Jan 2, 2022 6 min read Education

Top 3 Books To Read In 2022

One of my goals in 2021 was to read more, specifically a book a month. This was challenging for me as reading books was never my forte and hence I had to build the habit of reading daily in order to achieve my goal. Unfortunately I wasn't able to finish all of the twelve books that I wanted but I'm definitely happy with the result. I was able to get through 9 books which is 3 times better than last year.

For complete transparency I have listed down the books that I was able to complete and the books that I had intended to read. If you're interested in getting the books too, I've provided a link to all of them to make it easier to get your hands on it.

Books that I've been able to read:

Books that I have lined up:

From the books that I was able to read in 2021, I was able to gain invaluable insights from them which had change my life. So if your goal is to read more books this year or if you're someone who is starting out on trying to build the habit of reading, then I would highly recommend the following 3 books to start off with in 2022:

1. Show Your Work By Austin Kleon

This is by far THE MOST important book to read especially with the new ways of working and the advancement in technology. If you've been following my blog, this book was one of the reasons why I started and have mentioned it time and time again throughout the posts.

This book talks about how throughout history it has always been more beneficial to let everyone in the world see what you're doing. You should document your life and bring others along with you on your journey in everything you do. Vlogging on Youtube has been a clear example of how you can make a living from just showing people what you do in your everyday life.

I know what you're thinking. I'm shy, introverted and scared of putting myself out there because I'll receive hate comments and people judging me. Trust me, I felt the exact same way AND still do today. But in this book it tells you about how all of those fears and concerns are just all in your head. At the end of the day, everyone is quite self centred and that NO ONE really cares about what you do. So don't be afraid of putting yourself out there, because it's not like anyone is going to see it anyways.

I still read this book over and over again because it has loads of helpful and actionable examples on how to get started and tips on what you should and shouldn't share. Not only that, it is one of the easiest book to get hooked on and read because of how relevant it makes it. I'll be honest, I finish this book in one sitting, that's how good it was.

2. Start With Why By Simon Sinek

Another book that I reference a lot throughout my blogs is "Start With Why" by Simon Sinek. As we continue to work the 9-5 and continuously look forward to the weekend, our lives start to feel monotonous. Days go past, then weeks then an entire year goes past within a blink of an eye. I've always felt that I wanted to do more with my life and that's when I discovered the concept of the Golden Circle.

Simon talks about how YOU can go about in discovering your purpose in life and also how certain businesses have been able to become so successful. Just as the title mentioned, you need to start with WHY. It is extremely important to understand that most people don't buy the product solely based on their features, but they actually buy into the purpose of the company. Hence, if you start with communicating why you are doing something, most people will follow and buy your products.

People don't buy what you do, they buy why you do it.
By Simon Sinek

I have found this book to be so inspiring that I spent a few weeks trying to figure out "MY WHY". If you haven't already, check out my blog: Discovering My Why where I walk through the golden circle and come up with my WHY, HOW and WHAT. Hopefully you'll find this useful in discovering your own why.

3. Rich Dad Poor Dad By Robert Kiyosaki

Education has always played a huge factor in my life which was why I became a Mathematics tutor for High School students. I wanted to mentor and provide students with realistic examples of the world in which they were about to enter. BUT the education industry fails to teach financial literacy to students which is ONE of the MOST important things to learn in life.

Robert Kiyosaki's book Rich Dad Poor Dad was a big eye opener for me. His book talks about how he was fortunate enough to be able to have both a Rich Dad and a Poor Dad throughout his childhood to learn from. He would learn things like how the rich get richer, how not to do things and how majority of it is based on your mindset. If you are able to change your mindset and view things from a different perspective, it will go a long way for you in the future.

One key takeaway from this book was how you can change your mindset by simply changing the way you talk. He noticed how his poor dad would always say: "I CAN'T afford this" whereas his rich dad would ask: "HOW can I afford this?". Simply changing a statement to a question activates your brain to try and think of a solution rather than just giving up and making an excuse to not solve the problem. If there is something that you want, you simply just need to go after it.

This book had an immense amount of financial advice and examples of how cashflow works between poor, middle class and the rich's income statement would look like. It is definitely something that is worth reading if you're looking to gain financial freedom and to become more educated in financial literacy.

Overall, it was really tough to even select my top 3 books as they all had at least one valuable insight from each of them. Each book has it's own unique story to tell and it really just depends on what you're after. The timing in which you read the book is also important as certain books prove to be more valuable as you progress further in your career, financial stability, etc.

If you don't know which one to start off with, then I recommend deciding based on these three main topics and the current situation that you are in: