I’m the type of person who never sits still, I’m always moving, always doing something. I also find because of this I am constantly exhausted. I know a lot of you can relate to this so I wanted to share a tip with you on how I forced myself to take some downtime!  As a kid I always had my nose in a book, I loved reading…especially those babysitter club books! I loved them so much I named my son Logan after the boyfriend in those books.

At some point in my life I decided I didn’t have time to read books anymore, I was just too busy. We are all guilty of saying this to ourselves, but for me it was time to get honest with myself. My plate was full, and I was filling in my time by being on my phone. I won’t say I was wasting my time because my job revolves around being on the phone but I was aimlessly scrolling when I didn’t need to be. I decided a couple of years ago to pick up a book again, and I’m so glad I did. I’ve read so many amazing books since then and learned so much about myself and the industry I work in. The types of books I choose to read are about lifestyle, self growth, marketing and entrepreneurship. By choosing genres of books I’m actually interested in learning from it’s much easier for me to sit long enough to relax and read. You read that right I actually spend time sitting!

I don’t put any pressure on myself to get a book done by a certain time, I just pick it up when I have some time to spare. I’ve also carved out Sunday mornings when possible to stay in bed a little longer and do some reading. It has been a great way for me to take in some self care.

I love sharing book reviews because people are always looking for a good book to pick up and read! Here are some that I have enjoyed this year.

Jen Sincero has quickly become one of my favourite authors. I loved her last couple of books You Are A Badass and You Are A Badass at Making Money so I was excited to see her new title You Are A Badass Everyday at the local bookstore. Her latest novel is a quick read that aims to uncover tips and tricks to:

• Reveal what’s holding you back
• Stay motivated
• Bust your excuses
• Strengthen your almighty intuition
• Create new habits
• Take action towards your goals
• Overcome challenges
• Bring more calm and joy to your life
• Succeed at life

If you are the type of person who has trouble staying motivated then this is the book for you. It contains 100 exercises, reflections and cues that you can use to realign your mind. If you haven’t read her other titles I highly recommend them all, they were life changing for me!

I have been following Scott Stratten on Twitter since I joined the social platform and have always enjoyed his no bullshit approach to calling out people on their bad marketing habits. He’s never been afraid to say what we all have been thinking. QR Codes Kill Kittens is full of BAD marketing examples and is a quick easy read. It will have you questioning what the heck were they thinking when they put this on social media? This book will show you how to NOT alienate customers, dishearten employees and drive your business into the ground. In a world of “experts” telling us what we should be doing (which is often contradicting advice from one expert to another), this book aims to show you what NOT to do when it comes to online marketing.

Last year I picked up my first Sarah Knight title called You Do You which I loved. It was a great reminder to be who you are and use what you’ve got to get what you want in life. Sarah Knight has written many other titles including Get Your Shit Together – how to stop worrying about what you should do so you can finish what you need to do and start doing what you want to do. So many of us need to do a little mental decluttering so we can focus on the things we really want to be doing. In this book you’ll discover:

• The power of negative thinking
• 3 tools for getting your shit together
• How to spend less + save more
• Ways to manage anxiety
• How to conquer your fear of failure
• Stop avoiding things and get them done

Since reading this book I’ve gone back to making lists so I can prioritize my to do list and free up time to do things I love doing. You’d be amazed once you admit to yourself that your wasting precious time during your day how much more you can actually accomplish!

I first discovered Cat + Nat through the Today Show who featured these two quirky moms sitting in the car spilling the beans on what it’s really like to be a mom. They held nothing back and I appreciated that about them so I started following their adventures on Instagram. They share their honest experiences when it comes to parenting in their first book titled Mom Truths. From embarrassing stories and brutally honest advice these real life best friends aim for readers to understand what moms go through and ask the question why we are never told what it’s really like when you become a parent. Your entire life is completely flipped upside down when your first child arrives and many are left wondering why didn’t anyone tell me this was going to be so hard? Cat and Nat have created an online community, sharing stories that other mothers can relate to and have turned their approach into a sisterhood of sorts.

Mark Manson is the author of my all time favourite book The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck. This book CHANGED MY LIFE. It was a great read about personal growth and helped me learn not to take things so personally. It teaches you to do things you want to do and that is ok to say NO to people. I was so excited to see Mark Manson had written a new novel titled Everything Is F*cked – A Book About Hope and couldn’t wait to dive in the second it arrived on my doorstep. According to Manson, too much of a good thing can psychologically eat us alive, and in this book he challenges readers to connect with the world in ways we’ve probably never considered before. I love his writing style and find I can easily connect to what he is saying, when it comes to realigning your thoughts and lifestyle I recommend both of his books!

Imagine it Forward – Courage, Creativity, and the Power of Change reflects on changes in your career, your company and your life and how it all has to start with YOU. Beth Comstock shares her own life stories of climbing the corporate ladder and how being a step ahead of others in her career helped her with her own personal growth. She talks about mistakes she may have made, like not taking a job at Apple when Steve Jobs personally asked her to come work with him, and her experiences with growing companies like NBC and GE. I enjoyed her writing style and stories but felt the book could have been a little shorter, that some of the stories she told were longer then they needed to be for someone like me with a short attention span. I did however find her stories to be inspiring and that she was always ahead of the game with her ideas.