There was a point in my life where I was 50 pounds heavier than I am now, uncomfortable and unconfident with myself. After getting motivated in the gym, paying more attention to what I put in my body, and really researching what built a healthy, balanced life I lost a ton of weight and gained a more outgoing and natural feeling of self confidence. Even though I had a plethora of knowledge on how to get healthy, I never felt authorized or like I had the right to give this advice to other people. This book changed that and motivated me to stop questioning my expertise. It's important to share valuable information with others and you shouldn't hesitate or feel funny calling yourself an expert in a topic you have experienced or studied.
If you're easily offended THIS IS NOT THE BOOK FOR YOU. After my first year of college I stumbled upon this book in Barnes and Noble, gravitating towards the hot pink middle finger on the cover. Growing up an athlete in a house full of boys, I have always had a competitive edge. The subtitle How To Win at Basically Everything peaked my interest and was the sole reason I opened up the book and ended up reading the first three chapters right there in the middle of the store. This book is hilarious and one I always recommend to fixing an unjustified "feeling sorry for themselves" attitude about literally any situation - which is how I honestly was before my 17 year old self read this beautiful masterpiece. This book teaches young women how to stop making excuses for laziness and get their shit together in the most sarcastic and offensive way imaginable.
My first job post college graduation was as a graphic designer for a trendy jewelry company in the Hamptons. The position involved social media management, influencing the giant nerd inside me to go out and buy a few books on the topic. Of all the memoirs and advice books I came across, this one seemed the most relatable because it was written by another young woman working in a fashion related - design - PR position. This book helped me become more creative for my company and for myself, eventually leading me to work on building my own personal brand and got this whole blog idea in my head. Licht teaches the importance of recognizing your sense of self in the working world and promotes letting out your personal flair no matter how professional and intense the position may be.
My brother graduated from a military college and is currently both a military officer and a police officer. Being only two years older than me, he was making me look bad and I was getting super annoyed. One day when he wasn't around I went through his books and found this one. This book has helped both him and I get through tough interviews, land great jobs, and become more responsible and self aware. This is a super tough and lengthy read but it's worth it. Inside there are valuable laws and lessons on success backed with historical references proving they work when followed correctly. Of all the books on this list, this is the one that influenced my success in my career the most and continues to shape the way I live my life day to day.
Before my current roommates and I found our amazing apartment we sub-letted for a month in a not-so-amazing apartment in Astoria, Queens. During this month we all had a lot of firsts: first time paying rent, first time waking up to our subway line under construction with 30 minutes to get to work, first time facing a cockroach, first time using a real laundry mat and many other non-exciting firsts of the real adult world. This book, although not entirely, helped me prepare a little bit for these tough real-world situations and influenced my daily habits like commuting in moccasins and always carrying pepper spray and an umbrella.
At only 23 my aunt had an amazing career and could afford to buy her own house. After graduating and realizing living at home with my parents was simply not an option I broke the news to them that I was going to find a job and move into Manhattan. After laughing in my face for about 10 minutes my dad coughed up the life changing question "How are you going to afford that?" I didn't have an inkling of what to do or know how I would do it, so I consulted my aunt, the one person who did. She gave me this book which changed my spending habits, made me work harder at my career, and eventually helped me get out of my "be home no later than 11:30pm" situation.
This book is hilarious and truly helped me get my head out of the gutter and realize what it was I really valued in life. This book highlights a specific, effective way to politely stop caring about people and situations holding you back from living your best life and being your best self. Knight walks you through a step-by-step "NotSorry Method" helping you track your f*cks and teaching you to identify whether a one needs to be given and, if it does not, how to take action without appearing and feeling rude, obnoxious, and most importantly: sorry.
Comments