Here are some of the tools and books that have helped me along the way.
Life purpose
The Alchemist – Paolo Coelho (Amazon)
The famous story about transformation and finding your personal legend.
Self Authoring – Jordan Peterson et al (website)
A very powerful set of tools that helped me with setting clear goals. This tool has allowed me to get clarity on my priorities and triggered my current journey.
Leadership
King, Warrior, Magician, Lover – Robert Moore (Amazon)
Understanding the four “core” masculine archetypes cleared up a lot of the fog in my inner world. Mastering these four archetypes is necessary for any leader, male or female.
Extreme Ownership – Jocko Willink (Amazon)
The most influential book on leadership I have had the pleasure of reading. Jocko Willink is an excellent model for “no bullshit” leadership and has provided a fundamental paradigm shift in my thinking.
Entrepreneurship
The Personal MBA – Josh Kaufman (Amazon)
If you read only one business book, this should be the one. Many principles of the Gamedev MBA are inspired by Josh’s excellent work.
The Lean Startup – Eric Ries (Amazon)
As an entrepreneur you have many assumptions. This book teaches how to ask and answer the critical questions as fast as possible. Especially useful for the product development process.
Rework – Jason Fried & David Heinemeier Hansson (Amazon)
Old corporate standards can go out of the window. Jason and David provide a new model for how to run companies.
Business Model Generation – Alexander Osterwalder (Amazon)
The business model tool is very easy to understand and use, but the book is beautiful and contains plenty of examples on different types of companies. Highly recommended for entrepreneurs and investors.
Lone Cowboy / Pirate Captain
For lone cowboys:
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All books by Seth Godin
For pirate captains:
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All books by Peter Drucker
Creativity
A Technique For Producing Ideas – James Young (Amazon)
This little book gives you a solid 5-step method for generating new ideas.
The War of Art – Steven Pressfield (Amazon)
Do The Work – Steven Pressfield (Amazon)
Steven Pressfield has written several incredible historical fiction books, however is non-fiction books are painting a clear picture of the psychological hurdles we need to take when making art.
(Note that the Amazon links are affiliate – this means that if you click on the link and then buy a book, I get a referral fee. If that makes you uncomfortable, I would recommend to go buy these books anyway, but don’t click the links.)
This page is regularly updated, my goal is to build a comprehensive resource list for conscious entrepreneurs.
Derk de Geus 