I always try to use a good book to occupy my mind while I go through life. I try to have two books on the go at all times; a fiction or historical adventure along with a self-improvement book. Sometimes it is nice to get lost in a story or adventure from a time past. I sometimes think I was born 100+ years too late and all the remote locations on earth have already been explored. With the self improvement book, I like to keep learning from the life experiences of others and what they have described to build a personal success system.
On the side of the historical adventure I have recently been captivated by naval exploration stories. First, the stories of
Ernest Shackleton, the early 20th century polar explorer. I just finished his first hand account of the story of
The Endurance, the ship that was locked in sea-ice before it was crushed and the 28 men survived for almost 900 days in the Antarctic to tell the tale. The second book is the previously un-published history of Sir Francis Drake and his treasure-seeking secret voyage to the west coast of North America - even around Vancouver Island!
Another great adventure book more current and with recent research and developments in the athletics world is
Born to Run. It tells a story of a secret tribe of natives living in the central Mexican scrub-land and surviving by running down their food and also for fun, all while going barefoot! Chris McDougall goes through the science behind why barefoot runners have dramatically reduced injury rates compared to modern stability-controlled engineered $200 shoes. It is not only educational with comparative examples it is captivating. I couldn't put the book down! It may be biased toward the barefoot camp in the current running world's
argument discussion over barefoot vs. support shoes, but I enjoyed the ride.
On the self-improvement side, I like to think of it as a guideline of how to pursue and fulfill the goals that I have in life. I haven't lived or experience a full lifetime yet so why don't I read about what others have gone through, learn from them, and build a success system that works for me. I often can only read these books for a few pages or a chapter at most in one sitting. But, I keep them marked and folded pages to the good points that I will revisit at a future time.
The first book is In Pursuit of Excellence by Terry Orlick, a classic straight-forward guide for living successfully. Defining what makes someone successful is all in the perspective of each individual but in every case it involves hard work and determination to get there. This book may be fairly common sense but it has excellent real-life examples from many of the top athletes from many different sports.
The second is a little known book by the personal chiropractor of Lance Armstrong during his seven consecutive Tour de France wins. Dr. Jeff Spencer is now a "life coach to the stars" and public speaker but is a bit cocky about it all. He has put together a book about how to perform at your highest level all in an easy, concise and readable way. I was able to see him during a talk he did in Portland and was impressed how simple he explains to create a winning plan. Mostly straight forward step by step goal setting ideas he gives many useful tips on how to clear out clutter in everyday life while saving time and removing yourself from toxins.
The third book is a classic first written in 1937 by Dale Carnegie. It is every bit as effective today as it was almost 80 years ago. In my mind, it should be read by everyone and has very common conversational tips to keep people interested in effective communication and not loosing interest. To me, it means more about influencing people but everyone can take away different things with it. For example, the simple way of remembering someones name and birthday may be the biggest things you can do to brighten someones day.
