The two books that influenced me the most in 2017

While 2017 is coming to an end we see a lot of reviews and “This was 2017” posts, I decided, this year, I would make make one myself. Now don’t worry I will not give you a long account of what all happened to me in 2017, I keep it decluttered and just talk about the two books that influenced me last year.

You may, or may not know, that I am a passionate reader. My curious and inquisitive mind loves to learn and read and I always have a few books ‘on the go’ at the same time. It started reading a lot early in my life, I remember my parents had to come tell me to turn off the lights on school nights on a regular basis while I just wanted to read and read and read.

Reading was always a big part of my life but of course, as a busy adult with my own business, a husband, acreage, and animals time is limited and I don’t always find as much time to read as I would like to.

I had also noticed that even though I did read a lot, often business books or self-improvement books, I would not implement what I read. I would read it, be intrigued by it but not really act on it. This is not just my problem, I know, because I head the same from other people. Certain books are written for us to simply read and enjoy, but there are others that are written for us to read and then act on if we want the results that the author of the book promises us.

So I set myself a goal for 2017 to read 4 books that I would take action on, one for each quarter. I started with lots of enthusiasm but soon I realized that by asking myself to act on a book after reading it would keep me from reading. So I gave in and let myself just read books again, just consuming the information but not making me act on it.

It still bugged me. I knew just consuming wasn’t helpful, and I was not the only one that talked about that. Information diet or Information detox became somewhat of a buzz word as a lot of people realized that this information overload was quite overwhelming and as a result kept us from taking action.

The first two quarters came and went and I had read 8 books in the first 6 months but not acted on any of them. They were all non-fiction and to a degree business books. One book really stood out of them all, and even though I don’t yet act on it on a consistent basis, it is on my mind a lot. That book is called “The 5 Second Rule” by Mel Robbins. If you haven’t read it, it’s a really good book and helps us get our butt in gear.

It is the #1 audiobook for 2017 on the Amazon charts. I highly suggest you get the book and read it, or listen to it on audible. It is science based but written for you and me and easy to digest. It may help you get that decluttering project started, that you are talking about for months already 🙂

The 3rd quarter came along, I read 3 books in July alone, we were on vacation and I had more time. I am sure I read in August but I did not finish a book and then September came along and I read the one book that made the biggest impression on me and that actually got me to act on it as well.

The book that finally managed to get me in gear is called “The One Thing. The Surprisingly Simple Truth Behind Extraordinary Results” by Gary Keller and Jay Papasan.

I’ve read it back in September and have re-read it in parts several times since. I do ask myself every day the question suggested in the book “What is the one thing that I can do, such as by doing it, everything else becomes easier or unnecessary?”

It is a powerful question and easier said than done. We are so conditioned to work on many things, multitask, and to treat everything as if it was equal when it is not. The sad part is also, that we often procrastinate on the ONE THING, that could make everything else easier or unnecessary because we are not clear about what it is, our one thing. Or because we feel overwhelmed by all the tasks on our to-do list and therefore we just start with the easiest ones. The easiest ones are usually the unnecessary tasks or the tasks that don’t move the needle at all.

This book “The One Thing” works really well with my message of how to move from Chaos to Peace. It helps you decluttering your life, your business, your calendar, your to-do list so that you can focus on the important things. It has a big ripple effect when you start living and working in such a focused manner. Their Podcast I also highly recommend, it’s the only one I am actually subscribed too.

If you combine the messages of these two books everything becomes even more powerful. You identify the one thing you can do such as by doing it everything else becomes easier or unnecessary and then you count backward 5-4-3-2-1-Go and you start doing that one thing.

These are the books that influenced me the most in 2017, what is the book that had the most impact on your life last year? I’d love to know, please leave a comment below.

PS: I know I said in last weeks post that the best Christmas gift of all time is basically not buying a gift but to spend time with people. But, if you still want to give a gift, and you know the person loves to read, consider giving one or both of these books (and no, I am not getting paid to say that LOL).