The Most Transformational Books I Read in 2020

Four books that helped me reflect and grow in 2020.

Photo by Nong Vang on Unsplash

Reading has been one of the most significant ways to feed my sense of adventure and curiosity throughout 2020. From personal development, new routines and adventures, both tragic and magical, these four books have helped me reflect and grow throughout this year.

Stories that Stick

I had heard of Kindra Hall at a business conference a few years ago. Her talk on storytelling in sales was the one everyone wanted to attend. I started following her on Instagram and was so excited when she published this book. While we all know storytelling is important in business and in life, Stories that Stick digs deep into the psychology behind storytelling and provides practical advice and frameworks for telling your own story.

Why I Loved It:

• I walked away from this book with actionable processes and easy-to-leverage frameworks for powerful storytelling.
• Hall digs deep into why storytelling works, why we as humans love it and how to tap into that power.
• It’s honestly fun to read because it’s filled with … you guessed it — Stories.

Key Takeaways:

• Storytelling is a co-creative process, provide enough detail for the listener to create images, characters and places in their mind. It’s this co-creative process that makes storytelling so powerful.
• Behind every data point is a story. Stories > stats, and when you can extract the story from the data, you have a much more powerful presentation, pitch or proposal. Additionally, Hall highlights how to incorporate the data back into the story to get all the necessary information across.
• Don’t forget the small stories, the little transformative moments, the one identifiable character. We often focus on the big stories, but life is made up of millions of moments and millions of stories. We are in no shortage of stories, but simply need to learn how to tell them effectively.

Learn more about it HERE

Photo by Leon Biss on Unsplash

The Miracle Morning

2020 has tested many of us in new ways. I’ve personally struggled with maintaining motivation and keeping up my routines & productivity throughout lockdown. When I noticed myself sleeping away my mornings and struggling to find energy throughout my days, I knew it was time for a change. That’s when I discovered The Miracle Morning by Hal Elrod which embraces an early morning routine filled with all the good stuff for the day. 10 minutes each of meditation, affirmations, visualizations, exercise, reading and writing, this routine helped me embrace my mornings and step into each day renewed, motivated and focused. I’ve written a full article on my experience embracing the miracle morning.

The Morning Routine that’s Kept me Motivated and Sane in 2020

Why I loved it:

• It’s an empathetic self-help book. Not only does the book explain how to do the miracle morning, but it’s also filled with ways to adapt, change or modify the routine to fit your lifestyle or changes in your lifestyle.
• It’s filled with positive experiences and success stories, ensuring the reader walks away excited and motivated for their miracle morning routine.
• It packs in all of the good stuff. We hear over and over again the importance of exercise, meditation, journaling… but how can one fit it all into a single day?! The miracle morning is a breath of fresh air, helping you tackle all of these ‘to-do’s’ early in the morning and reaping the benefits throughout the day.

Key Takeaways:

• Your mind is mighty. It’s essential to take care of it through meditation, reading and journaling. It’s also a powerful tool that can help us achieve our goals, visualize success and affirm our self-belief.
• Mornings are magical. Waking up an hour earlier has given me access to an hour of peace before the rest of the world (and sometimes the sun) gets up.
• What works for one person may not work for you. The Miracle Morning is filled with ways to adapt the routine to fit your needs, or how to continually change it, so it doesn’t become mundane. It was a powerful reminder of the importance to take advice, but understand how it can work in your life and with your goals.

Learn more about The Miracle Morning HERE

The Beekeeper of Aleppo

This story made me laugh, cry and believe in the power of human resilience. The story follows a man and his wife as they make their way from Syria, and their home city of Aleppo, fleeing war, disaster and traumas. They deal with the trauma in different ways, and the story is as much about them finding one another as it is about reaching the UK. Gaining a human, dynamic and personal view into the Syrian Refugee Crisis, provided an understanding of true suffering, coping and surviving.

Why I loved it:

• It’s a powerfully emotional story, providing a window into experiences, trauma and suffering of the people fleeing a home that’s no longer safe. This story brings the human back into a humanitarian crisis.
• It’s a story of suffering, but also of resilience, hope and determination. It was a powerful reminder in a challenging year of the strength of the human spirit to overcome.

Key Takeaways:

• You never know what someone has been through, or how they’re dealing with past experiences. Be empathetic and understanding to everyone.
• Look beyond headlines. Behind all of those news stories, there are real people. Find ways to tap into the human side of the story and uncover any ways you can help.
• While I’ve faced many challenges in 2020, I have a lot to be grateful for.

The Starless Sea

A magical journey into a magical library where the books tell the story you’re reading. This is Inception in book form; book-ception if you will. The story follows Zachary as he uncovers the love story of Time and Fate and becomes integral in helping the story end and another begin. Filled with metaphors, adventure and stardust, this book helped me remember the magic in the world even during this stressful, challenging year.

Why I loved it:

• It’s a powerful reminder that not everything in this world is as it seems. This book is chock-full of metaphors, and a few open-ended plot lines help the reader decide what a character or symbol means to them. Not everything is black and white.
• It’s written in poetry and prose, the writing in and of itself will ensorcel you into the world of the Starless Sea.
• It’s an ode the magic of stories.

Key Takeaways:

• Fate doesn’t decide your story. She only provides doors, and you choose which you go through. I think this year, it’s so easy to blame everything on a higher power, but ultimately we each have control of our own actions, decisions and journey.
• Stories are all around us. Every minute, day, and lifetime is filled with stories, both our own and the stories of those around us.
• Not everything in the world is defined, concrete or able to be explained. The is OK. There is so much in this book that is vague, symbolic and metaphoric. The reader walks away with a sense of magic, a sense of wonder, and the opportunity to build their own understanding of the stories told.

These four books have helped me reflect, learn and grow during a transformative and challenging year.