My Top 3 Books OF ALL TIME For Personal Development And Business Success

These Books Took Me From Broke To Baller

If you've been following me over the last decade, you've seen me go from basically broke to balling right before your eyes.

There are three books that influenced me deeply throughout my journey, and I can tell you I was a completely different person before reading these books and after.

When I say these three books are super important, that means something because I've read two books a week for over 10 years.

Out of all of them though, these 3 had the biggest impact

Awaken The Giant Within by Tony Robbins

I got this book when I was 17, and it completely changed my life.

Before Tony Robbins, I thought we were all just victims of our emotions.

I believed your feelings controlled you, not the other way around.

Robbins blew my mind by showing exactly how to take command of your emotional state.

This matters more than most people realize, because while you need to take action to get results, the quality of that action depends entirely on your state of mind.

Think about it: you hit the gym after finding out your dog died, and that workout is going to be trash.

But hit that same workout after watching Rocky, blasting 50 Cent, and getting your mind right? Completely different outcome.

What if you could control your emotional state before every important thing you do?

Before writing this article, I deliberately put myself in peak state.

If I came in with low energy and a negative mindset, I'd still be writing, but the quality would be garbage.

Here's the reality: you only control two things in life, your actions and your attitude.

Everything else, weather, other people, random events, that shit's out of your hands.

Life will knock you down. Guaranteed.

Tragedies aren't a matter of if, but when. The only question is: how will you respond?

I learned this lesson the hardest way possible when my father put a bullet in his head when I was 24.

Yes, I was devastated. But I still had a family to provide for.

Even while grieving, I had to control my state to go out and make money happen.

When it was hustle time, I shifted my state to get it done.

Did I cry? Hell yeah, for years.

But when it was time to perform, I commanded my emotions instead of letting them command me.

Every man needs this skill.

Men without emotional control become dangerous, they hurt women, damage others, and destroy themselves.

"Awaken the Giant Within" isn't just a self-help book, it's the ultimate manual for taking control of your mind.

Rich Dad Poor Dad By Robert Kiyosaki

I picked up "Rich Dad Poor Dad" right after Robbins' book when I was 17, just before heading to college.

This book completely flipped my understanding of money upside down.

Here's the brutal truth: broke people work for money, then blow that money on living expenses and status symbols.

This pattern repeats no matter how much some people earn, that's why the average pro athlete goes bankrupt within five years of retirement.

I used to train this dude who played for the Lions.

While in the NFL, he blew his salary on Lamborghinis, a mansion, and cars for his baby mama and side chick.

Then he got cut, couldn't make the payments, and went flat broke.

Real ballers operate differently, they use their money to buy assets, then let those assets pay for the luxuries.

Take this diamond-covered AP watch I copped for my 40th birthday.

It's not an investment, it's pure luxury that I always dreamed about rocking when I was a kid in the hood.

But here's the key: I didn't buy it with money from grinding in my business.

Instead, I bought stocks, then sold covered calls against those positions, generating premiums that paid for the watch.

I can cop a few of these every year without touching a single dollar from my work income.

True wealth builders use asset income to buy more assets, creating a wealth cycle that grows automatically.

I witnessed the alternative up close.

Growing up on Chicago's South Side, we were poor as fuck, my parents couldn't even afford a car.

At five years old, my mom walked me to preschool at 5 AM through Chicago's brutal snow.

We got robbed on the way, first time I had a gun to my head, I was just five years old.

My dad wasn't around much, always hustling, trying to get his shit together.

I got shipped off to military boarding school, and while I was away, his business finally blew up.

By the time I finished high school, he was pulling in $3 million annually, about $8 million in today's money.

I never saw any of that life because I was away at school, then at Howard University.

By graduation, he had pissed away all the money because he never followed these wealth principles I'd learned in college.

I couldn't guide him, I was just a teenager. A few years later, he killed himself.

This is the dark reality of financial ignorance.

My dad became a successful businessman but never learned how to manage personal wealth.

I witnessed firsthand how bad things can get when you don't understand this shit.

Relentless By Tim Grover

This might be my favorite book of all time. I have "Relentless" tattooed on my arm.

The first year I made a million dollars, it took everything. I wasn't going to parties, missed every barbecue, wasn't watching TV.

I was waking up at 4:30 AM, working late, getting the bare minimum amount of sleep. I was completely focused, and it took a toll on my relationships.

People around me tried to tell me something was wrong with me. "You're working too hard, man. You gotta enjoy life, take it easy, have balance." I started thinking, "Maybe something's wrong with me? I actually enjoy working hard."

In my mind, recreation isn't the only way to enjoy life.

I figured these people need vacations, partying, drugs, and casual sex because they need to escape their lives, they hate what they do.

But I was enjoying the hustle, enjoying pushing myself to the next level.

It was coming from everywhere, and I started to think maybe something was wrong with me.

I was tempted to take my foot off the gas and listen to these people. Then I read "Relentless."

That's when I realized, this is how high achievers behave. In fact, Kobe would probably look at me and say I'm not going hard enough.

Tim Grover was the trainer for Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant, Dwyane Wade, and others who had that relentless drive. After reading it, I thought, "Maybe I'm not even going hard enough."

It's okay to love what you do. Working hard and having work ethic isn't a disease, it's awesome. Recreation isn't the only way to enjoy life.

These other people need to escape because they hate what they do. They can't fathom pushing yourself to be the best you can be.

I find joy in seeing what I'm made of, pushing myself to the limit, seeing how much of a badass I can be, how hard I can go, what example I can set for my employees, followers, and son.

I'd hate to look back on my life and wonder what could have been if I'd worked harder.

These people who "enjoy life" and "take it easy" don't even enjoy life that much. The escapism they talk about?

You can only go on vacations a few times a year, only party sometimes. If that's the only way you enjoy life, you only get little pockets of joy.

But when you learn to love pushing yourself and accomplishing things, every day can be joy.

I went on vacation with my girl for our anniversary, and it was fun, but I had just as much fun today at my computer.

It's a different kind of fun, the joy that comes from moving forward on goals that will make a difference in your life and your family's life. I get to feel that every day.

What these people call "enjoying life" is really just hedonism, doing shit they find fun to entertain themselves.

But if you're building a business, you'll end up with employees you're helping feed their families. Your product or service helps customers. Even if you just have a job and you're killing it, you're helping that business, its employees, and its customers.

To make money, you have to provide value. All that hedonistic "enjoying life" only serves themselves, but us hustlers getting money have to provide value.

We're helping a bunch of people, and these others don't realize how selfish they're being when they tell you to chill and be selfish with them.

I'm not saying you can't party sometimes, but if you're a real G, your life doesn't revolve around the next time you go on vacation.

That means you don't love life, you need to escape because you hate it so much. They don't understand how fucked up they are, and they think we're the ones who are fucked up.

The BMM Takeaway

These books didn't just change what I knew, they transformed who I am.

The mindset shifts I got from these three books literally took me from the South Side of Chicago to where I am today.

If you want real change in your life, start with changing what's between your ears.