4 Books by Women I read in September

I committed to reading 3 non-fiction books by women every month for the rest of the year. Here's what I read in September.

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This month I read:

1. Laura Valvasori - Good to Grow: Cultivate Your Mindset and Habits to Thrive as an Entrepreneur
2. Aminatou Sow and Ann Friedman - Big Friendship: How We Keep Each Other Close
3. Katty Kay and Claire Shipman - The Confidence Code: The Science and Art of Self-Assurance -- What Women Should Know
4. Youngme Moon - Different: Escaping the Competitive Herd

1?? Laura Valvasori - Good to Grow

Cultivate Your Mindset and Habits to Thrive as an Entrepreneur

You might like it if...

• You're considering entrepreneurship
• You're already an entrepreneur and could use a little push from someone who's in the arena with you
• You're a woman who badly wants to harness the power that's already inside you through changing your mindset and routines

My summary

This book geared at woman entrepreneurs (!!) really has something of value for everyone. Laura covers everything from highly practical tips for productivity and managing your finances, to the habits and routines you can use to set yourself up for success, and the mindset you can channel to overcome your own inner hurdles. Based largely on Laura's own personal experience, with very helpful excerpts from other entrepreneurs, there will certainly be parts of this book that won't work for you but I promise there's something that will, too.

As someone who is (not yet ??) an entrepreneur, I took immense value from this book anyway. The concept of "being like a goldfish", new to me, is one that will really stick with me and that I'll definitely be using in my own coaching conversations. (You'll have to read the book to find out what it means!)

I could name so many other mental models I gained from this book like:

• the concept of an "impression of increase" (leaving the people you talk to better off after the conversation than they were when it started)
• my first exposure to the the concept of "completion bias" (how the dopamine we get from checking things off a list can actually lead us to feel good about doing the wrong things)
• Laura's reminder to "spend time being, not doing". It's hard to sum this book up in just a paragraph but if you pick it up, you'll almost certainly be picking it up again to revisit pieces of the wisdom from this book.

Note: I am so thankful to Laura for sharing her experience as an entrepreneur and marketer with all of us, and also for sharing an advanced copy of her book with me to read. She certainly left an impression of increase on me!

"I used to have the equation backwards, believing that activities I classified as self-care were to be used as a reward for achieving a goal. I would push my way to a goal, often at the expense of my health, and then reward myself with some form of self-care, like a massage. This trap in thinking is what leads to burnout. To stay in an energy of thriving, I now build in self-care practices as a part of my process in achieving a goal...

Thriving is a feeling you create within yourself. You deserve to feel good. It is not something you need to earn."

PS - Laura made it almost impossible to just pick one insight from this book to quote for you all!

2?? Aminatou Sow & Ann Friedman - Big Friendship

How We Keep Each Other Close

You might like it if...

• You think platonic friendship doesn't get enough air time
• You enjoy the irreverent banter of a girlfriends podcast (Aminatou and Ann host one together!)
• A story about two friends who got matching tattoos and went to couples counselling together sounds like a fun read

My summary

Aminatou and Ann tell us the story of their whirlwind friendship (complete with meet-cute!) and how, after the initial inseparability, they were wholly unprepared for the work needed to make their relationship last the test of time and many miles of distance. The lessons they learned about the hard work that real, big friendship takes is at the core of this book. The book is interspersed with personal experiences of everything from race dynamics to the tension between our public and personal selves. The book itself reads like part memoir, part podcast conversation.

"It’s hard to remember who we were that night at Dayo’s house, before we were friends. Not only because it was a long time ago, but also because we have changed each other in countless ways, from the profound to the imperceptible. We didn’t just meet each other that night. We began the process of making each other into the people we are today."

(^Upon reading this line I immediately texted a big friend of mine to tell her how thankful I was for the role she played in making me who I am. This book was a great reminder to be grateful for all the great, big friendships of my life.)

3?? Katty Kay & Claire Shipman - The Confidence Code

The Science and Art of Self-Assurance -- What Women Should Know

You might like it if...

• You enjoyed Lean In and you're looking for something else in the same vein
• You're curious about some of the underlying causes for confidence and/or lack thereof
• You want to be more confident but you don't know where to start

My summary

Katty & Claire are insatiably curious about why women struggle with confidence (both real and perceived) more than men. They go on a journey to find and interview the "most confident" women in the world, but they realize that even those that have every reason to be confident struggle with the same thing the rest of us do. They may be accomplished, but they still struggle with feelings of inferiority. This leads Katty & Claire to go deeper into the psychological, social, and genetic factors that impact confidence and a journey to understand what the women who appear to be the most confident do differently.

"'We all assume,' Jarrett told us, 'that there’s a reason why. We think, "I’m not deserving, if I were, he’d recognize my talent. It’s not up to me to point it out."'"

4?? Youngme Moon - Different

Escaping the Competitive Herd

You might like it if...

• You're interested in learning more about the marketing landscape
• You'd like to learn more about some interesting case studies in differentiation from IKEA to the Mini Cooper
• You are eager to reflect on how the marketing messages surrounding you act upon you as a consumer

My summary

Different is a surprising romp through what it means to be "different" in the world we live in today. This book is unlike any other I've read - with a tone more intimate than you might expect from a Harvard Business professor. This book delivers unique perspectives on marketing almost poetically. It was a quick read I would pick up again and again as a palate cleanser from other non-fiction books I read.

"'I’ve decided to wait until next year before I buy a new X because I know the Xs next year will be so much better,' what you are hearing is someone articulate what we all take for granted: When it comes to product evolution, we leave it to firms to deliver the future perfect, and we’re complacent in the knowledge that they know we expect it of them, too."

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I also picked up a few novels by women including:

• Astra by Cedar Bowers (??????????)
• I'll Give You The Sun by Jandy Nelson (??????????)
• Disorientation by Elaine Hsieh Chou (??????).

It was a great month for reading!

Have you read these? What did you think?

What other books would I like?