I have people ask me a lot about podcasts, books and other things that have been useful to me. So I put together a list of some of the best. I hope you enjoy, find it useful and, most importantly, share it with others.
You can download it here or the full text is below.
Hey there! I hope you get use out of these resources. If you do, send it to 5 people you think could benefit.
I’ve been on the road to growing in my personal life as well as professional for many years. In fact, I committed myself to being a lifelong learner several years ago. And over the years, I’ve come to find many resources that have helped me along the path of life so I wanted to share them with you.
In this document you will find help for spiritual, personal and professional development. I’ll break it down into those 3 areas and give a synopsis of each resource. Some links I include like books will be affiliate links. Those don’t cost you more but they give me a tiny kickback.
I hope you find these resources useful. If you were sent this and aren’t on my email list, I give away a bunch of stuff there as well. You can Join here.
Spiritual Development:
The Bible: Buy it here
For me, this is the most important book in the entire world. In fact, it’s sold more copies and has been translated into more languages than any other book in history. I won’t get all preachy on you here, just spiritual. If you’re looking for a path in life that ends where you win and live for eternity, this is it. This is the One True God’s word to man.
The gist is that we are all sinners in need of a savior. Jesus is that savior, in fact, he’s the very Son of God. He came to earth, lived a sinless life and died on a Roman cross for you and me. But the story only starts there. He rose again the third day, proving He conquered death itself and now reigns at the right hand of the throne of God. Believing this means you can have eternal life when this one ends. I hope you’ll consider this eternal book if you haven’t already. If you have questions, email to ask. If you need a bible and can’t afford it, let me know. I will get you one.
Truth for Life Podcast: Find it here
This is one the best sources of explaining the scriptures I’ve found in the digital world. The episodes are short and impactful and the other devotions the app offers are worth your time.
YouVersion App: Find it here
This is the Bible app I personally use on my phone. I will admit I prefer my paper Bible over digital at this point, but this is really good for taking notes, highlighting text and even creating images from passages to share online. The best part of it for me is the devotional aspect though. I have a few going at a time and it helps keep me in the Word daily. It also gives me and my wife something to discuss throughout the day besides kids and work stuff. 😀
Personal Development:
Failing Forward: Buy it here
Written by Max Lucado, this book has been incredibly impactful for me. It is written from a Christian perspective but it’s really a life book. It outlines the importance of learning to fail fast and often so that you learn from your mistakes to make progress in life. No matter where you are in life, I can’t recommend this book enough. It’s a staple you should read through regularly.
See You at the Top: Buy it here
Zig Ziglar is one of the best personal development authorities of recent history. I actually bought this book on a whim at a local bookstore. It turned out to be one that I have kept on my shelf and revisit. It’s very applicable to many parts of life and really outlines the importance of pursuing your goals. As a matter of fact, I recommend any Ziglar books or resources. This is a good place to start though.
Cure of the Common Life: Buy it here
This is a great book that walks you through the real reason we are here on this earth. It address the common issue of working in your “sweet spot” as he calls it. It’s very practical, step by step, and applicable to any of us that have ever wondered if we are living where God wants us to be. I encourage you to read this and work through it. It’s more hands on than other books in that it has things to write down and questions to address with yourself.
Financial Peace University: More info here
This is a life changing financial course. It’s done by Dave Ramsey, who is a financial guru and excellent teacher. This is the exact plan my wife and I used to pay off $34,000 in 14 months on a moderate income. It’s not rocket science at all, in fact it’s a lot of common sense I just didn’t have. No matter what stage you are in your in your finances, I recommend this course to understand insurance, investing and retirement even better on a simple level.
Just as a side note, I’ve had the privilege of coordinating 12 FPU classes and being the Momentum lead (a church-wide stewardship movement) at my church. I believe in this stuff because it works.
Total Money Makeover: Buy it here
If you aren’t quite sure you want to commit to the course above (you’d be wrong though :D), this is a great place to start. It’s the same steps but not as in depth and you don’t get the class time. But it’s an excellent book that I recommend you read regardless because it does clarify some of the things you might not grasp when you’re in the class. So to summarize, it’s a “fix your financial life” book. Read it.
Life. Money. Hope. Podcast: Find it here
This is a podcast from Stewardship.com where they talk about all the things in the title. It’s practical, inspiring and extremely useful. The shows are about an hour long and the ratings are excellent! I actually had the privilege of sharing our story on this episode (My story is at 47:07) so feel free to check that out if you want. Chris (the host) is an awesome guy so be sure to give him a listen.
Akimbo podcast: Find it here
Seth Godin is known as America’s greatest marketer by some. Well, maybe many. But he’s so humble and such a great teacher that I just can’t stay away from his stuff. He’s very philisophical and uses a lot of analogies to teach. I think that’s why he’s so great to listen to. Storytelling in marketing was practically invented by this guy. He talks a lot about culture, change and pushing the boundaries. You won’t be sad you listened.
Professional Development:
Entreleadership
If you run a business and have employees, the book and podcast will be excellent. If you don’t have any employees, the book won’t do much but the podcast is still a great resource. The principles in this book are really good but they do operate on scale. It talks a lot about culture, hiring, placement etc. The podcast has great guests and they always tell their story and talk about things any company or brand can do. I recommend you listen to the podcast and if you think the book would be helpful, then go that route.
Start with Why: Buy it here
Simon Sinek has this incredible TedTalk he did about this very subject. It’s gotten millions of views and so the book is written off this idea. The concept is that people don’t buy what we do, they buy why we do it. It’s about leaders and followings. Quite honestly, it’s one of my top books I’ve ever read and I highly recommend it to anyone who has something to say.
Seth Godin:
Seth. Well, you just need to listen and read everything he says. If you are human, listen to him. That’s all I have to say about that.
List of his books I’ve read here:
The Fortune Cookie Principle – Buy it here
I found this through Seth actually. The author is Bernadette Jiwa and she has a couple books. This is the best one for sure and I do recommend it if you want to market something through storytelling. That something could be a widget, book, service or just an idea. The book is really small and practical so take it to heart.
Productivity tools and apps
Trello: Find it here
This is what I use for workflow and a task list. It is really simple, web-based and has an app. It’s all synced up across your devices as well. You can even invite people to the different boards you create.
My recommendation is that you play around with it and see how it works for you. It’s pretty self-explanatory really but it will take some getting used to because it’s so stripped down. But I prefer things that have the least amount of functionality possible to make them incredibly useful. That’s what this app is.
The concept is that you have different “Boards” where you can create “lists”. Within each list, you can create “cards” and they can have notes, comments and a variety of other things in them. You can assign cards to people as well. I hope that makes sense.
EveryDollar.com
Quite honestly the best budgeting software I’ve ever used. Yes, I’ve used countless others like Mint and YNAB. This is super simple and wins hands down. I only use the free version but they have a paid that connects to your bank. I hear it works really well too.
Thanks!
I hope you find these useful and that you share this document. If you want more great resources, the best place to be is on my email list. Thanks for your time, I hope this was valuable to you.