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I love the title of this book. It’s so true isn’t it? Maxwell is one of my heroes and he is a great connector. In this book he shares practical ways to connect with audiences whether it’s connecting with one person over coffee, connecting with people in a small group, or connecting with an audience of thousands.

He said it took him 8 years to find himself as a communicator. This book helped me on the journey I’m on to find myself as a communicator. There are a ton of principles to apply in this book. I’ll be coming back to this one often. I’d recommend it for anyone who is looking to improve their communication skills and looking to become a better connector.

Buy it here!

Highlights:

• President Gerald Ford once remarked, “If I went back to college again, I’d concentrate on two areas: learning to write and to speak before an audience. Nothing in life is more important than the ability to communicate effectively.”

• It took me eight years to “find myself” as a speaker. And here’s great news: when you find yourself, you find your audience.

• “People need your influence, but it will not come through ‘lip syncing’ those you admire.”

• Connection always begins with a commitment to someone else.

• DiMaggio replied, “I always remind myself that there might be someone in the stands who never saw me play before.”

This is one of the best books I’ve ever read! I heard Maxwell teach recently and he said if he were a college president, he would make a class called Failure 101 and make it a requirement for every student to go through so they can learn to fail.

The thesis for the book is: The difference between average people and achieving people is their perception of and response to failure.

Above anything else, this book taught me that it’s ok to fail. In fact, in life I’ll probably fail 50 million times! I think as a young man with a lot of ambition, hopes, and dreams, this is an important lesson. There have been many times where I’ve felt that I’ve failed and let it ruin my day, week, or month. This book helped me have a greater perspective on failure.

If you’re breathing, this is a must read. Buy it here!

Highlights:

• The average for entrepreneurs is 3.8 failures before they finally make it in business.

• Many of life’s failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up. —THOMAS EDISON

• Get a new definition of failure. Regard it as the price you pay for progress. If you can do that, you will put yourself in a much better position to fail forward.

• The greater the feat you desire to achieve, the greater the mental preparation required for overcoming obstacles and persevering over the long haul.

• if fear overcomes you, it’s almost impossible to fail forward.

• Harvard psychologist Jerome Bruner says, “You’re more likely to act yourself into feeling than feel yourself into action.” So act! Whatever it is you know you should do, do it.

• Don’t waste energy trying to cover up failure. Learn from your failures and go on to the next challenge. It’s okay to fail. If you’re not failing, you’re not growing. —H. STANLEY JUDD

• Ninety percent of all those who fail are not actually defeated. They simply quit. —PAUL J.MEYER

• Failure is the greatest opportunity I have to know who I really am. —JOHN KILLINGER

This book came at the recommendation of a friend over coffee. This was an incredible book. Viktor Frankl is a Jewish psychiatrist that lived in concentration camps for three years. The first half of the book is a detailed account of his experiences in the concentration camps. The second half of the book is all about the psychology of man’s search for meaning.

Frankl’s conclusion is that once a man finds meaning for his life, he is able to find hope in any situation, and able to get through anything. He talks a lot about the people who survived in concentration camps in comparison with those who didn’t make it. Often, the people who didn’t make it, could not find meaning in the midst of their suffering, while the people who survived, could and did.

I’d recommend this book to everyone. It will give you hope, and allow you to recognize that regardless of what you’re going through, you can find meaning in your life and find the strength to go on!

Buy it here!

Highlights:

• “man is responsible and must actualize the potential meaning of his life.”

• At any moment,  man must decide, for better or for worse, what will be the monument of his existence.

• Man does  not simply exist but always decides what his existence will be,  what he will become in the next moment.

• freedom is in danger of degenerating   into mere arbitrariness unless it is lived in terms of responsibleness.

• There is nothing conceivable which would so condition a  man as to leave him without the slightest freedom.

• There is nothing in the world, I venture to say, that would so
  effectively help one to survive even the worst conditions as  the knowledge that there is a meaning in one’s life.

• “He who has a why  to live for can bear almost any how.”

• man’s main concern is not to gain pleasure  or to avoid pain but rather to see a meaning in his life.

• The crowning experience of all, for the homecoming man,  is the wonderful feeling that, after all he has suffered, there is  nothing he need fear any more-except his God.

• They died less from  lack of food or medicine than from lack of hope, lack of something   to live for.

• The truth-that love  is the ultimate and the highest goal to which man can aspire.

• No man should judge unless he asks himself in absolute honesty   whether in a similar situation he might not have done  the same.