10 Books for Millennials Who Want to Make a Difference

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Millennials are digital natives, with the digital world coming to them as naturally as the physical. But the constant connection to a wide range of information can sometimes do more harm than no connection at all.

With all that information to digest, millennials often find themselves lost on their educational and career paths.

Books for Millennials Who Want to Make a Change

Below is a list of must-read books for millennials planning to make significant changes in their lifestyle and thinking.

1. The Art of Impossible by Steven Kotler

For millennials looking to break past their limits.

Almost every human achievement was deemed impossible at some point. From setting world records, being able to fly, and venturing to outer space, people have always challenged the limits, which we often set ourselves.

The Art of Impossible is a science-based approach to breaking your limits and achieving peak performance in your career. Kotler’s “Flow Research Collective” seeks to quantify and train the nervous system to its optimum functions, making peak performance an accessible phenomenon for all.

2. The One Thing by Garry Keller and Jay Papasan

For millennials who want to be more productive.

There’s probably a lot out there that you want to learn and experience, but you’ve only got a finite amount of time to get it done. You just can’t do all the things you want to do in life. Even if you could, you’d likely be average at all of them—and it’s always better to be a master at something, not just a jack of all trades.

Keller and Papasan talk about finding the one thing that’ll help you produce extraordinary results in any situation. It’s the element you use to shift your thinking and make everything else easier to understand and do. In order to do that, it’s necessary to take a closer look into your life and see the areas you excel in and areas that you find difficulties in.

3. Deep Work by Cal Newport

For millennials who want to streamline their processes.

Being busy is not always a good indicator of productivity. You can get busy writing and rewriting an email, rearranging your files, or attending redundant meetings that could have been an email. These are all examples of shallow work that occupy your valuable time when you could have been doing more productive things.

Deep Work explores the advantages and practices of doing tasks that are cognitively demanding. To be able to learn and master hard things and perform at an exceptional level, you need to hunker down and focus without distraction.

This is your go-to book for breaking away from time-wasting activities that you may or may not realize create barriers to your growth.

4. Pivot by Jenny Blake

For millennials looking to change careers.

You’re not the only one who gets stuck in a rut and wonders about finding a new job, only to chicken out because of a multitude of perceived risks. Everyone’s ridden that train of thought, especially now, as job tenureship is shrinking and career changes become more common.

Pivoting is the crucial skill of staying agile in a fast-changing world with fast-developing roles. It’s the skill you need to keep moving forward in your career, and by extension, your life. In this book, you’ll learn how to capitalize on your assets, build upon them, and cover your weakness in order to successfully launch a new and meaningful career without constantly comparing yourself to others.

5. The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg

For millennials looking to cultivate healthy habits.

Some people are successful because they cultivate valuable habits that assist them in their pursuits. Athletes develop the habit of waking early to train, writers develop the habit of writing, businessmen develop the habit of reading, and so on.

Duhigg lays out the importance of habits and habit formation. With at least 40% of our daily actions being done out of habit, we can say habits are powerful tools that make sure you do valuable work. Identifying the positive and negative ones is your first step toward taking control of your life and streamlining your path to success. A good habit is more powerful when paired together with another good habit, while bad habits only serve to delay your advancement.

The thing to remember is that you should cultivate a keystone habit, or any habit that can trigger other good habits, while working to change or remove bad habits that interfere with your process.

6. The Happiness of Pursuit by Chris Guillebeau

For millennials who feel lost in life.

Happiness is often found in the pursuit of a significant goal or objective. Think about the moments that you absolutely love whatever you’re doing: the activity doesn’t feel like a burden, and it often comes with a sense of fulfillment. Applying that same logic to your career or life-long goal is Guillebeau’s point in this book.

Finding your ikigai is a huge and difficult decision. It may even take a lifetime to find. There are always risks, costs, and responsibilities to a pursuit. But letting those things stop you before you’ve even started is just the same as giving up without any effort.

This book offers insights and practical advice from people who have made the journey of pursuing something extraordinary.

7. Moonwalking with Einstein by Joshua Foer

For millennials who want to improve their memories.

In an effort to understand memory and how the mind works, Foer investigated almost everything there is about enhancing the memory, soon finding himself in the 2005 U.S. Memory Championship. This book details his journey, the methods he used, and the cultural and scientific data on the art of remembering.

Memory is an important aspect of your overall completeness. It influences your identity, from the skills you’ve learned, the experiences you’ve felt, and the journey you’ve taken so far. After all, what’s the use of knowledge and information if you can’t recall it? Without memory, we would essentially be just blank slates.

This book offers a great start in building a solid foundation for understanding the mind’s processes and improving your own memory.

8. Emotional Agility by Susan David

For millennials who want to have more control over their emotions.

Millennials have been proven to be more emotionally susceptible than previous generations. It’s easier for them to get stuck on negative emotions, and struggle to feel positive ones. This emotional rigidity, or tendency to get hooked on emotions and thoughts that don’t bring growth, is often associated with problems anxiety and depression.

Psychologist Susan David brings to the table a scientific approach to navigating life’s ups and downs and making peace with your inner self. To be emotionally agile means to be able to accept the negatives with the positives, and achieve self-acceptance and an open mind.

When you’re aware of all your emotions and work through them, learning from even the most difficult ones, growth is a natural side-effect. Minimizing and ignoring thoughts and emotions only serves to amplify them until you suffocate from the internal pressure.

9. Linchpin by Seth Godin

For millennials who want to excel at their chosen careers.

A lot of millennials suffer from the thought of being an insignificant cog in the machine, especially in their careers, but that’s a false notion brought about by ennui and technological isolation. Seth Godin talks about becoming a linchpin, the indispensable element that brings about huge ripples to an otherwise still pond called work.

Linchpins are the go-getters who accomplish stuff even without supervision and instruction. They enjoy the work they do and turn it into an art form. This book offers practical advice on becoming a linchpin, standing out, and excelling in whatever field you choose.

10. The Shallows by Nicholas Carr

For millennials too attached to the internet.

When the internet was invented, people hailed it as a revolutionary product in the information age. Don’t get me wrong, it did and still is revolutionizing the way we interact with our world. Information and effortless communication are always at our fingertips—but too much is always a bad thing.

This book explores how the internet has rewired our brains so much that it already interferes with how we think and how we focus. It’s become a chronic distraction that destroys how we process information. A tool that was supposed to encourage deep thinking is now causing us to think more shallowly.

Consider this book your wake-up call that will show you how too much of the internet effectively blocks your way to success.

Who Are the Millennials?

According to scientists, members of Generation Y, or millennials, are those who were born between 1981 and 1996. They’re characterized by later decision-making on vital life aspects (such as marriage, kids, or buying a house) compared with other generations, because they tend to prioritize financial security and education. In fact, they’re seen as the most educated generation in the history of humanity.

They’re digital pioneers, and the first to experience the modern internet and other technological advances. The digital world is deeply ingrained into their personal and professional lives. As such, their digital presence far exceeds that of any other generation with social media being as normal as physical interaction.

They’re also called the “anxious generation” and are generally more prone to mood disorders. It’s possible that the overload of information, courtesy of the internet, leaves them unable to accurately identify their desires, dreams, and life-long goals, which lead to them feeling lost and questioning their existence. Though various studies have been conducted, it’s still a mystery as to why this generation (and close generations) are more depressed than others.

There’s a lot of things to experience out there and a lot of decisions to make. If you’re a millennial, hopefully one of these books will help you in choosing a path.

Is there a book that transformed your life? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

 

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