I am paper lover. So, as you can imagine, I love to read books on paper. I love to read and read a lot. The smell of a new book – the specific alchemic relationship between the chemicals in the paper and in the inks makes me so excited! Sometimes – yes, I confess – I am just walking around in a book shop breathing in the aroma of the books. I am opening the pages, closing my eyes and absorbing the wonderful scent of a freshly printed book… “Do you expect a kiss?”, a man asked me once. I didn’t expect someone to be looking at me in this so special moment, so I was pretty stressed. “Sorry… no… I just… Have you ever smelled the pages of a new book?”, I asked after I recovered from the first shock of someone entering my private world. He said he hadn’t! Can you imagine? So, I explained my habit, and he cautiously smelled two books, politely agreed there is somehow an aroma… Probably I didn’t convince him to be not only and e-reader, but also a sniffer.
But, I’ve digressed from the idea of this story.
Books inspire me in a lot of activities in my life
This is why I decided to share with you the five books which inspired my planning and tracking routine. Maybe here is the place to say that no one is paying me to present these books to your attention. There are no affiliate marketing or other money-making activities to which I am party. Quite simply, these are the books which changed my life and inspired my planning and tracking routines. I will however give links to Amazon below, because probably this is the easiest way to find them, but you can also search Google or ask in your local bookshop which I’d recommend so you can smell them too.
The first one I found in a very difficult time of my life, when my mother was dying from cancer. In this period, I was scared I could also lose my sister. Living with our Mom, she was carrying the heaviest load throughout our Mother’s illness. So, I started looking for ways to make her care a bit more about herself. And I found this book, which absolutely changed my daily food routines. Now I have a health tracker, which helps me to eat healthily. Every day I check my new habits in this tracker – to cook simple, healthy meals, to make my own fermented foods, to have at least one tea and a few sips of kefir…
“Gut” by Giulia Enders
The author – a charming and very promising young scientist, Giulia Enders, explains in a wonderfully understandable way the relationship between the food we are eating and our health and immunity. She shows with cute drawings how the immune system works and how very important it is to have healthy eating routines. Because, to paraphrase a well-known slogan, we are what we are putting in our gut. I think, this book should be included in all school education programs. It is pure science, written in a language which even children will understand, with interesting facts and a lot of jokes to make the facts more easily understandable. It was a real pleasure to read. And I learned a lot. You can find this wonderful young lady also in TED talks and I am sure, she will inspire you for the better and will teach you and your children to have healthy eating routines.
“Paris letters” by Janice MacLeoud
Some may consider this book only a love story, but actually it is a life changing book. I wish I had found it years earlier. This book taught me how it is not important to have a lot stuff, but it is very important to follow your dreams. Reading Janice’s book, I saw myself as I was – a young woman with a “dream job”, very unhappy and feeling this is not for her. I know, some people would kill to have a position as a TV personality and editor, but this was not for me. From this book I also learned how to save money and buy only the things I really need. Now, instead of wasting my hard earned dollars, I am saving money to help fund the dream my husband and I have. What is the dream? Well, that’s a secret. But it is beautiful, believe me!
“The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing” by Marie Kondo
I am sure you know Marie Kondo, she is famous, especially in our world, where cluttering and overbuying can really destroy lives. She taught me how to keep my home clean and organised. She also showed me how much craft materials I was piling up with no specific need. (I had actually become a craft hoarder and if you don’t believe, you can read my own book, “The healing of a craft hoarder”). Marie also healed me from the guilt I was feeling when throwing away unwanted presents and clothes and made me how not to buy only because at that exact moment I wanted or liked something. She inspired me to create a weekly routine, written in my journal. Mondays are only for cleaning, paying bills, insurances, repairs and all the other similar things. The next days are for sharing time between my business and housekeeping activities, shopping and family time. I was surprised how relaxed it can be with a well organised life, even in these not nice pandemic times, full of fear.
“Eat that frog” by Brian Tracy
I LOVE this book! I have quoted it many times before – it was the real source of all my the ideas about journaling, planning and successful entrepreneurship. And not just mine either – Brian Tracy’s advice abounds in print and online both credited and uncredited but always useful. It’s not rocket science either – simple lists, simple planning and everyday work on our plans. This is the power that can make us successful. It works great in every area of our lives, not only in business. Do you have a dream? Plan the steps and achieve it! Because of this book I made my “Book of lists”, in which I am writing all my ideas and goals, then I move them into my monthly and weekly journal, and spread them through the weekdays and feel great when crossing out what I haves done. What I have accomplished! You can, as I did, write down your steps to success and hang them somewhere to see them every day. This will remind you about your goals. And good changes will happen. If you haven’t read this book, read it!
“The Private Writer” by Anna Ronn
A big red dot here!
I was thinking for a long time before I decided to mention this book here. First, it is has very mature, explicit sexual content! Very! So, I will not give you a link to this book in Amazon. If you want to read it you can find it yourself.
In my defence, I will say that I was somehow overcome by the story in this book – a young girl loses all her savings, but feels too proud to ask for help and frightened of losing her friends if she tells them she is not rich anymore. Once in my life I was had the experience of having no money and no work. Yes, it was for a short period only, thank heavens, but I still remember the awful feeling. So, I wanted to see what Anna from the book would do and was I hoping for a happy end, of course. So, yes, this is a weird book, but exactly because of this book I started in my “Book of lists” a special section, in which I am recording every coin that I earn coin from my business and side income. Nothing complicated like proper book keeping – just writing the numbers and what they are from. Maybe it sounds stupid, but bank statements with all the columns and special names for things send me back to school where I was so bad at maths… The simple lists of numbers, where I put a line under every week and later, under every month, give me a view at a glance, exactly how things are going in my business. And it relaxes me a lot.
So, I hope you will find this article helpful and it will help you create a better life for you and for your loved ones. Don’t forget to track every new healthy activity and remember – we need only 60 days to create real healthy habit.
Enjoy your days and be safe! ♥
All the book cover photos are from Amazon.com.
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