These are the first ten books of this series. As I’ve written in my book, The Woke West, self-mastery is the ultimate gesture of counter-woke activism. There is no better statement you can make than to improve yourself, family, community and Country. These books can be a catalyst to get you going, or get you going harder! Either way enjoy the wisdom they offer - and good luck in your pursuits of self-mastery!
The Solution to Wokeism is Self-Mastery, book recommendations:
#1 80/20 Your Life: Work Less, Worry Less, Succeed More, Enjoy More by Richard Koch
Richard Koch is more famous for his original 80/20 book focused on business. In an ironic twist it is this book (focused on life) that help me improve my business (and then my life). I love this book.
Less is more! More is never more! Before I started practicing my own brand of 80/20 “Lazy Entrepreneurialism” I was fully invested in 80+ hour work weeks and the “sleep when you die” warrior mentality.
My business under-performed in spite of the immense effort. But, less effort targeted where it counts was transformative to both my business and my life.
#2. Can’t Hurt Me: Master Your Mind And Defy The Odds by David Goggins
David Goggins spent the first half of his life as a victim. The disadvantages piled up; He was one of the only black kids in the town he grew up (and encountered racism and hate), he had an abusive father, a learning disability, no self-esteem. Before his eventual transformation into a badass he was over weight, depressed, and working a dead end job.
But one day he decided that his life was a mess and it was up to him to do better. The rest is history. He got in shape, he got his head together, he got focused and hard. He became an unstoppable force of nature. He exchanged his victim mentality for a victor mentality.
He had every excuse and disadvantage in the world. He had every reason to settle into a low status life of victim-hood. Instead, through discipline and determination, he defied the odds and became “the hardest mother fucker alive.”
#3 Deep Work: Rules For Focused Success In A Distracted World by Cal Newport
A mix of cultural criticism and actionable advice, Cal Newport’s Deep Work is the story of distraction and the push to hollow trivial activity that robs modern people of a deeper, richer existence.
Both in professional and personal lives the push to superficiality, to low-quality time-wasting online engagement and other means of distraction, prevent the deep focus necessary to escape the drain of shallow activity, into a broader beautiful world of richness.
So much more than a self-help or time management book. Deep Work provides a fresh examination of our current digital mores and a clear path for navigating out of the soul sucking, time wasting shallow distractions of today into the inspired zone of concentration, connectedness and ultimately, depth of experience.
Cal has written a bunch of other books that I will be recommending as well. But I suggest starting with this one!
#4 Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way To Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones by James Clear
Being, or becoming, a badass is not easy work. But Atomic Habits (with important instructions on how to badass) is easy and accessible to read.
Full of immediately actionable simple self-improvement strategies (my favorite kind) to help focus the mind, set and achieve goals, and make incremental progress (get 1% better every day!) towards the self-mastered badass you are!
From the inner sleeve:
“If you are having trouble changing your habits, the problem isn’t you. The problem is your system. Bad habits repeat themselves not because you don’t want to change but because you have the wrong system for change. You do not rise to the level of your goals. You fall to the level of your systems.”
#5 - Limitless: Upgrade Your Brain, Learn Anything Faster, And Unlock Your Exceptional Life by Jim Kwik
Limitless author Jim Kwik is a fascinating guy. After suffering an unfortunate brain injury that left him with a learning disability as a young child, he spends the rest of his life figuring out ways to work with his “broken brain.” Very Inspiring.
But on a practical level this book serves as an introduction to the powerful techniques and practices of advanced cognition. He covers mnemonics, speed reading, focus & mindset, thinking & studying and the essential nutrition and life habits that promote an optimized body & mind.
A little repetitive at times and best considered as an introduction to, and a collection of, some great ideas to improve your mental clarity, focus, strength and mood.
#6 - Head Strong: The Bulletproof Plan To Activate Untapped Brain Energy To Work Smarter And Think Faster by David Asprey
Author David Asprey is crazy. But I love it. He is often credited as one of the original “bio-hackers” obsessed with pushing the limits of human performance. Another of my favorites in this area is Tim Ferris (I recommend all of his books).
