It’s that wonderful time of year – between Christmas and New Year’s where I sit back, relax, watch movies, write, read, and assess my life. Am I working towards things that I care about? Am I building a life I am happy with? Are there changes I could make?
As I write this, it is December 26th, Boxing Day, or what I like to call – the Mom Sabbath. On this oh-so-revered-of-days, I don’t do anything for anyone else. I try to take the day off from my Mom Duties. I don’t meal plan, I don’t get food for anyone, I don’t clean up, I don’t go anywhere. I don’t hustle. I hide away, I write, I read, I reflect. I thought I’d share with you some books that have made a difference in my life.
Here are some of the best books I’ve read that have inspired me to make changes in the New Year.
The Lazy Genius Way by Kendra Adachi
This book is fantastic and so is Kendra Adachi’s accompanying podcast. Kendra has 13 lazy genius principles that help guide your decision making so that you make life choices that set you up for success for the life you want. There is also a Facebook group full of the smartest people on the internet at the Lazy Genius Collective. As we enter 2025, most of us want to work smarter, not harder and leave more room for things we care about. This book will help you do that.
This Naked Mind – Annie Grace
Annie Grace’s wisdom helped me finally kick my bad-wine-drinking-habit-tipped-into-addiction. If you’re sober curious, this book can help you see alcohol for what it really is – an addictive neurotoxin that does nothing for you. You Deserve Better than what alcohol can offer you. Life on the other side of addiction is so much better.
Digital Minimalism – Cal Newport
I’m completely overwhelmed by the digital demands on my mind. My inbox is a black hole. My phone is constantly chirping with notifcations and updates. Cal Newport’s book has helped me do a digital analysis of my usage, figure out what matters, which apps bring me closer to my goals and the life that I want, and which to delete.
On the subject of digital minimalism and digital organizing, I followed the advice in Kevin Stratvert’s Youtube video to help me organize my gmail inbox and wow it has really helped the mental load of my inbox. Over this holiday break, I “dealt” with my 500 most recent emails and then I archived over 4000 emails in my inbox. I set up the labels as he suggested and so far I’ve stayed on top of it.
Now to find a video giving me advice on what to do with my thousands and thousands of photos….Drop any suggestions in the comments!
Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End by Atul Gawande
This perhaps doesn’t seem very “New Year New Me”, but it is an excellent book and will help prepare you for an inevitable future of illness, bodily breakdown, and death – either for yourself, your parents, or your loved ones. We can make all the goals we want, but it’s good to remember that we are all mortal and there are concrete actions we can take to prepare ourselves and our minds for being confronted with our mortality someday.
Atomic Habits by James Clear
This book deserves my annual attention and I plan to re-read it this New Year to with my new goals in mind to help me identify which habits are slowing me down and which new habits to build into my rhythm. Over 3 years ago, Atomic Habits helped me identify triggers for my nightly-wine drinking and figuring out how to interrupt the habit and establish a new one. It is a great read.
I hope you find your next life-changing read on my list. These books have certainly changed mine!
Warmly,
-Heather
ps: This post contains Amazon-affiliate links from which I earn a small commission. Thank you for supporting my blog!
Enjoyed this post? Check out some of my other recent posts.
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