Books I've Read Lately #5 - 30 in 2018 Challenge

AND I’m back again to share some recent reads! All as part of the challenge I set for myself at the beginning of the year to read 30 books in 2018! 

I’m current reading my 22nd and 23rd book at the moment but let's get into my previous 4 reads. We have some good ones!




How To Murder Your Life – Cat Marnell 
This memoir follows an affluent woman’s life experiences filled with drug abuse, self-esteem battles, eating disorders and abuse. It is absolutely packed full of insane stories of Cat Marnell’s life, a successful beauty editor for some of the biggest magazines out. As you can tell from the tongue in cheek title, this is a very funny read despite the serious nature of some concepts in the book. You can’t help but fall in love with Cat and her self-deprecating self of humour. This is the perfect easy weekend or poolside read.

The Miracle Morning – Hal Elrod 
I’m pretty sure a lot of you will have heard about this book, particularly if you are interested in the self-help genre. I had no yet given this one a read and had it top of my list, as it was recommended to me by so many people I can’t even keep count. The premise of this book is productively using your time in the morning to cultivate a successful life in all aspects. It says that if a person is living a successful life then they simply have the habits in place creating and sustaining levels of success. Successful people establish the habits of doing things that unsuccessful people don't like to do (like waking up at 5am to workout or placing importance on meditation). One of the biggest tips I learned from this book was to “swallow the frog” in the morning which essentially means to tackle your hardest tasks first up, during your peak responsive hours. A great line in the book which really hit home for me was- The moment you accept total responsibility for everything in your life is the moment you take the power to change anything in your life. I love it so much because it implies that you are the master of your fate and in charge of your destiny – no one is going to come and save you. You have to save yourself. Which perfectly leads me on to the next book which followed a similar concept.

The 5 Second Rule – Mel Robbins 
This book was PERFECT to read straight after the Miracle Morning because now I had a routine I wanted to achieve each morning, this book focuses on HOW you can motivate yourself to get done what you know needs to be done. The title doesn’t refer to dropping food on the floor and still being able to eat it but an even simpler concept than that. To count backward (5, 4, 3, 2, 1) and immediately take action whether it be getting out of bed, saying what’s on your mind or starting work on a project. Silence creates distance. Truth creates connection. Take intentions and act on them. Live life without hesitation. Mel explains that while it’s a super simple concept, it’s not easy. Whatever is happening right now - this is it. This is your life. It's not going to begin again. The book says that you can't change the past but in 5 seconds you can change your future. When your heart speaks, honour it. 1 moment of courage can change your day and one day can change your life. One life can change the world. Leave nothing important unsaid, just say it. Because the greatest risk of all is dying before you've allowed yourself the opportunity to live. I can't wait to read her latest release 'Kickass'.

Mastery of Love – Don Miguel Ruiz 
So if you have been following this series, you would recognise this author from ‘The Four Agreements’ all about principles to live your life by. I would HIGHLY recommend reading it but I’ll give you a quick synopsis of what that one was about because it leads on to this book. The Four Agreements was definitely a mind-altering book that helps put things into perspective. The four agreements are as follows; Be impeccable with your word – understand the word and its power of people so use it for truth and love. Don’t take anything personally or to heart because nothing others do is because of you but rather a projection of their own reality. So be immune to the opinions and actions of others. Don’t make assumptions because assumptions are often completely wrong. Instead find courage to ask questions and communicate clearly with others to avoid misunderstandings, sadness and drama. Always do your best to avoid regret, boost your self-esteem and know it’s all you can do. Basically all of those concepts were used but applied in terms of love and relationships. It did go further into releasing expectations of others and understanding that you are an individual and should act as such (not allow your partners actions to influence you as much). The best part of the book was when he explained that there are always four alternate realities in a relationship; how your partner views their reality, how your partner views you, how you view yourself and how you view your partner. So there are many dimensions to a relationship and it is always difficult to get to know the real core of a person. It’s not a bad thing but rather something that just needs to be understood.

So those are some of my latest reads! I’ll pop on here for #6 of this series once I’ve finished up a few more books. In the meantime, add to your reading further with previous instalments of this series; Books I’ve Read Lately 3 and Books I’ve Read Lately 4.