High Payback Activities Include Walking and Listening to Books

In late 2010, I had a problem. I had picked up too much weight, but my knees were shot. That meant intense cardio was out of the question.

I worked out a plan that included two high-payback activities. First, I radically changed my diet. Next, I started working out every day. It worked. When I started on November 15, 2010, I weighed 216 pounds. I was down to 174 pounds by June 16, 2011. That’s a drop of 42 pounds in 214 days.

Over the following eight weeks, I kept pushing harder and dropped about another 8 to 10 pounds. Again, I followed the same high-payback strategies–good diet and smart workouts.

But I wasn’t finished because two other high-payback activities included walking and listening to books.

Even though my daily workouts included strength conditioning, I still wanted daily cardio. I started walking but found it boring until I discovered audiobooks in 2010 when walking through the Columbia, Missouri, library. I was hooked. Back then, life was tough. I had to bring the next CD in case I finished the one in my CD player.

Three Reasons for Walking and Listening to Great Books

The positive reasons for walking and listening to great books are probably obvious, but here are my top three:

• When I start my walks, I do not press play just yet.  I walk for 10 or 15 minutes to clear my head. And it turns into great thinking time.
• Most of my listening time from books occurs while I’m driving. While I can typically absorb most of the content while driving, I find it easier to listen to books while walking as there are fewer distractions, except for the occasional dustings I get from drivers who feel they need to speed by me as I traverse my gravel roads.
• But I enjoy walking and listening to books mainly because this activity is relaxing. I love reading, so combining a great book while doing something healthy makes for an enjoyable one- to two-hour activity. What a way to learn, burn a few calories, and rake in a few great ideas for the week ahead.

In short, walking and listening to books is a high-payback activity personally, spiritually, and professionally.

75 Audiobook Ideas

If you are new to audiobooks or you need some suggestions, here are my 75 favorite audiobooks as of early 2024:

Autobiography

1. Open by Andre Agassi
2. Total Recall: My Unbelievably True Life Story by Arnold Schwarzenegger
3. Educated by Tara Westhead
4. Stories I Only Tell My Friends by Rob Lowe
5. Ghost in the Wires by Kevin Mitnick
6. Around the Corner to Around the World by Robert Rosenberg
7. Born a Crime by Trevor Noah
8. Nerves of Steel by Tammie Jo Shults
9. The Boys by Ron and Clint Howard
10. Let It Go: My Extraordinary Story – from Refugee to Entrepreneur to Philanthropist by Dame Stephanie Shirley
11. Invested by Charles Schwab
12. Family Reins by Billy Busch
13. Educated by Tara Westover
14. The Education of a Value Investor by Guy Spier

Narrative Non-Fiction

1. American Kingpin by Nick Bilton
2. The Boys in the Boat by Daniel James Brown
3. Lone Survivor by Marcus Luttrell
4. Into Thin Air: A Personal Account of the Mt. Everest Disaster by Jon Krakauer
5. The Secret Life of Groceries by Benjamin Lorr
6. The Wager by David Grann
7. The Ride of Her Life by Elizabeth Letts
8. Bad Blood by John Carreyrou
9. The Founders by Jimmy Soni
10. Molly’s Game by Molly Bloom
11. In the Heart of the Sea by Nathaniel Philbrick
12. Endurance by Alfred Lansing

History

1. Destiny of the Republic by Candice Millard
2. Undaunted Courage by Stephen Ambrose
3. Going Home to Glory by David Eisenhower
4. Friday Night Lights by H. G. Bissinger
5. Leadership in Turbulent Times by Doris Kearns Goodwin
6. Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand
7. Five Presidents by Clint Hill

Business

1. Executive Toughness by Jason Selk
2. Boss Life by Paul Downs
3. The Wisdom of Finance by Mihir Desai
4. It’s How We Play the Game by Ed Stack
5. Winners Dream by Bill McDermott
6. Becoming Trader Joe by Joe Coulombe
7. The CEO Next Door by Tahl Raz, Kim R. Powell, Elena L. Botelho
8. Who is Michael Ovitz by Michael Ovitz
9. What it Takes by Raegan Moya-Jones
10. That Will Never Work by Marc Randolph
11. Wild Company by Mel and Patricia Ziegler
12. Anything You Want by Derek Sivers
13. Built from Scratch by Bernie Marcus
14. The Business of Expertise by David C. Baker
15. Work Rules by Laszlo Bock
16. The Outsiders by William Thorndike
17. The Management Myth by Matthew Stewart
18. Shoe Dog by Phil Knight
19. American Icon by Bryce Hoffman
20. In the Heart of the Sea by Nathaniel Philbrick
21. Street Smarts by Norm Brodsky
22. Creativity Inc. by Ed Catmull
23. The Sales Acceleration Formula by Mark Roberge
24. The Phoenix Project by Gene Kim
25. So Good They Can’t Ignore You by Cal Newport

Sports

1. Gridiron Genius by  Michael Lombardi
2. Finley Ball by Nancy Finley
3. Fantasy Life by Matthew Berry
4. Unscripted by Ernie Johnson

Classical Fiction

1. East of Eden by John Steinbeck

Personal Development

1. The 4 Laws of Financial Prosperity by Charles Coonradt
2. Deep Work by Cal Newport
3. The Phoenix Project by Gene Kim
4. So Good They Can’t Ignore You by Cal Newport

Fiction

1. City of Thieves: A Novel by David Benioff
2. A Dangerous Fortune by Ken Follett
3. 11-22-63: A Novel by Stephen King
4. East of Eden by John Steinbeck
5. The Martian by Andy Weir
6. The Four Winds by Kristin Hannah
7. The Lincoln Highway by Amor Towles
8. No Country for Old Men by Cormac McCarthy
9. A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman
10. Before We Were Yours: A Novel by Lisa Wingate
11. A Simple Plan by Scott Smith