This Year's Top Five Inspirational Books For Your Summer Reading List

Now that the weather is scorching hot (seriously, fellow East Coasters, what happened to spring?), we all could use some new reading material.  Here are my top five books from the first half of 2011 that will inspire you as you huddle by your air conditioner this summer:

1.  Poke the Box by Seth Godin

Seth Godin has incited a following (or Tribe, as you might know it as...) for a reason: he's incredibly inspiring.  His latest book, published under his new experimental publishing platform, The Domino Project, falls nicely into this category of inspiration.  

Poke the Box is a quick read packed full of ideas about how to stop asking for permission and just do.  It will call you to action and encourage you to take initiative.
  
So shake up your life and read it!

2.  Do the Work by Steven Pressfield

Do the Work is Steven Pressfield's followup to The War of Art, the book where the thought-provoking author introduces the concept of Resistance to the world.  

This new manifesto is designed to take you through a project from A to Z, helping you work through the entire process of its creation - from the inevitable sticking points in the middle to the fear-inducing shipping point at the end.  Do the Work will inspire you to not only do your real work, but to finish and ship it as well.

3.  Evil Plans: Having Fun on the Road to World Domination by Hugh MacLeod

I love this book.  Read it.  Enough said.

Just kidding.  I'll give you a little more information - but I do just absolutely love Evil Plans.

For one thing, the title rocks. 

And the book itself is incredibly inspiring.  It introduces the idea that everybody needs an EVIL PLAN to get away from boring, dead-end jobs they hate, and to start doing something they love.

Ignore Everybody will inspire you to do something that matters - and to have fun along the way.

4.  Enchantment: The Art of Changing Hearts, Minds, and Actions by Guy Kawasaki

For anyone interested in business (and we all should be - who really wants to be a starving artist?), the newest book by Apple's former chief evangelist is a must-read.  

The book outlines Kawasaki's method of how to enchant and draw customers into your business by using technology, and emphasizes trust and likability as key points on the road to success.  

Whether you're part of a small business, an artist or entrepreneur, Kawasaki's art of how to influence others is a fascinating, inspiring read.

5.  Bossypants by Tina Fey

Yes, I realize this book doesn't fit in exactly the same category as the others.  It's not a self help-book, and won't tell you what to do to change your life.  But the 30 Rock and Saturday Night Live star is insanely funny, and hey, everyone needs a good laugh sometimes.

Plus, Tina Fey's story is incredibly inspiring - being a woman comic takes balls (chuckle), and she's got 'em.  While you may not be itching to become a comedian superstar anytime soon, her life may just infuse you with so much warmth and fuzziness that you become motivated enough to do what you were always meant to do in this world.

You are a Genius!

I just can't get over how much I love this quote:


No one is a genius all the time. Einstein had trouble finding his house when he walked home from work every day. But all of us are geniuses sometimes.

Seth Godin, Linchpin

Do the Work

Do the Work by Steven Pressfield

I finally finished Steven Pressfield's follow up to The War of Art: Break Through the Blocks and Win Your Inner Creative Battle today.  Do the Work took me three days to complete, but only because I was simultaneously reading three other books.

It was well worth the read.

Like Pressfield's previous book, Do the Work focused on the forces that keep us from doing great things.  He calls these forces Resistance, which he loosely defines as fear, self-doubt, procrastination, addiction, distraction, timidity, ego and narcissism, self-loathing, perfectionism, etc.  

I can relate.

Excuses, excuses

How easy is it to say that we don't have the time/money/motivation/support/desire to do big things?  Too easy.

The following passage particularly struck me as I was reading:

You may think that you've lost your passion, or that you can't identify it, or that you have so much of it, it threatens to overwhelm you.  None of these is true.

Giving in to Resistance  

Growing up, I would get so passionate about things (saving the world, photography, education, animals, etc.) I could barely hold the tears back.  I was overwhelmed, and didn't know how to put that passion into action, so much of it was wasted.

Then, a few years back, I moved to Europe.  It was an amazing experience, don't get me wrong, but I lost my passion somewhere along the way.  I thought I had missed my opportunity somehow; that I was meant to do big things, world-changing things, but alas, I'd chosen to get married and move to Europe instead so I'd deliberately directed myself away from that path.  It was too late for me, I'd cry to my husband - I was no longer a passionate person.  

Feeling empty and void of ideas didn't suit me particularly well.  I became depressed and hopeless.  But I now know that the feelings I experienced weren't due to actually losing my intelligence and passion for life - it was just Resistance talking.  

Finding your passion (again)

I may not know exactly where I want to put that passion yet (i.e. can't identify it), but I know it's there, and I'm doing all that I can to bring it forth.  

And you can do the same.

PS.  I would highly recommend Steven's book.  It will get you off your butt and doing those amazing things you always wanted to do.  Plus, the electronic version is currently free on Amazon, curtesy of GE.