- The Reading Life
- Posts
- 10 Books That Will Put You Ahead of 99% of People
10 Books That Will Put You Ahead of 99% of People
Matt Karamazov
June 10, 2025 ā¢ Estimated Reading Time: 23 minutes
YOUTUBE š CREATOR LAUNCH ACADEMY š PATREON
I donāt want to give you the idea that I believe life is one giant competition.
It certainly doesnāt have to be, and indeed, one of the guiding principles of my life in business comes from Zig Ziglar when he said:
āYou can get anything you want in life, just as long you help enough other people get what they want.ā
I believe in the truth of that statement, and itās made me incredibly successful in what Iāve chosen to do. Your success doesnāt diminish mine, and if I can help you to become more successful, then Iāll be something good for myself as well.
Many of the top achievers in a variety of different fields all think that way.
But thereās also something about competition that calls out the best in us.
Back when I was boxing, Iād spar with all the top guys in my gym (provincial champions, future pros, world heavyweight contenders), and by going up against such immense talent, I was forced to get better.
So competition isnāt ābadā in and of itself. But I do love to win, and I love trying to beat the people Iām running up against. Iām always driving harder and faster - and with greater intensity - to be the very best.
I donāt want to be just āaverage.ā Just āokay.ā
I want to be great. And if you want to be greatā¦
These books will help.
Nowā¦before our coffees get cold, letās read!
Tonight, Inside The Reading Life, Weāve Got:
š Relentless, by Tim Grover
Weāve got lots to learn today, so letās hit the books!
āThe mind is its own place, and in itself can make a Heaven of Hell, a Hell of Heaven.ā
āYou will never change your life until you change something you do daily. The secret of your success is found in your daily routine.ā
Once you understand how the Compound Effect works, your life will never be the same. But you have to do more than just understand it, you have to let it work long enough for it to actually work its magic. And itās one of the closest things to magic that exists in this world.
The basic premise is that small, seemingly insignificant actions, taken consistently over time, lead to stunningly massive results.
Things like reading 10 pages a day from a nonfiction book, or hitting the gym three times a week, or making a habit of tackling difficult conversations head-on. They donāt seem all-important in the moment. But stacked together, over a long-enough time horizon, and youāre more knowledgeable than 99% of people in your field, healthier and fitter than 99% of the people your age, and with the emotional intelligence of the 1%.
āIt is more productive to convert an opportunity into results than to solve a problem - which only restores the equilibrium of yesterday.ā
Peter Drucker was a legendary management consultant and author of nearly 40 books whose positive impact will be felt for generations in the business world. He taught people not to just get more done, but get more of the right things done.
Especially relevant for knowledge workers, this book will put you decades ahead of your competition, most of whom are average at best. They waste time in meetings, they lack focus and organization, they donāt take time to plan with the end in mindā¦in all these areas and more you have the opportunity to pull ahead.
Now, armed with Druckerās insights, you can and you will.
āThe good news about deliberate practice is that it will push you past this plateau and into a realm where you have little competition.ā
Cal Newportās ideas have rippled through the public consciousness, such as with his book, Deep Work, and this one, So Good They Canāt Ignore You, takes on the idea that āfollow your passionā is good career advice.
Sure, to stick with something long-term, itās much better if you actually enjoy it. I never would have read 1,000 books before I turned 30 if I didnāt love it. Or worked out multiple times per week, pretty much since I was 16 years old if I didnāt love it. But to build a remarkable, lucrative, rare career for yourself, passion is likely not enough.
Instead, what you have to do is become undeniable. You have to become so good they canāt ignore you.
āEssentialists see trade-offs as an inherent part of life, not as an inherently negative part of life. Instead of asking, 'What do I have to give up?' they ask, 'What do I want to go big on?' The cumulative impact of this small change in thinking can be profound."
The main thrust of Essentialism (both the book and the idea itself) is that almost everything is completely worthless.
Discerning the "vital few" from the "trivial many" is going to be one of the most in-demand skills in the economy of the future, and those who can do this well are going to reap the majority of the rewards and experience the highest possible meaning in their lives, while the rest of us are drowning in distraction.
One of the most famous Essentialists in history, Michelangelo, once said that he "saw the angel in the marble and carved until he set him free." In a similar way, we are the sculptors of our own lives, the creators of our own meaning.
The perfect form of our lives is hidden inside the marble of all the distractions, detours, and trivialities of the modern world, and we have to be artists; we have to be disciplined in carving away everything that's stealing our time, focus, and attention away from what we want our one and only lives to be about.
āYour ultimate power source will be from the neck up, not the neck down.ā
I donāt think I knew that Tim Grover was Michael Jordanās personal trainer when I first picked up this book. Or that he had worked with a multitude of basketball greats as well, including Kobe Bryant and Dwayne Wade, to name just two.
I wasnāt even particularly interested in basketball (Iām still not) - I just liked the title and the book cover and decided to dive in. And? Unbelievable. What. A. Book!
Itās not for everybody, of course, as Groverās style is quite intense and unforgiving. Simply put, not everybody wants to be as great as his methods will allow you to become.
Most people just arenāt willing to endure the kinds of sacrifices that being Relentless requires, and thatās totally cool! Not everybody can (or wants to) become a champion.
