Which books have you read that changed your life?
I’m willing to bet that you can count them on one hand.
Rising Strong by Brene Brown is one of them for me and here’s a review that I’ve written about it to explain why I’d recommend that you read it too:
In case you don’t know, “Rising Strong” makes it simple to see the world from a different perspective and recognise that everyone has their own stuff going on in their lives and in their heads that give them their own unique lens that they look at the world through.
The author, Brene Brown, is a thought leader, bestselling author and researcher of vulnerability, courage, worthiness and shame. Her TED talk on the power of vulnerability has been watched by over 15 million people worldwide.
Reading this book will help you become a more compassionate coach who sees beyond the obvious and really get at the heart of what drives your participants. Once you can do that, you’ll be able to deliver results your participants have never had before, despite numerous attempts (which will make you look, and you both feel awesome!).
This entire book could have been written about the fitness industry and injuries. I remember reading it on holiday in Scotland a few years ago and underlining huge paragraphs!
What makes this book truly stand out is Brown’s stories about her own imperfections, mistakes and feelings of shame. Her ongoing struggle to stop and take a breath before reacting are easy to relate to and often quite funny
Something amazing about this book that you might not know is that this was the first time I’d heard of the idea of “grounded research theory” which puts the findings from real life people first, and then compares those findings to the existing data.
I didn’t realise that I’d been doing exactly that with the SMARTT® methods and this book gave me the confidence to continue pursuing my work rather than listening to the haters who couldn’t get beyond the fact that my work had not been subjected to any academic research or testing in a lab (and were very forceful in their disdain for me and my ideas).
This book is not for coaches who think that science knows everything or those who think that just by understanding technical jargon that they’re better or smarter than everyone else.
Rising Strong is for coaches who are prepared to accept that nobody’s perfect and who are open to being more compassionate in their coaching.
The feature I love most about this book is that Brown takes decades of academic research and makes it not only easy to understand but also to recognise in ourselves and the people around us.
I’ve used the ideas and the approach I found in Rising Strong to develop the SMARTT® methods and Browns work has become a fundamental cornerstone of mine.
This book is only around ten quid, which is a small price to pay for the brilliance you’ll get in return.
When you compare Rising Strong to a novel you might read once it’s not even a comparison. You’ll keep coming back to this book over and over again.
If you’ve got a holiday coming up, or you’re spending time out in the garden at the moment, then now is the time to get yourself a copy, but make sure you take a pencil with you too… you’ll need it!.
I got mine from Amazon where you can get it in paperback, hardback, audio CD, Kindle and Audiobook.
So, there you have it. A little backstory into how the SMARTT® methods came to be and a recommdation for a great book!
Have you read it? I’d love to hear what you thought of it.