I have found a genre of book that I absolutely love to read. After having read non-fiction leadership, self-help (working on marriage, kids, and money), and classroom (Masters in Christian Leadership) books for the past four or five years, I first found Lone Survivor: The Eyewitness Account of Operation Redwing and the Lost Heroes of SEAL Team 10 by Marcus Luttrell. Check out my review on that one. I surfed the Amazon website and cross-referenced Lone Survivor to find a few others that sounded interesting. I just finished Chosen Soldier: The Making of a Special Forces Warrior and have nothing but good things to say.

Where Lone Survivor explained the Navy Seals training and then Lutrell’s moving explanation of a Navy Seal mission, Chosen Soldier covers a short history of Special Forces then dives into the comprehensive training that makes these guys “heroes” in my eyes. In fact, at one point I told my wife that I missed my calling before confessing that there was no way in the world I’ve ever been tough enough physically or mentally to be in Special Forces. In today’s world, our kids are following well paid actors, sports stars, and musicians when the real heroes are silently risking their lives in the service of United States. Those heroes are in the U.S. military and the Special Forces are in the heart of dangerous territory.

Dick Couch (a former Seal) lived with these guys from recruiting into the X-Ray program (for guys with no military background) all the way through the final Robin Sage testing event. If you have ever seen the Navy Seals series on the Discovery Channel (Training of BUDS Class 234) and enjoyed it, then you will absolutely enjoy this book. The initial preparation and selection processes sound intense physically and mentally which I know a guy like me wouldn’t survive. However, when they get into the tactics and MOS training, I was looking up Special Forces on the Internet and looking to see if they had an over-the-hill X-Ray program (for out of shape old guys). Couch covers each MOS in enough detail. The 18 Bravo – Weapons sergeant – check out the list of worldwide weapon systems that they must know. The 18 Charlie – Engineer sergeant – closest to my old National Guard MOS of Combat Engineer. The 18 Delta – Medical sergeant – they have 12 months of training which is much longer than any other MOS. The 18 Echo – Communications Sergeant and finally a large chapter devoted to the 18 Alpha or Detachment Commander. This book explains all the hard work and dedication required to be Special Forces.

Even if you haven’t been in the military or aren’t planning to be, this level of coverage just makes you appreciate the intelligence and toughness required. When Couch covers the plan briefing with a hundred Powerpoint slides to be presented to the Commander….I felt a slight business parallel. However, when deployed, this training results in life-or-death decisions.

When my boys are old enough to read, I’ll put this book in their hands rather than Harry Potter or the Twilight series. Real world. Real heroes. Don’t get me wrong….not saying they are joining or anything like that (though I’d be proud if they did). I just want my kids to know where the real heroes are. While we are watching millionaires chasing millionaires for 3 hours and million dollar commercials in the Superbowl two weeks from now, our U.S. military is out…..there protecting our freedoms.

Language is much cleaner in Chosen Soldier compared to Lone Survivor making it a lot easier to recommend to teens.

For the Amazon stats, Chosen Solider has 42 reviews and a 4.5 star rating. Cost is $10.17 brand new (or somewhere around $5 used), although this certainly could be picked up from the local library.

As I’ve researched different styles of blogs and content, just wanted to let all my friends and family know of an excellent blog with great money saving tips. Check out getrichslowly.org

I think the author started blogging on the side and eventually became a full-time blogger. When you were in high school, I bet your guidance counselor never suggested blogging as a career.

On the getrichslowly.org website, he did an article on the Getting Things Done book and provides some great templates (and I just copied mine out of the book). Here is a link to his article.

If you’ve ever thought blogging was just a goofy hobby (kind of what I always thought), check out his website’s progression over 3 years. I can see why he has over 70,000 subscribers. I’ll just state that Getting Rich shouldn’t be your primary goal in life….but being financially secure (via career, budgeting, being frugal, investing) can certainly support more important goals such as family, giving to charity (helping others), and having a positive impact on the world around you.

I hope I’m allowed to provide links to other people’s blogs.

A few weeks ago I wrote an article called Overwhelmed with Stuff about a great book called Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity by David Allen. There is a key workflow diagram that summarizes the process on page 36. I find this amazing, but this book as of right this second (7:45 PM EST on a Friday night) ranks #61 in all of Amazon sales. The book came out 6 years ago. Wouldn’t you think more recent books would have passed it up?

