life You Were Born to Live by Dan Millman : Here, Dan presents a numerology system that helps bring clarity to what we're each here to do, learn, embrace, and be mindful about. Although I don't leverage the benefits of this book as much as Way of the Peaceful Warrior or Everyday Enlightenment it gave me a sense of peace knowing that my fascination with consciousness, spirituality, and (reluctant) leadership seem aligned.
Jonathan Livingston Seagull by Richard Bach : I love this book so much. You can read it in an hour. I love how incredibly minimal and clean the prose is. But above all, I love it's celebration of mastery and how by committing ones's self to mastery, you're lead into the highest levels of our power, impact, and potential. Jonathan becomes a natural leader and teacher (and did so reluctantly).
Illusions: the Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah by Richard Bach : See where I got the concept of a reluctant leader from? Illusions, like Way of the Peaceful Warrior explores what's possible with human potential when limitations of the mind are lifted. The solution, of course, is quite simple: let go. Letting go seems to be the basis of all spiritual, enlightenment, and higher consciousness teachings. Doing so taps into abilities that may seem extraordinary to others but is rather simple and even ordinary from another perspective. This is a great book to expand the mind into what could be possible when we are completely free of mental limitation.
The Untethered Soul: The Journey Beyond Yourself by Michael Singer : This is probably the most clear, practical, and entertaining books on embodying the practice of surrender and letting go.
The Surrender Experiment: My Journey into Life's Perfection by Michael Singer : I struggled to decide if this book should go here or in the Business section. Of course, Michael (a.k.a Mickey) would argue that it goes here. Michael shares his experience into realizing the difference between thoughts and emotions and the one who's observing these things. That "observer" is consciousness, and that's what he really wanted to understand. His fascination took him to learn and study from the great gurus. And in doing so, built a thriving home-building business as well as a multi-million dollar software company. All by surrendering into the perfection of life. As I create, I keep this book in the back of my mind.
Energy Leadership by Bruce D Schneider : I received a copy of this book when I first signed up for iPEC's Coach Training Program. I experience the power of deep coaching from the first day of my training. This book gave me a narrative that explored what kind of transformation is possible to a person and organization with ongoing coaching support. I highly recommend reading the second edition because the first edition is dated. And if you look closely in the acknowledgements, you might see a familiar name.
The Ultimate Coach by Amy Hardison : Coaching has been a big part of my career both formally and informally. I originally scoffed at the title until I heard the book's subject, Steve Hardison, talk about it. He doesn't refer to the published title at all. Instead, he call's it The Book of Being. And the premise is that you learn about the power of intentionally refining, understanding, and sharing who you are and what that can do to one's life. It seems like a biography of Steve. But really, it's a case study of his own philosophy which resonates with the philosophy of many great beings. I just re-read it for a second time. I added twice the highlights and feel absolutely unstoppable. Thank you Steve and Amy!
Letting Go: The Pathway of Surrender by David Hawkins, M.D., Ph.D. : This book complements The Untethered Soul and Energy Leadership very well. In a similar way, Dr. Hawkins explores the relationship between certain emotions and the energy that they contain. Some emotions resonate with higher levels of energy and some with lower. He uses the framework presented in the book to treat hundreds of patients through his psychotherapy practice. The not-so-secret secret is that by fully experiencing and then releasing all emotions, we create a healthier psychology, wellbeing, and tap into higher states of consciousness. Dr. Hawkins uses the practice of kinesiology (i.e. muscle strength/weakness testing based on thoughts, emotions, and external factors) to validate his findings in addition to anecdotal stories from patients. As someone who has been fascinated by benefits of a "letting go" lifestyle, this is a must read.
Emotional Response-Ability™ developed by Charles Jones : I met Charles at an ICF meetup that I hosted. When Charles shared his work and research, I was captivated. He has uncovered two powerful and profound theories:
First, emotions are actually a messages sent by the subconscious. Specifically, they serve to communicate specific needs of the subconscious. You may have heard before or even find to intuitively make sense, but it's a critically important step to understand.
Second (this is what blew me away), he has successfully mapped dozens of emotions and how they relate to universal subconscious needs that we all have.
Using his discovery and model, you can "decode" what your emotions are really communicating. For example, Charles has discovered that 'Frustration' always relates to a subconscious belief that you're not on track to achieve a goal. So once you correctly recognize and somatically feel the emotion of frustration, you can shift your attention to what goals seem to be off track and make the appropriate adjustments. I took Charles's course Coaching with Emotional Response-Ability™ and I highly recommend anyone who's interested in working with their emotions (and subconscious) in a practical and empowered way should do the same. And if you want to take a self-paced version of the course, it's called Thriving with Emotional Response-Ability™.
The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho : Very similar to Way of the Peaceful Warrior and Illusions, this fictional story opened me to the power of unlocking more of our potential. I felt excitement about the possibility of uncovering meaning in the experiences of our lives; reading the flow of nature like a shaman or sage. That there's a way to interpret the world to learn from it, gain wisdom, and find our treasure. Perhaps the most inspiring insight from this book was the discovery that the treasure you seek is back in the beginning, right where you start your journey. You'll have to read it to find out what I mean.
