Pumped Up Kicks

I never liked reading, but after I started my book triathlon back in April, I have been reading non-stop. I learned a lot and lost a lot. I lost things I finally realized I don't need. I learned things that I had thought I knew.

The books below stood out to me, in the support of others in similar categories, because they allowed me to change myself drastically after reflecting on their content. I hope they can be of assistance to others as well in search of improvement in specific areas.

However, before we get into the books and a short explanation of each, I want to emphasize that I got the most benefit out of having read all of them and linking the insights of each book together. There is a commonality between all of them, and that is simplicity. Simple and easy are vastly different implications, as you may find out for yourself.

Self-enlightenment - The Work by Byron Katie
This small self-help book taught me a system of working with my conflicts in life. It gave me a tool to question the reactions I had to things that I wish were not. It gave me the ability to clear up the cloudy thoughts and see things for what they are and be truly grateful as opposed to resentful.

Financial education - Rich Dad Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki
Coming from a poor economic background, my financial education was severely limited. This book did not teach me any ways to get rich fast or even how to play the stock market, but it taught me something much more valuable. This book taught me that I may be broke right now, but I will never be poor again.

Budgeting - Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey
This book taught me how to track my monthly income, expense, and debt. Stuff I had already known, in fact, we all know this by now. Or so I thought. This book goes into detailed reasoning behind economic choices, ways to pay off debt, how to manage your budget to make money work for you. Live to work or work to live? I chose the latter.

Questioning convention - Freakonomics by Steve Levitt
The world that we live in today is very fast-paced. We are so backlogged with information that we need to spend 18 years educating ourselves before we are able to even obtain a steady job to climb the corporate ladder. As a result, our mind patterns a lot of answers into our daily lives and inquiries get lost. Curiosity is left at home as you leave for work. This book revived my curiosity. It challenged me to question things that we take for granted. It allowed me to see things that I chose to be ignorant of, consciously or not.

Happiness - The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin
After reading the number of books I had on self-improvement, this book struck a chord. This book put together all the concepts in very concrete, direct examples. This book is the journal of a woman who found her own happiness. It also contains her reflections and I was able to project that onto my own world of happiness.

Passion - Mastery by Robert Greene
I believe that everyone has dreams. For many of us, unfortunately or fortunately, those dreams get dismissed or hidden away. This book showed me a way to pursue my dreams, fueled my passion, and inspired me to be who I want to be. It showed me what criticism really is, what social intelligence means, and how to be more aware of people who aren't living their dreams.

Handling conflict - Who Moved My Cheese? by Spencer Johnson
As humans, our brains are wired to pattern things due to overload of stimuli. We get into a routine and we sink into it. We get comfortable. When changes happen, we feel wrong, awkward, or even out of place. This short story allowed me to change my mindset, and really opened my reactions to change to a whole spectrum of ideas. Change is awesome.

Ultimately, from all these books and many more I have come to realize a cornerstone of a happy life is as simple as being authentic. Yet that simplicity takes a lot of work and practice. Perhaps it may take a lifetime. Then you try to tell your grandchildren about what you've learned and they think you're lecturing and meddling in their lives.

So I guess what I'm trying to say is take a moment to listen to elders. Not to their words, per se, but be curious about the meaning behind the words. I found that most of the time they're trying to help you, they're trying to guide you, not hurt you. And if they are really trying to hurt you, walk away. Life is really too short to deal with people who judge you.