Head Strong is very forward thinking. A lot of the science he discusses is cutting edge and therefore often new enough and misunderstood enough to be firmly placed, for now at least, in the world of conjecture. But it’s fun to get a tour of the most cutting edge science from one of the world’s biggest, and most enthusiastic bio-hacker geeks.
There are also a lot of actionable tips on fasting & keto, sleep hygiene, light exposure, cold shock treatment (ie. cold showers), exercise & breath, mindfulness and a lot more.
There are several new frontiers of health science that David introduced to me in this book. For that reason, I have noted a number of technologies/discoveries in the infancy of their development at the time of Head Strong’s publication. I follow up regularly on current developments in these exciting new frontiers.
David Asprey is also famous for BulletProof Coffee. This is a way of making your morning coffee with a high content of healthy fats (as prescribed on a typical keto diet), kind of like a meal replacement. Full disclosure here, I made myself quite sick twice experimenting with extra virgin coconut oil in coffee. Eventually I landed on David’s product Brain Octane Oil which is isolated C8 MCT oil (instead of regular formulations of MCT oil or coconut oil that contain a variety of MCT “isolate oils,” not just C8).
My morning coffee and routine now look like this:
Most mornings are fasted for as long as possible. I eat When (when hunger ensues naturally). But at the first signs of hunger I usually make a bullet proof coffee to artificially extend my fasting window. By artificial I mean, all calories (almost all healthy fat calories) are consumed through liquid, and being mostly fat do not interrupt the naturally ketogenic state you are in before you break your fast.
My Bulletproff coffee recipe is this:
Four sigmatic’s “Think” coffee (coffee infused with Lion’s Mane mushroom).
20 - 30 grams of grass fed butter
1 tablespoon of Brain Octane Oil
All of this must be blended in a blender to properly mix the fats. It tastes amazing! Drink this while reading Head Strong and learning to be a badass!
#7: The War Of Art: Break Through The Blocks And Win Your Inner Creative Battles by Steven Pressfield
Steven Pressfield is an author and former Marine. In 2003 he was made an honorary citizen by the city of Sparta in Greece. Tough and smart, my kind of guy!
The War of Art is a thin volume with big and important ideas. Such as Stevens' conception of “resistance” - all the things that distract you, make you second guess yourself and generally hold you back from realizing your ideas, dreams or potential.
Creative goals require discipline, consistency and strength to overcome resistance in all its forms. I highly recommend this book for anyone bold enough to have a dream, and brave enough to chase it.
#8: The Organized Mind: Thinking Straight In The Age Of Information Overload by Daniel Levitin
This is the first of three books by Canadian Neuroscientist and author Daniel J. Levitin that I will be recommending in my Self-Mastery series. This book is one part self-help and one part neuroscience.
I went through a phase for about 6 months where I read as much from neuroscientist’s as I could get my hands on. Not so much hard science and studies, more along the lines of educated opinions and laymen-friendly discussion around human optimization. I looked at the neuroscience perspective on everything from sleep hygiene to choice of friends to work/life balance and stress management, to strategies for dealing with kids that don’t listen (my kids sometimes….most times).
Daniel Levitin has a very pragmatic approach to life, health (mental and physical), learning, skill acquisition and goal setting. I have a tendency to gravitate to unproven or untested cutting edge science (often firmly rooted in the world of conjecture). Cutting edge possibilities are exciting, but a thinker like Daniel Levitin has a lot of value for me personally because he is so good at separating out the hype from the realistic without discouraging that part of the imagination that dares to dream of future possibilities.
I really like his writing. And I appreciate the simplicity and pragmatic nature of his methods. But mostly I rely on Daniel for his sobering realistic views that help me in keeping both feet on the ground!
#9 - Successful Aging: A Neuroscientist Explores The Power And Potential Of Our Lives by Daniel Levitin
Daniel Levitin, the author of The Organized Mind (My self-mastery recommendation #8), has put together an extremely unique collection of ideas and approaches to aging. He considers both mental and physical health (you can’t really have one without the other), and provides many surprising examples of unique individuals who, despite their advanced age, perform at high levels and both set and achieve goals that enrich and drive the purpose of their lives.
The biggest factor affecting our health as we age may be personality. Viewing this through the lens of the lifestyle concept COACH (Curiosity, Openness, Associations, Conscientiousness, and Healthy Practices), it is Curiosity that may be the most important. This is one of the big ideas in the book that really resonated with me. But why curiosity?
