19 Books to Transform Your 2025

• Here are some of the best books read this year across four different categories:
• Productivity and Performance
• Business and Entrepreneurship
• Health and Well-being
• Fantasy Fiction

All right, so these are some of the best books that I've read this year across four different categories: productivity and performance, business and entrepreneurship, health and well-being, and fantasy fiction. Let's start with productivity.

Book number one is Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity by David Allen. This is an absolute classic in the world of productivity. This is a book that I've read about three or four different times, and I reread it again this year because life has been pretty hectic this year with getting married, moving country, and trying to grow my business and team. I realized that there were a bunch of fundamentals from this book that I picked up over the years, but it really helped having that refresher. The book basically gives you a comprehensive system for capturing, organizing, and executing all of the different tasks and projects you need to do to move your life forward.

I'll be honest, it's kind of a boring read; it's not that riveting. But there are a few really game-changing principles in here that, if you read it or listen to it on Audible or whatever, and you actually apply them to your life with your own productivity system, then I think you'll get a lot of value out of this book. It's one of those things that the principles you learn from this book you'll genuinely use for the rest of your life.

Book number two is Good Work by Paul Millard. Paul is the author of The Pathless Path, which is also one of my favorite books. Paul's story is that he quit a prestigious career in management consulting, where he was being paid loads of money, to pursue his own ambition and become a writer, making a lot less money. If you're like me and maybe you have a job or had a job at one point and you were questioning whether it was the right thing for you, and you didn't have many examples of others who went off the beaten path, these books give you more of a sense of permission.

It’s like we shouldn’t need permission to explore our own ambition and live our own lives, but often the social models around us—friends, family, and colleagues—either consciously or subconsciously encourage us down a particular path. If you're feeling that sense of, "Hmm, maybe this work that I'm doing isn't really lighting me up," then I'd really recommend reading The Pathless Path and this book because it gives you questions, prompts, and anecdotes about how to answer the question of how to find good work—work that's enjoyable, meaningful, and sustainable.

All right, book number three is Rest by Alex Su Jun Kim Pang. The whole thesis of the book is that Alex is encouraging us to rest more. If we just go through the table of contents, we have "The Problem of Rest" and "The Sense of Rest," which talk about why resting feels so hard in our capitalistic, hustle-oriented society, where there's this constant drive for more and more. He also delves into the science behind things like the default mode network and how resting actually stimulates our creativity.

There are two parts to the book: stimulating creativity and sustaining creativity. Within stimulating creativity, he discusses 4 hours—the optimal amount of time to focus, the power of morning routines, why walking and napping, and stopping for the day are actually very good things to do. It may sound obvious, and you might think, "I don’t need a book to teach me how to rest," but if you care about productivity and personal development, it's very easy for people like us to fixate on work and underappreciate rest.

Book number four is Slow Productivity by Cal Newport, which combines productivity with the idea of rest. The subtitle is "The Lost Art of Accomplishment Without Burnout." He discusses the three rules of slow productivity: do fewer things at once, work at a natural pace, and obsess over quality. I really like it because it contains inspiring stories and anecdotes from figures like Galileo, Isaac Newton, and Jane Austen, showing how they structured their lives to produce meaningful output without being rushed or busy.

In my case, this has changed how I approach goal setting and task management, proving to be one of the most impactful books I’ve read.

While we're here, a cheeky plug for my own book, Feelgood Productivity. If you haven't read it yet, you might like to; it's available everywhere books are sold. My thesis is that if you want to be more productive, creative, less stressed, and do work that feels enjoyable and meaningful, we’ve got to focus on the positive emotions that work generates. Even the most boring tasks have ways to find fun in them, making them a bit more enjoyable.

Now let's move on to the business and entrepreneurship favorite books of the year I would recommend. The first one is Ready, Fire, Aim by Michael Masterson, subtitled "0 to $100 Million in No Time Flat." Obviously, that's a bit of an exaggeration, but I think he does a reasonable job of delivering on that promise. He splits business entrepreneurship into distinct phases: 0 to $1 Million, $1 to $10 Million, $10 to $50 Million, and then $50 to $100 Million.

Having been through the 0 to $1 Million stage, I learned many lessons from this book, some of which I hadn’t considered before. Now, our business is between the $1 and $10 Million mark, generating about $4-6 Million per year. This book gave me genuinely novel and useful ideas on how to break that $10 Million annual revenue threshold.

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Book number two is Traction by Gino Wickman, which I have read many times on Kindle. Traction is one of the books I most recommend to other entrepreneurs running businesses. If you have a business with at least three team members, I’d say it’s essential reading. If your business has fewer than three people, I probably wouldn’t recommend it yet.

But if you do have more than three members, Traction is fantastic. It’s like the ultimate operating system for running a business. My business has gone back and forth on the traction methodology versus not for the past few years. This year, as I reread the book, I realized that many mistakes we made could have been avoided had we just stuck to the method.

Book number three is an old school one called The Goal by Eliyahu Goldratt, now in its 30th Anniversary Edition. It has been out for a long time and sold over 10 million copies. The book discusses business operations and management principles, which might sound boring unless you work in business operations or own a business. But it’s riveting in showing all the different ways you're screwing up your business.

I like that it’s not just a textbook or how-to guide; it’s told through a fable or story, making it much more engaging. It really drives home the idea of the theory of constraints, which is crucial for running a business.

Book number four is one I listened to on Audible called Death by Meeting by Patrick Lencioni. I love business books by Pat Lencioni. They may sound boring—like Death by Meeting, The Four Obsessions of an Extraordinary Executive, and The Advantage—but they're really good. They're easy to read or listen to and incorporate storytelling to introduce important business concepts, which I think is a super nice way to learn.

