I Moved Your Cheese, Deepak Malhotra

I need to do some book review catch up, but I’m on track to hit my goal (Type A woes) . . . Nonetheless, this little book packs POWER!!!!

“Some pursuits are simply too important.  Some lives are not so easily confined.  Some mice are big.”

I read it in one sitting and felt like God was YELLING at me via the writing of Deepak Malhotra.

Over the last 11 years, I’ve had 18 different managers while working at the same company.  One of them has circled back around, so technically, she’s number 19.  I’ve just worked with her before.

Talk about moving cheese . . . The walls in this maze are constantly moving, so the reference to Who Moved My Cheese is very fitting.  Get used to change.  Get comfortable with change. Embrace it and change the way I relate to change.

HOWEVER, I Moved Your Cheese, is such a refreshing read for someone who asks why . . . For someone who even thinks about looking over the side of the wall to see who is moving all these walls all the time.  There’s comfort in knowing it’s okay to ask why.  It’s also admonition that sometimes you need to sit on top of the wall, get on the other side of the wall for a while or even punch through a wall.

Besides American Marriage, I think this will be one of my most meaningful reads of 2018.

Braving the Wilderness, Brené Brown

Source: https://brenebrown.com/braving-wilderness-question-submission/

Strong back. Soft front. Wild Heart. Speak truth to BS. Just read it.

I heard Brene Brown at Catalyst Atlanta in late 2017 and bought the event kit with this book included. I started reading it soon after Catalyst. Because I read so many books at a time, this became a “read in chunks” book with lots of highlights, dog-eared pages and a desire to keep learning more.

The only sad part of the book was that a big chunk was shared in her talk at Catalyst. It was nice to dig in more, but that was my down if any.

I’m a biased fan of Dr. Brown, so I just say read this one with a pen and highlighter. 😉

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Short listens, good lessons

The 100/0 Principle: The Secret of Great Relationships, Al Ritter

Be real.  Give 100%.  Expect nothing in return.  In personal relationships, workplace relationships, volunteer engagements, the message is the same.  I was listening to a podcast with Shawn Stevens and Andy Frisello this morning, and I didn’t even make the connection between this audiobook and the Model Health Show podcast.  However, it’s clicking now.  One piece of advice Frisella gave was to be a generous person.  When you’re starting out and really respect the work of someone you admire, don’t send them notes telling them how awesome they are and request that they mention you on a blog or in a review.  Just tell them how awesome they are.  Give big just because that’s who you are.  That message comes across very clearly throughout The 100/0 Principle.  I think the core principle could have been shared in a podcast time frame (e.g. 1 hour), but the message is clear.  Others first.

 

Bookends, Liz Curtis Higgs

Wonderful long plane ride fairy tale . . . Maybe someday this will come true . . . 😉 My lesson here was to remain optimistic.

Sorry, that’s all I can say about this one.  I like romance novels.  I really like Christian fiction.  This was just so “flighty” that is made sense for a long plane ride.  I don’t know that I would have finished on the ground.

I know that books by Liz Curtis Higgs have a strong following, and I believe this is my first one.  So, I’m definitely going to read others so I can have the real fan experience.  I’d guess this was just a novella to get folks in the author family. 🙂  #WishfulThinking #KeepDreaming

 

The Element: How Finding Your Passion Changes Everything, Ken Robinson

This was a good one. Again, in the spirit of getting to the point, I think the whole story could have been presented in maybe 3 chapters, but it was good.

I think more than anything, I was challenged to think about how to be more active in presenting alternate means to deliver relevant content in my classes. Understanding that we all learn in different ways is one thing, but finding ways to engage a whole group of students who bring all of their unique learning patterns together can be a challenge.

I finished this one in late 2017 while starting to think about 2018 courses and even how I interact with my local small group, book club, and Sabbath school.  Having been in adult Sabbath school classes for at least 20 years now, it’s interesting how many classes are taught with a single style – lecture with 1-2 people talking from the front and with people sitting in rows where they can’t see each other’s faces.  I’ve heard Andy Stanley say over and over again that circles are better than rows.  I think it’s true.  Seeing facial expressions, being in an environment where people can comfortably exchange ideas, engaging in multiple formats (i.e. online discussion before class + class discussion + some type of review after class) really helps with retention of information and higher engagement.  I definitely see opportunities to make improvements in the environments where I facilitate a discussion and will continue to seek ways to get better at both teaching and learning.

