I was introduced to the world of audiobooks and podcasts very late in the game (February 2017), and I’ve been doing a lot of catch up since then.
I set out this year with very focused goals on increasing productivity and wealth creation. All these materials are helping me with these goals, and if you’re journeying on a similar path, I hope they help you too.
Here’s a rundown of what I’ve been reading and listening to for productivity and focus:
On Clarity
I credit 100% of my momentum in 2017 to Lynn Jericho, who guided me with Inner Christmas meditations throughout the 12 Holy Nights of 2016. During these 12 nights after Christmas, the spiritual world and the physical world are closest to each other, giving anyone who puts in the inner work a powerful window to connect with his or her higher self. These nightly invitations to sit in silence gave me the clarity to make space within myself to listen to what needed to come out and come in.
Lynn has ongoing programs throughout the year, which you can find on Imagine Self.
Benjamin Hardy and his Morning Routines gave me simple and doable action steps to do every single day. Ben is a PhD student on Organizational Psychology and he writes essays on productivity and self-improvement. When he sent out an invitation to a year-long course called Life By Design: How to Live Life According to Your Values Every Single Day, I didn’t even hesitate to join. Maybe I’m an easy sell; maybe it was right timing. I have been happy with the weekly videos and readings Ben sends out, and they’ve been a great help in sustaining the momentum I started the year with. He keeps them short and on point, so they’re very manageable time-wise. He also loves quotes and is generous with his sources. Most of the books listed below are from his recommendation list. Read Ben’s works here.
Audiobooks on Productivity
I’ve finished more books in the past two months than I have in the past year thanks to audiobooks. They’re easy companions while I do menial tasks like prepare breakfast and drive through traffic, and they help sharpen my listening and concentration skills (especially useful if you’re easily distracted like me!).
Essentialism was the first audiobook I got on Audible, which meant I got to listen to it for free. It literally jumpstarted me on editing my life by saying no to what mattered less so I could say yes to what mattered more.
I’ve gone through it in full twice and still listen to it from time to time. Greg McKeown reads it himself and his smooth voice helps to keep calm in Manila traffic.
My favorite takeway from the book? If it’s not a hell yes, it’s a no.
Napoleon Hill’s Outwitting the Devil feels like a primer on morality, but it is packed with simple, hard-hitting jabs. I grew up Catholic and was bombarded with literature on sin and heaven and hell, but Hill presents the Devil without the religious weight.
Written in 1938 but released to the public only in 2011, it is literally a conversation between Hill and the Devil. Perfect as an audiobook.
A great complement to Essentialism, because what do you do once you achieve clarity of mind? You don’t leave it drifting.
Dale Carnegie’s How to Win Friends and Influence People is a classic book on good manners and just over-all niceness. I’ve been in sales for nearly two decades, and I still learned something new from listening to this.
Why is good behavior a critical component of productivity? We perform at our highest level when we are in perfect alignment in thoughts, feelings, actions. How we treat people around us is a reflection of our highest ideals, and this book reminds us ever so gently of the basics of being a good person.
Excellent narration by Andrew McMillan too. Very soothing to the ears and true to its premise: it will win you over.
To be honest when I first opened the audiobook for The Power of Habit, I got put off by how long it was: 10 friggin’ hours!
I went through them 30 minutes at a time, and finally finished the book last week, yay.
Charles Duhigg breaks down a habit into its basic parts: cue, routine, and reward, and gives many examples of figuring out which is which and how to make deliberate changes in the habit loop.
Very important skill if we want to be more productive and focused everyday.
Podcasts for the In Between
Whenever I finished an audiobook, I’d look for something to listen to that didn’t demand so much commitment (leaving a book hanging felt wrong to me), so I turned to podcasts.
- How I Built This is a great podcast for inspiration on companies that went from good to great. Always makes me smile to listen to stories of innovators, entrepreneurs, artists.
- On Being with Krista Tippet is one of my go to podcasts when I need to soften up and relax. It’s a show that asks the “big questions of meaning with scientists and theologians, artists and teachers” and Krista is the only female voice on this list. Good balancing energy to the go-go-go of the male gesture.
- Dan Sullivan is a business coach, and I like his straightforward insights on entrepreneurship and personal development. He has five podcast series with his team at Strategic Coach. I’ve only started listening to Multiplier Mindset and 10X Talk.
- Tim Ferris is the popular choice, and I included him here only because he is recommended by so many. He covers a wide range of topics from personal development to lifestyle to sports to tech trends, and he has a strong fanbase. I tried reading The 4-Hour Workweek, the book that shot him to stardom, but something about it didn’t sit well with me. Just the same, his podcast series are worth looking into. One episode that I particularly liked was on Accelerated Learning.
I hope my list of audiobooks and podcasts helps you start your own listening habits! Also check out my wealth creation journey where I list the books and courses that are helping me get to where I want to go financially.
Do you have other books or shows to recommend? Share them in the comments below!
Note: Some of the links above will give me an affiliate commission if you choose buy those books, at no extra cost to you.