I need to be more organized.

I need to go to bed earlier.

I need to be better at following up with clients.

Sound familiar?

Identifying the bad habits we need to change is easy for most people. Give them a pen, paper, and a minute or so, and they’ll give you a list of 5-10 things that they wish they could change. And many of us try our best to make improvements on our own -- whether it’s starting every January with a fresh batch of resolutions or simply making another “diet starts Monday” epiphany. 

If you’re looking for a book that will give you a step-by-step plan for eliminating those bad habits and instilling good habits into your life, “The Power of Habit” by Charles Duhigg isn’t the book for you.

If there was one thing our book club decided on while reading Profit First by Mike Michalowicz, it’s that this book should be marketed as a how-to for business finance more than a way to make profit. Don’t get me wrong, Michalowicz does guarantee you’ll make profit — which he does. But the true benefit of the book is how to set yourself up for financial success from the get to.

“To win in the future, companies must stop competing with each other. The only way to beat the competition is to stop TRYING to beat the competition.” 

Blue Ocean Strategy by W. Chan Kim describes its contents as “how to create uncontested market space and make the competition irrelevant”. The entire point of the book is to not only describe why it’s so important to change your mindset from focusing on competitors to focusing on alternatives (aka not converting customers, but finding a way to serve non-customers), but it also shows you how to do it.

Raise your hand if this thought has ever crossed your mind:

“Am I lazy?”

Because I’m not afraid to admit that it has definitely crossed mine. You see, I’m not internally motivated. I’m not one to set gym goals and achieve them on my own. I can’t promise myself to do something and always expect to keep that promise. But it doesn’t mean I’m lazy. In fact, thanks to Gretchen Rubin’s The Four Tendencies, I know now it just means I’m an Obliger.

It’s time to say something absolutely radical: You should run your business (and your life) based off your feelings.

The Fire Starter Sessions by Danielle LaPorte breaks that all down. Instead of focusing on building a life that we think is what we’re supposed to be doing, it urges us to follow our inner truth to decide what direction to move forward in — both in our personal and professional lives. LaPorte moves through issues such as fear, rejection, marketing, hard work, money, and criticism to help us build a future that we feel excited for.

Anyone who has been following along for a while now (or knows me in person!), understands that I have an ardent love for reading. Whether it’s historical, mystery, biography, essay, short story, business (the list LITERALLY goes on), you bet I’m down to read it.

So this holiday season, consider getting your favorite entrepreneur (or yourself!) one of these must-read business books:

“Only once you give yourself permission to stop trying to do it all, to stop saying yes to everyone, can you make your highest contribution toward the things that really matter.”

Enter Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less by Greg McKeown. This amazing book preaches the practice of “less, but better”. It explains that focusing our energy on only a few truly worthwhile commitments at a time actually produces stronger, more effective, and more meaningful results.

Guess what? A large percentage of the thoughts that run through our brains are lies. Thoughts about ourselves (I'm not good enough, I need to lose weight, I'm clumsy/lazy/etc.), thoughts about other people (she's judging me, he is angry at me, they didn't invite me because they don't like me), and thoughts about the world overall (it's hard to make money, good grades are how you tell if you're smart).