Death by Meeting is particularly interesting and required reading for anyone who either leads or attends meetings as part of their job.

Book number five is Million Dollar Weekend by Noah Kagan—the surprisingly simple way to launch a six-figure business in 48 hours. You obviously won’t create a six-figure business in that time, but you can launch one. Many people want to start businesses but do not take action. If you've thought about starting one for a few months, years, or even decades, you might be waiting for the right idea.

This book is a step-by-step roadmap on how to just get started. He really encourages action, so if you tend to thrive on learning without acting, this book will call you out and nudge you to take action. If you genuinely want to start a business rather than just read about it, this book will help you make it happen. I would 100% recommend it.

Number six is the audiobook of the biography of Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson. This book came out many years ago, but I hadn't read or listened to it until this year, and I found it really compelling and engaging. While it’s not a guide on starting a business, hearing stories from the early days of Apple and how Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak operated is quite interesting.

If you like entrepreneurship or Apple products, you'll find value in this book.

Now let's move on to the health and well-being category, including spirituality. The first book is Outlive by Peter Attia: The Science and Art of Longevity. This is an enormous book and incredibly good. When it arrived, I thought, "Who has time to read this?" I initially avoided it, but I made time to listen on Audible and found the information compelling.

In his mid-30s, Dr. Attia was a marathon swimmer who discovered he was unhealthy and on a path to early death from heart disease. This launched his quest to understand longevity and how to delay or prevent chronic diseases like heart disease, cancer, Alzheimer's disease, and type 2 diabetes.

This is a strategic and science-based approach to extending lifespan while improving physical, cognitive, and emotional health. Dr. Attia’s aim is not to tell you what to do but to help you learn how to think about long-term health and create the best plan for you as an individual.

I turned 30 this year, and with my wife currently pregnant, I am thinking about maximizing my chances of living a long and healthy life. I spent time working in a geriatric medicine ward and know firsthand that people age differently—some healthily and some unhealthily. There’s a lot we can do to set ourselves up to walk around without getting breathless or struggle with daily activities, which he touches on in this book. If you’re interested in living longer and healthier, not just physically, but also cognitively and emotionally, you’ll find value in this wonderful book.

Book number two is The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment by Eckhart Tolle. It’s good stuff. If you’re into spirituality, you’ll get a lot from this. However, if you're not into it yet, it might not resonate. Back when I was not into spirituality, I tried reading this but didn’t get it. Later, I got into meditation and spirituality, and suddenly I understood it when I reread it. It’s a classic in pop spirituality.

If you’re skeptical about spirituality, I suggest trying The Surrender Experiment by Michael Singer as a gateway. The Power of Now encourages stepping away from our analytical minds and connecting with the essence of our being.

I met a guy last year who, after battling clinical depression for years, found his life worth living after reading this book. While anecdotal and not suggesting it will cure everyone, it’s interesting how so many people report life-changing experiences from it.

Book number three is The Anxious Generation by Jonathan Haidt: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness. I absolutely love this book. It explains many experiences I’ve had and those of my friends. Born in 1994, I’m technically a millennial, but I have many friends in Gen Z (1997+) and see this epidemic of mental illness among them.

Haidt, a sociologist, sites numerous studies showing spikes in reported levels of depression and anxiety in those born post-1997. He argues that this epidemic can be traced down to factors, primarily social media and the negative impacts of platforms like Instagram on teenagers.

In the introduction summary, Haidt highlights that teens' social lives moved onto smartphones between 2010 and 2015, sparking a tidal wave of adolescent mental illness. The first generation to go through puberty with smartphones became more anxious, depressed, and self-harming compared to previous generations. The spike affected girls more, especially pre-teen girls.

Other factors contribute to mental health, but the rise between 2010 and 2015 isn’t explained by the financial crisis or specific events. If you're interested in mental health topics, kids, or social media interactions, this book has some fascinating insights worth checking out.

Book number four is a spirituality book by Jed McKenna, called Spiritual Enlightenment: The Damnedest Thing. I've read various books on spirituality and haven't achieved enlightenment yet, but I enjoyed McKenna's irreverent, straight-talking style. If you’ve dabbled in spirituality—maybe yoga or meditation—you might really enjoy this book.

Book number five in this category is The Comfort Crisis by Michael Easter. I’m still reading it but really enjoy it so far. The thesis is about embracing discomfort much more. My life is filled with comfort, and this book helps me realize that may not be good. It's engaging; he writes really well.

Finally, let’s move on to the fiction category. This year, I read the Detective Galileo series of Japanese murder mystery novels, thanks to a recommendation from a friend named Ollie. The first one is The Devotion of Suspect X by Keigo Higashino. This series blends murder mystery with physics and math, featuring a physics teacher and a math genius involved in a gripping situation.

I’ve recommended this to many, and the feedback has been overwhelmingly positive. I also read several books by Brandon Sanderson, my favorite fiction author. I read Tress of the Emerald Sea, The Nightmare Painter, and The Sunlit Man, and I’m currently on Wind and Truth, the fifth book in The Stormlight Archive.

I can't recommend Sanderson enough. If you haven’t read his work, I suggest starting with The Final Empire, the first book in the Mistborn Trilogy. It’s like getting into a universe where different characters from various books interact—it's incredibly immersive. I’ve been obsessed with Sanderson for the past eight years, and this year’s readings have been nothing short of incredible.

These are some of my favorite picks from this year, but I've curated a playlist of my favorite books from previous years that you can find if you're searching for more recommendations.

Thank you so much for watching. Have a lovely day, and I'll see you in the next video. Bye-bye!