The People, Process, & Progress Podcast - 7 Books to Start 2026 Strong

Episode Date: January 1, 2026

In this episode, I share seven books I read, or returned to, in 2025 that helped me stay disciplined, grounded, and clear-headed heading into 2026.These aren’t trend-driven recommendations. They’re books focused on hardship, meaning, faith, resilience, and personal responsibility. Some pushed me physically, others reshaped how I think about suffering and connection. All of them helped me show up better in my life and leadership.Books Discussed in This EpisodeThe Stability EquationDiscipline Equals Freedom Field ManualThe Wim Hof MethodWhat Doesn’t Kill UsMan’s Search for MeaningLost ConnectionsThe Amplified BibleRead the full post and resources:https://peopleprocessprogress.com/2026/01/01/7-books-to-start-2026-strong/Own your mind.Move your body.Anchor your spirit.

January 1st, 26. It's a new day. It's a new opportunity. And I want to talk about seven books that, one, I wrote, so a little self-promotion, but also that have prompted me to improve myself that I've come back to in 2025, that have given me motivation, insight, perspective, and faith. So the first one is a stability equation. I put this book out last year, and it's really a combination of the pillars, seven pillars of ownership, mindfulness, movement, boundaries, connections, sleep, and faith that I found helpful to help push me, build me, pull me through a tough time in my life. And I highly recommend it. It's a quick read. Of course, I wrote it, so I'm biased. But it contains elements of the other books I'm going to talk about. And really

what it is is a practical guide of if you're on a tough place, if you're feeling anxious or depressed or lost, you're in midlife, or you're young and you think you, you know, aren't where you're supposed to be. This can help you start. And the first of the pillars that I talk about on that book is ownership. And if you've ever heard of Jaka Willink, you know that's his big thing, but ownership goes beyond him and before him and he's, you know, one to say that. But the first book I'm going to talk about that's not mine is from him. And it's not extreme ownership and it's not the economy of leadership. It's the field manual. Discipline equals freedom, freedom, freedom field known because the first thing you have to develop is the discipline to get up each day

to get some exercise to keep going when you don't feel like you want to and what this book does and what it's done for me and particularly the audio version so I recommend that on Spotify or wherever you listen to those is this is the friend that is going to know BS you on getting up and not eating like crap and maybe not overindulging and the foods and the alcohol and whatever else it is and it's got practical workouts and things like that. But this is a very no-nonsense guide, a place to start. And it's a good, good builder of mindset and I highly recommend it. The second are two books together, but the concept is the same. The first is about Wim Hof. The second one is what doesn't kill us by Scott Carney, who's trained in Wimhoff,

and both breathing and cold and doing hard stuff. And that's the essential of these is you learn Wimhoff. And if you know about him, there's a breathing technique where you breathe in and out 30 times, you do the three times, you hold your breath. I do this very often. I believe it's helped my lung capacity. It's also helped my mind because even sitting on a couch when you're holding your breath, it's you against you. And then the cold. The cold has helped mold me, shape me, push me, right? And Scott Carney talks about that. He's also done some other amazing things. The cold is the great equalizer, right? It's kind of like pull-ups and water. Pull-ups are very hard. A lot of people can't do them. Water, some people can't swim. They get nervous in it. The cold makes

your mind go crazy whether it's a cold shower or a cold plunge and I do both but it can also reset you it can shock your system to reset and don't just jump into it you know start shower a little bit colder don't just jump into 32 degree water you have to build it up what I found for me in addition to the physical benefits of reducing inflammation and just pain right you're sore I do jitzu I left weights slept wrong her my back whatever you're in the cold it's just like an ice back but I sit there and I control my breath more, right? I control my mind more. I can look out for me into the woods.

That's where my cold plunge is as I look out on the mountains, which is nice. But even in the cold shower, right? Everything in my body says, get out, get out. But afterwards, afterwards, I feel refreshed. I feel invigorated. And that's what I want for you because it's an amazing feeling. You will find through the Wimhoff breathing, through cold exposure of some level,

that you're able to push yourself a little bit more that you're also able to calm yourself down when you feel like you can't. You can control your breath more. If you start to breathe and you get nervous about a situation, breathing techniques. Being used to being in the cold when you have to slow your breath down helps in every other aspect of your life. Stress at work, stress at home. It doesn't make you perfect, but it does make a big difference. The other book, and I do talk about this in the Stability Equation, is Lost Connections by Johan Hari.

