Welcome to the latest issue of our irregular and irreverent newsletter. Today, you’ll hear about the new edition of To Sell Is Human, my 2 favorite books of 2013, some startling factoids about American life and public opinion, and 3 easy life hacks for 2014.
Let’s get started . . .
A NEW BOOK FOR A NEW YEAR
I’m happy to announce that the paperback edition of my latest book, TO SELL IS HUMAN, is now available across North America. If you missed the book in hardcover, or if you want another copy for yourself or your colleagues, you can now snag it for about 12 bucks. (Amazon, BN, Indie, 8CR).
TO SELL IS HUMAN — the only of my books to have scored the hat trick of hitting #1 on The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and Washington Post best seller lists — is chock full of takeaways to help you sell your services, push your idea, interview for a job, or just try to get your kids to clean up their rooms. Among the nuggets:
- 3 fundamental qualities that the latest social science shows are essential in moving others;
- 6 weirdly effective ways to pitch your product, your idea, or yourself;
- Why extraverts actually *don’t* make the best salespeople;
- 5 ways to frame messages to maximize their impact;
- 2 irrational questions that can get resistant people to change their behavior.
Please check it out. It’ll be the best $12 you’ve spent, uh, this year.
Amazon
Barnes & Noble
800-CEO-READ
IndieBound
2 OTHER BOOKS WORTH READING
Last week, I contemplated sending you a list of my favorite books of 2013. But I reconsidered — in part because everyone and their third cousin now cranks out such lists. So instead of assembling the most beautifully written and brilliantly argued books, I started pondering which single novel and non-fiction work from the year stayed with me the longest.
The books I came up with aren’t necessarily “the best” — I also loved Give and Take, Decisive, Where Have You Gone, Bernadette?, Scarcity, The Power of Glamour, The Success Equation, and all the books featured on Office Hours — but they are the two that I’ve continued to think about long after I turned the final page.
The Sports Gene: Inside the Science of Extraordinary Athletic Performance by David Epstein
I’m a big believer in Carol Dweck’s research on mindsets — as well as in the importance of grit and deliberate practice. But this book was a smart and bracing reminder that — sorry, folks — some talent is innate. (It also helped explain why I’m such a pathetically slow runner.)
How To Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia by Mohsin Hamid
This one’s a novel, but in the guise of a self-help book. It tells the story of one man — a poor child who becomes a bottled water entrepreneur in an unnamed country that resembles Pakistan — from his youth until his old age. Maybe I’m having a silent mid-life crisis, but I still can’t get this book out of my head.
AMERICA IS NOT WHAT IT USED TO BE
Regular readers know my boundless love for startling factoids — an infatuation I now try to indulge more through Twitter than in this newsletter. But I couldn’t resist sharing some of the key findings from the Pew Research Center’s 2013 surveys. The results suggest that the America of 2014 is very different place than it was even last decade. Consider:
- Just over half the U.S. public now favors same-sex marriage, up from less than one-third in 2003.
- A majority of Americans (52%) now favor legalizing marijuana, up from 17% in 1991.
- 36% of Americans aged 18 to 31 now live in their parents’ homes, the highest share in at least four decades.
- 40% of all American households with children include mothers who are either the sole or primary source of income for the family, up from 11% in 1960.
- The U.S. is now home to a record 40.4 million immigrants.
- The Internet is now the main source of national and international news for 50% of Americans, up from 13% in 2001.
For more, check out Pew’s 13 Data Milestones for 2013. Then ask yourself: How do these trends affect your business? Your career? Your life?
3 LIFE HACKS FOR 2014
Forget grandiose New Year’s resolutions. Instead, this year take one small step to make your life more productive and interesting. Here are three ideas:
- Start the year with an empty jar. Then when something good happens, write it on a slip of paper, and toss said slip into said jar. (via IDoneThis)
- Come hell or high water, write 20 minutes a day in January. (via Copyblogger)
- Video one second of your life every single day. (via 1SE)
That’s it for now. Thanks for reading our humble newsletter. Have a healthy and happy 2014. And don’t forget that other life hack.
Cheers,
Daniel Pink