Matt’s Select
Here are a couple of books that I found impactful and enjoyable. I am finishing my complete list for the 2024 calendar year, to be out shortly! I hope you will pick one up and feel challenged, encouraged, motivated, and overall edified!
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The Fred Factor: How Passion in Your Work and Life Can Turn the Ordinary into the Extraordinary
by Mark Sanborn
This was an easy and enjoyable read.
The premise: you can serve people intentionally in any workplace and leave a profound impact. If more businesses trained with this approach, if more people worked with this mindset, every job would be considered to be part of the service industry.
One of my favorite quotes from this book: “Be interested, not just interesting.” Take the time to get to know other people; be interested in them. Read this book and let it impact your approach to work. See how it changes the dynamic of your workdays.
The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People
by Stephen Covey
This book quickly entered a top 5 book all-time for me.
Covey does well to emphasize the necessity for principled living. I am not surprised that this has been able to withstand the test of a few decades. The 7 habits he describes are not easy, simple-fix life changes. They are habits that take time to develop and build, and require constant maintenance. But walking inside those habits offers a freedom otherwise unaccessible.
Talk about principled living!
This is a book I believe every person should read. It is dense, and it took me a few months to get through. Just getting through this book requires discipline and diligence, but it is worth it. Each section is full of stories and challenging perspectives. Shoutout to my friend Bethannie for recommending it for me!
Trust is the highest form of human motivation. It brings out the very best in people.
But it takes time and patience, and it doesn't preclude the necessity
to train and develop people so that their competency can rise to the level of that trust.
- Stephen Covey
Faith Risks
by O. Brent Dongell
Faith Risks! When I was reading this, I had two different lines of thoughts. One, ‘faith risks’ could be referencing a noun, describing risks built on faith. Two, ‘faith risks’ could be a referencing the verb, saying ‘faith risks…’.
Both work.
Looking back, I can identify risks I have taken built on faith, stepping out and trusting the Lord. At the same time, this book served as a reminder that genuine and authentic faith will risk things. A faith that is safe and comfortable, that has never risked anything, is a small faith.
I picked this book up because the author is actually a friend of mine. We recently sat down so I could provide some of my thoughts after reading it. The book offered some valuable wisdom and powerful information.
Reading through the book was a challenge at points because the flow of content and formatting did not align with the way my brain works. It was a bit all over the place. If you know Brent, then you will know this is how his mind works. He moves 100 miles an hour, with pure heart and great intensity, at whatever he is doing.
This book is pure and genuine; it is a true act of worship. One of the reasons I enjoyed it and will return to it is because it in itself is a representation of a faith risk for Brent. I do feel obligated to add that reading his book and hearing his thoughts on publishing the book as a way of stepping out in faith helped inspire me to pull the trigger on A Life Worth Remark, so thanks Brent!
Believing in a real rewarding life after this world gives us freedom to sacrifice now and live beyond ourselves.
- O. Brent Dongell
Thanks for reading! If you have read any of these, let me know what you think by sending me an email! Every so often I will send subscribers some of my recent reads with some reflections.
If you have any book recommendations for me to add to my list, feel free to send me some titles/links via email! I am always looking for books to add to my list!
I hope you received even a little value out of taking the time to read this!