self discipline Book Summaries

Dopamine Nation explains how to break bad habits using the neuroscience of dopamine, the "pleasure molecule" in our brains. If you want to retrain your brain to like doing hard things, Dr. Anna Lembke shares tools that may help like dopamine fasting, self-binding, truth-telling and leaning into pain.

The 5AM Club is about learning to wake up at 5 a.m. and follow a morning routine, so we can become more self-disciplined, productive, and happy. Robin Sharma wrote this self-help book as a story, with a Billionaire mentoring an Entrepreneur and Artist, who were struggling with distraction and procrastination.

Will is the life story of Will Smith, one of the biggest Hollywood actors. You'll hear about his tense childhood in Philadelphia, how his father taught Will self discipline, his rise to wealth and fame, and his quest for happiness (through solitude, counselling, reading, and psychedelics).

The War of Art explains how you can do more creative work and overcome your procrastination, distraction, and paralysis. Steven Pressfield says inside all of us is Resistance, a tricky enemy that sabotages our dreams, and it is the source of our fears, doubts, excuses, and poor habits.

Can't Hurt Me is a guide to building mental toughness, and it's also the motivational life story of David Goggins. When he was young David survived abuse and racism, but later he transformed himself into a Navy SEAL, ultramarathon runner, and world record holder.

Grit says being a top achiever is less about natural talent and more about your "grit," which means working consistently and staying interested in one direction for multiple years. Angela Duckworth shares research on how we can become grittier, and help others do so too.

Deep Work is about focusing deeply so you can thrive in your professional career. Cal Newport says reducing distractions and increasing our ability to concentrate will allow us to learn new skills faster and produce higher quality work.

Atomic Habits is a guide to building good habits and breaking bad ones. James Clear says all our habits follow a 4-Step Habit Loop which includes: cue, craving, response and reward. He explains practical techniques to "hack" each step so we can achieve lasting personal change.

How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big is about the hilarious wisdom and many business failures of Scott Adams, creator of Dilbert. He shares pragmatic strategies for increasing our odds of success—by using systems over goals, building a talent stack and repeating (mysteriously powerful) affirmations.