After some research to find a nice electronic copy that I could print (rather than make a photocopy), I found a few great sites that explain the whole process (kind of the Cliff notes version….but I still recommend you own the book).

First, there is a great article (more in-depth than mine) at the Get Rich Slowly blog.

Within the article there are two printable summary sheets. Check them out.

I’m also anxiously awaiting my order for Allen’s latest book.

The Amazon reviewers haven’t been terribly kind to his latest with it averaging 3.5 stars after 6 reviews. However, the original book has a solid 4.5 stars after 484 reviews.

If you’re overrun with debt, have key investing or mortgage decisions ahead, or are trying to get organized for 2009, this article is for you. If you’d like to educate yourself on Personal Finance, my first recommendation would be to enroll in either a Dave Ramsey Financial Peace or Crown Financial Class. I’ll provide some book recommendations, but in order to maximize learning and most importantly follow-through, these multi-week classes provide teaching, techniques, and excellent sound advice. I’ve been through both of them (Financial Peace first then Crown) and the books below supplement or further define the teaching.

My first book is really a series, but you probably just need to pick up one of the books. David Bach’s series of Finish Rich books (not that the goal in life is to necessarily finish rich) provides great insight into nickel-and-dime wasted spending that really is five-and-ten-dollar a day wasted spending. Bach also provides advice in compound interest (a key concept before you even start trying to understand long-term investing), paying yourself first (automating 401k’s and IRA and stuff like that), establishing an emergency fund, and bi-weekly mortgage payment (accelerating home debt reduction). If you are married, I recommend his Smart Couples Finish Rich: 9 Steps to Creating a Rich Future for You and Your Partner. If you’re a little bit down the personal finance path, I’d go straight to the The Automatic Millionaire: A Powerful One-Step Plan to Live and Finish Rich. Bach came out with some Homeowner Real Estate books in Mar ’06 and Mar ’08, but these hit as the real estate market peaked and I’m afraid that some people may have been burnt (or at least own some houses now that are underwater compared to the price paid).

My second book is actually the starting book for the Crown Financial series called Your Money Countsby Howard Dayton. I’ll warn you that if you aren’t Christian, you may not like the tone and suggestions from this book. However, it covers similar ground to Bach’s Finish Rich series such as living within your means, getting out of debt, giving, investing, budgets, and puts it into a Christian perspective. A key part that isn’t included in Bach’s series (at least the ones I’ve read) is teaching your children specific values. Your Money Counts is a great book standalone, but is a fantastic starting point to a Crown Financial study group.

My third book is geared strictly towards investing. It is call The Future for Investors: Why the Tried and the True Triumph Over the Bold and the Newby Jeremy Siegel. I initially picked up one of Siegel’s books call Stocks for the Long Run, 4th Edition: The Definitive Guide to Financial Market Returns And Long Term Investment Strategiesand I believe it is used as a textbook for some college classes, as there seems to be multiple versions (and the latest is a little more expensive). However, The Future For Investors covers some fascinating history of the S&P 500 and chasing growth returns compared to dividend producing stocks. This book was written prior to the 2008 financial meltdown, so I’m actually looking forward to future version that explains what is actually going on from Siegel’s perspective. Some of the more interesting chapters cover The Coming Age Wave (within the U.S.) and how we’ll see purchasing of assets (our stocks) shift to younger generations overseas (a reason why we don’t want protectionism). If you want to jump right to his final recommendations, Siegel does provide an % allocation recommendation (100% equity, 50% in World Index Funds – 30% U.S. and 20% non-U.S. and 50% in Return-Enhancing Strategies – too much to list).

My fourth book is specifically for helping your children. It is called The Financially Intelligent Parent: 8 Steps To Raising Successful, Generous, Responsible Children
by Eileen and Jon Gallo. This book gets into some key concepts like encouraging a work ethic, identifying negative money habits like get-rich-schemes or hiding/lying to spouse about money, and understanding the power of advertising on your children (we know the results……I want that toy!!!!).

