Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. In this Ted talk at a Stanford University commencement speech, Steve Jobs, CEO and co-founder of Apple and Pixar, urges us to pursue our dreams and see the opportunities in life’s setbacks including death itself and to march to the beat of our own drum.
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2021 is a year that comes with big expectations and even bigger dreams. After the whirlwind year that was 2020 everyone is banking on this year being so much brighter. While the start was a bit rocky here in Australia with new outbreaks of Covid we are still gearing up for a year where we get to take charge and dream big. The motivational and self-help genres are hugely popular and we have chosen a few of our favourites to help you get motivated to hit your 2021 goals.
The Right-brain Workout 2 by Russel Howcroft and Alex Wadelton
Are you out of ideas? Feel your creativity drying up? Is brain fog taking over your life? Give your right brain a workout with the experts. In just ten weeks, you can reignite your imagination and tap into the creative potential inside you. Following on from the highly successful Right-brain Workout Vol 1, here are seventy more questions posed by some of Australia’s most innovative individuals – creatives from the world of comedy, film, literature, art, photography and advertising – designed to help you to think outside the box to unleash your inner genius. You wanted more, and Russel Howcroft and Alex Wadelton have delivered.
Get Your Sh*t Together by Sarah Knight
From the author of the bestselling book everyone is talking about, The Life Changing Magic of Not Giving a F%*k. The no-fks-given, no-holds-barred guide to living your best life. Ever find yourself snowed under at the office, or even just glued to the sofa, when you really want to get out (for once), get to the gym (at last), and get started on that daunting dream project you’re always putting off? Then it’s time to get your sh*t together. In The Life Changing Magic of Not Giving a F%*k, ‘anti-guru’ Sarah Knight introduced the joys of mental decluttering. Get Your Sh*t Together takes you one stop further – organising the f*cks you want and need to give to help you quit your day job and move abroad, balance work and fun, and save money while you’re at it, or simply get out of the door for happy hour, every day.
The Now of Work by Lisa Messenger
For more than 19 years Lisa Messenger has had the absolute pleasure of inspiring game-changers, thought-leaders, stylemakers, entrepreneurs and intrapreneurs across the world. After the crisis of COVID-19 the world was suddenly faced with a new way of working, people felt, and are still feeling overwhelmed and lost. The Now of Work takes you through all the steps needed to be able to thrive in a work from home environment. It covers practical, actionable ways for creating location freedom, as a solopreneur, entrepreneur or intrapreneur. You can see Lisa’s other books here.
Speak Your Truth by Fearne Cotton
Fearne Cotton’s voice is familiar to millions, whether that’s through television, radio or on her hugely successful Happy Place podcast. Her voice is her career, her livelihood and the way she communicates with her audience and her loved ones. So, when Fearne’s doctor told her she was at risk of needing a throat operation followed by two weeks of being unable to speak, she found herself facing a period of unexpected contemplation. As she considered what silence would mean, Fearne began to think about other times her voice had gone unheard as a young woman, as ‘just the talent’, as the foil to louder, more dominant figures. She found herself wondering, at what point do we internalise this message, and start silencing ourselves? When do we swallow down our authentic words to become pleasers and compromisers at the cost of our own happiness or wellbeing? Speak Your Truth dives into all the ways we learn to stay quiet for the wrong reasons, and explores how to find your voice, assert yourself and speak out with confidence. Brave, vulnerable and deeply personal, Speak Your Truth shares Fearne’s compelling story and helps you to shape your own.
Talking to Strangers: What We Should Know about the People We Don’t Know by Malcolm Gladwell
The routine traffic stop that ends in tragedy. The spy who spends years undetected at the highest levels of the Pentagon. The false conviction of Amanda Knox. Why do we so often get other people wrong? Why is it so hard to detect a lie, read a face or judge a stranger’s motives? Through a series of encounters and misunderstandings, from history, psychology and infamous legal cases, Malcolm Gladwell takes us on an intellectual adventure into the darker side of human nature, where strangers are never simple and misreading them can have disastrous consequences. No one challenges our shared assumptions like Malcolm Gladwell. Here he uses stories of deceit and fatal errors to cast doubt on our strategies for dealing with the unknown, inviting us to rethink our thinking in these troubled times. You can see Malcolm’s other books here.
The Things You Can See Only When You Slow Down: How to be Calm in a Busy World by Haemin Sunim
The world moves fast, but that doesn’t mean we have to. In this timely guide to mindfulness, Haemin Sunim, a Buddhist monk born in Korea and educated in the United States, offers advice on everything from handling setbacks to dealing with rest and relationships, in a beautiful book combining his teachings with calming full-colour illustrations. Haemin Sunim’s simple messages, which he first wrote when he responded to requests for advice on social media, speak directly to the anxieties that have become part of modern life and remind us of the strength and joy that come from slowing down. Hugely popular in Korea, Haemin Sunim is a Zen meditation teacher whose teachings transcend religion, borders and ages. With insight and compassion drawn from a life full of change, the bestselling monk succeeds at encouraging all of us to notice that when you slow down, the world slows down with you.
Enjoy.
