Books that I have read and learned from. I found these books and the skills they taught truly helped me get further in my career. Read them, learn them, internalize them until you do them subconsciously.

Limitless by Jim Kwik

Jim Kwik combines a number of different techniques that I have seen before in a few of the books listed below. His combination is a great refresher on all the strategies we can use to get better at learning, thought process, and how we can reframe some of our experiences to enable us and not hold us back. It’s a combination of tactics, strategies and psychology to get you out of your current funk.

Atomic Habits by James Clear

Awesome tactical advice on how “You do not rise to the levels of your goals. You fall to the level of your systems.” So what’s your daily routine adding or taking away from what you are trying to build? James Clear will help you realize why you have some habits and why you are failing at creating the ones you want.

Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor E. Frankl

It’s been a while since I updated the Favorite Books page. This was always on it but I’ve been keeping the blog closer to the technology side until this year. This book chronicles Viktor’s ability to survive in the concentration camps. In all seriousness, I cried far too many times when I read this book the first time. This book humbles me. This book inspires me. And it reminds me how to get through life while I live in a lap of luxury. It was only when I recommended it to someone else recently that I remembered to put it on this list. This book is many things to many people. For me, this book taught me gratitude.

The Charisma Myth by Olivia Cabane

This book and its skills has been number one on my list for the past few years. Why? Because I’m half introvert and half extrovert. I’m in a public facing role and I need to be able to maximize the time that I must be an extrovert. For those introverted engineers that have a hard time making a connection(you know, the guy/gal that you need to make a connection with so they’ll help you get your project done!), this is *the* book.

make it stick by Peter C. Brown

Absolutely fabulous for IT folks that are constantly chasing certs and needing assistance with memorizing and especially learning new material!

The Phoenix Project by Gene Kim

Seriously, how can this NOT be on every IT person’s bookshelf?! It’s a got a great storyline, has relatable characters, and (dare I say it?) an IT person’s idealistic fantasy of how things should pan out. When IT people say “Reach for the Stars!,” what we mean is reach for The Phoenix Project.