My 10 Favorite Business Audiobooks When You’re Too Busy To Read
As an entrepreneur and business owner, I’m guessing you’re pretty busy!?!
One of the reasons I started the Thrive by Design Podcast was because I’m obsessed with audio learning and they don’t require me to sit down and read.
Reading, these days, feels like a HUGE commitment of time.
My love for audio learning (and Willie Nelson) started when I was 8, because that’s when I first started listening to books-on-tape.
My dad bought a condo timeshare in Sun Valley, Idaho and became our family vacation spot.
My dad used to load up 6 little kids, a wife, about 17 bags, a cooler of snacks, 5 sets of skis and the mini Dig-Dug and Frogger games, into the Big Brown Ford Van and drive 15-17 hours from Southern California.
Because my family was so HUGE, we didn’t have the luxury of flying, so those car rides were…memorable.
In between getting my hair pulled by my brother, Jerrott, or my sister, Nikki, icing me out because I wouldn’t kill the spider in our room the night before, we listened….to Murder She Wrote, Willie Nelson and Huey Lewis.
I know all the words to I Want a New Drug and On the Road Again (it’s helpful at Karaoke).
But Murder She Wrote, that became an obsession. I loved hearing Angela Lansbury tell the stories and later watching the TV series with my mom.
My first production assistant, Mara, was also obsessed!
She was my first hire in 1999 at Tracy Matthews Designs, Inc.
Mara loved to chat and when I hired one of her besties, Bella, productivity decreased.
So we started listening to books-on-tape and talk radio.
As we sat there day after day in my tiny 10×10 lavender studio, working back to back, Angela Lansbury's voice, NPR or some other suspense thriller became the hallmark for team productivity.
When we listened, we got more done with our hands (no talking allowed).
I’ll be writing more about team productivity later, but looking back at these times, I’m so stoked that we listened to books-on-tape and that audible is in my life, now.
Honestly, I have zero time to read BUT I do have time to listen to an audiobook while I’m working out, on the subway, getting dressed in the morning.
I consume 10x more content this way and it helps me to implement what I learn more quickly.
Maybe audio isn’t a hack for YOU and you might even prefer to read? Either way, I wanted to share 10 of my fave business books that you can grab on audible download (or go old school and read).
- Rocket Fuel, Gino Wickman and Mark C Winters
- Traction, Gino Wickman and Mark C Winters
- Who: A Method for Hiring, Geoff Smart and Randy Street
- The 5-Second Rule, Mel Robbins
- A Whole New Mind, Daniel H. Pink
- The E-Myth Revisited, Michael Gerber
- Crucial Conversations, Kerry Patterson
- Extreme Ownership, Jacko Willink and Leif Babin
- The 10x Rule, Grant Cardone
- The 12-Week Year, Michael Lennington and Brian P. Moran
I hope you enjoy these books!
xo, Tracy
p.s. If you love podcasts like me, I’d be honored if you checked out mine and subscribed if you love it on iTunes, Stitcher, or Spotify.
