In Episode 9 of The Top One Podcast, Jerry Corless and Chaz Emerson share the stacked reading list that's shaped how the top 1% of advisors think, build, and grow — moving from vision to goals to habits to focus to inner excellence.

A few unfiltered moments from this one:

→ On emotional intelligence as a double-edged sword: "That same trait of high emotional intelligence can also lead us to get our feelings hurt easily ourselves."

→ On the data behind written goals: "Only 3% of the graduates had written goals and plans... and on average had 10 times as much as the other 97% altogether."

→ On bad habits: "Bad habits are creeping and they are not difficult to take on. Good habits require careful attention and discipline." → On focus at the top: "There are all kinds of things that you can be involved in on a daily basis that don't move the needle... they're all work."

→ On what holds advisors back: "The fear of man lays a snare."

The stacked reading list, in order:

1. The Game of Numbers by Nick Murray — the foundational book on client acquisition, rejection, and believing in financial planning
2. Goals by Brian Tracy — casting a 10-year vision and setting clearly defined, measurable, time-bound goals
3. The Compound Effect by Darren Hardy — consistency wins, and keeping score is non-negotiable
4. Atomic Habits by James Clear — building sustainable good habits and breaking the bad ones 1% at a time
5. The One Thing by Gary Keller and Jay Papasan — focus plus accountability (written goals + sharing them lifts execution by over 70%)
6. Inner Excellence by Jim Murphy — the heart-and-soul read that unlocks the final 1–2% of talent and ability

And the closing line from the James Kavanagh poem Jerry read to wrap the episode: "Until I was in competition with no one, and life was clear again."

If you've ever wondered what the top 1% actually read — and in what order — this is the conversation.

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