Proteinaholic, Dr. Garth Davis

First of all, I have to admit that when I first started listening to this book, I was a little pissed off.

In 2016, I started a transition away from a 25+ year vegetarian lifestyle to start adding more protein in my diet.  I’m pretty sure I wrote a blog about Primal Endurance and my excitement about adding “real” protein (i.e. not limiting myself to beans and bars) into my diet.

Well, fast forward one year, and then crazy me downloaded this audiobook.  I think it was on sale.  So, again, when I started it, I was pissed off.  I didn’t want to hear someone suggest that my major lifestyle change was a bad one.

Then, last week – maybe 4-5 weeks after I started listening to this one – I went to a new doctor for a 2nd opinion on why I was constantly feeling tired . . . exhausted many days. I knew that gearing back up for triathlon training would take a little energy from me; but this training is not new anymore so I should be okay.  However, I’m not.

I also hired a nutritionist with a passion for endurance cycling who knows the effects of higher training loads.  And guess what this dude suggested for me . . . Dr. Davis, Seventh-day Adventists, vegan friends, 25+ year life experience stuff . . . reduce the meat, increase the beans/healthy whole grains, reduce the refined carbs/sugar.  Well, no duh.

So, here we go again.  New approach.  Train hard.  Eat well.  Balance.  I’m not going to say that I’ll never eat meat again.  But, I think I went too far in the meat-eating swing and didn’t balance that enough with fruit, vegetables, and the right whole grains – quinoa, brown rice . . . all of the things I KNOW I need for fuel to train hard.

More to come for sure, but I’m exciting about having my best race year in a long time. This is gonna be great!

I have one caveat to the “review” . . . The message is simple (eat more vegetables), but the delivery is targeted to a highly educated American consumer. There’s rich data that helps validate the message (great – true science); but for me, the author could have cut some of the science.

I respect the true science, duplicate the results, offer more than an opinion. However, for me (less sophisticated scientist), the last few chapters became so intense, this review is only based on 70% of the text. I just couldn’t keep going right now. Maybe I’ll come back to it in a year or so (maybe not). But, I got the message. More vegetables (fruit, whole grains). Less meat, sugar and highly processed foods.

UPDATE:

Okay.  So, I came back.  🙂  The message is still the same:  more vegetables, less meat, sugar and highly processed foods.  I would just note in addition that the documentary ‘What the Health’ helped me go back to this one.  I still think the science is a little too intense for the average “jill”.  I think the approach in ‘What the Health’ is a little over the top and aggressive, but the message is clear . . . more vegetables + less meat, sugar and highly processed foods.

Daring Greatly, Brene Brown

This is round 2 with Daring Greatly.  I read this one, then The Gifts of Imperfection, and then I heard Brene Brown at Catalyst: Atlanta.  I read that one, too and resolved that I would probably need to come back around to one of these at some point in my life. 🙂

A few weeks ago, I decided to ask some hard questions with a guy “friend” to get some answers that I’ve been pondering for months.  Well, after that conversation, I got the answer that I expected, the one that I knew, the one that I should have just point-blank asked in the first 2-3 conversations we had.  But, whatever, I procrastinate.

After that very healthy convo, I decided that I needed a reminder that everyone’s not perfect.  That I shouldn’t feel any shame for being a single gal.  And that maybe I need to just own this time in my life and find some better ways to use my extra energy.  LOL.

So, I finished the book again, and decided to get back in the arena:

“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.” – Theodore Roosevelt

In the last month since that conversation, I met a new guy “friend”; I picked a new triathlon for the fall; I signed a contract to teach a business law course this fall; I’m planning to go to InterBike this fall with one of my best-friends-on-the-bike; I met with a business consultant regarding a new business venture . . . LIFE IS GOOD in the arena.  🙂

If a friend of mine had asked me about that other guy “friend”, I clearly would have told her to MOVE on!  There’s no way I’d massage her ego on that.  So, why don’t I take my own advice – faster?  Who knows.  🙂

I do know this.  When I dared to get back in the arena of living v. waiting, God really showed up and reminded me that He has better and bigger plans for me than the things/people/experiences that I can see/touch/feel right now.  I must have faith that He’s working on other things.  While He’s working, I also have to get in the arena, shame-be-banished, to try some new things.  I might get burned there.  I might fail.  I might be dead last in the race.  But, it’s all good.  I got in the ring.  I tried.  I learned.  And, I’ll be faster, stronger, wiser the next time around.  🙂

I received a message last week that Brene Brown will be back at Catalyst: Atlanta this fall.  I guess I’ve gotta go now b/c who knows what she’ll put in my ear this time . . . .

