10 Books That Dramatically Changed My Life.

 When I left my job, I couldn’t fully explain why. All I knew was I didn’t want it anymore. I didn’t have enough words to express what I was feeling. It was only when I got addicted to reading again and started hoarding books that I bumped into all the right words to name what I was going through. I was relieved that there are actually people who experienced what I have been going through and that no matter how alone I felt, I was never really alone. Someone has successfully put into a book the blow by blow account of those hard-to-explain phenomena called spiritual awakening.

 I thought I wanted to travel. I’ve always wanted to run as far away, go to where I will not be haunted and start a new life again. I was wrong. Later on I realized that it was actually my thoughts that I have always been terrified of. Wanting so much gave me anxiety I couldn’t get rid of. I needed to learn how to calm down. I needed to learn to control my thoughts and make it shift to see the positive side of things.

These books made it easier for me to let go of things I can’t control and be excited for the best ones that are yet to come. And now, no matter how broke I will become, I will never scrimp on books. 

10. A Thousand New Beginnings

Solo female travel blogger, Kristin Addis, left her stable job as an Investment Banker and a boyfriend behind to travel Southeast Asia. During that one year, she has experienced thousand new beginnings, started new friendships and got to know the world outside. This is actually a collection of her diary and blog entries during the time when she found out that exploring the world alone makes a huge difference.

9. It’s Not How Good You Are, It’s How Good You Want To Be.

At first glance the book looks like a compilation of easy-to-understand motivational statements, ideas and advises. It encourages out-of-the-box thinking to succeed in life, career and business. During those days that I tend to forget what I want in this life, I take a look at this book and I will surely be motivated again.

8. The Alchemist

I remember having this book maybe some eight years ago but I gave it as a gift to my friend when I started reading other Coelho books and got terribly bored by them. I wanted to steal this book from my favorite coffee shop  but I somehow felt guilty so I just stole an old magazine instead with the help of a college friend.

Maybe if I had stolen this book and read it earlier, I would have been clear in what I want my life to look like. Regrets. But actually, no. The timing is just right. I wouldn’t have understood it then like how I do now. This is for the daydreamers. “And, when you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it.”

7. Reasons To Stay Alive

When my life lost meaning, I questioned every single second why I’m alive. This book just gave me more reasons to be thankful that I am and helped me stop asking the world why I am still here. My story is not supposed to end yet. Life is indeed beautiful.

6. Mastering Your Mean Girl

That book that reminded me that no matter what, I should make my inner bitch shut up and I shouldn’t think twice about flexing my self-love muscle. That I shouldn’t do things that aren’t aligned with my truth.

5. What I Was Doing While You Were Breeding

I love fiction and chic lit soooooo much. But when I challenged myself to read at least one non-fiction book per week, I fell in love with autobiographies and memoirs. This book is one of those page-turners that made me laugh but knocked me some sense. It is okay not to marry early. It is okay not to do what others are doing. It is never okay to have somebody just to be able to say that we have somebody. It is never okay to settle.

4. What I Know For Sure

I found myself crying while reading this book. Oprah’s written words have the power to touch my heart in such a way that it felt like she was beside me and was personally assuring me that it is normal to have ups and downs in this life in a voice that has warmed my the cockles of my heart. This is one of those books that put a stop to my panic attacks.

3. Simplicite

A book written by a French woman who has been living in Japan for 30 years. She fell in love with the simplicity of Japanese life that she never left and started applying this wellness approach in her daily living. From minimalism to self-care to naming every little changes a person who has left her country and learned a different way of life. This book has the power to influence a lifestyle that invites slow living.

2. GirlBoss

A book that has inspired me to the bits of my bones. She is the perfect example of creating something from scratch and making it billion times bigger through determination and hardwork. She doesn’t have a University Degree but she employs those who have MBAs. Her tips, cleverness and no BS approach to life is so on point. Everything about women empowering is in this book.

1. Becoming Myself

A book written by a Psychiatrist about his path to becoming himself. He wrote the book at 85 when at 32, I couldn’t remember that happened to me two years ago. His openness and vulnerability after all those years of helping his patients gave him more understanding of himself. Though written by a doctor, the book is surprisingly easy to understand, very honest and made me want to understand more about human behavior and more about myself.

