Book Reviews
The 5am Club
In this book Robin Sharma explains a concept that he introduced more than 20 years ago, about how a morning routine can change your life. The story is told from the perspective of two strangers who meet an eccentric tycoon who then mentors them to transform their lives using a neuroscience-based practice to help them rise early and feel inspired, focussed and driven to succeed. Personally, I enjoy Robin Sharma's style of writing and find it easy to relate the story to my own life and take inspiration from it.
Your Money or Your Life
Vicki Robin outlines a 9-step program which has been devised to change your relationship with money, get yourself out of debt, and take control. Getting started with this program may be a bit time consuming as it is very thorough and detailed however, it would be time well spent as you will learn how to take control of your financial decisions and explore your options. Some of the statistics and scenarios are not relevant for Australians (such as talking about a 401K) however the basic concept of the 9-step program is universal.
The Barefoot Investor
I'm sure most Australian's will have heard of Scott Pape or The Barefoot Investor. Scott Pape has a way of explaining finance so anybody can understand it. His methods are easy to follow and implement and are not too time consuming (he even encourages making a regular night of sorting your money out by getting dressed up and going out for dinner and wine!). He outlines the methods step-by-step and if you're not a fan of reading too much jargon he even has diagrams to make it even simpler. Very easy book to read and follow.
You Can Heal Your Life
Louise Hay was a metaphysical lecturer, teacher and best-selling author of many books. In this particular book Louise Hay guides you through identifying areas in your life that you want to improve and gives you information on how to can implement changes. She offers practical exercises to try throughout the book. This book covers many different areas of your life - relationships, work, success, prosperity and health/body.
The Power of TED (The Empowerment Dynamic)
If you have ever felt like a victim of your circumstances then this is the book is for you! David Emerald guides you through everyday life scenarios and teaches you how you can learn and grow from these experiences by changing your perspective. He takes you from seeing yourself as a Victim, Persecutor or Rescuer to showing up for yourself (and others) as a Creator, Challenger or Coach. This is a small book with big insights.
The Alchemist
Probably my favourite inspirational book of all time - it's one that resonated with me the first time I read it and continues to inspire me each and every time I read it. The story, by Paulo Coelho, follows a young shepherd boy as he travels different places in search of treasure. It follows him as he faces numerous challenges and obstacles and how he overcomes them to fulfill his dreams.