Does your boss hate you without your even knowing it? Maybe, maybe not. (Hopefully not!)

But you may be doing certain things that your boss hates -- without even realizing it. 

Catherine Conlan of Monster.com called upon me once again to get my insights into the "5 Things You're Doing That Your Boss Hates."

Just to give you a sneak peek, the five things are:

[1] Asking too many questions.
[2] Answering the wrong question.
[3] Creating chaos.
[4] Showing up with problems without solutions
[5] Making your boss look stupid.

Click on the link to find out more -- and discover how YOU can avoid these common pitfalls!

Pedro: Do you think people will vote for me?
Napoleon Dynamite: Heck yes! I’d vote for you.
Pedro: Like what are my skills?
Napoleon Dynamite: Well, you have a sweet bike. And you’re really good at hooking up with chicks. Plus you’re like the only guy at school who has a mustache.

Unlike Pedro, I don’t have a sweet bike. I can’t grow a mustache. I don’t have nunchuk skills, bow hunting skills, or computer hacking skills. Or Napoleon's awesome dance moves.

But I do have some skills and habits that I use pretty much every day that I’m happy to share in order to help others be more effective and successful.

So click here to go to my Hired Guns blog and learn what those five skills are!

Every year it’s the same thing. We start out the New Year filled with good intentions, high hopes, and a formidable list of life-changing resolutions. And for an indomitable few, those resolutions result in positive changes and personal growth. But for the rest of us, life tends to get in the way.

Before we know it, January is over and February flies by (it’s such a short month!). Then the spring holidays come along. Then it’s summer, and… well, you know the rest. That pledge to “start tomorrow” just leads to the eventual realization that today is yesterday’s tomorrow. So, what can we do about it?

We can start today. For real. Right now.

What we need to do is go from “resolutions” to “real solutions.” And one real-life solution that really works, is easy to do, and can kick-start us into action, is to start reading. And my recommendation is to start your New Year’s reading with any one of the 13 inspirational and motivational books on this list.

My Criteria
There are a million business and self-help books on the shelves, so why these?

Because these are all written for – and about – YOU.

I read an average of 2-3 business books a week on topics ranging from management and leadership to teamwork and innovation. But the books on this list are designed and dedicated to help you become the best “you” you can be. They will help you find your passion, figure out what makes you tick, conquer your fears, and spur you to action. They’ll help you to get focused, become committed, and devise some powerful and innovative ways to help you maximize your Performance, Productivity, and Potential (what I call the “Three Ps”).

Yes, I know you’re busy working. Or looking for work. And you’re exhausted. And it’s so much easier and probably more fun to just settle in on the couch with back-to-back episodes of “Breaking Bad” or “Dexter” on Netflix, or watch the “Gangnam Style” video on YouTube for the bazillionth time. But if you’re really serious about making a change, and taking your career – and your life – to a whole new level this year, think about the potential ROI (Return on Investment) that any one of these $15 books and a few hours of your time could potentially bring.

My List

My 13 for 2013 (in alphabetical order) are:

7 Habits of Highly Effective People, The: Powerful Lessons in Personal Change (Stephen R. Covey)
When people ask, “What’s the ONE book I should read to become more effective and productive?” this timeless classic is the one. At the very least, even if you don’t choose to read the whole book cover-to-cover, everyone should at least know what those seven habits are. (Tip: For your convenience, here they are.)

18 Minutes: Find Your Focus, Master Distraction, and Get the Right Things Done (Peter Bregman)
If time management, prioritization, and personal productivity are a challenge, this new book by my friend, and master storyteller, Peter Bregman, will help you get your life on track and start producing results. (Tip 1: See the Bregman Box on page 118; Tip 2: Watch his TED talks).

Art of Possibility, The: Transforming Professional and Personal Life (Rosamund & Benjamin Zander)
Indescribably brilliant and inspirational storytelling by this husband and wife team. (Tip: Watch his famous TED Talks.)

Element, The: How Finding Your Passion Changes Everything (Dr. Ken Robinson)
When who you are and What you do are in alignment and harmony, you are “in your Element.” This book will help you get there. (Tip: This RSA animated video is a true classic.)

How to Win Friends & Influence People (Dale Carnegie)
This, the first-ever “self-help” book, is the one that started it all. Written in 1936, this book has, literally, changed millions of lives worldwide. Now it’s your turn. The title says it all.

Feel the Fear… and Do It Anyway (Susan Jeffers)
In many instances, we are our own worst enemy. If you can use a confidence boost, this bestselling book will do the trick.

Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity (David Allen)
If you are simply looking for a straight-forward, no-frills, systems-based approach to get yourself organized, get yourself moving, and start getting things done, this is the number one book out there on the subject. (Tip: Tons of tools on his GTD website.)

Power of Habit, The: Why We Do What We Do In Life and Business (Charles Duhigg)
Whether trying to break an old habit or start a new one, this book will help you transform yourself into the person you would like to be through gaining a better understanding of how habits work…and what it takes to change them.