It is curiosity that will drive you to act. Whether it is to pick up a book, turn on a documentary, set out on a bird-watching trip or hike in the woods, or pursue the acquisition of a skill, it is curiosity that will cause you to engage in life. When you are actively engaging in life - being creative, being challenged, feeling connected and purposeful - you are utilizing a “magic” equation that equals wellness. This is a low-stress state of enrichment that is beneficial and endlessly rewarding to be in. People in this state of curiosity-driven wellness live longer and more satisfying lives.
We have the ability to improve or direct the things that make up COACH. You can be deliberate and choose to be curious about something (or many things). Curiosity is a skill that you can work on and improve. And you should.
Another interesting section has to do with cognitive decline as we age. The older we get the slower our brains function. But the slowing down has more to do with years of accumulated experience - when thinking on a problem an older person has many more layers of unique experiences that may relate to the matter at hand, it takes time to process all that data.
Younger people may often mistake the slowing down of a senior citizen's thought processes and manner of speech, as cognitive decline when actually it is evidence of the wisdom that comes with years of accumulated experience.
This is not a book for old people. This is a book for all people. No matter what stage you are at in life, Successful Aging has actionable and easy to incorporate techniques and tips to help you on your way! I love this book and highly recommend it!
#10 - Leonardo Da Vinci by Walter Issacson
The modern culture wars have diminished people’s interests and ability to pursue learning or the acquisition of skills, for the sake of the pursuit itself. The love of learning, driven by authentic curiosity, is not something people place much stock in it seems. Today higher education aims to instrumentalize students in preparation for fulfilling some function in a socio-economic machine that utterly lacks humanity. So much can be learned from the inspired and culturally vibrant Italian Renaissance - the collective movement and the individual components - the brilliant artists and thinkers that to this day capture our imagination.
I choose this biography by the great Walter Isaacson (biographer of Albert Einstein, Benjamin Franklin and Steve Jobs) because I was looking for examples of relentlessly curious souls to illustrate the point made in Successful Aging (recommendation #9 position of this collection), that it is curiosity that drives one to engage fully in the most enriching activities and pursuits the world offers.
A polymath, Leonardo’s self-directed uncompromising and unapologetic curiosity, across multiple disciplines, is the stuff of legend. However, a key historical illumination found in this work, at least for me, is the fact that an entire community or class of people existed who, like Leonardo, turned to artistic endeavour, inquiry, observation, to discussion among intellectual and artistic communities of other Renaissance men, and to contemplation of the most fundamental questions of the universe and humankind.
Leonardo Da Vinci and Michael Angelo may be the archetypal Renaissance men, but Leonardo’s approach to life, art and the development of his intellect - as brilliant, inspired and voluminous as it was - was not unique. Renaissance is from the French word meaning rebirth. Leonardo and many artists and polymaths of this period were inspired by the revival (rebirth) of classical antiquity (a defining feature of the Renaissance), mostly forgotten during the dark ages.
Leonardo was a standout in his time because of his obvious genius and masterful paintings, such as the iconic Mona Lisa. His voracious appetite to observe and learn from nature and to inquire and create inexhaustibly was exceptional - even during a period of great excitement and engagement in artistic/intellectual life such as the Italian Renaissance.
I think there are two potential “solutions to wokeism” we can take-away from Isaacson’s account. The first is to be inspired by and emulate the curiosity of Lenardo Da Vinci (acts of self-directed inquiry to develop the mind and satisfy curiosity), and the second is to cultivate a modern Renaissance movement through interactions with others who share these values (building community).
Leonardo Da Vinci was a master artist for many reasons: His ability to both turn inward to alone work through the more complex aspects of his art and thinking, resulting in perhaps his most genius and inspired strokes - and his equal ability in turning outward to friendship, collaboration and collegiality. Using these things as sources of energy and inspiration in much the same way as the natural world and its mysteries was known to fascinate and drive his curiosity.
Because the Italian Renaissance seems to be the definitive example of a vibrant and brilliantly innovative culture, we would do well to remake or recast our current divisive environment to one based on curiosity and intellectual pursuits of excellence and self-development. Sounds like more fun than arguing all-the-time!