Howeverā¦That being said, if you do aim to achieve greatness in whatever it is you choose to do in your life, this is the absolutely indispensable guide that you need to read.
āAdvice is one thing that is freely given away, but watch that you only take what is worth having.ā
This is an absolute classic personal finance book, full of fantastic advice that consistently gets ignored by those people overspending, racking up credit card debt, failing to invest or save for the future, and just generally doing the opposite of everything laid out in this book. You donāt want to be like everybody else, do you? Then read it!
The framing narrative follows Arkad, the wealthiest man in Babylon, who shares his secrets of prosperity with his friends. Much of it is simple, basic advice, but an incredible number of wealthy, financially successful people credit this book with helping them to get their financial lives in order.
It helped me a tremendous amount personally, and today I patiently invest in assets that generate wealth without my conscious involvement. I spend within my limits (while working to expand my limits), I save for the future, I avoid the consumer traps littered across our society and rammed into our eyes and ears at every turn, and I just generally feel more on top of everything financially. And even if you āknowā a lot of this stuff already, itās true that we need to reminded more than we need to be taught.
āInstead of feeling that youāve blown the day and thinking, āIāll get back on track tomorrow,ā try thinking of each day as a set of four quarters: morning, midday, afternoon, evening. If you blow one quarter, you get back on track for the next quarter. Fail small, not big.ā
Habits are the invisible architecture of our lives, and this book will help you to build better ones. Iāve been reading (and loving) Rubinās books ever since discovering The Happiness Project, and Iāve always appreciated her experimental, yet genuinely helpful approach to happiness, habits, and building an actual life for yourself.
One of the parts I liked most was where she said that the more you give to yourself, the more you can ask from yourself.
Iām always driving pretty hard and fast toward my goals and objectives, and her books are a nice counterweight to the idea that everything has to be a redline race to the finish line. Recovery is part of the race too, and I can trace at least a few of the positive, healthy habits that helped me to become successful to this very book.
āIf you need to win, then you will most likely lose.ā
This is a book that could be viewed as quite manipulative, but you donāt have to read it that way. In that sense, itās kind of like The 48 Laws of Power: misunderstood, and denounced by people who most likely have never even read it.
Get Anyone to Do Anything is pretty much exactly what it sounds like: a collection of psychological principles that will help you get your way in a variety of social situations, as well as detect (with reasonable accuracy) when others are lying to you, etc. Itās not the only book on human behavior and negotiation that I would read, but for its sheer volume of helpful, practical recommendations it gets my recommendation.
āAn intention is a goal with all doubt about its attainment removed.ā
I heard someone say that this book was like The Secret, except for business, and you know what? Thatās probably not too far off! I donāt have a terribly high opinion of books like The Secret (I find the authors of such books to be peddlers of easy answers and sellers of impossible dreams), but Three Simple Steps is not that. Itās sooo much more.
I even remember where I was when I read it (itās one of āthoseā books), and I remember looking up from its pages thinking that my entire world had changed. Of course it hadnāt, but I had most certainly changed. I began to see possibility and potential where before there were only roadblocks and dead ends. I started to believe in myself more, and I started to take my own dreams and ambitions more seriously.
It also helps that the author was legitimately successful before he wrote the book (having sold his business for $100M), and he didnāt need my $10 or anything like that. I felt that the book came from a place of service, from someone who had tapped the full potential of his mind to get everything he ever wanted, and now Iām passing it along to you.
āEvery limitation in your mind is there because you have put it there and have agreed to it.ā
Perhaps no one else in my early 20s made a bigger, more positive difference in my life than Wayne Dyer. That man has done sooo much for me, itās incredible. I literally donāt know where Iād be without his influence, and Iām not just saying that.
This book is a recorded lecture, actually, so my notes may not be direct quotes (I had to pause and unpause so often), but itās nowhere near long enough. I remember just sitting in my car listening to this book all the way through, just feeling my life being changed.
The theme of his talk was the connectedness of your mind to God and the rest of reality, as well as the transformative power of gratitude and the search for wisdom. I wasnāt a big ābelieverā at the time, and honestly I wouldnāt say that I have a āreligious focusā even today. And still. Wayne Dyerās words made a huge impression on me, and this book (well, all his books) have shaped a healthy portion of my success to this day.
Forward this to a friend you think would love this book!
If you were sent this newsletter, click here to subscribe.
To read past editions of The Reading Life, click here.
āClick here to recommend The Reading Life on Twitter (X).
OK, thatās it for nowā¦
Iāve got plenty more excellent book recommendations coming your way soon though!
Thereās also my YouTube channel, where I publish book reviews, reading updates, and more each week.
And if you want to learn how Iāve built an audience of 160,000+ followers across social media, became a full-time creator, and how Iām rapidly growing my audience and my profits in 2025, join us inside Creator Launch Academy and thatās exactly what Iāll teach you ā weād love to have you in the community!
With that said, I hope you enjoyed this edition of The Reading Life, and enjoy the rest of your day!
Until next timeā¦happy reading!
All the best,
Matt Karamazov
P.S. Whenever you're ready, here are two more ways I can help you:
Creators: Book a 1:1 call and Iāll help you hit $5K/month with a plan tailored to your business.
Join Creator Launch Academy, my mastermind for content creators building real revenue and real freedom.
Reply