I try to read anywhere from 20 to 40 books a year. These are the most important lessons that have stuck with me and the books that gave them to me:
Gap and Gain by Dan Sullivan - Rather than focus on where you are headed, focus on where you have been. Measure yourself based on all you have accomplished, not how much is left until you achieve “success”. We have a habit of constantly moving the goalpost. Always setting success a bit further out of reach. This leads to discontent.
Enchiridion of Epictetus - Only worry about what you can control. We waste so much energy on things out of our control, it is like suffering our worst fates a thousand times over. Focus on what you can control and let go of the rest.
Meditations by Marcus Aurelius – Almost all of our problems are shared. Written 2,000 years ago by the most powerful man in the world, his daily challenges mirror many we each face today.
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Robert Pirsig - Do everything with Quality. If it is worth doing it is worth doing well and our attention to detail in the little things carries over into the big things. This is the lesson I most find myself sharing with my oldest son, who is 9. He has the word quality ingrained in his mind.
Bonus, I read this on the internet, so not technically from a book:
“At a party given by a billionaire on Shelter Island, Kurt Vonnegut informs his pal, Joseph Heller, that their host, a hedge fund manager, had made more money in a single day than Heller had earned from his wildly popular novel Catch-22 over its whole history. Heller responds, “Yes, but I have something he will never have — ENOUGH.”
Knowing when enough is enough and finding joy in what we already have is the secret to a fulfilling life.