Happy New Year, everyone! We have never been the resolution type here at Two Peas in a Prada – so in an effort to keep our No Resolutions mentality going strong, today we are sharing the Best Books for New You. My only actual resolution is to delete photos off my camera roll before the baby comes, and get back into reading again. For whatever reason, I just couldn’t focus during pregnancy, but knowing I had to write this post for you all got my ass in gear my last book post was in May which is very rare for me. But I was excited to get back into it, and boy, did I learn a lot.
Best Books for a New You this New Year
How I begin every day:
I am feeling so good about starting off my year having just read all of these books! We have some pretty lofty goals to achieve this year, and I definitely feel like I now have the tools to make it happen. Sometimes you just need that extra little kick in the pants! I tried to pick books that were not influencer or social media-specific so everyone would be able to read every single one of these! If you choose to pick any of these up, please let us know!
Girl Stop Apologizing
We are huge Rachel Hollis fans – especially after attending her Rise Conference in Charleston last year. A lot of these books were recommended by the speakers at that conference so it seemed only fair to put Rachel’s book at the top of the list. We both read Girl Wash Y0ur Face, and we are huge fans of Girl Stop Apologizing. Read this if you need that little extra push to stop making excuses and start chasing your dreams.
Everything is Figureoutable
I love love love Marie Forleo. Her podcast is one of my must listens every single week, and her mindset is what I eventually want to achieve for myself. In this book you’ll learn:
• The habit that makes it 42% more likely you’ll achieve your goals.
• How to overcome a lack of time and money.
• How to deal with criticism and imposter syndrome.
Atomic Habits
I highly recommend this book for anyone who works well with baby steps. I know some goals can sound so daunting and so we never even start them: losing the weight, quitting the job, starting that side hustle, leaving a relationship. This book will teach you how small changes in your life can create big results. You can then take these little changes from your daily life into how to achieve your big goals. I love that each chapter has nice little bullet points – so even though I didn’t have one specific habit in mind while reading this – more just soaking it in – when I am ready to figure it out, I can quickly flip to the end of each chapter and remember the steps!
Indistractable
We tried really hard to read and choose books for all types of people, not just the ones we related to the most. And while neither of this is like this in the work sense, we know plenty of people who are, and we still gained so much knowledge from this book. If you find yourself staring at a to-do list, and thinking of a million other things, not able to get anything done, then read this book. The biggest tidbit we took from this is how to not be distracted by work when we are at home — huge game-changer for sure.
Stillness is the Key
If you loved my rec, The Daily Stoic, then this book is for you. It takes the ancient beliefs of stoicism and applies them to life today. Everything is happening so fast, social media can barely keep up with the news, everyone is running by you on the sidewalk etc. Holiday teaches us how not to become a part of the hustle-bustle but to slow down while the world spins madly around you. This was so helpful in my anxiety, and I am really working on not getting so caught up and upset by work things in this coming year.
How to Be Better at Almost Everything
One thing we noticed at the Rise conference was how FIT everyone was. In all of their talks, they noted the importance of eating healthy and working out. All of the successful people had this in common, and they seemed passionate about it. This book kind of delves into that mindset. The principle is this: you need to master more skillsets than just the one you use at your job, in order to function at your highest level, this is necessary. All of these skillsets will tie into the different aspects of your life: parenting, relationships, work, influence etc. When you think about it — it’s common sense, but I just never really thought about it in this way. Fascinating read.
Everything is F*cked: A Book About Hope
From the author of the best selling, The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*uck, meet its predecessor. I mentioned above that being “distracted” wasn’t an issue of mine, at least not when it comes to work — but these books speak to my biggest downfalls. I get so caught up in things I can’t control and let my anxiety take over, and it downward spirals from there. If you are someone who feels stress about things like politics, technology, etc – then definitely give this a shot.
Stop Doing That Shit
Again, this is a book that speaks to my own personal weaknesses; and I’m sure a lot of you can relate. If I can sum it up with one sentence it’s this: “Stop indulging yourself with fantasies and dramas and unresolved issues. Wake the hell up!” This is me in a nutshell — and it explains all of my anxiety so simply. For so long I was in the same toxic cycles, and still am in some areas of my life. This humorous but tough love approach was definitely an awakening. I loved it so much I ordered his daily calendar that has a tough-love affirmation on it for every day.
Don’t Keep Your Day Job
The subtitle of this book is How to Turn Your Passion into Your Career- Don’t Keep Your Day Job is also a number one podcast. This book is super inspirational and I found it useful even though we both already quit our “day jobs” for our passion. I love that it focuses so much on finding your purposes and gives actionable ideas to turn this purpose into profit. If you’ve had an idea for a side hustle you wanted to start in the back of your mind, but keep putting it off, then read this book ASAP!
Honorable Mention:
Make Your Bed: Little Things that Can Change Your Life and Maybe the World