Linchpin: Are You Indispensable (Seth Godin)
I absolutely LOVE this book by one of my all-time favorite thought-leaders. In today’s working world, we need to consistently find ways to add value and stand out in a crowd. This brilliant book will inspire you to overcome your “lizard brain” and create your own path to success. (Tip: You MUST subscribe to his daily blog today. I guarantee it will quickly and radically change the way you see the world.)

One Piece of Paper: The Simple Approach to Powerful, Personal Leadership (Mike Figliuolo)
What if you could capture, on a single sheet of paper, your own personal guide to leading yourself, leading the thinking, leading others, and leading a balanced life? This creative and interactive book will help you do just that! (Tip: Subscribe to his excellent Thought Leaders blog. Full/proud disclosure: My “leadership self-awareness” guest post made their 2012 top 10 list!)

ReWork (Jason Fried & David Heinemeier Hansson)
Like Godin’s “Linchpin,” this book cuts through the crap and tells it like it is. Written with humor, attitude, and artistry, these guys really tell it like it is and get you to look at the working world in fresh new ways.

Self-Promotion for Introverts: The Quiet Guide to Getting Ahead (Nancy Ancowitz)
With introverts making up half the population (including myself), this practical and inspirational guidebook by a friend and fellow NYU professor helps and encourages introverts to leverage their strengths and achieve success.

You Don’t Need a Title to Be a Leader: How Anyone, Anywhere, Can Make a Positive Difference (Mark Sanborn)
This quick-and-easy-to-read, 100-page book will encourage and inspire you to step up to leadership – regardless of your role, position, or title. I love this powerful little book and re-read it all the time.

There are a lot of other great resources out there, but this list of personal favorites will give you a running start. So just pick ONE and dive right in. Maybe you even have some of these books already piled up on your nightstand gathering dust, or sitting on your bookshelf like a trophy. But BUYING the book with the best of intentions – as so many people do – is not enough. You need to actually READ it. And don’t just skim through it: DEVOUR it! Interact with it. Absorb it. Make it your own. Here are a just a few ways how:

• ·         Highlight things you find interesting with a neon highlighter
• ·         Underline things you find interesting with a red pen
• ·         Make notes in the margins when you’re reminded of something
• ·         Use post-it notes to mark the pages you want to go back to later

Find a blank page in the front or back and write down a list of Action Items – things you are actually going to DO! As I have people do at the end of every one of my workshops, think in terms of “Insights, Actions, & Outcomes”: What did you take away (Insights); What are you going to do (Actions); and what results do you expect to achieve (Outcomes), if you actually make the commitment and follow through.

It’s a new year. A great time to wipe the slate clean and start fresh. So if you’re really serious — I mean REALLY serious — about turning your New Year’s “resolutions” into “real solutions,” I hope that you will pick up just one of these books, and let it be the spark that ignites your passion, and helps you to light the world on fire in 2013.

With all the thousands of business books out there on the shelves to choose from, my NYU students, clients, and others often ask me, “If I were to read only ONE business book to help me be more effective, what should it be?”

To me, the answer is clear and simple: “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People” by the late Dr. Stephen R. Covey who just passed away this week.

In short, the 7 Habits are:

1. Be proactive: Don’t wait for things to happen; take action to MAKE them happen;

2. Begin with the end in mind: Start with a preconceived vision and goal;

3. Put first things first: Prioritize and plan;

4. Think “win-win”: Strive for a mutually beneficial relationships and outcomes;

5. Seek first to understand, then to be understood: Listen to, empathize with, and focus on others;   

6. Synergize: Work collaboratively to leverage the power of joint contributions;

7. Sharpen the saw: Recharge & refresh.

While the first six are pretty much self-explanatory (although far easier said than done!), the last benefits from some explication:

Long story, short… Two guys are out in the forest chopping wood from dawn til dusk. One of them goes non-stop for hours without a break, assuming that’s the best way to maximize his output. But as is turns out, at the end of the day, the other guy – the one who kept stopping and disappearing many times throughout the day – ends up being the one with the far bigger wood pile.  “How can that be!” the first guy asks, “Where did you keep going?” To which the other replies, “To sharpen my saw!”

So the message of Habit 7 is that while we literally need to be sure to keep our tools sharp, metaphorically it reminds us that we need to both mentally and physically make the time and take the time to recharge and refresh.

Covey later added an additional habit, in his book, “The 8^th Habit: From Effectiveness to Greatness” in which he encouraged people to “Find your voice and inspire others to find theirs.”

Unfortunately (as my brother Steve pointed out), with his passing there will, alas, be no “9^th Habit.”

In the spirit of full disclosure, one thing about his work that must be noted is that Covey did not originate all of the ideas that he espoused; however, he did popularize them, reaching a global audience the size of which few business authors in history, other than Dale Carnegie, have ever achieved.

I guess it could be said that Stephen Covey was the Dale Carnegie of his generation.

In closing, one identifying feature that both Carnegie and Covey have in common is that while much of their work, and many of their principles, have sometimes been minimized by elitists as being “nothing more than just plain common sense,” I think we’ve all seen, as the saying goes, that common sense is not always common practice.

So towards that end, Stephen R. Covey led the way in helping us all to maximize our performance, productivity, and potential.