So, before I had this crazy idea of 30 before 30, I had always been an avid reader. Some seasons it was horror or love filled fluff or even sci-fi mystery, but over the years it has developed into a serious love for personal growth/learning type books. I can hear some of you groaning already. I know it can seem like a turn off when some people talk about how some book with “all the answers” changed their life, I get it! But I am not here to tell you that you “NEED TO READ THIS BOOK!” even though there are probably 30 books in my library that I could easily say that about. In fact, this isn’t even really about what books I am reading. 30 before 30 is a personal challenge I have taken on myself, that has exploded into the idea of doing ____ before ____. Whether that’s losing 40 lbs. before you’re 40th birthday, or doing 5 difference races before you take another 5 trips around the sun, or even trying 20 new things in 2020. The options are endless! The idea of putting an intentional number and date around something that could easily just be a passive New Year’s Resolution is the basic principal of actually following through on your intentions. I don’t mean just sitting back and letting things happen, but a goal without a date is just a wish, and a goal with a date is the beginning of something great but you have to plan for it! So, what made me choose to attempt to read 30 books before I turn 30? For me I “tried” (and by that, I mean I wished for it with ZERO planning) to read 29 books before I turned 29 and I failed HARD! This past year I only read maybe 12 books, which isn’t bad but it was no where near what I had hoped for. I wanted to learn on specific topics and grow my capacity in as many areas as I could. Now while internally I did grow the most this past year than in previous years, I know I was able to do so much more! I wanted to become better in my parenting, my marriage, my relationships, my leadership, my organization, my capacity, my boundaries and my communication with everyone in my life. THAT is the reason I chose to read 30 Personal Growth Books this year, and not more “fun” or casual books. There is nothing wrong with other books, it just isn’t my intention this year to be passive when I have such a hunger to grow and do better this year. So how does it all work? How did I plan, pick and choose how this was going to go for me? I knew it couldn’t be like last year, I had to be specific and intentional. So, come jump down a rabbit hole with me…. I figured on average I could read about 15 pages a day (even accounting for the fact that I would be giving birth to our second child this year), so that meant that I could read up to 5,475 pages. To fit that into my calendar I had to be selective on the books I chose. I started with the ones I was really eager to read this year and put those “big blocks” in first. Then I found a few books on certain topics I wanted to read on, giving me flexibility on the size of the books. I then also found some small “filler” books which were short but were also books I wanted to read on which ever topic. I had to make some cuts, and even my Christmas gift this year (David Goggins – Can’t Hurt Me) unfortunately will have to wait until next year as it has too many pages. No one says I can’t do a little extra reading though 😉 After that I wanted to be specific about when I would read certain books. For example; The Productivity Project was the first book I wanted to read at the beginning of the year to start my year off right. I also chose shorter easy to read parenting and relationship books to read around the time of my due date, so that it would be easier to read 15 pages of something light than something heavy and full of a lot of information. I also planned a little wiggle room for myself. My birthday is on the 7th of January, but instead of waiting until I turned 29 (to make it fair) I started on January 1st, giving myself an extra week. This way when I have the baby, I can take a week off from reading and just enjoy the blissful time focusing on our family. I have also given myself an extra 13 free days at the end of the year if I were to stay on track, this gives me room for days that I am sick or when life inevitably happens. Some of these books I have read in the past, but most I haven’t. If you are at all interested in what specific books, I will be reading I will attach a list below. If you have read any of them, I would love to know your thoughts and what you loved and maybe didn’t love about them. Either way, whether you are choosing to have a New Years Resolution or not, I encourage you to do something that sparks life into you. It might not be reading, it might be painting or bullet journaling or body building, but no matter what it is, focus on that this year. Focus on doing the things that make you happy, or at least give you more happy moments throughout your day. What are you challenging yourself to do this year? Mama Wolff
Reading List
1) Productivity Project by Chris Bailey
2) 8 Attributes of Great Achievers Volume 1 by Cameron Taylor
3) 8 Attributes of Great Achievers Volume 2 by Cameron Taylor
4) Love & Respect by Emerson Eggerichs
5) Back to Basics by Bill Quain
6) How to have Confidence & power in dealing with people by Les Giblin
7) How to Win Friends & Influence People by Dale Carnegie
8) Unfuck yourself by Gary John Bishop
9) The Gifts of Imperfection by Brene Brown
10) The Whole Brained Child by Daniel Siegel & Tina Payne Bryson
11) The Difference Maker by John Maxwell
12) Being Happy by Andrew Matthews
13) The 5 Love Languages by Gary Chapman
14) The 5 Love Languages of Children by Gary Chapman & Ross Campbell
15) Finding the Magic in the mess by Dr. Steven Fonso
16) Boundaries by Henry Cloud & John Townsend
17) Boundaries with Kids by Henry Cloud & John Townsend
18) Life is Tremendous by Charlie Jones
19) The Dream Giver by Bruce Wilkinson
20) Fields to Freedom by Frank Morales
21) The Generosity Factor by Ken Blanchard & S.Truett Caky
22) The Starbucks Experience by Joseph Michelli
23) Am I Making myself Clear by Terry Felber
24) You win in the locker room first by Jon Gordon & Mike Smith
25) Make your bed by Admiral William McRaven
26) Leadership 101 by John Maxwell
27) The Authentic Leader by David Irvine & Jim Reger
28) Wired that way by Marita Littauer
29) The Art of Understanding your Mate by Cecil Osborne
30) Raising Confident Girls by Elizabeth Hartley Brewer
Extra books I would Love to read
David Goggins – Can’t hurt me
Atomic habits by James Clear
The war of art by Steven Pressfield