Want to join my book club?
Do you spend a lot of time in your car? Do you have a long commute, or do you travel for work occasionally? Several years ago, I used to have a 45-50 minute journey to and from the office every day. Back then, on a regular occurrence, it used to frustrate me. It was never too bad in the mornings, but when you get in the car after 7pm in the evening and you’re faced with at least 45 minutes drive, you just want to be able to click your fingers and be at home. I knew that plenty of people had it worse, 45 minutes is not a long commute for thousands of people. But that doesn’t make you feel better in the moment, you don’t care about other people when you’re in that frame of mind. You go completely self-centred and only think about yourself!
Fast-forward to now, when it only takes me about 15-20 minutes to commute to my office, and I now miss the time in the car! I’m sure this is in part due to the fact that humans tend to always want what they don’t have (people with straight hair want curly hair, people with 20/20 vision want to wear glasses, etc.) but the thing is, that time in the car used to be very useful!
Time in the car is reading time to me! I’ve got myself a bit addicted to Audible at the moment, and I don’t see this changing any time soon. I’ve never been so well-read! Which is having a very positive effect on me. It means I know stuff that I didn’t know before! It means I regularly have new (sometimes good) ideas about what to do and how to do it. And I haven’t had to force myself to find time to sit in a quiet room, with no distractions, so that I can actually read a book! I’ve just had someone talking away to me, keeping me entertained, whilst I’ve been driving from A to B.
Three books have had such a positive impact on me recently that I feel compelled to share them with you, so you too may decide to listen to (or read) them.
Most impact #1
Sales Management. Simplified. By Mike Weinberg.
Most impact #2
The Road Less Stupid. By Keith Cunningham.
Most impact #3 (but most enjoyable, entertaining & inspirational)
Delivering Happiness. By Tony Hsieh.
There is so much I could say about these three books. So much that I have changed about myself and our business, as a result of reading (or rather, listening to) them. Whether it’s the sales focus that Mike Weinberg shares, with his 100% sales is everything attitude, which really resonated with Jen Gordon (one of our Key Account Managers) who shared it with me and encouraged me to read it. Or the incredibly helpful thinking time questions that Keith Cunningham shares, that can be asked of any business and will lead to some major insights into why you are where you are, and what can be done to get you closer to where you want to be. Through to the story of Zappos that Tony Hsieh shares, which first of all is extremely entertaining and inspirational, but also includes so many good ideas, especially relating to the culture and team dynamics within a business, that cannot fail to influence what you focus on in your day to day work.
I highly recommend all three and if you do make the time to read, or listen to them, I’d love to know what you think. I’ve never been part of a book club, I’ve always thought it was just something that my step-mum does and not really for me. However! If anyone was up for having a discussion about these books, then I’d be jumping in with both feet and I’ll host the first one! And get all the wine & nibbles (I think this is compulsory for book clubs).
