Surely you’ve noticed by now that I love to read books, research, and share ideas and quotes. One of my readers certainly has. I have a new question for today that is fun for me because I get to go play in my library while thinking about it. By library, I mean digital library since I have at least 95% of my books on my iPad, but still.
The question is…
“You’ve read and researched a lot up to this point, what book impacted you the most? Why? I know it’s not a fair question, but it will cause you to think.”
It is a totally fair question for which I have a totally not fair answer:
For the sake of sticking to the question, I’ll focus only on books I have read and offer another unfair answer:
Think Again by Adam Grant – I choose this one because it gives me pause to go review every other book in a new light, from new perspectives. Truth.
But now to be more fair, I’ll select a few others, listed in alphabetical order by author.
- Everything ever written by Brené Brown – She taught me about vulnerability, shame, how to rumble, and ultimately transform.
- Untamed, Glennon Doyle – She taught me the power and value of showing up as my raw, real self – my goal with this blog.
- The Practice, Seth Godin – He taught me to deliver art and that each of us has a message the world needs to hear.
- The Obstacle Is The Way, Ryan Holiday – The title says it all!
- The Art Of Impossible, Steven Kotler – This helped me organize my thoughts on peak performance, especially as it relates to Flow, a topic I have yet to write about.
Now, so I don’t just drop a book list and run, I’ll go a step further and pull one of MANY favorite quotes from each that has had an impact on me sharing my story here for you.
When we tell our stories, we change the world.
– Brené Brown, I Thought It Was Just Me (but it isn’t)
“Each of us was born to bring forth something that has never existed: a way of being, a family, an idea, art, a community—something brand-new. We are here to fully introduce ourselves, to impose ourselves and ideas and thoughts and dreams onto the world, leaving it changed forever by who we are and what we bring forth from our depths. So we cannot contort ourselves to fit into the visible order. We must unleash ourselves and watch the world reorder itself in front of our eyes.”
– Glennon Doyle, Untamed
Ultimately, the goal is to become the best in the world at being you. To bring useful idiosyncrasy to the people you seek to change, and to earn a reputation for what you do and how you do it. The peculiar version of you, your assertions, your art.
– Seth Godin, The Practice
“We can decide that momentum and defeat are not mutually exclusive—we can keep going, advancing, even if we’ve been stopped in one particular direction.
Our actions can be constrained, but our will can’t be. Our plans—even our bodies—can be broken. But belief in ourselves? No matter how many times we are thrown back, we alone retain the power to decide to go once more. Or to try another route. Or, at the very least, to accept this reality and decide upon a new aim.”
– Ryan Holiday, The Obstacle Is the Way
“Once we’re focused on something outside ourselves, it’s a lot easier to get out of our heads and into the zone.”
– Steven Kotler, The Art of Impossible
“Harness the benefits of doubt. When you find yourself doubting your ability, reframe the situation as an opportunity for growth. You can have confidence in your capacity to learn while questioning your current solution to a problem. Knowing what you don’t know is often the first step toward developing expertise.”
– Adam Grant, Think Again
Having championed and quoted everything above, I now reserve space to change my mind at any time, because…
…I will always be thinking again.
(I have a library of about 60 books that have been impactful in regards to this entire journey. Maybe I should create a Resources page to list them all? Comment below with a yay or nay!)
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