10 Books Every Student Should Read – Essential Book Recommendations4 min read

Today, I will show you the best books to level you up as a student, and not just your grades.

Becoming a top student not only improves your grades but also sets you up for life. Habits, skills, and strategies you work through now will become the basis for how you work through challenges and grow later in life.

Unfortunately, most students barrel into class with little to no preparation and are astounded when things don’t work out.

The best students are not naturally gifted. They learn how to learn.

I’ve spoken to thousands of students, and they all have similar issues:

• Motivation
• Organization and Note-Taking
• Test-Taking
• Stress and Anxiety

They end up overworked, constantly tired, and performing poorly. It sucks (I’ve been there).

These 10 books solve 99.99% of those issues. Here’s the better way:

Step 1: Find Meaning to Your Work

“What’s the point? Why am I actually studying? Why? Why? Why?” Those last three “whys” are the important part. Here are three great stories that help you start to think about that vital question:

1. The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho – What treasure are you searching for? Why?
2. Tuesdays With Morrie by Mitch Albom – is well-written and full of golden nuggets. Don’t think too hard about this book. Just read it, wait a year, and reread it. I wish I read this 20 years ago.
3. Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor E. Frankl—Ignore part II. Part I of the story is one of the best examples of a psychological breakthrough during the worst global tragedy ever.

Step 2: Get Organized and Plan

If you can make a schedule, and abide by it, you can accomplish anything. Anything. But, what should you put on that schedule and how do you actually stick to it, these two books show you how:

1. 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey – A great primer on how to prioritize parts of your life. Don’t worry about the habits part though. James knocks Stephen out of the water…
2. Atomic Habits by James Clear – The best habit book ever. I’ve written, underlined, and put more ink in this book than the printing press.

Step 3: Study Correctly

Most of the evidence says practice problems, spaced repetition, and flashcards are the absolute best after understanding the topic at a basic level. Also, avoid rereading, highlighting, and underlining at all costs. I, unfortunately, read both of these books too late during medical school; if I read them my freshman year of college or even high school, I would have struggled less and scored higher. No question. Here are two books that will put you ahead of 95% of the other students in your class (if you implement the strategies):

1. A Mind For Numbers: How to Excel at Math and Science by Barbara Oakley – Learn how to be the most effective when studying, learn chunking, and learn how to beat procrastination, need I say more?
2. How to Become a Straight-A Student by Cal Newport – I swear this Cal Newport guy much have watched a bunch of my videos or something…

Step 4: Become Resilient and Grow

Throughout this journey as a student, you will encounter challenges, failures, and, most commonly, stupid mistakes. When they told me to pick C on all multiple-choice questions, I really thought it would work!

The important thing is when you hit a setback, you don’t crumble. If you can stay consistent and get back up, you will not only be prepared to be the best student ever but you will also be prepared when real life comes knocking. Here are my favorite three books on finding resilience and growth:

1. Meditations by Marcus Aurelius – a random assortment of thoughts, theories, and feelings from one of the most famous stoics of all time. It might take a couple of reads for his thoughts to sink in.
2. Grit by Angela Duckworth – a modern analysis of what makes people successful, hint, it’s not IQ.
3. The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway – one of my personal favorites. It might not work out, you might lose, what do you do next?

Now that you know the meaning of life, how to plan your next 92 years, and have the ability to walk on just-erupted lava, it should be really simple to click this button down here and subscribe to my newsletter. Next week we will be discussing how to beat The Rock in an arm-wrestling match.