What You Read and Listen To Matters
One of the most critical areas of tidying up that will help us mentally, physically and spiritually is our information intake. With endless access to digital gadgets, it is easy to fall into the information jungle. The books that we read, the podcasts that we listen to, and the websites we visit have an impact on our lives. If you find yourself trolling Facebook for hours a day or plopping down on the couch each night and mindlessly watching TV until you go to bed, it is most definitely time for some information intake clean-up. I am going to list what I have come to use as my top podcasts and books in 2018 for self-enrichment. The next time you pick up your phone listen to one of these instead of wasting time in the addictive digital jungle.
My Favorite Podcasts for 2018
1. The Mindvalley Podcast
The Mindvalley Podcast is one of the greatest up-and-coming self-help podcasts out there today. With its brilliant host, Vishen Lakhiani, this podcast profoundly pulls together a vast variety of insight and inspiration from the world’s top teachers and thought leaders in personal transformation (such as Tom Chi, Neale Donald Walsch, and John and Missy Butcher).
As perhaps the most well-rounded personal development podcast mentioned here, The Mindvalley Podcast explores juicy ideas throughout a multitude of lifestyle topics — from learning how to learn to access flow states, to running a kick-butt business, to be the best version of yourself possible, there is something perfect for you already waiting to be heard.
2. School of Greatness with Lewis Howes
What is it that makes great people so great?
Hosted by New York Times bestselling author, world record holder, lifestyle entrepreneur, and former pro athlete, Lewis Howes, the School of Greatness podcast is on a mission to answer precisely that. The podcast explores this question by interviewing some of the greatest people on the planet: from game-changing business minds to world-class athletes, to some of the most influential thought leaders out there.
3. The Robin Sharma Mastery Sessions
Investing in yourself is the best investment you will ever make. It will not only improve your life, but it will also improve the lives of all those around you.
Globally celebrated author, leadership speaker, and former lawyer, Robin Sharma, hosts this cutting edge podcast, dedicated to bringing mastery into all aspects of your personal and professional life. The Mastery Sessions are designed from Sharma’s analysis of the world’s top 5% performers — he has condensed their habits, rituals, and practices into short and easy-to-listen audio clips. This podcast will leave you confident in your inherent capabilities and excited to grow and evolve into the best version of yourself possible.
4. London Real
The London Real is all about aiding you to be the best possible version of yourself, making it one of the most excellent and best self-help podcasts out there. Each week, they interview someone at the “top of their game” — from superhuman Wim Hof to primatologist Jane Goodall, to scientist Bruce Lipton, to the founder of Mindvalley, Vishen Lakhiani. During these interviews, these top-notch human beings share their insights on how to be successful, healthy, wealthy, and happy. What more could we ask for from a single personal growth podcast?
5. The Good Life Project
Created and hosted by Jonathan Fields, The Good Life Project takes a real-world approach, and features embodied teachers in every facet of life, presenting their views and methods of living a better life. These teachers have tried-and-tested systems to integrating more meaning, connection, and love into life. They are the best in their field of practice — from Buddhist philosopher and professor Robert Thurman (father of Uma Thurman) to human guinea pig Tim Ferriss, author of The 4-Hour Workweek and Tools of the Titans, this personal development podcast will nurture your progress with novel ideas from truly profound thinkers and doers.
6. Impact Theory with Tom Bilyeu
Do you wish to know the greatest secrets to success?
With the Impact Theory podcast, you will learn these secrets to success from none other than Tom Bilyeu — unbelievably successful, world-renowned serial entrepreneur, and co-founder of Quest Nutrition (#2 Inc. 500 company). On top of everything Tom personally has to offer, he interviews some of the world’s highest achievers, such as Peter Diamandis, Jim Kwik, and Vishen Lakhiani, to ensure a rich variety of these secrets.
The passion, wisdom, and zest for life all of these super-achievers shares will leak out of your headphones and radiantly infect all aspects of your being.
7. Kwik Brain Podcast
If you could be the best at learning one thing, want would it be? Languages? Mathematical equations? People’s names? How about learning? That’s right, and this podcast is all about Jim Kwik’s specialty: learning how to learn, A.K.A. meta-learning. Jim Kwik (his for-real name), has trained many of the world’s top CEO’s and celebrities (including the cast of the movie Dr. Strange) to become top-notch mental performers.