January marks the start of a new year full of promises, fresh resolutions and plans to get things done. It’s also the time of year where we all vouch to become slightly better organised making it the perfect time to get yourself a new diary. Diaries and planners are come in so many shapes, sizes and formats. There are online versions that sit in the cloud and can be accessed from multiple devices, there are paper ones that weigh down you bag, tiny ones that slip into pockets, ones that offer daily motivational snippets and ones made to look pretty on a desk. We’ve rounded up a few of our favourites for you.
Leuchtturm1917 Notebook A7 Plain Lemon
It’s got 169 numbered pages, a blank table of contents, handy little pocket in the inside cover large enough to store business cards and other treasure. A page marker and elastic band fastener and it’s bright yellow. What more could you want than a notebook screaming of sunshine and bright times ahead?
Leuchtturm may be a brand that we can’t pronounce but it’s one you’ll find yourself being loyal to. Founded more than 100 years ago, Leuchtturm1917 is a cult icon amongst lovers of fine stationery. With a classic air of simplicity and unmistakable attention to detail on show in their range of notebooks and diaries, Leuchtturm1917’s time-tested designs continue to be the standard by which others are measured.
Begin the new year with this hugely popular weekly 12-month planner which covers the entire year, from January to December 2021, with a page dedicated to every day of the week for a complete view. The Moleskine Weekly Planner allows you to have a complete view of the entire week on the left, while on the right it includes a ruled page for notes just like the classic notebook.
These planners include a special insert of 295 coloured stickers to personalise your weekly planner: 1 sheet of alphabet stickers and 2 sheets of icon stickers.
Born in 1997, Moleskine has brought back the legendary notebook used by artists and thinkers over the past two centuries, such as Vincent van Gogh, Pablo Picasso and Ernest Hemingway. Based in Milan, Moleskine brings the timeless quality of classic notebook design to a vast family of paper objects, bags, books, travel and writing tools.
So. Many. Planner Stickers.: 2,600 Stickers to Decorate, Organise, and Brighten Your Planner
This one goes out to all the #plannerlife fanatics. The stationery experts at Pipsticks+Workman know the pure joy (not to mention organisational prowess) that comes from personalising a planner with stickers. So. Many. Planner Stickers. is a collection of 2,600 stickers, bursting with energy and colour, that are specially made for use in a planner to flag appointments and notes, track goals, spruce up any occasion or just trade with your besties. There are 50 sheets with 52 tiny, friendly stickers on each one: chic glasses to mark book club meetings, trendy sneakers for gym days, cute tote bags for travel weekends, and helpful, simple reminders.
#makechichappen: Your 52 Week Social Media Game Plan by Katy Ursta
If you have a small business or a side hustle and are looking to grow your social media presence this year then this planner may be what you need. #makechichappen is a 52-week social media game plan by Melanie Mitro and Katy Ursta of Chic Influencer will help the busy entrepreneur stay organised, craft a niche specific message, and create a comeback audience.
The planner will help you simplify your social strategy and clarify your specific marketing messages. It also offers an Income Producing Activity Tracker, Time Blocking Tracker, Resources, Content starters, Weekly planning, Reflection, and Brainstorming activities.
Encounters Day Planner 2021 by Paulo Coelho
World-renowned author Paulo Coelho has inspired millions with bestselling classics like The Alchemist, The Pilgrimage, Manuscript Found in Accra, Adultery, The Spy and most recently, Hippie. Now, with this 2021 day planner, the same wisdom that draws readers to his books time and time again can serve as a source of daily inspiration year round. Available in English and Spanish, Encounters (Encuentros) features moving and revealing quotes by internationally beloved author Paulo Coelho. More than your average planner, readers can begin each day with a word of wisdom, receive spiritual food-for-thought as they navigate through their everyday lives, and have Coelho be their guide as they plan and embark on their own travels and personal journeys.
Sad Animal Facts Weekly Planner 2021 by Brooke Barker
Kinda sad – but oh, so funny. This is a quirky and engaging weekly planner based on the Instagram phenomenon @SadAnimalFacts that became a New York Times bestselling book. From writer and illustrator Brooke Barker, Sad Animal Facts highlights a different animal species, and the unfortunate truths of its existence, every week with a drawing, a fact, and a dryly hilarious thought bubble communicating what the animal may actually be thinking. Studies show that snails prefer eating in groups to eating alone. (All this lettuce and no one to share it with.) A horse can produce a gallon of sweat in an hour. (That saddle was bone dry a minute ago.) The average worker honeybee produces a twelfth of a teaspoon of honey during her life. (Enjoy that toast.) It’s a planner that will tickle the fancies of animal lovers all year long.
Enjoy!
There are so many policies and decisions that our leaders discuss. While high profile or contentious issues make the news, many don’t. Which is the policy you feel most strongly about?
Elections are looming around the world and our votes and voices all make a difference. Today’s little inspo has been one of our mantras for years.
It’s the start of another week and we have found a fabulous piece of inspiration to help your week begin with a bang!
Today’s Pre Order with Booko is How I Built This by Guy Raz. It’s a manual for success with priceless insights and inspiration from the world’s top entrepreneurs on how to start, launch, and build a successful business.
