Self Development Secrets queried more than 200 of the world’s most renowned influencers - you know where this is going... yup! including yours truly, to name their favorite personal development books. Drum roll please... last week SDS published the 2017 update of The Best Self-Help Books by all of us self-improvement guru junkies.
If you’ve been a follower of mine for awhile, you know how much I love me some Stephen Covey. The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People is my all-time fave book on personal development and has served as my tireless sherpa. In fact, I just downloaded it on Audible and have been re-listening day and night. Yes, it’s THAT good, peeps.
Are You In Balance?
Ironically, the last of the seven habits - ‘Sharpen the Saw’ talks about always being on the path to self-improvement, which, hellllloooooo, is precisely the point of Self Development Secrets' book list. Right?! Covey’s big #7 expands on this premise by asserting that a large part of self-improvement comes from self-renewal. ‘Sharpen the Saw’ means preserving and enhancing the greatest asset you have—yourself.
For self-renewal to occur, the four areas of a person’s life must be in balance: physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual. Only then can you increase your capacity to face each day with energy, able to handle the challenges that arise! And once again, how many of us have let more than one slide at any given time?
Don't Wait 'Til It's Too Late!
As a contributor to the book compilation, I revealed that ‘Sharpen the Saw’ was 1 of 2 principles in Covey’s book (to hear what the other one is, check out next week’s blog!) I continue to come back to, even now. When I first read the book, Habit #7 resonated with me because I’m a natural born do-er who often (even to this day) neglects self-renewal. Not because I don’t think it’s vital to the process. On the contrary, I absolutely do!
But, I often forget just how important that renewal is to productivity until I’ve run myself into the dirt, to the point of exhaustion and sickness. Hello Party Goddess! Health scare of 2016/17? #NoFun. It’s only when I’m lying in bed feeling miserable that I realize how out of balance I’ve become! And this is SUCH a huge waste of time because then it REALLY takes time to heal...which totally defeats the purpose of why I tried to run on all cylinders to begin with!
Work-Life Balance
As an entrepreneur, creativity and productivity are the key to making the magic happen. If you don’t have that, you can’t run your business well. My own book, But Are You Making Any Money? delivers a tactical approach to improving your bottom line. Looking back, one of the things I failed to mention was that every business owner should first step back and ask if they’re also working on self-renewal.
I put a lot of blood, sweat, and tears into my book (like, seriously, A LOT!), forsaking one of the most vital of Covey’s 7 Habits to actually write the book, including weeks of zero-sleep, no-exercise, and neglect of, well, kind of everything! But, many years have passed since then and I’ve gotten better at the whole work-life balance thing!
To read my excerpt from Self Development Secrets and explore the amazing self-help books recommended by today’s top thinkers, check out The Best Self Help Books. And, remember to check back next week to hear what I have to say about Putting First Things First!
For more business tips and career advice, check out these other awesome articles or contact me if you’re thinking about starting your own business and want support from someone who’s been there, and done that!
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