Book 37: Intervention by Dan John

Fantastic read. Dan John is a strength coach who primarily works with pro-athletes. Being as I co-own a gym I do sometimes geek out on stuff like this. His book is all about intervening his own methods because in working with the .00001% of the population you tend to give poor advice to non-athletes, a.k.a the majority of those who train!

This book says everything I wish I could to a lot of those who come searching for a gym, but it's not their fault that they are filled with poor information and false ideas about fitness. I wish I could say that a trendy tool is irrelevant, going hard and fasting is irrelevant 80% of the time, and if you don't keep the goal, the goal, then what is the point?

I wish I could say that to really achieve long-term results you have to throw time tables out the window and commit to moving every day. And I wish I could say that if you want to know what's wrong with your nutrition to be a grown up because really you do know better, you choose not to act better.

Whoa, that was a little bit of a rant. Sorry. But seeing as he has been around a fair amount longer I would read it and listen to what he has to say. :)

Andrea

Book 36: All Marketers are Liars by Seth Godin

I have wanted read a book by him for a long time - I imagined it would be witty but right on point. I imagined his ideas would in some ways blow me away, making me say over and over, "yes, that's it!" Perhaps my expectations were too high...

I liked it. And his thesis, as he calls it, about the world of marketing and the authentic vs. the in-authentic is very good. His position is pretty accurate - to market yourself (person, organization, business, idea, etc.) then you have to tell a story that fits into the frame work of people's already constructed worldview. That hopping on a bandwagon or attempting to alter someone's position is pretty much a waste of time.

Agreed.

Where I got caught was in wanting more ... substance. I wanted a little of that "how to" guide to come along somewhere but it never showed up. I wanted him to write about where to go from here, what signs to look for, and how not to fall into that trap other than, "don't do this.."

In all I think the book could have been a few chapters shorter. Sorry Mr. Godin, I really was rooting for your position! What do you think? Of course, you have to read it first.

Andrea

Book 35: The Mastery of Love by Don Miguel Ruiz

Typically when I pick up a non-fiction book of this degree I can't seem to put it down - well I put this one down a lot for four days. Hmm. Not to say that the content was not rich or not intriguing. It was. And not to say that he doesn't have a strong voice or a sharp position. He does.

For a book with love right there in the title I don't totally love it.

The concept as a whole is fantastic and reminded me a little bit of The Power of Now - that the future or the past is an illusion because it lives in memory. Mr. Ruiz calls this the dream and says that the dream is in charge unless we wake up and take power back over our present selves.

That in order to truly love and be loved you must accept, forgive, and respect the self and then you are capable of truly loving another.

Maybe I just like books with sections, numbered thoughts, or a breakdown in concepts. This felt like a ramble, a good ramble, but the stream of thought just was not consistent for me.

Although I of course recommend you read it.

Andrea

Book 34: Book Yourself Solid by Michael Port

Similar confession to my previous post - I have already read this one too. But you see, my profession has evolved since I last read this one and it helps with, as my friend would say, with all your pieces.

For you business owners reading this - the who, what, why, how, etc. of you and the work you do.

I actually loved it as much the second time as I did the first. Either Mr. Port is an action taker or reads a lot and has a difficult time implementing (doubt it on that latter one) because each chapter comes with a plethora of action taking steps. And see as a life coach, we geek out over those sorts of things.

The Book Yourself Solid System is primarily for service professionals, however you certainly don't need to be your own boss as a service professional to gain something from it's contents. He keeps it simple in breaking down how to get to the heart of what you really do, how to talk about it, how to put it on paper, and how to share it so it can build on itself into a snowballing referral system.

Nice, huh? Oh, you don't geek out on business?

Well for those of you who do, read it!

Andrea

Book 33: The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz

Confession: this was not my first time reading this book however my first time was well over 10 years ago so I figured it was fair game. This is the kind of book I could read every year and always get a little something useful from.

The Four Agreements are:

• Be impeccable with your word
• Don't take anything personally
• Don't make assumptions
• Always do your best

Simple, right? 

These four agreements, when implemented, can give you tremendous personal power. Your very own power to feel secure, loved, and validated irregardless of those around you or those not around you. 

So simple, in fact, I don't have much more to say about them except that they have removed a veil and with it came a lot of pressure. Phew.

Read it.

Andrea

Book 32: Change Your Questions, Change Your Life by Marilee Adams

This little number was recommended at the start of my life coach training. Although I went out and bought it right away I didn't open it until, well, a few days ago. Here's the thing about us life coaches, we are trained to be curious, really that's it! That means we ask questions, lots of questions.

It's fun, no really.

Here in Mrs. Adams book you meet Ben, the Answer Man, who's sense of curiosity seems to have escaped him leaving his leadership skills less than desirable. Through a series of interactions with an executive coach (life coach for corporate leaders) he starts to close his Answer Man chapter and finds himself thick in the middle of sheer curiosity.

Mrs. Adams' premise is that we are either in Judger mode (Who's fault is it? What went wrong? Who's to blame?) or we can be in Learner mode (What are the opportunities here? What do we really want? How may I contribute?). By recognizing our Judger modes and being aware of them we can move into Learner mode to move our conversations some where positive and useful.

I may have loved this book because it is my job to do what is in this book - but questions are awesome and I encourage you to ask a few more of your own. So, read it. 

Andrea

Book 31: The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle

I wanted to feel great about being immersed in this book - I found myself loving the first half, nodding along, and taking good pauses. The more into the text I got the more difficult my ability to keep up.

Mr. Tolle is no doubt quite brilliant.

The half that I enjoyed lays out enlightenment, dissection between mind and consciousness, and how Being has been written about in many forms for thousands of years. I especially enjoyed his description of psychological time - an illusion of past and future because these are two sides of memory, not reality. That all that every really is in reality is this very moment...no this second...this very second. Bizarre, no?

The Power of Now is to let go and let Being, be. This is a book that made me go, "hmm." More than a hundred times, I am still doing it. Read it.

Andrea