10 Books to Help You Grow and Learn in the New Year
Are you an intentional learner? Your answer is likely yes, or you wouldn’t be reading this! Here is my next question. How will you take your learning to the next level in 2019? One way is to commit to consistently reading books that enrich and develop your skills and life.
This past year, I read around twenty books. There are many people who read more, but I achieved my goal for last year.
I value learning from a wide variety of books. I also like Audible. While exercising, gardening or driving, I listen to books.
What do you do to intentionally learn and grow?
Below are short summaries of the top 10 books I read this past year. Included are my take-aways.
Some of these would be good books to put on your 2019 reading list. Even if you aren’t going to read them, check out the summaries and glean something from my takeaways. Buy them on Amazon using the button below and I get a small commission that will help me maintain this website and blog. Thanks for considering
Enjoy!
LEADERSHIP BOOKS
Your Best Year Ever by Michael Hyatt
This is one of the more detailed books I’ve read on setting goals. It helped me to gain clarity and focus to set up a system to monitor progress. Hyatt takes the reader through 5 simple steps as you design a plan for growth for the year. 1) Believe the Possibility 2) Complete the Past 3) Design Your Future 4) Find your Why and 5) Make it Happen.
Take-Aways:
1) It’s important to clarify my top motivations for the goals I set. Write these down and refer back to them.
2) Set high enough goals. They need to stretch me (and those I lead). This is key to seeing the
3) Get started immediately with something that is relatively easy and in my Comfort Zone. Then build from there after gaining momentum.
Leadership Pain: The Classroom for Growth by Samuel Chand
Every leader experiences pain. “Pain is inevitable, misery is not,” this book says. The basic premise of this book is, “You only grow to the threshold of your pain.” In other words, if you aren’t willing to endure pain, you won’t grow.
At the point where you decide that you’ve had enough pain and difficulties, you will hit your “ceiling” as a leader.
One of the things I liked about this book was that each chapter started with real life stories of leaders. They faced major struggles, suffered relational pain and came out on the other side. I could identify with them and learn from them.
Take-Aways:
1) Don’t try to avoid pain as a leader- it is a natural part of growth for both me and my vision/organization.
2) Allow pain to develop me: my understanding of God and myself. Expect it to be a stepping stone for the greater things God has for me ahead.
Leading with a Limp by Dan Allender
The author encourages us to acknowledge that we, as leaders, are our organization’s “chief sinners.” Leading from this kind of transparent humility is the opposite of how the world operates. It carries risks. The book does not minimize it, but helps the reader understand why this risk is worth taking.
Take-Aways:
1) My personal weaknesses and the cost of leadership must be embraced.
2) Allow disillusionment and the death of idealism to birth a new realistic hope within me.
3) The description of the prophetic aspect of leadership was very affirming. “Prophets disrupt complacency and awaken desire through dreaming,” he writes. They call people to dream about going to a new level in God’s plans and desires for the organization. They aren’t always welcomed but are needed for God’s purpose to come about. Click here to read a more detailed reflection on this book.
SPIRITUAL OR PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT BOOKS
Power of Vulnerability by Brene Brown
Shame researcher Brene Brown shares her unique humor and powerful insights. Throughout it, she writes about what it means to live as a “whole hearted” person.
We must be willing to own our stories. Learning about our own shame triggers is key. So is being able to call shame what it is. We then must walk into it rather than running from it. This requires vulnerability but is key to living as a whole person. This is an expensive book. I recommend you get it free or for a credit on Audible.
Take-Aways:
1) At the end of the day or year, like Brown, I want to have “contributed more than criticized.”
2) Insights into what she calls foreboding joy. This is when we have moments of joy and find them triggering fears about tragic things happening. A key to overcoming this is the regular practice of gratitude.
The Rest of God by Mark Buchanan
I read this book right before starting a 3-month sabbatical. Mark is a skilled writer which makes this book a joy to read.
