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I’ve always been a major bookworm. Growing up, I wasn’t that girl who was into cheerleading or dance. I didn’t play a sport.
I read. A lot.
The Babysitters Club, thrillers by Christopher Pike and R.L. Stine, coming-of-age novels by Judy Blume and every single literary work based on Elizabeth and Jessica Wakefield—from Sweet Valley Twins to Sweet Valley High to Sweet Valley University and all the Sweet Valley Saga stories—you name it, I read it. I had my nose in a book for most of my adolescence.
As a grown up I haven’t made as much time for fiction as I did as a tween, although I am a sucker for anything written by Jennifer Weiner and have fallen hard for the Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon—and will finish them, however long it takes me! Instead, I’ve found myself devouring personal development books on Audible. (By the way, if you’ve never tried Audible, you must. You can legit consume a book and drive. It’s the coolest thing ever).
These four books are totes worth the read (or listen, as the case may be), and have given me some of my most powerful tools for creating a mom life I love. And I truly believe every mother should read them because being a mom is the most intense form of leadership you’ll ever know. So why not level up?
Check these babies out:
1. The One Thing, by Gary Keller and Jay Papasan
I find myself returning to the principles of this book over and over again as I navigate the challenges of being a working mother who is also running a small business.
The ONE Thing taught me everything I know about productivity and prioritizing. I used to believe all things matter equally. They don’t. The ONE Thing shows you how to focus so that, in going after your big hairy audacious goals, you can identify the one thing you can do to make everything else easier or unnecessary.
I know, I know. What does that mean, exactly?
Think of the steps toward achieving any goal as a row of evenly-spaced dominoes. The easiest way to knock them all down is simply to knock over the first one, right? The ONE Thing explains that this principle applies to the achievement of any extraordinary result in life or business, and gives you the tools to identify the lead dominoes in your own life.
Throughout most of my life, I’ve tended to over complicate things. Learning how to make things simpler in both my business and my mom life has been incredibly valuable.
2. You Are a Badass, by Jen Sincero
The mind is an incredibly powerful thing. As a recovering perfectionist, I have spent a lot of time in my head, painstakingly over-analyzing and worrying.
Through the power of self-discovery, I’ve learned how to command my thoughts and attention to create what I want to experience.
You Are a Badass reinforces many of those principles and helps me remember that the universe is friendly and wants me to have my heart’s deepest desires. I’m the only thing standing in my way.
I’d venture to say the same is true for you, my friend.
3. The Power of Habit, by Charles Duhigg
F.M. Alexander once said, “People don’t decide their futures. They decide their habits, and their habits decide their futures.” It’s a powerful thought, and one I happen to entirely agree with after reading The Power of Habit.
A habit, according to Merriam Webster, is an acquired mode of behavior that has become nearly or completely involuntary.
Did you read that? Involuntary. In other words, once something becomes a habit, it requires zero willpower or effort on your part. Imagine how much you could achieve if you intentionally created habits that serve you?
The Power of Habit explains the “habit loop,” which enables you to understand how habits are formed and how they can be broken. Coupled with The ONE Thing, I learned how to turn my lead dominoes into habits.
Life changing, my friend.
4. The 10x Rule, by Grant Cardone
This book is all about how to achieve big goals by taking massive action that most people simply will not take. While I’ll state openly that I don’t agree with everything Mr. Cardone says in this book, one of the “aha!” moments I took from it is not to be afraid of problems.
Every time you hit a new level of success, you will be presented with a new set of problems, guaranteed. But that’s a good thing. It means you’re growing. If you lose 100 pounds and have to buy an entirely new wardrobe, that’s a problem that needs to be solved, right? But it’s a problem that came as a result of you achieving your goal, and is therefore something to be appreciated.
The principle reminds me of a quote my business coach and mentor, Susie Moore, often repeats: “Overwhelm is a stress response to a lot of things going right.” I’ll take that kind of overwhelm any day.
Fair warning: Mr. Cardone is definitely an “in your face” kind of guy. In the Audible version of his book, which he narrates himself, he shares that he was going to call Chapter 6, “Don’t Be a Little Bitch,” but in an effort not to offend anyone, instead titled it, “Assume Control for Everything.” The main idea is that “crybabies, whiners and victims just don’t do well at attracting or creating success.”
Personally, I like that. I enjoy being held accountable. There’s something very empowering about realizing that you create what you experience—good and bad. And the simplicity is kind of beautiful: there’s really only one person to “blame” when things don’t go right, and she’s staring back at me when I look in a mirror.
While it can be hard to swallow when what you create is not so ideal, it’s also pretty wild to realize you create the good stuff, too. I love being reminded to step into my God-given power to create what I want to experience. It’s very cool stuff.
So there you have it! The four books that changed my life and that I believe every mom should read. Go get to reading, mama. And if you legit “don’t have time” to sit down with a book, Audible instead while you drive, work out or do laundry.
Leaders are readers, and you, my friend, are one of the most powerful leaders in the world: a mother. Give yourself the gift of personal growth. You deserve it, girlfriend.
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