Why Not You? 7 Simple Ways to Reinvent Yourself Personally and Professionally by Nicole Normand is the second book I read in the Read 30 Books in 30 Days Reading Challenge. Although Why Not You is a very short book and easy to read, it’s loaded with lots of free tools.
For me, I’m using the Read 30 Books in 30 Days Reading Challenge to get an infusion of ideas that I can apply to my business. I want to read books that teach the skills that the World Economic Forum says you need to thrive in 2020 to 2022. Because of this world crisis, things are changing rapidly. No one knows for sure when isolation will end. But when it ends, things will never be the same again. I have no control over those things, but what I can control is feeding my mind with great books. So for the next 28 days I’ll be intentionally feeding my mind with great books.
Nicole and I are co-presidents of the Toronto chapter of Ellevate Network. She gave me a copy of her book a few months ago. I thought I'd ease into #read30books30days with this book. You could easily pair this book with the one I read yesterday – Confident Career Woman: Ditch Perfection, Play Bigger, and Make PowHer Moves
. You can pair books looking backward.
What is Why Not You by Nicole Normand About?
The subtitle of the book, 7 Simple Ways to Reinvent Yourself Personally and Professionally is very telling. It tells the reader that she will learn seven things that she can do to reinvent herself. One of things I’ve noticed and it may be the same for you, is that the more I read, the more I see connections between the books I choose to read.
Many people are unhappy. And it’s not world events that make them that way. Everything makes them unhappy. They’re waiting for certain events to happen, so they can finally become happy. Unfortunately, happiness doesn't have anything to do with others or outside events. You control your happiness.
I had to figure that out for myself. So now that you know that you control your happiness, what would it take to become happy? We’re perfectly imperfect, so it's time to accept your imperfection. Think about this then move in the direction towards your happiness.
At the beginning of the book, you're asked to take a personal inventory. Nicole Normand asks you seven questions.
7 Questions to Kickstart Your Consciousness
- Who am I?
- What is my current state of mind? This requires that you pay attention to your thoughts.
- What do my actions say about what I want? Do your actions align with what you say?
- What does happiness look like for me?
- How balanced in my life? Do you try to integrate work and life?
- How are my relationships with my family, friends, and colleagues? Do you make time for building relationships?
- How is my health? Do you get enough sleep and eat healthy?
These are thoughtful questions that you cannot answer with a Yes/No. And you need to spend time answering each of them.
I liked this book. It doesn’t have any information that’s new to me. And that’s the point because we need reminders. We forget things. Normand mentions the Science of Getting Rich
by Wallace Wattles. I’ve read that book a few times but had forgotten about it. It’s time to revisit again. She reminds us to walk our talk – Reflect, Take Action, and Focus (on what you want and where you’re going).
A suggestion is to journal daily. And this I fully agree with. It’s important to get your thoughts on paper. Later you can review them. I can guarantee that they’ll be filled with lots of insights about who you are. You get to know yourself. There are many aspects to you, so to know thyself means looking at your emotional, physical, spiritual and mental being.
You can achieve much more than you think you can. And your dream and action translates to your reality. It’s important to create a vision board, you're reminded of your dreams and can then take the deliberate actions you need to.
Have you read?
5 Steps to Manifesting Your Dreams – Nicole Normand
Guiding Pillars of Your Life
I loved this section. The pillars that Normand refers to are:
- Values: Guidelines to live by and you learn how to do that. A great book to help you if you need more instructions is The 3 Gaps
by Hyrum Smith. I loved doing the exercise in that book. In doing your values you’re able to create your mission statement. - Motivations: What motivates you? Does it come from inside or outside of you?
- Mission Statement: Your mission statement is the vehicle that will take you to where you need to go.
by Hyrum Smith. I loved doing the exercise in that book. In doing your values you’re able to create your mission statement.Other Important Information from Why Note You by Nicole Normand
Nicole Normand is a networker, so she knows a lot about relationships and building them. She also worked in sales for some very large companies. And she’s very good at selling. Relationships are about give and take. Figure out who feeds your soul and who drains it. She explains the differences among the relationships that are for a reason, season, and lifetime. This reminded me of the following quote. I don’t know who to attribute it to.
“People come into your life for a Reason, Season or for a Lifetime. When you figure which it is, you will know exactly what to do.”
7 Truths About Successful Relationships
- Successful relationships take work.
- Everyone is different.
- It takes two.
- You can only change yourself.
- Conflict often comes from fear or pain.
- You're responsible for your happiness
- Treat others the way you want to be treated.
She also takes the time to break down personal finance into its basic components. And of course she also talks about building a personal brand. We all need to know how to craft our message.
Final Thoughts: Why Not You? 7 Simple Ways to Reinvent Yourself Personally and Professionally by Nicole Normand
This is an excellent book for professionals who are just starting out in their career. The book itself is an easy read. However, to get the most value from it, you need to do the exercises. All the chapters are loaded with lots of tools, resources and exercises to do.
Nicole Normand has packaged her expertise so that she can share it with the world. This book is currently unavailable on Amazon.ca, so you’ll have to buy Why Not You? from her website.
How Avil Can Help You!
If you do not want to gamify your reading, I invite you to Join the Performance Accelerator Plan that walks you through the process of learning key skills and more. You’ll be reading books to build skills and develop intercultural awareness. Get more reading and learning tips here.
In December 2020, I published two books on Amazon. I would greatly appreciate your support if you bought my two short e-books Read 30 Books in 30 Days Like Francis Bacon and Performance Accelerator Plan: Guide to Learning and Mastering Key Skills for the Future.
Read 30 Books in 30 Days Like Francis Bacon is not about speed reading. It’s about approaching every book differently and reading only the sections that align with your purpose.
The Performance Accelerator Plan book is a stripped-down version of the paid reading challenge of the same name. Obviously, you won’t get all the resources that come with the program that I sell on my website. But if you are a self-directed learner, it will help you tremendously.
If someone clicks on a link and buys something from Amazon, the company will pay me a small commission.