According to Buchanan, Sabbath is a time to play, rest, remember, listen, and to anticipate. We reject the world’s standard that busyness is a sign of importance and embrace a more kingdom way of life. That is one where we enter the Rest of God. We stop trying to serve or be God. Humbling ourselves and letting Him carry the world (without us) is practicing a Sabbath discipline.
Buchanan describes Sabbath as liturgy, a rhythm, not a law.
He encouraged a Sabbath golden rule: “Cease from what is necessary, embrace what gives life.” This is a very freeing book that gave good parameters for both my sabbatical and for future Sabbath habits.
Take-Aways:
1) Sabbath is not a law but a habit and rhythm.
2) Playing is part of my Sabbath worship.
Cry of the Soul: How Our Emotions Reveal Our Deepest Questions About God by Dan Allender
I have not read a more profound and transformational book this year. This wasn’t a quick read. It took me seven months to finish it. I’d read a chapter, then
Allender says that as we listen to what is referred to as our “dark” emotions, we can experience God in powerful ways. He writes, “Every emotion is a theological statement.” What we feel reveals what we believe about God.
The book has separate chapters on; anger, fear, envy, jealousy, abandonment, despair, contempt, and shame. It then ends with chapters on the mystery and goodness of God.
The biggest impact on me came from the chapters on shame.
We feel shame when we feel unworthy, ugly, stupid…when we don’t belong. The author explains that is because we are looking to those things (our self worth, beauty, intelligence, family, etc) to fulfill us. They give us identity. Instead, we must only look to God for this.
When our “false gods” let us down, we feel shame. This was an important revelation. When I experience the trauma of shame and shame triggers, I can run to God for comfort. I also must repent of my idolatry. This brings true freedom, transformation and hope.
Take-Aways:
1) Shame reveals my idolatry.
2) Ugly, dark emotions can help me know God better.
Walking With God Through Pain and Suffering by Tim Keller
This book is broken into three parts. The first part looks at suffering from a philosophical, cultural and historical viewpoint. The second part moves from theoretical to practical. It looks at what the Bible says about suffering. The final section of the book contains “down to earth” help for the sufferer.
There is a radical contrast between how society today views suffering and how it was historically viewed. Keller unpacks this well.
Take-Aways:
1) Christian explanations for suffering in the world are far more reasonable than any other philosophy or worldview.
2 In times of suffering, the world sees this contrast in dramatic ways. Suffering can cause our light to shine brightly.
GREAT NOVELS TO READ
Same Kind of Different As Me by Ron Hall and Denver Moore
This true story is inspiring, encouraging and thought-provoking. It is the true story of an international art dealer (Ron Hall) and his unusual friendship with a homeless man.
In the book, Hall displays a genuine love and respect for Moore. The homeless man shows himself to be wiser than the educated, rich, mature, Christian. Also interesting in the story is the struggle Ron faces as his beloved wife battles cancer.
This is a hope-filled, authentic tale. The story makes a case for authentic ministry and friendship with people who are different than we are. It was an uplifting easy read for evenings and holiday time.
Take-Away:
1) Reaching out beyond my set of natural friendships leads to great treasures.
2) There is a great example in the book of authentic relationships with God and others in the midst of grief and loss.
The Alchemist by Paolo Coelho
This is a classic I’d heard many other authors refer to. It is a metaphor about people who have dreams but feel they are impossible. A boy who goes in search of his treasure, starting in Spain and traveling to Egypt. It is brilliantly written, a delight to read, and has a great message.
Take-Away:
Dreams must be pursued. There is no time like the present to get started on them!
A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini
This book is about women in Afghanistan. It gives powerful insights into what it is like to live as a Muslim woman in times of war. I found it well written and engaging. I enjoy learning about other countries, peoples and their situations even when reading novels. If you are like me in this, you will enjoy this book!
Take-Aways:
I have gained greater compassion for those who have suffered through the tragedies of war. This book only increased my love for Muslim women who need Jesus.
Make a Reading List for 2019
Start now. Make a wish list of books you want to read in 2019. Why not join me in writing a summary about each book? That way you can recommend them to others like I have to you.
Is there a great book you read last year that you’d like to recommend to me? Let me know in the comments below!