Your Eyes (or Ears) Need This

Time to grow! So you read these emails each week…GREAT! I appreciate it, but they are only going to get you so far. It’s important that we keep growing and learning about what it means to improve in our three domains of personal professional development, personal finance, and building authentic relationships. A great way to expand our knowledge base is through reading (or listening) to experienced individuals who have wisdom to share with us.

To this end, I thought I’d share the next three books I plan on reading. Typically I recommend books to our 3AT Community that have had a significant impact on my life and how I personally approach our domains. This time, though, perhaps we can read them (together), and then talk about them in our own private Three Action Thursday Facebook group? I know everyone is pressed for time, but 10-15 a day can start paying dividends in terms of growth and understanding. Who’s in?  

It’s going to be glorious! Here are the books I plan on reading in order….

Personal Professional Development

Atomic Habits: Tiny Changes, Remarkable Results By James Clear

Habits are so important. Tiny changes lead to remarkable results. No matter our goals, Atomic Habits offers a proven framework for improving – every day. James Clear, one of the world’s leading experts on habit formation, reveals practical strategies that will teach us exactly how to form good habits, break bad ones, and master the tiny behaviors that lead to remarkable results.

If we are having trouble changing our habits, the problem isn’t us. The problem is our systems. Bad habits repeat themselves again and again not because we don’t want to change, but because we have the wrong system for change. We do not rise to the level of your goals. We fall to the level of our systems. With this book, we’ll get a proven system that can take us to new heights.

Personal Finance

Called to Create: A Biblical Invitation to Create, Innovate, and Risk By Jordan Raynor

Based on the title, it seems a little strange to put this in the “finance” domain, but Raynor shares compelling stories from an eclectic group of more than 40 Christian entrepreneurs who are balancing their faith and creativity with how they make money through their work and business aspirations. Some of the companies/people that Raynor highlights are the founders of Toms Shoes, Charity: Water, Chick-fil-A, In-N-Out Burger, Guinness, HTC, and Sevenly, as well as nontraditional entrepreneurs such as C. S. Lewis, Johann Sebastian Bach, and J. R. R. Tolkien.

The flow and storytelling style is supposed to make this book a great read! I can’t wait to jump in.

Building Authentic Relationships

Tribe: On Homecoming and Belonging By Sebastian Junger

Junger’s premise is that we have a strong instinct to belong to small groups defined by clear purpose and understanding. He calls them “tribes”. This tribal connection has been largely lost in modern society, but regaining it may be the key to our psychological survival. Combining history, psychology, and anthropology, Tribe explores what we can learn from tribal societies about loyalty, belonging, and the eternal human quest for meaning.

**Action:

1. Join the Facebook Group
2. Purchase or borrow the books
3. Let’s start sharing our thoughts.**

Let’s go!!