2019 Trajectify Winter Reading

The holiday season is upon us, and the New Year is around the corner. It’s time to make a cup of hot cocoa, grab a good book and settle in by the fire. But where to start - there’s so many great books out there? Glad you asked! Trajectify’s Winter Reading List is here.

If you missed the summer reading list, check it out here: Summer Reading List

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Here are the books that Trajectify coaches and clients recommend:

1. Reboot: Leadership and the Art of Growing Up (2019)
   By: Jerry Colonna

   Jerry Colonna helps start-up CEOs make peace with their demons, the psychological habits and behavioral patterns that have helped them to succeed—molding them into highly accomplished individuals—yet have been detrimental to their relationships and ultimate well-being. Now, this venture capitalist turned executive coach shares his unusual yet highly effective blend of Buddhism, Jungian therapy, and entrepreneurial straight talk to help leaders overcome their own psychological traumas. Reboot is a journey of radical self-inquiry, helping you to reset your life by sorting through the emotional baggage that is holding you back professionally, and even more important, in your relationships.

2. Indistractable: How to Control Your Attention and Choose Your Life (2019)
   By: Nir Eyal

   What would be possible if you followed through on your best intentions? What could you accomplish if you could stay focused? What if you had the power to become “indistractable?” In Indistractable, behavioral design expert, Nir Eyal, reveals the hidden psychology driving us to distraction. He describes why solving the problem is not as simple as swearing off our devices: Abstinence is impractical and often makes us want more. Eyal lays bare the secret of finally doing what you say you will do with a four-step, research-backed model.

3. Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World (2019)
   By: David Epstein

   David Epstein examined the world’s most successful athletes, artists, musicians, inventors, forecasters and scientists. He discovered that in most fields—especially those that are complex and unpredictable—generalists, not specialists, are primed to excel. Generalists often find their path late, and they juggle many interests rather than focusing on one. They’re also more creative, more agile, and able to make connections their more specialized peers can’t see. Range makes a compelling case for actively cultivating inefficiency.

4. The Second Mountain: The Quest for a Moral Life (2019)
   By: David Brooks

   Every so often, you meet people who radiate joy—who seem to know why they were put on this earth, who glow with a kind of inner light. Life, for these people, has often followed what we might think of as a two-mountain shape. They get out of school, they start a career, and they begin climbing the mountain they thought they were meant to climb. Their goals on this first mountain are the ones our culture endorses: to be a success, to make your mark, to experience personal happiness. But when they get to the top of that mountain, something happens. They look around and find the view . . . unsatisfying. They realize: This wasn’t my mountain after all. There’s another, bigger mountain out there that is actually my mountain.

5. That Will Never Work: The Birth of Netflix and the Amazing Life of an Idea (2019)
   By: Marc Randolph

   Now with over 150 million subscribers, Netflix's triumph feels inevitable, but the twenty first century's most disruptive start up began with few believers and calamity at every turn. From having to pitch his own mother on being an early investor, to the motel conference room that served as a first office, to server crashes on launch day, to the now-infamous meeting when Netflix brass pitched Blockbuster to acquire them, Marc Randolph's transformational journey exemplifies how anyone with grit, gut instincts and determination can change the world-even with an idea that many think will never work.

6. Mindshift: Break Through Obstacles to Learning and Discover Your Hidden Potential (2017)
   By: Barbara Oakley PhD

   Mindshift reveals how we can overcome stereotypes and preconceived ideas about what is possible for us to learn and become. Dr. Oakley teaches strategies for learning that are backed by neuroscience so that we can realize the joy and benefits of a learning lifestyle. Mindshift takes us deep inside the world of how people change and grow. Our biggest stumbling blocks can be our own preconceptions, but with the right mental insights, we can tap into hidden potential and create new opportunities.

7. Creativity Inc., Overcoming Unseen Forces that Stand in the way of true Inspiration (2014)
   By: Ed Catmull

   Through the lens of the creation, success and acquisition of Pixar, the author shares tremendous insights into the process of going from idea to startup to phenomenally successful acquisition. It's all told against the backdrop of great animated movies, such as Toy Story, Wall-E, and Up. You'll enjoy this book -- and learn quite a bit along the way.

8. The ONE Thing: The Surprisingly Simple Truth Behind Extraordinary Results (2013)
   By: Gary Keller

   People are using this simple, powerful concept to focus on what matters most in their personal and work lives. In The ONE Thing, you'll learn to cut through the clutter, achieve better results in less time, build momentum toward your goal, dial down the stress, overcome that overwhelmed feeling, revive your energy, stay on track, and master what matters to you. The ONE Thing delivers extraordinary results in every area of your life--work, personal, family, and spiritual. WHAT'S YOUR ONE THING?

9. Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us (2011)
   By: Daniel Pink

   Most people believe that the best way to motivate is with rewards like money—the carrot-and-stick approach. That's a mistake, says Daniel H. Pink. In this provocative and persuasive new book, he asserts that the secret to high performance and satisfaction—at work, at school, and at home—is the deeply human need to direct our own lives, to learn and create new things, and to do better by ourselves and our world. Drawing on four decades of scientific research on human motivation, Pink exposes the mismatch between what science knows and what business does—and how that affects every aspect of life.

10. The Happiness Trap: How to Stop Struggling and Start Living (2008)
    By Russ Harris

    Are you, like millions of Americans, caught in the happiness trap? Russ Harris explains that the way most of us go about trying to find happiness ends up making us miserable, driving the epidemics of stress, anxiety, and depression. This empowering book presents the insights and techniques of ACT (Acceptance and Commitment Therapy) a revolutionary new psychotherapy based on cutting-edge research in behavioral psychology. By clarifying your values and developing mindfulness (a technique for living fully in the present moment), ACT helps you escape the happiness trap and find true satisfaction in life.

11. Mindset: The New Psychology of Success (2007)
    By Carol Dewck

    Stanford University psychologist Carol S. Dweck, Ph.D., discovered a simple but groundbreaking idea: the power of mindset. In this brilliant book, she shows how success in school, work, sports, the arts, and almost every area of human endeavor can be dramatically influenced by how we think about our talents and abilities. People with a fixed mindset—those who believe that abilities are fixed—are less likely to flourish than those with a growth mindset—those who believe that abilities can be developed. Mindset reveals how great parents, teachers, managers, and athletes can put this idea to use to foster outstanding accomplishment.

12. QBQ! The Question Behind the Question (2004)
    By: John Miller

    QBQ! The Question Behind the Question, addresses the most important issue in business and society today: personal accountability. Succinct, insightful, and practical, QBQ! The Question Behind the Question provides a method for putting personal accountability into daily action, which can bring astonishing results: problems get solved, barriers come down, service improves, teamwork grows, and people adapt to change.