Hack Your Dream Job Resources:
Free Books:
The Law of Success by Napoleon Hill – My favorite book of all time.
Never Eat Alone by Keith Ferrazzi – Amazing book on building your network.
Four Hour Chef by Tim Ferriss – Book on how to learn anything in rapid speed.
Four Hour Work Week by Tim Ferriss – Book on escaping the 9-5, living anywhere, and joining the “new
rich”
The Automatic Millionaire by David Bach – A powerful guide for becoming rich.
For countless other free books, just google for the title you’d like and search for a free PDF version.
Also, check Youtube to see if there is a free audiobook version on the site. Amazon also sells most of
the popular business books at extremely cheap prices if you buy books used from other people.
Recommended Books (courtesy of UnCollege.org):
Education
How Children Fail, by John Holt (Summary)
Dumbing Us Down: The Hidden Curriculum of Compulsory Schooling, by John Taylor Gatto
Deschooling Society, by Ivan Illich (Summary)
The Teenage Liberation Handbook: How to Quit School and Get a Real Life and Education, by Grace Llewellyn
The New Global Student: Skip the SAT, Save Thousands on Tuition, and Get a Truly International Education, by Maya Frost
Culture
How to Lie with Statistics, by Darrell Huff
Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything, by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner
Cognitive Surplus: Creativity and Generosity in a Connected Age, by Clay Shirky
Art of Non-Conformity: Set Your Own Rules, Live the Life You Want, and Change the World, by Chris Guillebeau
The Geography of Bliss: One Grump’s Search for the Happiest Places in the World, by Eric Weiner
Psychology
Brain Rules: 12 Principles for Surviving and Thriving at Work, Home, and School, by John Medina
How We Decide, by Jonah Lehrer
Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us, by Daniel H. Pink
Switch: How to Change Things When Change Is Hard, by Chip Heath and Dan Heath
Leadership
How to Win Friends and Influence People, by Dale Carnegie
Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die, by Chip Heath
Start with Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action, by Simon Sinek
Writing
Eats, Shoots, & Leaves, by Lynne Truss
The Elements of Style, by William Strunk Jr. and E. B. White
Business and Social Media
The 80/20 Principle: The Secret to Achieving More with Less, by Richard Koch
Personal MBA: Master the Art of Business, by Josh Kaufman
Rework, by Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson
Delivering Happiness: A Path to Profits, Passion, and Purpose, by Tony Hsieh
The Mesh: Why the Future of Business Is Sharing, by Lisa Gansky
Never Eat Alone: And Other Secrets to Success, One Relationships at a Time, by Keith Ferrazzi (Summary)
The Education of Millionaires: It’s Not What You Think and It’s Not Too Late, by Michael Ellsberg (Summary)
The Dragonfly Effect: Quick, Effective, and Powerful Ways to Use Social Media to Drive Social Change, by Jennifer Aaker and Andy Smith with Carlye Adler
Design Thinking
Thinkertoys: A Handbook of Creative-Thinking Techniques, by Michael Michalko
The Design of Everyday Things, by Donald A. Norman
Making Ideas Happen: Overcoming the Obstacles Between Vision and Reality, by Scott Belsky
Productivity:
“Wake Up Productive” Course from Eben Pagan
RescueTime
80/20 Rule aka Pareto’s Principle
Parkinson’s Law
Gmail Hack: Add Rapportive to your account and use it to guess people’s email addresses.
Gmail Hack: Go to Google Labs and enable “Canned Responses”. It helps you when you are sending the same message multiple times.
Gmail Hack: Keyboard Shortcuts. Learn them!!!
Email Templates:
(For cold contacting people)
{Intriguing Subject Line} Dear {insert first name}, Thanks for your time, and I’ll keep my message short since I’m sure you receive tons of email each day. My name is {insert name} and I am a {insert two or three intriguing things about you…aka “I’m an 18 year old entrepreneur and author-to-be”}. I noticed that {you’re hiring, your website needs work, you like X, you have a problem dealing with, you’re an expert at, etc…} and I wanted to see if I could perhaps be of value to you. I’d love to {insert value proposition} for you. Please let me know if you have time to connect next {offer a day to connect} at {offer a time to connect}. If not, please let me know what days and times work best for your schedule. My phone number is {insert number}. Thanks again for your time, and I look forward to hearing back from you soon.
(For cold contacting press for your company)
Subject: Catchy subject relating to you or your company
Hey <writer's first name>! I am a <unique personal trait about you> who was just featured on <list top one or two previous press mentions>. I just read <most relevant article of writer to your company or news> , and since <similarity between what you do and what the article was on>, I thought you'd be interested in<current state/launch/news of your company> . I'll keep my message short since I know you get 100's of emails a day. My company ________ is a <short, one sentence description of what your company does>. Inspired by <super short reason of why you started company>, _________ aims to <insert your short "why", or the problem you are solving>. <next sentence should be bolded and about the newsworthy element of your pitch>. Add the fact that this is a <unique point #1>, <unique point #2> AND <unique point #3>, I think it is definitely a news-worthy campaign (<another claim to fame or place they may know you from>).
I'd love your support in <publication>! This company is looking to make a lot of noise, with <publications you are currently speaking to> also likely to write stories. I've already <action items you've taken to promote the company to date> as well to promote the company. Thanks for your time and I hope to hear from you soon with any questions or thoughts! <email signature>
Learning How to Code:
Free
Udacity
Codecdemy
edX
net.tuts+
Coursera
Hackety Hack
Khan Academy
jsdares
Learnstreet
Learn Code the Hard Way
WiBit
php Academy
Google Developers University Consortium
Project Euler
CodingBat
NEED ANYTHING ELSE? EMAIL ME at [email protected]
AND I’LL BE HAPPY TO HELP!
THANK YOU FOR HACKING YOUR DREAM JOB!
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