Mastering Your Hidden Self: A Guide to the Huna Way by Serge Kahili King : Manifestation seems to be all the craze. I admit, I too got caught up in it trying to manifest parking spaces, money, opportunities, and such. And guess what? There's absolutely nothing wrong with that! And I still do it from time to time. In fact, I believe 100% that we have the ability to shape and create our reality. And if you want to learn more about this tremendous power, this is the book to explore. Much less known than The Secret or Ask and It Is Given, but perhaps even more fundamental. This book powerfully and unapologetically reminds us that we are incredible beings of creation. It's like taking the aforementioned books and combining it with Becoming Supernatural: How Common People are Doing the Uncommon by Dr. Joe Dispenza. Huna is an ancient wisdom developed in Hawaii and surrounding south pacific island nations. In fact, "Huna" means "The Secret." As you no doubt have guessed, it's about using the power of our mind to heal ourselves and others, change reality, attract energy, and peek through the illusion of what appears to be physical reality. It's a no-nonsense book on remembering how powerful you are when you consciously focus on mastering yourself.
Anything you Want: 40 lessons for a new kind of entrepreneur by Derek Sivers : My favorite stories of business building, success, and entrepreneurship are the ones that are rooted in doing things different than everyone else, innovating, and creating in a way that seems obvious and effortless. This book sets the standard for the kind of impact and value that I share with the world. In fact, this website is entirely inspired by Derek and his Technology Independence philosophy.
24 Assets: Create a digital, scalable, valuable and fun business that will thrive in a fast changing world by Daniel Priestly : What fascinates me about business building is that two seemingly opposite strategies can still create success. Because of that, I've been drawn to learn about multiple approaches to business building. 24 Assets is one such approach. In this book, Daniel suggests that you shift away from building a business that's about you (the business owner) working with clients one at a time. Instead of trading your time for money, create assets instead that can work even when you're not available. After interviewing many entrepreneurs, Daniel has distilled down the 23 things (or assets) that the most successful businesses (either larger corporate businesses or smaller "lifestyle" businesses) seem to possess. Admittedly, I'm not following this prescription to a T, but it has given me ideas and I've been sharing this book with others who I believe will find it valuable.
The Prosperous Coach: Increase Income and Impact for You and Your Clients by by Steve Chandler and Rich Litvin : One thing that I heard from many coaches (and often thought myself) is, I don't want to do social media and online advertising for my coaching business!. For some, the reasons were cost. For others the fear was too strong "putting themselves out there." For others, they craved a simpler approach. Queue The Prosperous Coach. In this case, the business plan is to make business building as similar to coaching as possible. It focuses solely on conversations, invitations, and building up clients and a network one person at a time. This may sound like a departure from 23 Assets, and it is, but there is some overlap as well (in fact, Rich Litvin and Daniel Priestly have partnered together for many years).
Tartine Bread by Chad Robertson : About 10 years ago, I was struck by an interest in making bread. It was close to the winter holidays so I received a couple of books on the topic. Tartine was one of those books and it began an extraordinary journey. From Tartine I learned the subtle art and exact science of artisanal naturally leavened bread making. When working with dough in this ancient way, I felt like I was communing with ancestors. Bread is biblical. It's perhaps one of the most human things we've created. While my skills as a cook are so-so, it was with baking that I really found my stride. Partly because it is more scientific. Ingredients are measured to the gram and temperatures are set to the degree. This book opened me up to the profound lessons that come from taking the most basic, simple ingredients, and using time (and temperature) to make something extraordinary, rich, and grounding. I share more about my bread journey including turning semi-pro by selling at the famous Boulder County Farmers Market on my About page.
The good news is that you don't have to buy the book if you want to (though I highly recommend it - the first edition especially). Tartine shared their classic "country boule" recipe with The New York Times.
The Matrix : When I walked out of the theatre after watching this movie for the first time, I was changed. I felt different. I felt like I was "the one." In some ways, I still don't know what it was about this concept that fascinated me. But if you look at all the other resources I share, you start to see common themes: mastery, potential, impact, (positive) influence, inspiration.
Star Wars : Of course, I have my favorites, such as Empire Strikes Back, Rogue One, and The Mandalorian (series), but I'm still going to refer to Star Wars in general. Why? I'm all about the Jedi. Here are individuals who dedicate their life to refining their relationship with the subtle energies of the Universe, mastering themselves and their relationship with this energy, and using the emergent abilities to support others – with the goal of preserving balance. They are knowledgable, wise, and (largely) selfless. That, to me, is very inspiring.
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse : Not only is the movie stylistically beautiful, the characters and story building is absolutely top-notch. If you haven't seen this movie, stop what you're doing right now and go see it. Just because it's animated doesn't mean that it's only for kids or lacks depth. What touches me the most about this film is the catalyst for the protagonist's change: a leap of faith. Throughout most of the film, Miles, the main character, is struggling to step into his potential. He doubts himself. He's surrounded by other Spider-People who are way more skilled and experienced than he is. He feels the passion to help, but lacks the control of his abilities. No one can do it for him. It takes a leap of faith into himself and his abilities in order to explode into his potential. Is there any wonder this film has touched me so much? I actually have a small poster on my wall that captures the moment he takes his leap of faith into himself. It reminds me to do the same every day.
This is a similar image of the poster that I have...
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