Tag: summerreading

Rebel Ideas

Given the importance of this week for Cork Hurling, I thought writing about a book with REBEL in the title would be appropriate.

However, unlike the level of preparation that I’m sure will be evident at this weekend‘s matches and was in full display at Wednesday’s U20 final, I actually haven’t finished reading the book “Rebel Ideas” by Matthew Syed yet!

From what I’ve read so far, I see the argument that diverse perspectives lead to greater success in solving problems.

Key factors can be missed if the investigation team comprises of people who all have similar upbringings, experience and education. The author analyses a number of well known events to support this point.

At this stage, my takeaway from the partly read book is that the best teams have a variety of participants with different backgrounds who bring a range of distinct skills and strategies. The book is interesting and easy to read, so I will finish it.

I have read another of Matthew Syed’s books “You are Awesome” in its entirety and can recommend it as easy to read and a source of inspiration for both adults and children.

“Best teams”… “skills and strategies”… “awesome”…reminds me of Cork Hurling!

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The Artist’s Way

Creative block?

Recently I read “The Artist’s Way” by Julia Cameron (twice!) and enjoyed it (twice!).

Artist does not necessarily mean Painter, it represents anyone in pursuit of creativity, regardless of career.

Rather than being set out in chapters, the book is organised as a 12 week course.

The objective of the course is to help us rediscover our creativity. Each week focuses on a particular theme and offers practical suggestions to help us recover and discover the creative flair we might have practiced unselfconsciously as children.

In addition to the weekly exercises, 2 basic tools are recommended, “morning pages” and “the artist date”.

Writing three A4 pages everyday is a conversation with ourselves- perhaps covering thoughts we wouldn’t dare reveal to anyone else. It’s a chance to pour out hopes, dreams, fears and frustrations privately.

The Artist date, is a weekly time investment doing something by ourselves for ourselves; being in nature, listening to music or trying a new food. The date can be anything but should feel like play and not work. This is to replenish our creative resources.

If you have temporarily forgotten how to practice and enjoy your creativity, or feel an artistic block, this book is definitely worth reading!

Feature Image Credit: Seema Miah via Unsplash

The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People

The physical and mental strength displayed at the Olympics reminded me of Stephen Covey’s book “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People”.

The habits are broken down into the first 3 which relate to self management and development.

Habits 4 to 6 offer advice on how best to approach our interactions with others.

Habit 7 is “sharpen the saw” which is about self care.

We wouldn’t try to cut down a tree with a blunt, worn out saw and this analogy is used to advise us to be proactive in looking after ourselves. The Olympic athletes are prime examples of this habit.

By investing in sleep, nutrition and activity we can keep ourselves in peak physical condition.

We can take care of our spiritual lives by meditating or spending time in nature.

We choose to maintain mental fitness by being conscious of what we consume in terms of media and reading.

For optimum social interaction, Covey recommends we have authentic, meaningful connections whilst being helpful to others. It was heartening to see the recent support for all athletes, regardless of their level of success.

My copy of the book is quite old but I was pleasantly surprised with how easy to read it is and how relevant it remains in 2021.

If I liked this book, what others should I try?

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Bad Habits

Listening to Ed Sheeran’s new song reminded me of James Clear’s book “Atomic Habits”.

James offers advice to help with fostering desired habits. He describes a method of stacking habits so that certain behaviours follow others without us even having to think about it.

The song “Bad Habits” provides a good example of how this works too, although in this case the stacking is for behaviours described as bad habits.

In my interpretation of the lyrics, going out late brings the character in the song to pubs/clubs where autopilot associations lead him to vices that he knows are bad for him.

The book offers advice on how adopting tiny behaviour changes can lead to greater success and break bad habits.

So cool bat-like character in Ed Sheeran’s new video, if you’re reading this, I recommend you stop and instead invest your time in reading James Clear’s book.

James Clear, if you’re reading this, I recommend you check out the song, it’s lyrics, tune and video are all great.

And Ed Sheeran, if you’re reading this, I think it’s genius that your song implies its unlikely that we’ll break our habits but yet in creating this song you’ve deviated from your usual style and so you’ve inspired us that it is possible to change our patterns.

Feature Image Credit: Manan Chhabra via Unsplash