535. 10 Books That Changed My Life (And Why I Give Them Away)

The ONE Thing

NOVA Media

Entrepreneurship, Business, Careers

4.8 • 1.1K Ratings

🗓️ 8 December 2025

⏱️ 33 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Are you choosing the right book for the season you’re in—or just grabbing whatever looks interesting? In this solo episode, Jay Papasan walks through the ten books he recommends and gifts more than any others. These are not simply his “favorites”—they’re the books that shaped his craft as a writer, helped him level up as an entrepreneur, grounded him in discipline, clarified his thinking about money, and strengthened his understanding of character and growth. Jay shares why "The War of Art" has become an annual reread for so many, how Peter Drucker’s "Managing Oneself" can reset your approach to personal mastery, why Ryan Holiday’s "The Obstacle Is the Way" remains essential for anyone doing hard things, and how Morgan Housel and JL Collins make the world of money simple, sane, and actionable. He also covers his top writing books, the research-backed lessons of Adam Grant, and the beautifully illustrated gift book he’s given to hundreds of clients. Challenge of the Week: Ask yourself: "What is the book I need for this season of my life?" Read for what you need—not for what’s trending. Choose one book, commit to it, and let it gift you something you’ll someday pass forward. *** To learn more, and for the complete show notes, visit: the1thing.com/pods. We talk about: Why certain books become “sacred shelf” books Jay returns to again and again How creativity, discipline, money, and character are shaped by what we read How to choose the ONE book you need right now based on the season you’re in Books Mentioned: The War of Art by Steven Pressfield Managing Oneself by Peter Drucker The Obstacle Is the Way by Ryan Holiday On Writing by Stephen King The Psychology of Money by Morgan Housel Your First 1000 Copies by Tim Grahl Give and Take by Adam Grant The Simple Path to Wealth by J.L. Collins Make Your Bed by Admiral William H. McRaven The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse by Charlie Mackesy Links & Tools from This Episode: Free Resources Want to be a guest or share feedback? Email podcast@the1thing.com or send us an audio note at Speakpipe.com/the1thing. Produced by NOVA

Transcript

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0:00.0	So the question I get more than probably any other, and it's one of the ones that kind of drives me crazy, is like, what's your favorite book?
0:06.8	And I have to say, like, well, give me a category, right? I have favorite books in categories, but for me to go through all the books that I've read and not pick a favorite book, no, I can't do it.
0:18.6	If you went into my office, I could point to a couple of shelves.
0:21.3	They're kind of my secret shelves. Those are the books that have had a really deep or meaningful
0:25.6	impact in me. Maybe they help me as a writer. Maybe they help me as a leader. Maybe they
0:29.5	help me as a human being. And on those shelves are the books that I tend to either give away or
0:34.8	recommend the most. So today, for this episode, I picked 10 that I really feel like over the last decade I've either
0:42.9	recommended or given away more than any other.
0:46.0	I'll walk you through those titles, why they made an impact on me, and why I recommend
0:51.3	them to other people.
0:52.2	So let's dive then and take a look at 10 of my favorite books.
1:06.7	I'm Jay Pappasan, and this is The One Thing,
1:09.2	your weekly guide to the simple steps that lead to extraordinary results.
1:16.9	I'm going to kick it off with the first book. And I'll just tell you, that doesn't mean it is of all of these books the number one most recommended.
1:25.8	But I wanted to start with a good one. These are all great,
1:28.9	but the bookends of any list. So the first and the last tend to be the ones that we remember.
1:33.5	So I'm going to start with one that is good for all writers. It's also good for entrepreneurs.
1:38.4	A lot of people are like, why would you recommend that to an entrepreneur? And I'll tell you why.
1:42.1	So we're going to kick it off with my man,
1:44.6	Stephen Pressfield. He wrote a book called The War of Art. You may have heard about it. I know that
1:49.9	it's in high circulation among artists and also entrepreneurs. I was first given this book by an
1:57.2	entrepreneur. Wasn't someone saying, oh, you're a writer, you should read this book. It's like,
	...

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