STARTING A MONTHLY BOOK CLUB! | WHY YOU NEED TO GET OFF SOCIAL MEDIA AND READ!

Books have completely changed my life. They have grown my business, allowed my husband and I to be self employed, helped inspire us to make passive income, and enjoy a certain level of financial freedom (still working hard on this one everyday). All of our success stems from reading books and filling our mind with inspiring and motivating content on a daily basis. If you want to read more about how I broke my addiction to social media and switched to reading and why I believe whole heartedly this daily habit can completely alter your life’s path (for the better), read my post here!

April’s Book To Buy: AWAKEN THE GIANT WITHIN

For the month of April, I wanted to start a monthly book club! This month’s book is Awaken The Giant Within by Tony Robbins. Surprisingly, I have never read a book by Tony! If you’re in the self help/entrepreneurial space, then you’ll already know who he is, but if not, he’s pretty much the pioneer of self help and motivational speaking. So many entrepreneurs have said this man single handedly changed their life, made them multimillionaires, inspired them to start their business, broke their addictions, healed their relationships, etc. I’m starting to read it today, but check it out on Amazon (or the used section of Amazon where I get all my books for cheap!)

Today’s discussion is going to be a LONG one, so grab a snack and coffee as I’ll be diving into another book along with sharing a few personal life tidbits along the way that I’ve never shared online. I already talked about my reasoning to why I think everyone should read here, but I wanted to give you some tips on how to read more. Lets be honest, we all have the same excuses (at least I did). First off, let me just say that I’ve only really started diving into books in 2017. For years I never saw the need, but always found myself feeling “stuck”, uninspired, or just going through the motions in life. Once I started reading books geared towards business, autobiographies written by successful people I aspired to be, and books on the topics of success and motivation in general, my life drastically changed. I’ve become a different person because of them, which is why I feel so inspired to start this bookclub and share these life changing books with you.

HOW TO READ MORE & WHY YOU ABSOLUTELY NEED TO

I don’t have the time – Carry a book (or have it on your phone like I do) with you at all times. Every second you get, crack it open. Instead of scrolling on Instagram at night, read. Read when your baby naps. On your lunch break. Delete the Instagram app. It’s not providing any meaning or true value in your life. Read when you wake up. Even just a few pages. I’m telling you, it will change your life.

It’s expensive. I don’t want to buy a $15 book every time I finish one. – You all know for the MOST part, I’m pretty frugal. I used to think the expense of books wasn’t worth it, until I was taught otherwise. I learned that reading is not a luxury. It’s a necessity. It’s an investment. Books change your life and free you from anxiety, frustration, down times, etc. I’m not talking about fiction either. I rarely read fiction although those books are amazing to escape.

I used to say, “I’ll buy that book one day.”Just buy it. Don’t wait around for some book you want to read to come out in paperback–trying to save $2 or $3 is the wrong mindset. If it’s a book you’ll read, then read it now, not in a year. Plus, there are apps where you just need a library card to gain access to a full selection of books.

Why should I read when everything is online? – Books help you find meaning, understand the world around you, and give you purpose. They inspire you. Nothing online can give you that. Books have inspired me to start a business, quit my job, and are helping Doug and I carve a path for our life and our children beyond what’s known online and certainly not on social media, which lets be honest, is where the majority of people spend their time in 2019.

BOOK DISCUSSION:

To kick off the series, I thought I’d talk about a book that is near and dear to me. The Four Hour Work Week by Tim Ferris (get it free here or listen to it for free here) is the first self help book I’ve ever read and it changed my life. I got the inspiration to read this book from Matt Loeberstein, a fellow Youtuber focusing on the business of Amazon who inspired Doug and I to start our business and helped coach us along the way. In today’s post, I wanted to go over why it inspired both of us and the lessons we learned while reading it.

Once I shut this book, I knew my life was forever changed. It had answered so many questions that have been weighing on my soul for the past year, freed me from all the ‘what if’s’ that have been circling in my head for months, and given me the willpower and motivation to continue on my business journey without any hesitation.

This book uncovers a completely different worldview. One opposite to how our parents view the world – opposite to my so-called “beloved” Dave Ramsey. How can I not mention him after reading this book? If there’s one thing this book preaches, is the antithesis to today’s society. The society that that is so entrenched on the assumptions about the way life is, will be, and should be. Why are we working 8-5, for someone else, for 40 years, never getting to see our families, and retiring at 63? Why? Because society says it must be so.

If you’re thinking “But I don’t want to own my own business! I like being a nurse/teacher/banker, etc.!” This book is for everyone. You don’t have to quit your job, be single, or even graduate college. If your greatest fear is living a “comfortable existence doing something unfulfilling,” then this book is for you. He explains a class of people called the “New Rich”. People who live a certain lifestyle of pure freedom without having millions of dollars – instead they use time and mobility. Instead of passively accepting things for the way they are, be a dealmaker. Question the status quo. He talks about how spending your life working to buy things you don’t need isn’t fulfilling. What we want isn’t money, it’s the power to do what we want with our lives. A few things that I learned in this book:

Retirement is worst-case scenario. Retirement assumes that you dislike what you’re doing during the most physically capable years of your life, which is a terrible reality.
Interest and energy are cyclical. The key to thriving is alternating periods of work and rest. By distributing “mini-retirements” throughout life, you not only have a more enjoyable life, but you are also more productive when you work.
Less is not laziness. Our culture tends to reward personal sacrifice over personal effectiveness, but the New Rich measure their contribution in results, not time. Laziness isn’t working less, laziness is letting circumstances define your life for you, or “passing through life like a spectator from an office window.”
The timing is never right. Stop waiting to do something until a future date. Whatever it is that you want to do someday, just do it now.
Ask for forgiveness, not permission. People will deny things on an emotional basis that they’ll actually accept after you’ve already done it.
Emphasize strengths, don’t fix weaknesses.
Things in excess become their opposite. This book’s aim is to allow us to use our time to do what we want to do rather than what we are obligated to do.
Money alone is not the solution. Adding more money isn’t the answer as often as we think it is. We delude ourselves into thinking that we need more, and busy ourselves trying to make more, thereby avoiding the real problem.
Relative income is more important than absolute income. Relative income is a measure of both time and money; for example, the person working 10 hours a week and making $10,000 is richer than the person working 80 hours a week and making $100,000.
Distress is bad, eustress is good. Eustress is stress that helps you grow. Embrace good stress instead of avoiding stress altogether.

This book has taught me to:

Find work that has meaning and serves other people (still working on this).
Create a minimalistic lifestyle to avoid consumerism that offers fleeting joy in exchange for physical things.
Start something NOW. No more planning, just start!
Don’t live like everyone else, unless I want everyone else’s life. Be different. Break the mold.

The one con I can say about this book is that it doesn’t push work ethic. Amongst other highly successful business owners in the entrepreneurial community, many of them downplay this book because Ferris encourages a “4 hour work week” thus suggesting that working hard isn’t imperative, which I disagree. However, I take thinks here and there from the books I read and don’t whole heartedly agree with every point in each book, but overall this book has incredible meaning behind it so I’d highly recommend!