Do Epic Shit by Ankur Warikoo

 A few days back, I was scrolling through my social media posts and saw a post of a book named Do Epic Shit by MR Ankur Warikoo. The moment I saw the cover, I was suspicious whether it would be an informative book or not. So I decided to research more about the book and more about the author, Mr Ankur Warikoo. I learned that he was the founder of the company name nearbuy.com India’s No. 1 Lifestyle App. And he went through many hardships during his lifetime and bankruptcy a couple of times in his life. When I followed him on all social media accounts, his content was terrific and helpful to many youngsters like me. 

What the Do Epic Shit book has to offer:

The book is divided into six parts, Success (and Failures), Habits, Awareness, Entrepreneurship, Money & Relationships. Each element has a life lesson attached to its learning.

The book is conversational, making it more interesting than a regular self-help book.

It answers each question that will make you reanalyze your life goals and your approach towards them.

As soon as I held the book in my hands, I eagerly dived into its pages. Within just an hour, I realized that every word in this book was pure gold. Mr. Ankur’s one-page insights were absolutely terrific. The initial chapters of the book offered invaluable lessons on life, risk-taking, and overcoming procrastination. As I progressed through the middle section, I was captivated by Mr. Ankur’s candid discussion of the financial mistakes he had made in his own life, along with the valuable lessons he had learned from them. What I particularly appreciated about this book was the author’s transparent and honest approach, making it easy for readers like me to avoid making the same mistakes.

Book Title & Book Cover:

The book cover is as plain as it can be, yet the simplistic approach with the font and color makes the book peep out through bookshelves when you want to look out for it. The book will grab your attention with bold fonts and a yellow cover. The book title may sound a little weird, but Ankur Warikoo hits the bull’s eye by writing a title in slang that today’s youth understand and follow.

Why the book Do Epic Shit is popular:

Honest approach by the author:

Ankur is brutally honest in his book as he is in his videos on social media. The audience and readers can get the vibes of honesty while reading the book as some of his personal experiences shared in the book are too honest, and the author doesn’t shy away from sharing them with the world.

Conversational Tone:

It is always good to talk to people and understand a concept than rotting it through definitions. The author has brilliantly paraphrased the book in a manner to set a conversation with questions and answers. And sometimes, asking questions to readers makes their brain process the information just read.

Simple and crisp chapters:

 No one has time to listen to lengthy life lessons; crisp and unique is what today’s youth look for, and author Ankur Warikoo is known to present the subject matter in a few lines. He has done the same in this book and is hitting the right chords with millennial readers.

Personal life lessons:

When you learn from personal mistakes, the lesson is known and imbibed in your heart forever. Readers will laugh, question, and get teary-eyed reading the author’s experiences and dilemma situations.

Start anywhere, End positively:

You can read any chapter or any page, for that matter, at any time of the day. The book is flowing and can be completed in a day, but I always advise reading the self-help books slowly and observe how the book affects you.

Why I liked Ankur Warikoo Book:

Acceptance of failure after success is a great asset, and only a few can do it effortlessly, and Ankur does that in this book. Learning from small steps to huge roadblocks can make a person renowned in his experience or shatter the confidence; it is the perspective we choose. The author shares how with age, money, and relationships, the equation changes from time to time, and there is no qualm in falling again and again. The author stresses that learning from mistakes, and if a person cannot learn from mistakes, they are moving backward.

Why to read Ankur Warikoo Book:

Every human is bound to make mistakes and have to learn from them, and to go ahead in life to make an epic impression; one has to read a good book, follow a few practices and strive on each of its factors.

What I did not like about the book:

The flow of the book could be better. Though it is a conversation and lesson imparting book, the start and end of a topic are unclear. More subtopics in each chapter can give it a wholesome look.

Ikigai

 Ikigai: The Japanese Secret to a Long and Happy Life

Reading new books is a regular part of my life therapy. It is said that everything happens for a reason.  For me, the purpose of book reading is to reset things- a reset for nature and a reset for our life too. Well, it has been for me for sure.

