100 Books Like Do One Thing Different

A timeless meditation on purpose, suffering, and the human spirit. While not about entrepreneurship, this book is essential for anyone seeking to understand the deeper meaning behind their work. Frankl’s insight—that we can find meaning even in suffering—is profoundly relevant for founders navigating hardship and uncertainty. 

What struck me most about it was how Frankl captured the Holocaust not just as a historical event, but as a raw, existential landscape. I’ve seen many films and documentaries about that era, but Frankl’s account stands apart. His lens is philosophical, not just historical. His insight that meaning, not pleasure or power, is the primary driver of human life resonated deeply.

I've focused on the idea myself that many entrepreneurs pursue ventures not for wealth or control, but as a way to fill a deeper existential hole. Frankl’s writing felt honest, profound, and necessary. This is a serious and enduring book I’ll return… show more.

I found this to be a classic grassroots approach to spirituality and a very practical approach to life as well as recovery.

Early AAers used this as one of their texts. In the 12 Step based recovery programs, members recommend that you find a Power greater than yourself to rely on. Emmet’s book is inspired by the wisdom of the ages and led me to a simple, strong concept of a Higher Power that has become my Sobriety Super Power.

It reveals the reasons why living by principle, guided by my Super Power, keeps me from picking up that first fix, pill, or drink. I have never looked back.

It may not seem relevant to sobriety to recommend a book on how evil is rooted in man’s very existence, yet I find that both alcoholism and recovery are also rooted in my existence.

It’s a monolithic book, but more than half is Bloom citing his sources. The book challenged my view of the world thus influencing my view of recovery. The 12 Steps taught me that problems are basically of my own making and that self-responsibility is the only path to find my way out.

It is not possible to read his book and not see how we humans lay the seeds of our own destruction, not only in a small personal life, but in all of human history. 

One alcoholic helping another is the way the 12 Step program works.

This book explores Steps 6 and 7 from the personal experiences of others in recovery. It helped me examine my defects, you know, the rocks I held that were sinking me. But I am not alone in my quest to drop these rocks.

This book includes personal stories that let me know how others have overcome the same roadblocks as myself. They talk to me, addressing my need to spiritually surrender my shortcomings. Various insights help contribute to my sobriety which, after all, is what I strive for in a clean and sober life.

A pirate ship was a place where the whole crew got an equal share of plunder, and where every man (or woman) had a voice.

They tore up the rulebook and made a better one that served them better. These two truths form the foundation of a business movement – Be More Pirate – which uses the theme of ‘making good trouble’ as the basis for better work/life satisfaction and building successful businesses.

It also makes the case that Anne Bonny via Delacroix’s Liberty Leading the Masses is actually the model for The Statue of Liberty. How great is that?!

This non-fiction book is probably the most categorically comedic on my list. Greenberg, a comedian, and Meinzer, a critic, are the hosts of a podcast called By the Book, in which every episode documents their attempt to follow a new self-help book to the letter for two weeks. After a few years of doing this, they co-wrote their own self-help book based on their experience and narrated the audio version. The result is insightful, irreverent, and hilarious.

I loved this book because it contains real-life, usable bits of wisdom from a curated list of 100+ writers (Neil Gaiman), athletes (Tony Hawk), entrepreneurs (Gary Vaynerchuck), and artists of all kinds (Mike D).

All these top performers provide their thoughtful answers to the author's seemingly superficial questions. Paraphrasing from the original list: “Which little purchase made a positive change in your life?” “Which book have you gifted the most?” “What little habit do you love?”. Does this format sound familiar?

As a tarot reader and astrologer, I love divination. And in book form? I love the practicality! The tone is so funny and lighthearted, which I really appreciate, considering I turn to divination in darker times. Flipping through these pages has given me strength and guided me toward inner peace with a cute flair!

One of the major stressors of our lives is that we’re not following our natural daily energetic cycles (called chronotypes) and are doing the wrong things at the wrong time. You’ve experienced this when you’ve tried to write in the afternoon if you’re a morning person or if you’re a night person who’s tried to think deeply first thing in the morning. It’s not just a matter of what you’re doing, but when you’re doing it, that will make your activities more easeful or stressful.

I love Jen Sincero, who keeps things light and funny and so relatable when it comes to owning your full badass self! She reads her own audiobook, and the book is a powerful reminder of all the ways to remember how capable you are–as a woman in the world who has places to go and badass things to do! I found myself laughing throughout the book and wanting to read all the other books in her badass series–but start with this one first.

Jen’s self-deprecating humor resonated with me, and for anyone wanting a gentle nudge to remember what you’re capable of and who likes to laugh, this book is great! I have since invested in Jen’s “You are a badass” merchandise, including sticky notes and a desktop button I’ve used myself and given as gifts to my coaching clients–who doesn’t need a little reminder of your badass self every… show more.