Books
Desperate For More Work/Life Balance? These 10 Books Can Help
I don’t know about you, but I am someone who could use a whole lot more balance in my life — between working, mothering, writing, being a partner and a daughter and a sister and a friend, keeping up with the news, folding the laundry (sorta) and feeding the cat (generally), the number of items I add to my to-do list on the daily far exceeds the entries I check off. (And seriously, don’t even get me started on my TBR pile.)
The thing is, women, particularly, are constantly doing things. And in the midst of all that doing, it is way, WAY too easy to forget that every once in a while, you need to take some time to do things for yourself. Millennials in particular are basically known for working more and earning less than the generations before us — and honestly, what’s up with that? What happened to that happy, healthy work/life balance I’ve heard such good things about? Because between you and me, after the utterly clobbering year that was 2018, I could use a big, red, reset button in my life.
Sound familiar? Then these books to help you strike a work/life balance in the fresh, new year ahead might be exactly what you need. (Just don't let them become one more nagging to-do on your never-ending to-do list. Nobody needs more of that, amirite?)
'How to Get Sh*t Done: Why Women Need to Stop Doing Everything So They Can Achieve Anything' by Erin Falconer
You probably don’t need me — or anyone else, for that matter — telling you that being a woman is no easy task: we’re constantly trying to do it all, and no matter what it’s STILL never enough. Enter: How to Get Sh*t Done: Why Women Need to Stop Doing Everything So They Can Achieve Anything by Erin Falconer, a productivity manual written by a woman, for women, that tackles the unique cultural pressures that face women.
'The Ambition Decisions: What Women Know About Work, Family, and the Path to Building a Life' edited by Hana Schank and Elizabeth Wallace
Faced with having to make critical decisions about their own (ambitious) lives, journalists Hana Schank and Elizabeth Wallace began to wonder: How DO women make decisions in the workplace and the world? How does (or doesn’t) ambition serve women differently from men? Drawing on hundreds of hours of interviews with Schank and Wallace’s peers, The Ambition Decisions: What Women Know About Work, Family, and the Path to Building a Life is a collection of stories about life-defining decision making.
'The Myth of the Nice Girl: Achieving a Career You Love Without Becoming a Person You Hate' by Fran Hauser
Ah, female archetypes. What is an ambitious gal to do in a world where women — when striking their own, individual balance between tough and gentle — simply cannot win? That’s a question for Fran Hauser, author of The Myth of the Nice Girl: Achieving a Career You Love Without Becoming a Person You Hate. It’s a guide to achieving success through authenticity, to transforming the definition of strong leadership, and more.
'How We Work: Live Your Purpose, Reclaim Your Sanity, and Embrace the Daily Grind' by Leah Weiss
Based on author Leah Weiss’s course at the Stanford Graduate School of Business, How We Work: Live Your Purpose, Reclaim Your Sanity, and Embrace the Daily Grind looks at how the “personal” and the “professional” have never overlapped more and explores how generations of young people are defining themselves by what they do for a living. Weiss dives deep into the pros and cons of living in a world where that personal and professional are often the same, explaining how to grapple with psychological challenges of the modern workplace.
'The Spender's Guide to Debt-Free Living: How a Spending Fast Helped Me Get from Broke to Badass in Record Time' by Anna Newell Jones
One of the keys to getting that work/life balance on track is, of course, getting your personal finances on track. While it might not seem like the most obvious place to start, having a healthy relationship with money is critical to having a healthy relationship with how you earn money — and how you spend that money in your free time. The Spender's Guide to Debt-Free Living: How a Spending Fast Helped Me Get from Broke to Badass in Record Time by Anna Newell Jones is a life-changing program that will not only help you get your finances exactly where you want them, it’ll also help you live your best life.
'#Chill: Turn Off Your Job and Turn On Your Life' by Bryan E. Robinson
I don’t know anyone who isn’t totally overworked and exhausted — at least some of the time. By looking at the patterns and habits of over-work that people often get themselves into, licensed psychotherapist and professor Bryan Robinson offers month-by-month guide to ending the cycle of burnout. #Chill: Turn Off Your Job and Turn On Your Life is filled with meditations for health, happiness, and balance.
'The Little Book of Being: Practices and Guidance for Uncovering Your Natural Awareness' by Diana Winston
Perfect for both new and seasoned practitioners of mediation, Diana Winston’s The Little Book of Being: Practices and Guidance for Uncovering Your Natural Awareness is a slim and simple guide to slowing down, savoring the simple, and indulging in a little mindfulness.
'The Art of the Good Life: 52 Surprising Shortcuts to Happiness, Wealth, and Success' by Rolf Dobelli
Founder of the TED-style ideas conference Zurich Minds, Rolf Dobelli just might have found the key to happiness. And, as it turns out, it’s not a key, but rather keys. (I know, I’m just as surprised as you.) The Art of the Good Life: 52 Surprising Shortcuts to Happiness, Wealth, and Success summarizes not just one path to happiness, balance, and success, but 52. (One for each week of 2019, if you haven’t noticed.)
'Work Optional: Retire Early the Non-Penny-Pinching Way' by Tanja Hester
While optional employment is certainly an experience of privilege — one that is definitely not accessible to most women — an early retirement is still nice to dream about. Even if it is only a dream. In Work Optional: Retire Early the Non-Penny-Pinching Way, Tanja Hester turns that dream into a reality, by guiding you to map out your own plan for living the good life earlier than you might have originally expected.
'Becoming' by Michelle Obama
While Michelle Obama certainly comes from an uncommon, one-of-a-kind experience (aka: former First Lady) her just-published memoir, Becoming, is all about how she worked (really, REALLY hard) to strike a balance between family, work, and politics — a balance made all the more difficult by the fact that she was doing it in front of the entire world. Becoming will, if nothing else, remind you what a badass Michelle Obama is.