***I am not an affiliate, sponsor, paid influencer of Catalyst.  HOWEVER, every Catalyst event I’ve ever attended has been life changing.  I learn something about leadership, personal growth, managing people, God’s AMAZING power, powerful speakers/teachers every time I go.  So, if you’re planning to attend the Atlanta event this fall, definitely hit me up on SM @spinKrun.

 

 

 

Grit, Angela Duckworth

Another 5-star book!

I am training for a charity bike ride this spring, so I decided that this would be a great audiobook for my 70-mile training ride a couple of weeks ago.  I figured this would be a catalyst to keep me going and to NOT cut my ride short because I have “grit”, right?

Well, I can’t say that I finished the ride because of the book.  However, I think my grit factor was a key element in not only finishing the ride but finishing the ride faster than I started it.  For whatever reason, there were very few groups of cyclists or pairs on that long slog of a gradual climb to mile 35.  Yet, on the way back, folks just kept popping up and then there were 3 people heading back at a good clip.  I passed one guy who caught me and then we caught another couple ahead of us.  Well, doggone it folks, let’s just say we had a nice little peleton flying along for about 3 miles.  Then, those jokers kicked it up and I pulled back.  This was the END of my 70 miles remember.

Anyway, back to the book.

GRIT.  As usual, I’m not going to recite or share a summary of the book.  You can read that anywhere OR even better, listen to Angela Duckworth’s TED Talk.

Below are just a few of my key takeaways:

1.  Help kids (people) become CURIOUS.
2.  Once there’s an appetite for curiosity, stick with something for a measurable period of time and then assess/re-evaluate. BUT, the periodicity is paramount.
3.  During the TIME period, give whatever you’re doing the opportunity to succeed.
4.  Grit can be developed.

The 4th takeaway was my “savior”.  I thought I was a pretty gritty person – I mean I can own a Type A/OCD personality in a heartbeat . . . just give me a housecleaning assignment, and it’s on.  🙂  However, my GRIT SCALE score was only 3.6.  Type A says this should be at least 4.5, right?

So, as I finished the last 40% of the book, I had hope.  My big ride starts next Friday with a 10 mile warmup and then we hit the road on Sunday morning.   By the way, the “big ride” is the Fuller Bike Adventure Spring Ride.  We’ll start in Nashville, TN and make our way down the Natchez Trace to Jackson, MS.  I may not have a lot to post from that ride OR I may have a ton to post b/c the only thing I can imagine doing in the evenings is reading, getting massages (if I can find them), and sleeping.  🙂

Shoe Dog, Phil Knight

I’m a sucker for biography and autobiography, so this was an easy winner. I also appreciate learning about people who made something amazing from an idea . . . much less from a paper/project at Stanford that was initially shunned.

I also appreciated the transparency around things that didn’t go well – sweat shop debacle. “Fixing” that workplace dynamic made Nike better, and isn’t that what life is all about? We screw up. We learn. We get better.

I think another really cool experience about this book is that I finished it shortly before traveling to China.  But as I write this, I am sitting in Shanghai, China.  So, as I sit here, I’m thinking about the global impact of not only shoe production but so many products that are integrated into the way we live in the US and around the globe.

I also wonder how many other experiences we can share across borders.  The iphone is the iphone is the iphone.  From Paris to Shanghai to Zambia to Moonville, SC.  The same applies to Nike.  Pringles.  Coke.  IBM.  Bosch.  But, what’s missing in the US?  In my town?  How do I leverage the blessing of having traveled all over the world to help expose those in my small circle of influence to a bigger world beyond the southeastern US?  Even more importantly, how do I champion the notion of WANTING to see and experience a bigger world to the generations coming behind me . . . moreso than just watching the world via youtube.  That doesn’t count.

Easy five stars for me.  I love books that make me think and really challenge my thinking as it applies to life and work.  Shoe Dog checked the box for both.