Lessons from the Bookshelf

Lessons from the Bookshelf, Episode 9. A free downloadable gift and additional resources can be found at kimyuhl.com/9. Today's episode is all about what you've been saying. I've received a lot of questions since beginning this podcast two months ago, so I thought I would take this opportunity to answer some of them. It's my belief that if one person has the courage to email me with a question there are probably a lot more people out there that have it, or one similar to it.  Questions that are answered: "After listening to your episode on Big Magic, I went out and got the book. I sort of felt likeI need to devote my life to being creative, but I just don't have the time. I'm a single mom, I work a lot, and I never have time to myself. How am I supposed to make changes when I don't even have time to enjoy a hot cup of coffee? Isn't that just being selfish?" "Some of the books seemed out of place on your list so far and I wonder how you select the books to read and the books to review? For insta

Lessons from the Bookshelf, Episode 8. A free downloadable transcript and additional resources can be found at kimyuhl.com/8. Make it stick is all about the science of successful learning. And who doesn't want to learn more and learn better?    Make It Stick is written by storyteller Peter Brown and two leading cognitive scientists Henry Roediger and Mark McDaniel. (Get a copy here.)   It explores what science says about the most effective learning techniques— focusing on the techniques that actually work and letting us know those things that we think work that actually don't. Spoiler alert: rereading, cramming, and practice-practice-practice are some that don't.   This book offers a new way for learning, regardless of your age or stage in life. You just need to be interested in strengthening your learning skills.

I read Willpower by Roy F. Baumeister; John Tierney about three years ago and it totally shaped how I get things done.    There is a lot of science that supports the importance of willpower in getting what we want. In fact, there is a study that says willpower outperforms IQ in predicting academic performance 2:1. That means it doesn't matter how smart you are, if you have willpower,  you have the ability to outperform those that don't – no matter how smart they are.   From the book,   "There are two qualities that correlate with success… One of them is intelligence and the other is self-control. And so far researchers haven't figured out what to do about intelligence, but they have rediscovered how to improve self-control."

If you have a project you want to do, but aren't doing. If there is something you want to make but aren't making, Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear is a book you need on your bookshelf. It's a big old permission slip that says you get to be curious, you get to be creative, and you get to be inspired.   So exactly what is creativity?  Well, not to give away the book or anything, but Liz defines creativity as "the relationship between a human being and the mysteries of inspiration." As you would expect, the book is full of big ideas that help us define our personal relationship with creativity.   If you are looking for a 10-step process to be more creative, this book probably isn't for you. But if you are looking for the green light to let your curiosity and creativity take the driver's seat, then you are in the right place. It is going to give you the permission you need, not that you really need it at all, to embrace your weirdness.

Zero to One: Notes on Startups, or How to Build the Future by Peter Thiel is a guide to building innovative and creative companies. Thiel brings his real-life experiences as co-founder of PayPal and as a startup investor to this book to share some powerful lessons on startups. And the lessons aren't just for startups either. The lessons from this book have real life applications. I always say that true success comes from getting good at life and at business - whatever your business is - whether you own your own business, or are partnering or working for someone else.

Let me begin by saying while this was a pretty interesting and highly insightful read, it wasn't an easy one. I love reading about creativity, and along with curiosity, it is one of my favorite subjects. Sometimes I feel like I’m uber creative and other times I feel flat. This book changed the way I think about creativity, how I define creativity for myself and helped me understand why I sometimes feel flat.   This is the second book I’ve read by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (chick-sent-me-hi), or as I lovingly refer to in the rest of this podcast as Dr. C, the first being Flow, which talks about those moments when you are doing something, anything really, and you are so focused that you lose all track of time. It’s like the world ceases to exist around you. You know what I’m talking about right?   Well, this book talks a lot about work ... how you work, loving your work and most importantly you should be doing work for the sake of the work, not for accolades or sense of acco

 I love the title of this book - I mean who doesn't want to be great? Good to Great by Jim Collins talks about what makes great companies stay great and why a majority of companies seem to get stuck at just being good enough. And while it is talking about companies, I was hoping to find some lessons that I could apply to my life. Because here's a belief of mine ... what is found to be a good lesson for businesses is often a good lesson for life too. That is certainly true here.

Rising Strong is about going deep into what is painful and uncomfortable for us. It’s about getting real about why we feel what we feel. And I love the topic of feelings. It’s about being strong enough and brave enough to take responsibility for who we are and to grow from our past and evolve into a better version of ourselves as we move into the future.

Lessons from the Bookshelf is my new the podcast that shares the big ideas and lessons from the most influential and well-read books from ancient philosophers to modern-day thought leaders in the genres of personal development, business, and self-help.   I've read a lot of books during my happiness journey which began almost six years ago. I have all these notes and highlights from over a hundred books just waiting to come out to play. Well, I decided to let them out in the form of this podcast.   Here's my welcome episode which briefly explains my love - hate (mostly love) relationship with podcasting, a few big lessons that I learned, plus how I went from surface happy to soulful happy. Take a listen.