My journey to knock out fifty books is outpacing my original plan. I’ve already finished ten in the first twenty-four days of January. Full disclosure: some of these were started in December 2019 and I finished them in early January.
I just finished three more this week, one I recommend to everyone, one I recommend to my fellow endurance junkies and one I recommend to anyone leading a business or organization. I hope you find this list useful.
The TB Method
You may hate the New England Patriots and Tom Brady. If you do, it’s probably because Tom Brady is the winningest quarterback in history. That’s in large part because he’s been able to sustain a healthy career far beyond most NFL players. I’m not an NFL fan so I don’t like or dislike Tom Brady. However, there is absolutely no denying his ability to sustain peak performance into what would be considered late years in professional football. Therefore his words should be listened to.
Really, I loved this book and will be incorporating much of it into my training and daily life. I 100% buy into his philosophy of keeping the body healthy for life so that we can continue being active for a long time. I, for one, want to be competing in endurance events well into my seventies. This is something my coaches at Endurance Farm have been drilling into my head and Tom Brady confirms many of their points regarding holistic training.
The TB12 Method is based on 12 principles:
1. Pliability – the daily lengthening and softening of muscles before and after workouts
2. Holistic and integrative training
3. Balance and moderation in all things
4. Conditioning for endurance and vitality
5. No-load training
6. Promote anti-inflammatory responses in the body
7. Promote oxygen-rich blood flow
8. Proper hydration
9. Healthy nutrition
10. Supplementation
11. Brain exercises
12. Brain rest, recentering and recovery
I finished this book today but it will stay in my gym as a reference that I’ll view daily. There are some things I won’t incorporate like his overly extreme diet, but he even admits that he’s only doing so because fitness is his job. It’s not mine. It’s my hobby. Still, holistic training is the route my coaches have been taking me and it’s one that I accept fully.
I recommend this book to anyone who wants to stay active for decades.
Why We Sleep
TOTALLY LIFE CHANGING
Rarely do I say that something is life-changing. I must in this case because it will literally change how I address sleep and in turn, my health, my training, my intelligence, and my family.
I started reading the hard copy of this book two days ago and haven’t been able to put it down. Thanks to two hours of training and five hours of housework today I was able to quickly crush this book with Audible.
It is said that the three pillars of health are sleep, diet, and exercise. The author argues that the pillars are diet and exercise and sleep is actually the foundation. After reading his argument, I totally agree.
I will be changing how much I drink and when I drink. When and how I go to bed. When and how I wake up. How much computer work or tv viewing I do before bed. How much water I drink and when I drink it. And even how I raise my children.
I was particularly intrigued by the argument that we are killing our children’s development with early school start times. We are especially harming children in low-income areas because they have to wake up sometimes an hour earlier to catch the bus, thus having an hour less to sleep than those students who have parents who drop them off.
The author also makes a great argument as to why children must not be on ADHD meds because it keeps them awake at exactly the stage in development that they need sleep the most. Those medications do more harm than good by compounding the problem.
If you read just one book in 2020, make it this book.
Know What You’re For
What are you for?
What is your business for?
What’s the whole point of all this effort?
Those are the questions Jeff Henderson wants you to answer in “Know What You’re For: A Growth Strategy for Work, An Even Better Strategy Foe Life.”
I was on the road a lot this week so I was able to knock this book out in just three days mostly through Audible. It was recommended to me by an Atlanta based political consultant, from where Henderson also hails. Henderson uses a lot of examples from his employments at Chic-Fil-A and North Point Ministry to highlight a business’ need to be FOR the customer, instead of always promoting itself.
I rather enjoyed this one. There are a lot of good reminders that your customers and employees need to know that you’re working for something bigger than money.
I recommend this one for leaders of all kind who need a reminder of who they are and what they’re for.