๐๐ซ๐ก๐๐ง ๐๐๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ค ๐ฌ๐๐ข๐: โ๐ ๐ซ๐๐๐ ๐ ๐๐จ๐จ๐ค ๐จ๐ง๐ ๐๐๐ฒ ๐๐ง๐ ๐ฆ๐ฒ ๐ฐ๐ก๐จ๐ฅ๐ ๐ฅ๐ข๐๐ ๐ฐ๐๐ฌ ๐๐ก๐๐ง๐ ๐๐.โ What books have you read that have done the same for you?
Below are five that have a life-altering impact on me. Capping this to 5 was incredibly difficult. There are so many books across genres that I have loved reading. But when I really think on the books that have loved me back so much to change the way I think about myself, my life direction, and the world I am inโฆthese are the first five that come to mind:
๐๐จ๐ฎ ๐๐ซ๐ ๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ฌ๐ฌ ๐ฌ๐๐ซ๐ข๐๐ฌ: I was really mousy for a long time. The world had beat me down too much. I had lost sense of my self-confidence, my trust for others, my comfort for vulnerability, and my faith that I could be my own hero and build a life on my terms. What changed that for me was building my own side business. I started reading the first of this book series about the time I started my business and it planted a seed of hope that maybe I was a capable bad ass. The second, geared toward finances, is also worth a read.
๐ ๐๐๐ฅ๐ฅ๐จ๐ฐ ๐๐๐๐ญ i๐ง ๐๐ฅ๐ฎ๐ ๐ช๐๐ญ๐๐ซ: I read this book in high school sophomore English (23 years ago) and will never forget it. The structure of the book, the way the stories of the three central women unfoldedโฆitโs what first taught me the power of communication and the repercussions that can come from a lack of communication. Poor communication can break relationships. You have to have the courage to speak.
๐๐ข๐ง๐๐ฌ๐๐ญ: When I read Mindset, it was like suddenly my experience in the education system made sense. I made sense. The stories I told myself about myself made sense. The teachers who taught with a closed-mindset mentality were the subjects I did the worst in. The subjects I still felt incapable of performing well in. The teachers who taught with an open-mindset mentality fueled my confidence and thus my performance. I realized why I for so long believed I โwasnโt smartโ or โwasnโt a math personโ or โwasnโt an athleteโ. And I learned how I could become any of those by changing my mindset.
๐๐ก๐ ๐๐ข๐ ๐๐๐จ๐ง๐จ๐ฆ๐ฒ: This book taught me just how legit side hustling was! It flipped my mental script. I started my side hustle out of a sense of desperation bc I needed a cash cushion. So I worried that people would see me as desperate and would just be doing me a favor if they supported me. It was reading this book that helped me realize that i was desperate. I was smart. Side hustling, done correctly, is the way to diversify your financial, professional, and personal portfolio. Whether youโre bringing in extra dollars, building residual income, empowering your sense of autonomy, or expressing yourself through a creative outlet that you wouldnโt otherwise have! This book helped me find a new voice and a new why behind the passion project I continue to expand today. That why is giving others the confidence to start their own side hustle so they too can have a life on their terms.
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๐๐๐ซ ๐๐ง๐ ๐๐จ ๐๐ญ ๐๐ง๐ฒ๐ฐ๐๐ฒ: Susan Jeffers in many ways is responsible for todayโs blog. Her book FFโฆ taught me that I wasnโt alone in my self-doubt and near crippling perfectionism. She taught me that I was allowed to love myself, choose myself, and laid the groundwork for my foundation of confidence. She taught me that it was OK to do it afraid and do it imperfectly, to learn as you go. Her messages of self0confidence and self0love for women as a foundation for living were before their time. Her mantra: Whatever happens I will handle it, is still my core mantra for daily life. If not for her, I would not have survived many of the struggles I write in my own memoir. Nor would I have had the courage to start my own business, which gave me the courage to do the work I do today, including this blog and newsletter.
๐๐ช๐ฏ๐ข๐ญ ๐๐ช๐ฑ: You can use the Libby App for audiobooks through the library to save yourself some Audible $$.
