A book that influenced me most

Hi guys!

I have always loved reading, but did not read as much as I want. Fortunately, when I bought an e-ink reader and started getting to work by the metro, I got at least one hour of reading every day! It looks not so much, but for the last three years I read more books than for the previous decade.

I like books of different genres. For example, my previous passion was for dystopian novels like Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury or Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell. Before it I was interested in books about our universe like The Fabric of the Cosmos  by Brian Greene, some psychology books like The Willpower Instinct by Kelly McGonigal, and so on.

Today I would like to share with you a book that influenced me most and I think changed my life in some way. This is Soft Skills: The software developer’s life manual by John Sonmez. It is a bit strange book for software developers that tells nothing about software. However, it gives a lot of priceless advice how to become a great developer, successful investor, and even a body-builder. 🙂

The author describes his way from a nerd to a rockstar-like developer, a successful real estate investor and a body-builder. It is not an one-moment change, but a constant work on improving yourself in different areas. John shares his knowledge in a form of simple advice and to-do actions. The author style is clean and easy to read and understand.

There are the following topics in the book:

• Career, marketing yourself
• Learning
• Productivity
• Finances
• Fitness
• Spirit

For me I found the most useful topics related to career that includes marketing yourself and productivity as the essential parts. If you are like me, then you probably experienced troubles in your career when it is not clear what to do to get a promotion. John gives a clear answer. Probably the answer is familiar to you (as it was for me), but he also gives concrete steps how to reach all the goals and why it is important.

To be successful you need to have goals in your life and be able to prioritize them. Then you should learn how to learn effectively. To reach the goals you should be productive and do not waste your time. A crucial part of success is marketing yourself. Without marketing, most likely, you won’t reach much. Without deliberate financial approach you won’t be able to become financially independent. You will be much happier if you are healthy, so you should stay in fit. And, of course, your spirit is the crucial part. Where one sees flaws, the other sees possibilities. Look for a way to give your friends, colleagues, other people as much value as possible and it will return to you multiplied.

I tried to apply in life some advice from the book and it works greatly! I hope it will also work for you.

Bye!