It has been few days when I am reading this book Ikigai – The Japanese Secret to Long and Happy Life. This book is all about the purpose of one’s life, and how it can lead to happiness. The authors Hector Garcia and Francesc Miralles when learned about Ikigai, decided to find the real meaning and how it works. They decided to visit Okinawa, the island with most centenarians in the world, who believe that their Ikigai is the reason to get up every morning. Just like the authors, Ikigai was a mystery for me too. Reading about the island and the community, centenarians, left me puzzled and curious to know and understand more about it. Now reading this book was not just a pass time activity, it was a mystery to be unfolded.

In simple terms, Ikigai means the purpose of your life, the reason why you are born. Everybody has a purpose in their life. Without a purpose to fulfil, or a goal to chase, life would appear meaningless. Ikigai is a combination of what you love, what are you good at, what world needs, and what you can be paid for. A compound of your passion, profession, mission and vocation. In Okinawa, everyone has a purpose, if not, they help each other as a community to find the purpose.

The Logo Therapy

If there is a meaning, a purpose in every life, there has to be a way to find it too. There are various ways through which you can find the purpose of your life. It requires patience as your search for your purpose is not time bound. Some find it quickly, some take time, although everyone carries it within themselves. In this book they have explained about Logo Therapy by Viktor Frankl. This therapy is based on the idea that we humans are most motivated by a search for meaning, showing that the meaning of life is the biggest quest in our minds. This therapy can help you to find your purpose. Exploring this therapy, I soon realized that I was not just reading it. I was trying to apply this therapy to find what my purpose is according to the therapy. This therapy makes you think about all the things you have done till now, recall the life you have been living and that is how you see the purpose that is hidden deep within you.

As I finished the chapters about the centenarians and purpose of life, it got me thinking how can just a purpose help a person to live a life that is 117 years long. There has to be some other secret too. The following chapters not only answered my curiosity but also left me astonished- how small things in life can make bigger differences. It is not just the purpose but the way of life and our thoughts that help us chase the purpose and lead us to a happy life. The way of life includes our health, our thoughts and our attitude.

The 80% Secret

“Hara hachi bu” is a common Japanese saying which means something like fill your belly up to 80%. We should stop eating as we start feeling full. This helps to prevent long digestive processes and accelerate cell oxidation that helps to live a happier life for a longer period. This was about one’s health but can also be applied to the ‘purpose’. Whatever we achieve is always the 80% of our actual purpose. There is always a scope for betterment, there is always a chance of doing something more. This 20% can be our next 100% to achieve.

Moai

In Okinawa moai means the informal groups formed by the people with similar interests that look out for one another. These moai can also help people find their purpose or through them, serving others in the community becomes your Ikigai. I find this moai an excellent practice to create great team bonding and also for the overall development of a team or community. When there is such a community bonding, one will never feel left out, or worthless in their life. I loved the fact that in Okinawa, they believe in growing as a community rather than as an individual. This is another secret to a happy life.

Whatever you do, don’t retire.

Among all the things I discovered in this journey, this was the most fascinating thing for me. In Japanese, there is no word that means to retire. When someone retires from work, it is like discarding the purpose of your life and hence this idea of retirement simply doesn’t exist in the Japanese culture.

It is important that your mind stays young and healthy like your body. As we do physical exercises to keep our body healthy and look young, our mind also needs exercise. Our mind also needs a regular workout to stay young and healthy.

My journey from a mysterious word to My Ikigai

I would say it a journey, because while reading this, I feel like I have travelled to the island of Okinawa in my mind with the authors. Started with the purpose of just reading, it took me on a journey to discover many secrets to happiness. Every life has a purpose, all we need to do is find it. If you haven’t found it yet, do not stop, carry on the search for it.

Perhaps this search of purpose is itself a purpose because in this process of searching one might come across or fulfil many smaller purposes. I am happy to realize my purpose of life. And even more happy that unknown of my Ikigai until now, I have been working in the right direction. I have learned that it is not necessary to have one big purpose. One can have numerous smaller purposes that collectively contribute to one big purpose of life; being happy.

What we must do is follow our heart and do things that make us happy. It can be as big as a great invention or as simple as talking to someone. What matters is the smile on the face and peace of mind that we get. Like me, I hope you guys too find your Ikigai soon.