My Book List from 2023

Reading has been something I have always enjoyed. As a child, I couldn't get enough books to read. I loved the books sharing the heroic stories of yesteryear, whether they be leaders, explorers, or athletes.

As I moved into my teen years and college, the pull of science fiction and fantasy started to dominate my reading, but historical writings of military heroes or events would continue to find a spot at the table. 

But as I moved to adulthood, personal growth became more important as I worked to Be Better Today than I was yesterday. Early in my career, I traveled non-stop and all those hours on a plane flying around the globe allowed me the opportunity to get a lot of reading in whether the lessons from Covey, Ziglar, and Welch or the thrill of Clancy, Koontz, and Ludlum.

But now, time is more precious and sitting down to read is difficult with the demands of life. Books have given way to iPhones and AirPods as I capitalize on my Audible subscription.  Of the 22 books I read last year, only 3 were in written form with the rest being ones I listened to.

I decided to share my reading list of the books I finished in 2023. I broke them into 3 categories: Personal Growth, Guilty Pleasure, Historical Non-Fiction. Personal Growth represented 68% of my reading focus. As someone who likes to take notes, using an audiobook can be challenging when you are trying to walk on the treadmill and type in notes on your phone... be careful, full athlete mode is required to accomplish this!

Here is a list of the books I read. They are not ranked, merely listed out from the one I finished most recently to the one I finished at the start of the year. 
 
PERSONAL GROWTH

1. Trust & Inspire by Steven F. Covey
2. Strength to Strength by Arthur C Brooks
3. Coach Wooden's Pyramid of Success by John Wooden & Jay Carty
4. The Big Goal System by Zig Ziglar and others
5. The One Truth by Jon Gordon
6. All it Takes is a Goal by Jon Acuff
7. Fighting the good Fight by Dr. Sean Siebert
8. Good Leaders Ask Great Questions by John C. Maxwell
9. The Dichotomy of Leadership by Jocko Willink, Leif Babin
10. Extreme Ownership by Jocko Willink, Leif Babin
11. Winning the War in Your Mind by Craig Groeschel
12. What Is It Costing You Not to Listen? by Christine Miles
13. Change Your Questions, Change Your Life by Marilee Adams
14. The Soul of a Team by Tony Dungy
15. The Success Lie by Janelle Bruland

GUILTY PLEASURES
(Okay, I love listening to these types of books because if you have a good narrator, they can really help capture the personality of the characters. Now, I doubt if many people would include Animal Farm as a guilty pleasure but where else do I put it? Honestly, I forgot how powerful of a book it was and could easily be a life lesson in personal development. Or I guess, you could stretch and say it is historical non-fiction / fiction because wow, such truth!)

1. Blue Moon (Jack Reacher) by Lee Child
2. Vein Pursuits by Rhett Bruno & Jaime Castle
3. Waybound by Will Wight
4. Animal Farm by George Orwell

HISTORICAL NON-FICTION

1. Legends and Lies: The Real West by Bill O'Reilly
2. The Case for Christ by Lee Strobel
3. The President & the Freedom Fighter by Brian Kilmeade

I hope to hear back from you on your thoughts on these books. If you have any questions, about them, let me know and I will share my opinion. If you have any recommendations, I would love to hear them.

Taking the time for personal growth through reading (or listening) is essential to Being Better Today than you were yesterday. Because Leaders Lead and a growth mindset takes you Beyond Today.

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