Blogger Book Club & My January Pick

I love reading.

Ever since I was little I would devour books and the past two years I’ve kept track of the books I’ve read through my Pinterest boards. Yes, we’ll say I’m keeping track and not even slightly showing off what I’m reading.

I worked at a library for a few months last year in the marketing department and was constantly reading about the different book clubs and books they were reading. I always wanted to join one but never felt like there was one that fit me. Until now.

Sarah of sarahohm.com created a book club for 2015 and wrote a post asking if there were any bloggers that wanted to join. Uh, yes please! I immediately joined. What I love about this book club is that Sarah chooses the theme each month, but every blogger gets to chose their own book. Different themes each month also mean that I’m going to open myself up to titles and subjects that I usually don’t read. Not only is my personal library going to become more diverse as I add a book each month, I’ll get to read so many reviews of others books I might not have previously exposed myself to.

Sarah has chose “MOTIVATION” for the theme of January’s book. Motivation is definitely fitting for the first month of the New Year and where resolutions are born. Although I pride myself on being an avid reader with a love of language, I had to confirm the difference between inspiration and motivation. I’ve read many inspiring books but none that I think were truly motivating or with a call-to-action.

I read “Nice Girls Don’t Get the Corner Office” by Lois P. Frankel and I loved it. It covers 101 mistakes that women make in their careers that prevent them from moving up. She suggests to do the quiz at the beginning of the book to determine where you might fall, read the applicable mistakes, read the rest of them, and then choose a few to work on.

I read the 101 mistakes in order and chose a few that I could definitely work on:

• Needing to be liked
• Apologizing
• Not answering the question
• Grooming in public

Frankel lays out these 101 mistakes with real-life examples she’s encountered with clients, and also lays out how to fix the issue. For example, my issue with “not answering the question” is as simple as just making a choice. I don’t need to lay out both sides of the coin because my boss already knows them… what she’s looking for is for me to be decisive. Also, if I’m going to put my hair in a ponytail or bun I need to do that in the bathroom, not in front of a co-worker. This also includes putting on lip balm. Oops.

I loved this book. I wasn’t sure what to expect when I picked it up but even those issues that I don’t need to work out really opened my eyes as to how they can be surprisingly detrimental to your career.

I highly suggest this book for anyone with any inkling of career aspirations… including something as simple as keeping  your job in the face of lay-offs.


   

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