As always….the Amazon stats that I like so much.
Smart Couples Finish Rich – 77 ratings averaging 4.5 (out of 5)
The Automatic Millionaire – 297 ratings averaging 4.0
Your Money Counts – 16 ratings averaging 5.0
The Future for Investors – 42 ratings averaging 4.0
Stocks for the Long Run (4th ed released Nov ’07) – 6 ratings averaging 5.0
The Financially Intelligent Parent – 3 ratings averaging 4.5

I’ve read many Business and Organization books. Several are must-reads which I will cover at some point. However, in the past few years, there is one that I find fantastic for techniques on organizing all the incoming stressors of life. This includes work, family, volunteer, personal interest, and any other kind of activity that you can think of.

The book is called Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity
by David Allen

As I’ve experimented with different techniques for productivity (mostly at work), I’ve sometimes kept up and other times fallen behind. Like most of you, when you have everything organized and your in-box empty, there is an incredible feeling of control and quick response to the next thing coming. However, if your inbox holds 100’s of emails and your voicemail is full, there is a feeling of being overwhelmed.

Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity provides a system for handling the multitude of requests/questions/action items coming into your life. If you complete two key objectives, you can focus on the task at hand (without constantly thinking of something else that you should be doing). That focus is critical for being critical and effective. The two objectives are capturing all the things that need to be done and discipling yourself to make front-end decisions about the next steps for those things. David Allen provides a small chart (I have it taped on my laptop and in my cubicle) that takes “stuff” into various buckets such as Projects, Waiting, Calendar, Next Actions, Trash, Someday, and Reference.

Most business books I read and highlight once. Maybe later I review my highlights. This book is one of the few that I’ve read a few times over and actually made a short document of my summary notes that I print and review. I can also absolutely attest to the fact that when I follow the techniques provided, my productivity is optimal. When I’ve fallen out of using these techniques, my productivity suffers (so I try to always keep up on it).

As I was preparing to write this quick review, I checked David Allen’s website www.davidco.com and his other books. He is coming out with a new book next week which I just pre-ordered. It’s called Making It All Work: Winning at the Game of Work and Business of Life. I can’t recommend this one yet…until after I have read and applied it….

I’m a person that always checks the Amazon bestseller list and reviews. Getting Things Done has 480 reviews and is rated 4.5 stars out of 5. Even though it came out in 2002, it is actually ranked #95 in book sales at this very moment which is kind of hard to believe. It’s $9.43 (for a new book) at the moment…. I know it’s almost Christmas, but snag this book and read it or give it to your overwhelmed spouse as a gift. One of the best times to get organized is in the downtime between Christmas and New Years.

If you know of other books that are even better, let me know.

While visiting in Maine, I stopped at a Borders bookstore. Reading the back covers of many books, I found 15-20 books that sounded interesting to me. Since I don’t have much free time, I always research a book before I read it. If it’s not getting at least 3 stars on Amazon, then I don’t want to waste my time with it. Typically, books have 30 or 40 ratings and even a really good book might just have 200 or so.

Imagine my surprise when a military book called Lone Survivor had over 750 ratings averaging 4.5 stars out of 5. I stopped down at the library and checked it out. I finished reading it in 4 or 5 days. When I say this is a good gift for a guy, I’ll just say that it is strictly one man’s true story of the military (no romance or non-military action, the only female in the book is Luttrell’s mom). The first part of the book covers Marcus Luttrell’s experience through BUDS training. The second part covers his experience in Afghanistan resulting in him being the Lone Survivor. I could barely put this thing down. Luttrell’s experience brings out a National pride rarely felt. I used to be in the National Guard (which is a long long way from being a Navy Seal). Patriotism is exemplified through and through the book. There is a great deal of military speak (curse words) in the book, but overall I’d highly recommend this for young men and former military members. If you’ve ever watched the military channel and their Navy BUDS video series, you will absolutely love this book.

Just checked Amazon and there are now over 800 ratings. I’d also recommend this book for any boy probably over 16 years old. Yes, there is bad language….but probably nothing they don’t hear elsewhere. I actually read outloud some of the Navy Seal training to my 5 year old while editing out the language. It seemed a bit more interesting than reading Green Eggs and Ham one more time.

I can’t say that I’ve read many military books before (can’t remember any), but I put The Warrior Elite: The Forging of SEAL Class 228 and Chosen Soldier: The Making of a Special Forces Warrior (both by Dick Couch) on my Christmas list. I’ll let you know if they are as good. Or even better if anybody reading this can let me know how they compare.