Perhaps it’s the recent taste of Working from Home; or perhaps you want to diversify your income stream; perhaps you’ve retired, but don’t want to feel idle; or perhaps you want work that fits better with your lifestyle choices. There are lots of good reasons to start your own business, and there are more tools and support for budding entrepreneurs than ever before. So if you think that now is the time to work on that business idea, we have the right guides to inspire you to stop dreaming and start doing!
Side Hustle: Build a Side Business and Make Extra Money without Quitting your Day Job by Chris Guillebeau
The author of the New York Times bestseller The $100 Startup shows you how to launch a profitable side hustle in just 27 days. Side hustles are income streams that supplement your regular paychecks – it may be your first taste of starting your own business, or you may simply want to diversify your income in these uncertain times. In Side Hustle, Chris Guillebeau presents a framework for effectively starting your mini-business – from how to generate and select ideas, through development to launch, with the steps broken down into approachable daily tasks.
Peppered with anecdotes and tips from his own extensive experience, Side Hustle shows that you don’t need an MBA or lots of capital to get started. If you’ve been thinking about turning your passions or talents into profit, Side Hustle is the motivation you’ve been waiting for.
How To Build an Online Business: Australia’s Top Digital Disruptors Reveal Their Secrets for Launching and Growing an Online Business by Bernadette Schwerdt
As a TEDx speaker and award-winning business leader, Bernadette Schwerdt has access to top business leaders from around the world – and she has interviewed many of them in order to create her insightful business books. How to Build an Online Business is a follow-up to her successful Secret of Online Entrepreneurs, which identified strategies and insights through in-depth interviews with e-business leaders. This update features top digital disruptors including Uber, Booktopia, and Catch of the Day. The “warts and all” stories of these companies, plus Bernadette Schwerdt’s in-depth analysis of the strategies, tech tools and leadership principles they used to grow their business, reveal the underlying patterns common to all successful online businesses – what they did right, what they did wrong, what they would do differently and the strategies they used to build an online business.
Company of One: Why Staying Small is the Next Big Thing for Business by Paul Jarvis
Small is beautiful according to Paul Jarvis. In Company of One, he encourages us to redefine what business success means, by suggesting that, for many solo and small businesses, it is smarter, more profitable and more enjoyable to stay small rather than expand. Paul argues that blind growth is the main cause of business problems, and leads to more time, more stress, more responsibilities, and more expenses; instead he suggests that success can come from developing richer relationships with existing customers, based on trust, humanity, and empathy. For entrepreneurs wondering about your next steps, this innovative, contrarian book may be just what you need.
Start Before You’re Ready: the Young Entrepreneur’s Guide to Extraordinary Success in Work and Life by Mick Spencer
Part memoir and part business manual, Mick Spencer wrote Start Before You’re Ready to encourage and help young people chase their entrepreneurial dreams. His is not a conventional success story – he managed to develop a sense of adventure and an entrepreneurial spirit, despite chronic health issues and learning disabilities. By starting his business ONTHEGO (OTG) in his early twenties, and growing it into the international success it is today, he has defied the bullies and naysayers, and achieved success on his own terms. With plentiful tips on resilience and overcoming adversity, Start Before You’re Ready challenges you to get outside your comfort zone and encourages you to learn ‘on the go’, focussing on what you can do rather than what you can’t.
The 1 Minute Commute: Turn your Skills into a Business You’ll Love, Be your Own Boss, Work from Home by Robert Gerrish
For many of us, the pandemic has offered a taste of a 1-minute commute (aka Working at/from Home); if this has strengthened your resolve to strike out on your own, then Robert Gerrish should be your go-to guide. Robert Gerrish has spent over 20 years helping Australians succeed in solo businesses, including as co-founder of Flying Solo, Australia’s largest online community of solopreneurs. His special interest is in developing lifestyle-friendly businesses, helping business owners live they lives they want. The 1 Minute Commute collects his most up-to-date advice, on how to take creative charge of your career and be your own boss. From freelancers and soloists to entrepreneurs and micro-business owners, this book will give you the knowledge and skills to shape your professional life to fit your lifestyle.
What if it Does Work Out? How a Side Hustle can Change your Life by Susie Moore
Many of us dream of monetising our skills with side hustles – and there are more opportunities to do this than ever – but hesitate out of fear of failure. Susie Moore’s guide to side hustles focusses on overcoming those fears – as the title suggests, visualising your business Working Out rather than Not Working Out. Using her skills as both a life coach and business coach, she shows how recognizing your skills, understanding your potential, and knowing your purpose in life can lead you to living a life of full satisfaction. Having helped over 500 clients develop successful businesses, Susie Moore has packed this book with useful advice, tips and resources- the perfect motivational and practical injection you need to get started.
If you had to start a business, what would it be? Would you follow your profession or passion? (assuming they’re different 😉).
One thing we have noticed while staying safe at home, other than people have been devouring fiction books, is the serge in self help titles being bought. So this week on the blog we’ll share the best books for people who are thinking of starting their own business. To help kick-start the week, we have this little gem for you.
