I mentioned before that I love to read, and so give book recommendations. As a reader, I enjoy hearing about books that other people have loved, as it gives me inspiration on what to read next. (Books are very personal: a book one person loves, another can hate).
Today I'm going to share a book I really enjoyed in 2020, "You are a badass: How to stop doubting your greatness and start living an awesome life" by Jen Sincero.
(This is an affiliate link, meaning if you buy through this link, I will make a small commission from Amazon, at no cost to you: Buy here)
I read this book for an online book club I am a part of, and surprisingly really enjoyed it. I say surprisingly, as it mentions the concept of believing in the universe a lot and there is a time when I would have scoffed at that. Even if you are scoffing at that right now, read on, as the author really does give some great practical advice, no matter your stance on the universe!
There are lots of other sites which can give a synopsis of the book and review it in depth. Instead here I am going to share from points from the book that really resonated with me.
Golden nuggets from this book recommendations:
1. What stories do you tell yourself? And what do you gain from them?
Become aware of what your stories are. You can spot them with sentences that start like:
I always
I never
I can't
I should
I'm bad at
I wish
I want (as opposed to I will or I am)
I don't have
One day
I'm trying to
This could sound like "I'm bad at languages. I should have a house by now. I always eat too much at the weekend.I wish I cared less what people thought of me".
Her point is that these are stories and not necessarily the truth. And when you think of them in that way, it means you can rewrite them. Afterall, you're the author of your own life.
Start paying attention. What are your favourite, self sabotaging stories?
Become aware of what you are gaining from your stories. We pretty much don't ever do anything that we don't benefit from in some way, be it in a healthy way or an unhealthy way.
When I say "I'm bad at languages", it's easier than trying something and failing. Or than having to rearrange my life to spend time and money on learning. Once you identify the false benefits you get from your stories, you can start the process of letting them go and replace them with new, more empowering stories that serve you better.
Keep envisioning what it would look and feel like to change that story. (affirmations are also super useful here). If my goal was to learn French, I could visualise sitting in Paris, on the patio of a cafe of a beautiful picturesque street, ordering my lunch and sharing a joke with the waiter. All in French.
2. Get into reality with your to do lists and goals
Sometimes we take on more than we can chew because we think we need to do it all.
Are your to do lists realistic?
I'm a planner so I enjoy sitting down on a Sunday and plotting out my goals and schedule for the week ahead. A weekly to do list is normally part of that process. What I've found happens though, is that I end up with a list of 10+ things I want to do, and then either (a) I do very little of what is on the list as I'm too overwhelmed to start or (b) I get loads done but still feel like I'm failing as I didn't tick off everything on the list. If this also sounds like you, then getting realistic and focused with your to do lists is going to be way more motivating. A useful exercise when making your to do list is to ask yourself:
What needs to happen right now?
What can wait?
What can you delegate?
What are the big tasks, and what are little small piddly ones?
The shorter the list you are working with, the better you'll feel.
Another pro tip that has been helpful for me is to chunk down bigger to do's into their smaller pieces. So alongside "apply for mortgage" on my monthly to do list, I'll have broken it down into smaller, more manageable tasks e.g. do 30 minutes research on mortgage options today. And remember. You are never gonna get it all gone. So stop stressing about it!
3. Energy & Vibration
If you want to live a life you've never lived, you have to do things you've never done. This is a nice variation on the Thomas Jefferson quote "If you want something you've never had, you must be willing to do something you've never done".
For me, this was thinking more about my energy, the vibration that I put out into the world.
Your vibe will attract your tribe
If you feel negative, then you could easily find yourself embroiled in watercooler gossip at work, or mindlessly scrolling through negative pages on social media. Instead, focus on raising your frequency to match the vibration of the one you want to tune into. So if you want to feel more positive, rather than negative and fearful, figure out what will make you feel more positive and do those things to change your energy flow. For example, call that really positive friend or unfollow certain accounts on social media. When you start to focus on the energy you put out into the world, then you will find yourself attracting that energy back. According to Sincero, the trick is to have both parts - energy and action - working in unison.
In order to truly raise your vibration, you've got to believe that everything you want is available to you. This is about your faith being more powerful than your fear. That seems hard when it comes to something like energy, as you're being asked to believe in something you cannot see. The way I got past that block, was recognising that it couldn't be worse than how I felt right now. I want to attract more positivity in my life, so if I find myself thinking negative thoughts, or being surrounded by negative people, I choose again.
If any of these golden nuggets resonate with you, then I would definitely say give this book a read. You can even check it out on Audible, if you prefer an Audio book version
I'm an avid audiobook listener with currently over 180 book titles in my digital library. I love to listen to audiobooks to make use of "dead" time, like commuting, or when I am cooking, before bed or when exercising.
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