Three Books to Catalyze Your Transformation in 2024
Burn Options > Decide Clearly > Change Constantly
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all around the world!
Almost everyone is thinking about New Year’s resolutions and how to change and improve their lives this time of year. To help you realize this, I have selected three books I read in 2023 that can catalyze your transformation in 2024. Realizing change requires more than reading these books. You must translate your ideas from these concepts into action.
The holiday season is a perfect time to take stock, reflect, and envision how 2024 can become the best year of your life. Books are my primary source for gaining new perspectives and living life fully. I hope these books help you do the same. 🚀
Burn Your Options with Burn the Boats by Matt Higgins
To transform into who you want to become and get what you want, you must first determine your primary plan and then go all in. I read Burn the Boats by Matt Higgins in March of this year at a pivotal time after my CIO role was eliminated a few months earlier. My path was unclear, and I felt anxious, especially in light of the massive layoffs in the tech sector. I remember asking myself this one question in early 2023:
What would I regret not doing if today was my last day?
The answer was immediate - I wanted to expand my identity as a coach I resisted for many years and use my experiences to help people. To do that, I would need to burn my options and go all in on developing this expertise.
Looking back through 2023, I have become a happier person, a better parent, more confident in who I am and where I am going, and most importantly, I have helped over 200+ people take steps to experience their true potential in work and beyond. I burned my previous identity, habits, and relationships to transform.
Matt Higgins provides the blueprint and his story of burning the boats to unleash your full potential.
You can read my book notes (the yellow highlights, and there are many!), but I encourage you to read the book to decide what boats you will burn in 2024.
The end of the book closes with key questions to launch your next journey:
What am I uniquely positioned to do that no one else can?
What insights do I see that no one is acting on?
What makes me special, and how can I leverage that to the greatest extent possible?
What, in my heart of hearts, do I really want to do?
You are your own platform. Your brilliance is the platform. Own what you are great at and never look back.
Be courageous.
What boat will you burn in 2024 to get what you want?
Decide Clearly with Clear Thinking by Shane Parrish
Upon clarifying your plan A, the second idea is to make smart decisions each day to navigate your journey and reach your destination. Clear Thinking by Shane Parrish is the strategic thinking 101 course I wish I had earlier in my life. Wow, I love this book. It’s full of practical concepts with examples of how you apply them.
The theme of this book, “What happens in ordinary moments determines your future,” is a powerful yet simple idea. Each day, we make hundreds of decisions that alter our path. Clear Thinking will help you overcome unconscious reactions and make significantly better decisions. It’s a $20 investment that will deliver huge ROI!
The decision = the judgment that a certain option is the best one.
What Clear Thinking principles will you adopt in 2024?
Change Constantly with Master of Change by Brad Stulberg
The third idea for catalyzing your transformation is embracing and knowing how to change when everything is changing. Adapting to the environment dictates what species die and those that survive. As basic as it sounds, this is another area where you generally do not get formal training or guidance on how to change to remain relevant.
Master of Change by Brad Stulberg offers a new model to change as an ongoing cycle of order, disorder, and reorder to return to a state of stability.
“As we walk our respective paths and navigate ongoing cycles of order, disorder, and reorder we’ll let go of certain qualities, characteristics, and attitudes that we’ve been carrying, and we’ll pick up new ones to bring along the way.”
How will you adapt to a new state of reorder and stability in 2024?
I would love to hear your feedback and how these books may help you approach 2024 and make the necessary changes to master yourself and a craft you love.
-James