And I bring this one up, not all the books that I talk about in that because it's 2026. We're remote. We're hybrid. We're online. We're in-person less. But human connections matter. And we can have human connections, right, at a distance and things like that. But a big thing of what Johan Hari talks about is folks that say they are chronically depressed or act chronically depressed or just accept that they're chronically depressed or have depression or whatever variation of the word you want to talk about. It's because they isolate themselves, largely. They don't have a purpose. They're not connected to their community. Right. But he proves and he shows

right at least his theories and what I believe in and he does it in a very good way is that if we stay connected and we don't accept where we are and we don't accept the pills of our skills we reverse that and develop skills of our pills

right because people are depressed or anxious and doctors go here you go take this right now you take more and take more but we need to build ourselves up a bit to taking that ownership and putting ourselves through some hard things and finding connections we didn't have whether it's with people you already know you don't know that you want to get to know real

connections not faux ones doesn't matter how many followers how many people you're connected with who are the people you would actually hang out with that you're connected with that I think is the big big thing to consider when we connect online this book I've read four times and it's Man Search for Meeting by Victor Frankel and this above all books gives me the perspective in life when I'm having a hard timer I think it's, you know, woes me. My life is so hard because I always think about one part in the book where Frankl is working with a work crew of captured, you know, interned Jews in concentration camp with Nazis standing over them and it's freezing cold.

They don't have winter outfits, but they're there to survive and they push through and they know someone's there. And if they slow down, they'll get shot or beat. And to me, that's an ultimate perspective on how hard is my life when I'm in this heated how some on the internet right when I complain of how hard it is my paycheck shows up on time my food is here if you're facing those issues then your perspective is certainly different than mine we all have different perspectives we're in different places in life man search for meaning helps give insight it also gives insight into keeping and having your faith when you're in the

worst of situations i mean frankle's whole family was killed he went to four different concentration camps thinking you're going to die each day and then he made it then he shared his experience and they shared his perspective and it's an extremely eye-opening and powerful book just not only in the way it's written but what it's about and what he talks about and then he develops a whole thing called logotherapy right that is about the human experience in finding that meaning and he quotes Nietzsche about you know those that have their why could figure out any how And that's a key. Why?

Why do you want to change? Why do you want to do something different in 2026? Why do you want to not do something different? Right? And then how are you going to do that? How are you going to get the resources? How are you going to make the time? We all have time to get things done.

And then I would be remiss if I didn't mention the Bible. I have the amplified Bible, which I heard about from Joyce Myers. It's kind of like the Bible for dummies for me, is what I call it. Because if you've started to read the Bible like I did, like straightfully. from the front it's very hard to read it's very confusing it's you don't know what's happening so what i've found and what is very helpful for my faith not just a religion i you know ascribe to is to think about what's a problem facing and then look up you know what what part of the book of the bible addresses that and it's amazing how helpful the words are it's you know one of the

pillars that have about in the stability equation is meditation it's it really is a meditation when you read through this book and read specific psalms or proverbs or, you know, different books from the different disciples or other folks in the Bible. And it's an amazing book. So I highly recommend the Discipline equals Freedom Field Manual from Jacco Willink, the Wimhoff method from Wim Hof, what doesn't kill us by Scott Carney, lost connections by Johan Hari, man search for meaning by Victor Frankel. And then the Bible, I have the Amplified Holy Bible large print because my eyes are getting a little bit

But these are just books, right? These are books that will give your information. They'll bring emotions up. They'll give you thoughts. But the action is completely up to you. It's the first day of a new year. And this is the time for you to take that action, for you to decide I'm going to get a new job. I'm going to get in shape. I'm going to get healthier. I'm going to stop doing these other things, right? Because change isn't just what we're going to start doing. It's what we're going to stop doing. I know I have missed my list of things that I'm going to keep doing and build on. and things that I'm going to try to improve on or stop doing. I'm going to talk about that in the stability equation as well.

If you're interested in reading more, it's on Amazon, paperback, hardcover, ebook, and audiobook, the stability equation, seven pillars for more balanced life. You can listen to me and guests that I have, particularly this series that's coming up through spring on the New River Valley in Virginia of the People Process Progress podcast. They have the People Process Progress YouTube channel, which is where you're watching me right now. So thank you. Subscribe and share. If this helped you, if it helps,

others workout videos you did do after action reports cold plunge so you can get a sense of what it's like going through that process and i'm on twitter and instagram or x in instagram i guess right it's been x for a little bit now at pen l l l kg i wish you all the best as you start this year remember each day to get up give things get after it i wish you all got to you Thank you.