A new year often makes us think of the changes we might like to make in our life. I’ve always been a big fan of New Year’s resolutions, but ironically, I rarely like books about changing your life. These five books have been the exception that captured my heart. Each of these books provided a guidepost for me during a different season of my life. They might not all be right for you today, but the odds are: one will be.
What book will speak to you today?
Take Back Your Time
About the book
Take Back Your Time by Christy Wright
Book Review
“Balance isn’t about something you do . . . It is being confident in who you are, the life you are creating and the choices you are making.”
This is not the kind of time management book that will guilt trip you for not using every second towards a goal. Instead, it recognizes that no one can ever dedicate equal amounts of time to every area of their lives; instead, different seasons will require a focus on different priorities. Each chapter ends with journaling questions to help you find clarity and answers in your own life. She also provides a free workbook on her website. I encourage you to follow the journaling prompts and download the workbook. These actions will take this book from a nice, affirming read to a life-changing experience.
Wright emphasizes that balance starts with clarity on your purpose and calling. When you decide who you want to be, it will become clear what matters most. Then, from there, you can prioritize your goals. She shares some insightful tips on how to stop doing the things that do not matter, such as making other peoples’ problems your problem. We don’t have to provide the solution for everyone. Then we can create a schedule that focuses on the things that matter most and protect that time. Wright encourages us to ask ourselves questions before making a commitment: Can I do it? Is this a priority for me right now? What will I not be able to do if I do this? How will this affect my family? Will I still want to do it when the time to fulfill the commitment arrives? These questions will help us only say yes to the right opportunities and needs. Wright points out that how we spend our time defines who we are. Balance is achieved when we feel good about our time investment.
Why I love it
This book encourages you to live a fulfilled, guilt-free life while avoiding burnout. I’m bad about saying yes to too many “good” opportunities, so this book’s point that there will always be more opportunities than you have time for really hit home. I need to think about what I’m saying “no” to when I fill my time through a “yes” to make sure it’s the best, most fulfilling use of my time.
The Wonder Switch
About the Book
The Wonder Switch by Harris III
Book Review
“The most powerful person in the world is the storyteller. The storyteller sets the vision, values, and agenda of an entire generation that is to come.” – Steve Jobs
We are constantly telling ourselves stories about our life in our inner thoughts. I believe with all my heart the author’s premise that these stories we tell ourselves have power. Instead of comparing ourselves to others, the author thinks that often we are comparing ourselves to our ideal selves: the person we wish we were. This book starts with flipping the script, recapturing that inner sense of wonder, and tapping into your inner creativity to live the life you dream of.
The book also dives into how trauma, boredom and drama can sap our creative energy. I found the section on drama to be the most powerful, as I’ve been lucky enough to live a relatively trauma-free life thus far. But I’ve definitely lived some drama! And I have to admit, the periods of my life where I got caught up in drama were my least productive and creative. Drama saps your best energy.
As the author says, “When your imagination gets bored, it looks for something to feed on. The human brain was created to solve problems. And if you don’t have a high-level problem worthy of solving, the brain will create one, usually in the form of the drama.”
I’d much rather be creating and achieving than worrying about drama!
I appreciated the author’s scientific approach, with every statement backed up with numerous studies and examples. Wonder allows us to appreciate the beauty and magic in the world around us, bringing a childlike sense of awe. This is proven to boost peacefulness and creativity. It’s the opposite of a jaded, cynical perspective, which leads to anxiety and stress. Wonder restores our equilibrium.
The book ends with a roadmap to regain your sense of wonder. You’ll want a journal for this part, as I filled pages with notes and reflection. I plan to return to this roadmap again and again.
Quitter and Start
About the Books
Quitter and Start by Jon Acuff
Quitter
This tongue-in-cheek book about following your dreams starts by encouraging you to not quit your day job. The author points out that having a day job allows you to say “no” to opportunities that might put your dreams on the wrong track, as you’re not using the dream to pay your bills – yet. He gives tips on how to nurture your dreams and bring them to the right point to make them your full-time career.
He also provides guidance to find your passion, asking: What do you love enough to do for free? What do you do that causes time to feel different? What do you enjoy doing regardless of the opinions of others? The answers to these questions may surprise you and lead you in a different direction than you originally thought.
Along the way, you need to say yes to the right opportunities, not any opportunity. Think about what success with that opportunity would mean and if it gets you closer to your dream.
Finally, he gives you the “Am I Ready to Quit my Day Job” scorecard. Acuff’s style won’t be for everyone, but I enjoyed the sardonic humor as I absorbed the roadmap he lays out to your dream career.
Start
This book picks up where Quitter left off. It’s a roadmap for how to start something new and awesome.
While the scariest step can be starting, Acuff breaks the life stages into six parts: starting, learning, editing, mastering, harvesting, and guiding. He reminds us that there are no shortcuts to excellence, and sometimes you have to put in the time to get good. He provides tips for finding that time to build your awesome thing. When you enter the stage of mastering, Acuff says you will be your secret self. By that, he means the person you always dreamed you could be, but fear and obstacles got in the way. But, when you’re confidently living your true, successful life, you’re not done. Then it’s your turn to guide the next generation of creatives.
Why I love them
Thinking back to childhood, I spent hours and and hours getting lost in the world of books and dreamed of my own book on the shelves of a library. This book is what convinced me to start writing again after college. This lead to getting published in magazines, which lead to writing the draft of a novel, which led me to connect with authors, which led me to bookstagram. I always knew I loved books, so I looked for ways I can be involved in publishing and reading circles, first as a champion of books, then hopefully someday as the author of my own. This book helped me rediscover my passions.
The Happiness Project
About the Book
The Happiness Project Or, Why I Spend a Year Trying to Sing in the Morning, Clean My Closets, Fight Right, Read Aristotle and Generally Have More Fun by Gretchen Rubin
Book Review
Why read about someone else’s happiness project? Rubin says, “I often learn more from one person’s highly idiosyncratic experiences than I do from sources that detail universal principles.” Rubin challenged herself to one year of working on her happiness, starting in January. This self-help book is for those of us who love a systematic organization system above all else. Rubin combines research on the science of happiness with monthly topics to tackle, like energy levels, work, marriage, parenthood, leisure, friendship, money, eternity, passions and mindfulness. I love the way she breaks out each goal in a way that’s meaningful to her, prompting ideas for what could be meaningful to the reader. The idea that you could systematically work your way to greater happiness appealed to me on a fundamental level.
This is a happiness book for all of the type-A’s out there.
