Silvia’s Recommended Books
- by Silvia Cobos
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On my path as an entrepreneur, I have been fortunate enough to find myself in a constant learning process that, starting with my personal growth, has led me to the professional one. When you understand that all those goals that you set for yourself should not only be written as a list of to do’s on a piece of paper, but that you must also decree them and call them and feel them as real with the power of your mind is when you realize how important it is to re-program the mind so that all your efforts and all the time invested get rewarded. Today I want to talk to you about some books that I have found on this path that has made me grow as a businesswoman as well as a person, either through mentors who have come into my life, or by simple curiosity and the desire to learn that have always characterized me. I hope that some of them (or all of them) motivate you and speak directly to those plans that you have been developing.
The first book is called THE INIFINITE GAME by SIMON SINEK. This book that launched in 2019 talks about leadership strategies so that those goals you want to achieve make you structure new goals and maintain an "infinite game" in which you never stop developing new purposes, and that the mind is always as creative and alert as when you planted the first seed of your plan. With this book you will know if you are a finite player or an infinite player, and you will rethink which position you want to adopt from now on for the benefit of your team and your goals. The second book is FACTFULNESS by HANS ROSLING. The author wrote this book when he was struggling with cancer (a battle he lost), where he explains the 10 reasons why you are wrong about the world and why things are better than you think, which basically means that We have the tendency to be pessimistic and create scenarios in which things do not go the way you want, so in the end you end up giving up, or calling that negativity and in the same way things do not end up as you want. Through personal stories Hans Roslin explains those 10 reasons, hoping that in this way you will reconfigure your brain to think in a more positive way and turn around those situations that don’t seem to leave you much benefit in your life purposes, this book is super recommended if you want to see the human and real perspective of a person with whom you will surely feel identified. THE 5AM CLUB by ROBIN SHARMA. As we say in Colombia: “Al que madruga Dios le ayuda” which translates to "God helps those who wake up early", because this book talks about how to achieve success you need to adopt healthy habits and a constant routine to move you closer to reaching those goals you have been working on. The author speaks of 5am as the ideal time to think clearly without distractions and be creative, since it is a time of day when everything is silent and the day has not yet started for most people, making it the right time to start the day in the best way and face the challenges that arise. HOW TO WIN FRIENDS AND INFLUENCE PEOPLE by DALE CARNEGIE. Despite being a book from 1936, it talks about a very current topic because with the rise of social media, connecting with the right people can take you on the road to fulfilling your purposes. Being an influential person is a characteristic of people with leadership skills, as it is shown as an authority in social relations. This book will give you tips to improve the way you interact with other people, be more receptive, as well as be a better speaker and have eloquent and convincing arguments when you want to present an idea to the public.
IKIGAI, THE JAPANESE SECRET TO A LONG AND HAPPY LIFE, by ICHIGO ICHIE. More than a book, it is a manual based on Japanese culture in which you will find practical exercises to find your purpose and your own path. Throughout the book you will find three main topics to work on your personal process. The first is to try to identify what your purpose in life is, the second is about tips to improve your quality of life in different aspects, and the third one is about what we must do to be and stay healthy; all of this motivated by your passions and the activities that you enjoy the most in your daily routine, or simply a goal that you want to achieve. IKIGAI motivates you to follow your life purpose and to make it bigger, more ambitious and complete, because the path you take to live your life will be based around this.
Last but not least is EL ARTE DE NO QUEDARTE CON LAS GANAS by LUZ MARIA DORIA, and I personally love this book and I feel identified because its author is Colombian, and tells her story of success with which she motivates you not to let the opportunities pass in front of you in order to achieve your dreams. It is a book that, although it can be read by both men and women, it has had a great impact on my empowerment as a woman and my desire to be a strong, entrepreneurial woman, capable of achieving all my purposes. Luz María Doria calls your attention and dares you in a candid friendly way to not wait for later to go after your dreams, the moment is now and that future is never assured, so the only option is to take charge of your destiny, leave nothing to chance and get everything you want and more. For now, this book can only be found in a Spanish version, hope it can be translated so many more people get benefited from it.
If there is something that all books have in common, is that they all start with a purpose motivated by the desire for growth and success, in your personal or professional life, these are those kinds of readings that feed your soul, and teach you to think more clearly about how your actions define your life, understanding that nothing happens by chance and that you are the only responsible for your successes or failures. I hope you give an opportunity to at least one of these books because I am sure that they will help you fulfill that list of purposes that perhaps you left behind or that you feel got stuck in the process, to fulfill them and continue creating more and More every day.
Silvia.