Books!

First, big news- Sarah’s book cover is finally out!! Her book Best Laid Plans: A Simple Planning System for Living a Life You Love is officially available for pre-order! The book will be released in December.

Is it not the greatest?!?! I pre-ordered it and cannot WAIT to read it.

Seriously, Sarah’s methods just make sense. She has a gift for thinking about and explaining all things planning related.

It’s one of those topics, I think, that some people might brush off as unnecessary or “obvious”. But it’s not!! If you look around at the world today, the majority of people are struggling in some way with time management or staying organized or staying afloat or feeling like they don’t have enough time to do all the things they have to do and want to do….. Planning well is actually not an intuitive concept for most people. It’s also something that most of us are never formally taught in school or life. THIS BOOK WILL HELP.

I’m just so excited for this book and so proud of Sarah and her amazing work writing it. While, oh yeah, BEING A DOCTOR and a mom of 3 and a wife and hosting 2 podcasts and hosting BLP courses and exercising, blogging and reading daily and planning travel and running kids to travel sports and date nights and running a household. If you needed any more proof that her methods work, her life is a living testament! She fits in a lot but yet never seems particularly stressed or harried, thanks to her impeccable planning methods! So, go buy the book. 🙂

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Second, I recently read Gretchen Rubin’s newest book, Secrets of Adulthood.

I thought this was mostly just okay. It’s a book of little aphorisms, which I am generally a fan of, but it felt lacking to me. It’s divided up by topic, and on some, I was left thinking, That’s it? Surely there are more and/or better quotes on this topic!!

I also kind of got the feeling that the main purpose of this book was just to come out right before graduation season so people would buy it to stick in new grad’s gift bags.

It was nice enough, and relatively enjoyable to read through (it’s a quite small book- “gift book” sized) but not spectacular, in my opinion.

I did save some quotes, as I read, in my Google Keep “book” file:

“happy life= work worth doing” 

If we’re not failing, we’re not trying hard enough. 

Luck plays an enormous role in success, and hard work is a way to attract luck. 

If we can’t be loving, we can be kind; if we can’t be kind, we can be courteous; if we can’t be courteous, we can be quiet. 

Nothing is more exhausting than the task that’s never started.

What can be done at ANY time is often done at NO time.

Perfectionism is not drive by high standards but by anxiety. 

One of the worst uses of time is to do something well that need not be done at all. –> Love this one!

We often justify procrastination with questionable assumptions: “I can’t do creative work in the afternoon,”, “I’ll do better if I begin in the new year,” “Unless I have 3 hours free from interruption, it’s not worth trying to get anything done.”

With some questions, the very inclination to consider the question suggests the answer. For instance, for these questions the answer is probably “yes”: “Am I a decent parent? Do I have a drinking problem? Am I carrying too much, should I take two trips? Should I bring an umbrella? Should I finally get a dog?”  But for other questions, such as- are these ingredients healthy? Should I stay up late to watch one more episode? Should I hit send on this angry email?- the answer is probably no. –> This is so insightful!

Decisions will be made, by choice or by chance, because not deciding is a decision. Not choosing is a choice. 

Many decisions are difficult because the choices are so similar; when neither is clearly the right choice, maybe neither is the wrong choice.

We resist Change, so if you’re thinking about making a change, you probably should have made that change months ago. –> Ooh good one.

When a decision matters a great deal to someone else, but doesn’t matter much to you, let them have their way. 

With a strong temptation, we often must give it up, or give up to it. 

One of the best uses of willpower is to avoid situations that require willpower. 

We don’t yearn for what’s distant; we want the things that seem just out of reach. 

We can choose what we do, but we can’t choose what we LIKE to do. 

Most decisions don’t require extensive research. 

By doing a little each day, you can accomplish a lot.

In fairness, these are good quotes! So I guess I am glad I read it, after all. 🙂

Daily Gratitude:

I am grateful for a short week! Friday already!!! And hot summer weather headed our way, yippee!