“If I Have Seen Further It Is By Standing On The Shoulders Of Giants”
Every man should be on a quest for knowledge, to acquire information to improve his life. I’m a big believer in efficiency, and when it comes to the topics of health, wealth and mindset there’s a handful of men from both today and times gone by that are experts in these fields, that have grinded away, made mistake after mistake and come out after shedding blood, sweat and tears with their hand raised victorious.
Instead of spending an eternity making the same mistakes, instead of trying to blindly find our on way we can cut our learning curve and go straight to the top, we can learn directly from these masters in their chosen field.
How?
I can’t hire Arnold Schwarzenegger as my personal trainer or mentor, but I can buy his prolific 800 page book titled ‘The Encyclopaedia Of Modern Bodybuilding‘ and learn the techniques, exercises and rep ranges he used to take himself to the top of the Mr. Olympia stage in the golden era of bodybuilding, during the 1970s.
3 Books Every Man Should Read…
The Millionaire Fastlane
The Millionaire Fastlane by MJ Demarco is hands down the best book on taking control of your finances, building a business and making bank. Before I read this book I was quite skeptical, the name of the book making it sound like another one of those ‘get rich quick’ book that’s filled with old, rehashed information on being frugal and patiently building a fortune in the later years of your life. Thankfully, MJ Demarco took the complete opposite approach! If you haven’t read this book and you want to reach financial freedom it should be next on you reading list.
Becoming A Supple Leopard
Every man should know how to troubleshoot and take care of his own body. The average guy is immobile, Dr. Kelly Starrett is the authority when it comes to mobility, recovery and optimizing performance in the gym and on the track. This isn’t necessarily a book that should be read from cover to cover, but more of a reference guide that should be kept on hand and used as required. Rotator cuff pain? Lower back giving you issues when you’re trying to deadlift? Instead of doing nothing you should pick up this book and know how to self diagnose and treat these forms of injuries.
This is a big, comprehensive book that has an absolute wealth of knowledge when it comes to recovery and preventative maintenance for the casual or serious gym-goer and athlete.
On the Shortness Of Life
On The Shortness Of Life should be required reading for EVERYONE. This is a short, powerful book by Seneca, the stoic.
The series of essays this book contains on the pursuit of meaningless goals and acquisition of possessions really led to a paradigm shift for me, if you’re unsure if you’re on the right path pick up this book immediately.
Several quotes by Seneca in On The Shortness Of Life still hold true as my favourite quotes of all time…
“It is not that we have so little time but that we lose so much. … The life we receive is not short but we make it so; we are not ill provided but use what we have wastefully.”
“They lose the day in expectation of the night, and the night in fear of the dawn.”
“People are frugal in guarding their personal property; but as soon as it comes to squandering time they are most wasteful of the one thing in which it is right to be stingy.”
