I love to read. My dream vacation would be somewhere warm and quiet where I could read all day long and drink Root Beer. 

The books I love to read are mostly self-help, personal enrichment and personal finance books. Some are fantastic. Some are duds and a total waste of time. And some of them fall somewhere in the middle. I hope, by sharing book reviews, you will be able to read books that are uplifting, informative, inspirational, and aligned with gospel teachings. So you won’t have to waste your time reading the ‘not-so-great’ ones.

 

I just finished reading “Breaking Busy, How to Find Peace and Purpose in a World of Crazy” by Alli Worthington

This book is a fantastic eye opener to why being busy is not helping us live up to our divine worth, and our personal missions. Alli gives a list of ‘Signs of Capacity Overload’ (lack of self care, chronic lateness, neglecting important relationships and neglecting God, to name a few) and how to address these. She has very helpful lists and thoughts on understanding ourselves and our time better in each chapter. Some examples:

Identify your season of life

Identify your stress points

Identify when you are exceeding capacity

Learning to recharge

Prayer

Scripture Study

Worship

Discover your passion

Making choices

Being proactive

How to overcome negative thoughts

Rethinking traditions

Setting Goals and priorities

Learning to say No

The Five F’s of Decision making

Improving Communication

Finding your true worth

Each chapter focuses on a theme, and each chapter concludes with action steps you can take to implement the ideas you just learned throughout that chapter.

It is book written from a Christian perspective, and Alli incorporates faith and giving your life to God, throughout each chapter.

It is an excellent book to help you reevaluate your busyness, learn easy skills to simplify, prioritize, remember your true worth and discover your purpose.

The book is 209 pages with 10 chapters and an Epilogue and is an easy read. Alli writes in a friendly and humorous way, and it is a delightful and inspiring read. I highly recommend.

A few favorite quotes from the book:

“I sometimes think we must be amusing to God, running around trying to do so much, constantly trying to find our rhythm in a world of being overwhelmed, when the reality is, if we’d slow down, do fewer ‘urgent’ things, and ask him about what is important (what our goals in life should be), we might be surprised by what he could accomplish through us.” (page 145)

 

“Guilt, that sense of conviction that comes over us when we do something wrong, is healthy and moves us toward positive change. Shame, however, drives us into a never-ending cycle of trying to fix ourselves, to prove to the world and ourselves that we are not inherently flawed, that we have value. The lie the Devil wants me to believe, and you to believe, is that we are never going to live beyond the consequences of our actions. It’s a lie he’s been perfecting since the beginning of time.. But I’m here to tell you his lie, the shame he pours into us, serves one purpose: to distract us and keep us busy trying to prove to the world that we are perfect…Keeping us busy trying to prove our worth is the easiest way to keep us from the life God created us to live because it makes us think that our worth is based on what we do, instead of who God is” (pages 196 and 197)

“To me, a busy life is a frazzled, harried, lived at a pace I’m not meant to live, doing things I’m not meant to do. A busy life is a life the Enemy has created in order to keep me from God’s purpose. A full life, on the other hand, is a life lived in step with what God has called me to do.” (page 208)

I highly recommend this book to any woman who feels life is busy and getting out of control. Alli includes God in all of her decisions and inspires the reader to step back and remember what is really important.

The website for this book is: http://breakingbusy.com/

Are there any personal finance books or self-improvement books you would like me to review?  Let me know in the comments!