My current anti-library

• Black AF History: The Un-Whitewashed Story of America, by Michael Harriot. I'm actually reading this one, as Harriot tells the story of America centered on Black and African American protagonists. Definitely not the history I learned in school.
• What the Buddha Taught, by Walpola Rahula. I read Vajragupta's Buddhism: Tools for Living Your Life last summer and was struck at how much of what I wrote in my book echoed the ancient spiritual teachings of Buddhism. I want to learn more, and somebody recommended this as another good introduction, but of course I haven't opened it.
• The Last Graduate and The Golden Enclaves, by Naomi Novik. I originally read the Scholomance series from the library and had picked the first one up on sale a couple months ago, but decided to treat myself over the holidays to the other two books so I could re-read them whenever I want. Which I am now doing.
• Unreasonable Hospitality: The Remarkable Power of Giving People More Than They Expect, by Will Guidara. I saw this on sale in the Kindle store, and had heard good things about this book from the creator of Eleven Madison Park. One of my friends recommended it as his top book read last year on the thoughtfulness of user design, so I definitely plan to read it at some point.
• The Talent Code, by Daniel Coyle. Fortunately, I've already read this one, and only picked it up because it was $2.99 during a Kindle sale. But I liked it when I read it, and could potentially want to go back to it at some point.
• Why Zebras Don't Get Ulcers: The Acclaimed Guide to Stress, Stress-Related Diseases, and Coping, by Robert M. Sapolsky. Another $2.99 purchase during a Kindle sale. I know the general ideas that Sapolsky shares in this book (and even cited them in my book) but would probably benefit from actually reading it at some point.
• How Long 'til Black Future Month?, by N. K. Jemisin. I am embarrassed to say that I haven't read Jemisin's award-winning novels - I started The Fifth Season once from the library but didn't get into it - but this seemed like a way to get a taste of her writing in short story form that is less of a commitment.
• The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories, by Ken Liu. Total impulse buy this morning after Tim Ferriss recommended it in his weekly newsletter with this quote from the introduction that touched me:

• I appeared in a LinkedIn live event with Shyvee Shi as part of her Product Management Learning Series; you can view the recording here and read Shyvee's summary of the takeaways here.
• I joined Matt Heinz on his Sales Pipeline Radio show, and you can watch the recording here or get the audio here or on your favorite podcast app.
• I updated my speaking page to list my current talks available for corporate speaking gigs. If you know somebody planning an offsite that is looking for a speaker, please consider sending them my way.
• Please write a review if you want to support my ideas reaching a wider audience, especially if you bought the book, because Verified Reviews matter to the algorithm. Even if you have only read the introduction chapter, you have the gist of the book and can share something to encourage others to check it out.

• Create moments of connection is my intention for 2024. When I reflected on what is holding back my coaching business, I realized the limiting factor was how many people knew me. I want to create connection with more people by putting more of myself out there. This is something I can track on a day-to-day basis to keep me moving in a direction that will help my business and make myself feel better.
• As an example of how moments of connection can help my business, I was honored that Angie Callen of Career Benders, Inc. included me in her top 10 coach recommendations for 2024 after I appeared on her podcast. I recommend reading her full article to get Angie's personal description of each coach, including coaches that focus on mid-career resume writing, interviewing, career change, and job search strategy. This is my new go-to list for career coach recommendations, as I trust Angie's judgment.
• Hard work is not enough. I am still unlearning the pernicious belief that effort translates into results. Nobody cares about my effort except me. What other people want are results that help them. How I get those results is irrelevant. Focus on delivering the outputs.
• Doing the work is not enough. People are not paying attention to you. They don't know what you're doing, and honestly, they don't care because they are just trying to get through their own pile of responsibilities. Make it easy for them to celebrate you and talk about your value by summarizing what you've done into a few bullet points.

• This essay from Boss Barista to stop expanding in 2024. I can't remember where I saw this recommended but it resonated with me, and made me question my desire to expand my business in 2024: "We are often expected to do more as time passes: to meet more ambitious goals at work, to make more money, to push our workouts, to delve deeper into our hobbies. The point is that we should never just be satisfied with where we’ve landed. We should always be aiming for something more. But what if we stopped growing? What would happen if we were forced to look around and assess where we stood instead of reflexively taking a step towards more? My hunch is that we might like where we’re planted."
• How the Immigrant Scarcity Mindset Holds Us Back, by Dave Lu. This essay resonated deeply with me due to my Korean mom upbringing. "As much as we’d like to blame the bamboo ceiling for holding Asians back in their careers, we have to take responsibility for limiting our own aspirations and not advocating ourselves. In some ways, we have no one else to blame when others take advantage of us." Advocating for myself feels deeply uncomfortable to me; just today, somebody asked me how they could support me as I publicize my book, and I completely froze without an answer before realizing later I could have asked them to keep me in mind for speaking opportunities.
• The connection to de-capitalization comes in his story of how Crazy Rich Asians became a hit, fueling a new wave of movies centered on the Asian experience, in part because of a dinner where Silicon Valley immigrant business leaders agreed to "buy out theaters on opening weekend with their own money, to ensure huge box office numbers". It was not a financial investment, but "Not all return on investment (ROI) is measured in dollars and cents."
• What They Don't Tell You About Having Kids And A Career, by Deb Liu, CEO of Ancestry. "Having children has been the greatest joy of my life. But it's not always easy, and it's hard to say a lot of the things that I discuss here." Some of what she shares: "Motherhood will most likely slow down your career", "The world is not set up for two working parents", "No one can do this without support", "The world will judge you no matter what", "We need to destigmatize getting help". Until we recognize these realities, we can't design remedies to counteract them, and we will only do that if we learn to value families more than finances.
• Kierkegaard's Three Ways to Live More Fully, by David Brooks in the Atlantic. According to Kierkegaard, most people start and end in the "aesthetic" consumerist stage of life, where they focus on their own enjoyment. He suggests that we can move beyond that stage to an "ethical" stage, where we "shift from treating life as an act of consumption to becoming part of a process that creates deeper experiences". Beyond that, he suggests a "religious" stage, which I would describe as purpose driven, where "you associate your life with a transcendent cause or purpose". Capitalism encourages us to stay in the first stage, amplifying our anxieties to encourage us to buy products and experiences and discouraging us from thinking we are "enough" to aspire to creation or purpose. But as I share in the book, we can choose our own aspirations beyond consumption and pleasure.