The World's Best Book Summaries
Does your business need revamping? Do you want to gain a competitive advantage in business? The goal of every business is to outperform its competitors. Competitive Advantage by Michael Porter suggests that you align your operational procedures with one of three strategies: set lower prices, offer something unique, and target niche markets. Discover how to implement each of these strategies.
How much clarity do you have about the stage of life you’re in right now? Why is reevaluating your life and relationships crucial for your happiness? In The Good Life, Robert Waldinger and Marc Schulz explore two frameworks for understanding your current relationships. They urge you to evaluate your stage of life and the shape that your relationships are in. Continue reading to reevaluate your life with the authors’ practical frameworks.
What is crunch culture in video games? Why do game development studios push their employees beyond their limits? According to Blood, Sweat, and Pixels by Jason Schreier, many game development studios prioritize mandatory overtime over their employees’ mental health and personal lives. This is to meet deadlines and avoid delays that mean pushing the release of video games back for months or even years. Continue reading to learn why crunch culture has become so normalized in the gaming industry.
How did Jennette McCurdy recover from her mother’s abuse? What are the effects of abusive parents on adult children? After her mom’s death, McCurdy’s difficult childhood and its lasting, negative effects began to catch up to her. In I’m Glad My Mom Died, McCurdy explores her experience with therapy and treatment for her eating disorders and how she came to terms with her mom, Debra’s abuse. Continue reading to learn how this former actor coped with her abusive childhood as an adult.
What do you do when you find it hard to focus? How successful are you at changing your attitude when you should? Sometimes, you feel too tired or scattered to focus and do what you need to do or even want to do. This happens to everyone. Tim Ferriss, in his book Tribe of Mentors, shares how several successful people put themselves back into a positive, productive frame of mind when they get off track. Read on for advice on how to recenter yourself and return to the task at hand.
What are the various ways a speech can be organized? How does Dale Carnegie recommend you end a talk, regardless of its structure? Once you have a topic and some excellent ideas around it, you need to organize your ideas in a way that will reach your audience effectively. In Public Speaking for Success, Dale Carnegie provides three templates and shares some general guidelines that apply to any speech structure. Continue reading to learn how to structure a speech with classic advice from Carnegie.
Is Zen Buddhism Mahayana? How did ideas from India shape a philosophy that emerged in China? Alan Watts discusses the origins of Zen Buddhism in his book The Way of Zen. He explains that Zen ideas came largely out of three different traditions. One of these is Mahayana Buddhism, and Watts outlines two concepts that the two philosophies share. Keep reading to learn how Mahayana Buddhism helped shape Zen Buddhism.
What is the Fogg Behavior Model? What role does motivation play in forming habits? In Tiny Habits, Stanford behavioral scientist BJ Fogg presents the Fogg Behavior Model. The model explains that habits form because of your motivation to perform the habit. Below we’ll take a look at the psychology and science behind the Fogg Behavior Model.
Which Buddhist teachings does secularist Sam Harris follow? Why? Sam Harris isn’t religious, but he’s spiritual. In his book Waking Up, he discusses how to separate spirituality from the confines of religion, and why, out of all the major faiths, Buddhism provides the most practical roadmap to having spiritual experiences without the baggage of superstition and dogma. Continue reading to understand why, for Sam Harris, Buddhism has something to offer.
Do you want your business to stand out from the rest? How can you practice differentiation in business? To gain a competitive advantage in the market, your business has to offer something unique from other businesses. Additionally, you need to target niche markets that your product specifically caters to. Let’s look at how to make your business one of a kind to draw more consumers in.