About this video

• Video Title: 22 books to make you smarter than 99% of people
• Channel: Matt Gray
• Speakers: Matt Gray
• Duration: 22:51

Overview

This video presents a curated list of 22 books categorized into four quadrants: Business, Health, Relationships, and Lifestyle. The presenter, Matt Gray, shares insights from these books, explaining how they have helped him think differently and achieve extraordinary results in these areas of life. The goal is to equip viewers with the knowledge from these books to enhance their own thinking and performance.

Key takeaways

• Business Quadrant: Focuses on foundational business principles, including ruthless prioritization ("The One Thing"), clear communication and positioning ("Obviously Awesome"), decision-making agility ("Invent and Wander"), building lasting brands ("Perennial Seller"), fostering a high-performance culture ("Amp It Up"), and creating desirable experiences ("The Luxury Strategy").
• Health Quadrant: Emphasizes optimizing personal performance through deep work and essentialism. "Deep Work" highlights the power of focused attention, while "Essentialism" teaches the art of saying no to protect what truly matters. "Die with Zero" encourages living a fulfilling life now rather than postponing experiences, and "The Surrender Experiment" offers a perspective on letting go of stress and anxiety.
• Relationships Quadrant: Explores effective communication and leadership. "The Coaching Habit" introduces powerful questions for coaching others, and "The 15 Commitments of Conscious Leadership" promotes curiosity and a non-reactive state in interactions. "The Courage to Be Disliked" addresses the freedom found in not seeking external approval, and "The Almanac of Naval Ravikant" advises on building long-term relationships and earning with one's mind. "Antifragile" teaches how to benefit from chaos and volatility.
• Lifestyle Quadrant: Focuses on inner peace and personal growth. "Meditations" by Marcus Aurelius teaches self-governance and controlling one's responses. "The Psychology of Money" redefines wealth as peace of mind and good sleep. "A Guide to the Good Life" introduces negative visualization and voluntary friction to build resilience. "Wabi Sabi" encourages embracing imperfection and finding beauty in it, while "Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind" promotes simplicity and presence.

Here are the books and their authors mentioned by Matt in the video:

• The One Thing by Gary Keller
• Obviously Awesome by April Dunford
• Invent and Wander by Jeff Bezos
• Perennial Seller by Ryan Holiday
• Amp It Up by Frank Slubman
• The Luxury Strategy by John Caffer and Vincent Bastion
• Deep Work by Cal Newport
• Essentialism by Greg Macau
• The Magic of Thinking Big by David Schwarz
• The Creative Act by Rick Rubin
• Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind by Shunryu Suzuki
• Die with Zero by Bill Perkins
• The Surrender Experiment by Michael Singer
• The Coaching Habit by Michael Stainer
• The 15 Commitments of Conscious Leadership by Jami B. ? and Mark ? (Authors not fully specified in transcript)
• Meditations by Marcus Aurelius
• The Psychology of Money by Morgan Housel
• A Guide to the Good Life by William B. Irvine
• The Courage to Be Disliked by Ichiro Kishimi
• The Almanac of Naval Ravikant by Eric Jorgenson
• Antifragile by Nassim Nicholas Taleb
• Wabi Sabi by (Author not fully specified in transcript, only "Nabuo Suzuki" in relation to the philosophy)