The Four Agreements
Don Miguel Ruiz's short 1997 book on four rules for living, rooted in Toltec tradition
Don Miguel Ruiz's slim book is built around four commitments: be impeccable with your word, do not take anything personally, do not make assumptions, and always do your best. It frames most suffering as the product of agreements we absorbed without choosing them and offers the four rules as replacements. Readers tend to treat it as a yearly re-read rather than a one-time book. It has sold millions of copies and shows up often in athletes' and founders' reading lists.
People on record
Sorted by strength of stance
Does it: documented as part of their own routine. Recommends: explicitly advises other people to do it. Discusses: covered it substantively without clear personal adoption; this can include criticism or disagreement.
- Tom BradyRecommends
Former NFL quarterback · The TB12 Method
Called it a kind of mantra for his life in a 2015 radio interview and said he rereads it once a year for perspective. The rule about not taking things personally is the one he singles out.
Source: Boston.com: Tom Brady has been reading the same self-help book for almost a decade
Aimed at the same thing
Other entries filed under stress.
- Book$$$Cheap: Roughly under $50, or under $15/month.
Man's Search for Meaning
Viktor Frankl on surviving the camps and choosing your response
On record from 4 of 62 tracked people: 2 recommend it, 2 have discussed it - Book$$$Cheap: Roughly under $50, or under $15/month.
The Daily Stoic
366 short Stoic passages with modern commentary, one per day
On record from 4 of 62 tracked people: 3 recommend it, 1 has discussed it - Book$$$Cheap: Roughly under $50, or under $15/month.
The Almanack of Naval Ravikant
Collected thinking on wealth, specific knowledge and happiness
On record from 3 of 62 tracked people: 3 recommend it - Book$$$Cheap: Roughly under $50, or under $15/month.
Digital Minimalism
A philosophy for using much less technology, on purpose
On record from 2 of 62 tracked people: 1 recommends it, 1 has discussed it - Book$$$Cheap: Roughly under $50, or under $15/month.
Ego Is the Enemy
Ryan Holiday on the ways self-importance wrecks aspiring, succeeding and failing
On record from 2 of 62 tracked people: 2 recommend it - Book$$$Cheap: Roughly under $50, or under $15/month.
Slow Productivity
Do fewer things, work at a natural pace, obsess over quality
On record from 2 of 62 tracked people: 1 recommends it, 1 has discussed it
Book entry · notes paraphrased from cited sources, quoted excerpts copied from the transcript they link to. Not medical advice. Not affiliated with, endorsed by, or reviewed by anyone listed. How this works.