In Need of Some Inspiration? Check Out This Booklist!
Photo by Jazmin Quaynor on Unsplash
We all have those moments where we feel stuck and not quite sure how to regain inspiration. And while reading a book won't solve all problems, it can be a kick in the pants to get back on track. Even if you’ve read some of these books in the past, consider giving them a re-read to dedicate yourself to ending 2019 even better than you started it. Capricorn season is an excellent time to rededicate yourself to work, self-improvement, and self-acceptance.
TITLE: You Are a Badass at Making Money: Master the Mindset of Wealth By Jen Sincero
DESCRIPTION: “You Are a Badass at Making Money will launch you past the fears and stumbling blocks that have kept financial success beyond your reach. Drawing on her own transformation—over just a few years—from a woman living in a converted garage with tumbleweeds blowing through her bank account to a woman who travels the world in style, Jen Sincero channels the inimitable sass and practicality that made You Are a Badass an indomitable bestseller. She combines hilarious personal essays with bite-size, aha concepts that unlock earning potential and get real results.”
READ IF YOU ARE IN NEED OF: Motivation to work to eliminate limiting beliefs you may have around money
TITLE: Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear by Elizabeth Gilbert
DESCRIPTION: “Readers of all ages and walks of life have drawn inspiration and empowerment from Elizabeth Gilbert’s books for years. Now this beloved author digs deep into her own generative process to share her wisdom and unique perspective about creativity. With profound empathy and radiant generosity, she offers potent insights into the mysterious nature of inspiration. She asks us to embrace our curiosity and let go of needless suffering. She shows us how to tackle what we most love, and how to face down what we most fear. She discusses the attitudes, approaches, and habits we need in order to live our most creative lives.”
READ IF YOU ARE IN NEED OF: Inspiration to start on that creative project you’ve thought about ASAP
TITLE: The Universe Has Your Back: Transform Fear to Faith by Gabrielle Bernstein
DESCRIPTION: “Through acceptance, surrender, and a commitment to her continually evolving spiritual path, New York Times best-selling author and international speaker Gabrielle Bernstein has been transforming her fear into faith. Her stories and universal lessons provide a framework for releasing the blocks to what everyone most longs for: happiness, security, and clear direction. These lessons can help us relinquish the need to control in order to relax into a sense of certainty and freedom--to stop chasing life and truly live.”
READ IF YOU ARE IN NEED OF: Trust that things will unfold the way they are supposed to
TITLE: Option B: Facing Adversity, Building Resilience, and Finding Joy by Sheryl Sandberg and Adam Grant
DESCRIPTION: “After the sudden death of her husband, Sheryl Sandberg felt certain that she and her children would never feel pure joy again. “I was in ‘the void,’” she writes, “a vast emptiness that fills your heart and lungs and restricts your ability to think or even breathe.” Her friend Adam Grant, a psychologist at Wharton, told her there are concrete steps people can take to recover and rebound from life-shattering experiences. We are not born with a fixed amount of resilience. It is a muscle that everyone can build.
Option B combines Sheryl’s personal insights with Adam’s eye-opening research on finding strength in the face of adversity.“
READ IF YOU ARE IN NEED OF: Inspiration to deal with life’s seemingly insurmountable challenges
TITLE: Pivot: The Art and Science of Reinventing Your Career and Life by Adam Markel
DESCRIPTION: “Whether you are transitioning your career, or have been downsized, or believe that your true potential has yet to be fully tapped, Pivot is a guide to reinvention for anyone, at any age. With clear-eyed compassion and frank assessments, Adam shares the secrets that will guide you away from fear and toward a powerful new vision for your life. The uplifting stories, introspective prompts, clear step-by-step exercises, and energizing calls to action throughout this remarkable book will guide you through the process of personal and career transformation, from creating a vision and clearing space for change to building a supportive environment and establishing daily rituals that will regenerate your soul.”
READ IF YOU ARE IN NEED OF: Actionable advice to get beyond “feeling stuck” in your professional and/or personal life
TITLE: Better than Before: What I Learned About Making and Breaking Habits--to Sleep More, Quit Sugar, Procrastinate Less, and Generally Build a Happier Life by Gretchen Rubin
DESCRIPTION: “The author of the blockbuster New York Times bestsellers, The Happiness Project and Happier at Home, tackles the critical question: How do we change? Gretchen Rubin's answer: through habits. Habits are the invisible architecture of everyday life. It takes work to make a habit, but once that habit is set, we can harness the energy of habits to build happier, stronger, more productive lives. So if habits are a key to change, then what we really need to know is: How do we change our habits? Better than Before answers that question. It presents a practical, concrete framework to allow readers to understand their habits—and to change them for good.”
READ IF YOU ARE IN NEED OF: Insights on taking incremental steps to improve your habits over time
TITLE: The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck: A Counterintuitive Approach to Living a Good Life by Mark Manson
DESCRIPTION: “For decades, we’ve been told that positive thinking is the key to a happy, rich life. "F**k positivity," Mark Manson says. "Let’s be honest, shit is f**ked and we have to live with it." In his wildly popular Internet blog, Manson doesn’t sugarcoat or equivocate. He tells it like it is—a dose of raw, refreshing, honest truth that is sorely lacking today. The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F**k is his antidote to the coddling, let’s-all-feel-good mindset that has infected modern society and spoiled a generation, rewarding them with gold medals just for showing up. Manson makes the argument, backed both by academic research and well-timed poop jokes, that improving our lives hinges not on our ability to turn lemons into lemonade, but on learning to stomach lemons better. Human beings are flawed and limited—"not everybody can be extraordinary, there are winners and losers in society, and some of it is not fair or your fault."
READ IF YOU ARE IN NEED OF: A no holds barred approach to changing your life for the better
TITLE: Year of Yes: How to Dance It Out, Stand In the Sun and Be Your Own Person by Shonda Rhimes
DESCRIPTION: “This poignant, intimate, and hilarious memoir explores Shonda’s life before her Year of Yes—from her nerdy, book-loving childhood to her devotion to creating television characters who reflected the world she saw around her. The book chronicles her life after her Year of Yes had begun—when Shonda forced herself out of the house and onto the stage; when she learned to explore, empower, applaud, and love her truest self. Yes.”
READ IF YOU ARE IN NEED OF: A memoir of an inspirational person + Permission to go after things that you up light up on your own terms
TITLE: Rising Strong: How the Ability to Reset Transforms the Way We Live, Love, Parent, and Lead by Brene Brown
DESCRIPTION: “It is the rise from falling that Brown takes as her subject in Rising Strong. As a grounded theory researcher, Brown has listened as a range of people—from leaders in Fortune 500 companies and the military to artists, couples in long-term relationships, teachers, and parents—shared their stories of being brave, falling, and getting back up. She asked herself, What do these people with strong and loving relationships, leaders nurturing creativity, artists pushing innovation, and clergy walking with people through faith and mystery have in common? The answer was clear: They recognize the power of emotion and they’re not afraid to lean in to discomfort.”
READ IF YOU ARE IN NEED OF: Resolve to overcome life’s challenges
TITLE: The Four Agreements: A Practical Guide to Personal Freedom (A Toltec Wisdom Book) by Don Miguel Ruiz
DESCRIPTION: In The Four Agreements, bestselling author don Miguel Ruiz reveals the source of self-limiting beliefs that rob us of joy and create needless suffering. Based on ancient Toltec wisdom, The Four Agreements offer a powerful code of conduct that can rapidly transform our lives to a new experience of freedom, true happiness, and love.
READ IF YOU ARE IN NEED OF: Some simple guidance on tenets to live by