8. Tony Robbins Podcast
Hosted by perhaps one of the most influential motivational speakers of our time, and touching over 50 million people across the globe (including Bill Clinton, Serena Williams, and Wayne Gretzky), the amazing Tony Robbins leaves no stone unturned in his revolutionary podcast. With deep and practical insights into business, health, finances, and relationships, the Tony Robbins Podcast has amassed a huge following for the wisdom conveyed through the masterminds he hosts — Dr. Mark Hyman, Dave Asprey, and Deepak Chopra, to name a few — making it one of the best self-improvement podcasts of our time.
9. Happier
Gretchen Rubin, the author of The Happiness Project (among other favorite self-help books), is on a life-long mission to answer the question: how can we be happier? The Happier Podcast was created by Gretchen to share her findings on happiness with the world. She is happier, and she wants you to be happier, as well.
10. Optimal Living Daily
With a step-by-step approach to personal growth and development, host Justin Malik takes his listeners on an inspirational, motivational, and educational journey. Every week, the Optimal Living Daily podcast chooses a topic (like minimalism, productivity, strength training, and more) and features experts on the subject, as well as summaries of the best content on the internet, into an interesting 10-minute audio clip.
In the Optimal Living Daily blog, you can find supplemental information regarding the podcasts, including excerpts from books and online sources.
11. Bulletproof Radio
What used to take lifetimes to achieve, Dave Asprey has now bio-hacked.
Dave Asprey is a bestselling author, founder of Bulletproof Nutrition, world-class speaker, and professional biohacker. His podcast, Bulletproof Radio, is dedicated to combining his in-depth life work of hacking human biology (to achieve optimal health) with the ground-breaking insight of experts in various fields all around the planet.
Each episode aims to help answer the question, “What are the simplest things you can do to be better at everything?” and will not only keep you on the edge of your seat, but will also provide you with everything you need to know to upgrade your body, mind, and life intensely.
My Favorite reads of 2018
1. The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari
The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari: A Fable About Fulfilling Your Dreams and Reaching Your Destiny by motivational speaker and author Robin Sharma is an inspiring tale that provides a step-by-step approach to living with greater courage, balance, abundance, and joy. The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari tells the extraordinary story of Julian Mantle, a lawyer forced to confront the spiritual crisis of his out-of-balance life, and the subsequent wisdom that he gains on a life-changing odyssey that enables him to create an experience of passion, purpose, and peace.
2. The Power of Your Subconscious Mind
DR. JOSEPH MURPHY wrote, taught, counseled and lectured to thousands all over the world for nearly fifty years. Born in 1898, he was educated in Ireland and England. In the preface of this title, Dr. Joseph Murphy asserts that life events are the result of the workings of your conscious and subconscious minds. He suggests practical techniques through which one can change one’s destiny, principally by focusing and redirecting this miraculous energy. Years of research studying the world’s major religions convinced him that some great Power lay behind all spiritual life and that this power is within each of us. Dr. Murphy was Minister-Director of the Church of Divine Science in Los Angeles for 28 years, where his lectures were attended by 1300 to 1500 people every Sunday. His daily radio program during the period was immensely popular. Murphy was influenced by Ernest Holmes and Emmet Fox, both well-known writers on New Thought principles, but his academic background was in Eastern religion. He spent many years in India and was an Andhra Research Fellow at the University of India. Dr. Murphy spent a good part of his life studying Eastern religions and was a scholar of the I-Ching, the Chinese book of divination whose origins are lost in history. He remains a beacon of enlightenment and inspiration for legions of loyal followers. The Power of Your Subconscious Mind has been a bestseller since its first publication in 1963, selling many millions of copies since its original publication.
3. The 5 Second Rule: Transform your Life, Work, and Confidence with Everyday Courage by Mel Robbins
Throughout your life, you’ve had parents, coaches, teachers, friends and mentors who have pushed you to be better than your excuses and bigger than your fears. What if the secret to having the confidence and courage to enrich your life and work is simply knowing how to push yourself?
Using the science of habits, riveting stories and surprising facts from some of the most famous moments in history, art, and business, Mel Robbins will explain the power of a ‘push moment.’ Then, she’ll give you one simple tool you can use to become your greatest self.
It takes just five seconds to use this tool, and every time you do you’ll be in great company. More than 8 million people have watched Mel’s TEDx Talk, and executives inside of the world’s largest brands are using the tool to increase productivity, collaboration, and engagement.
4. Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones by James Clear
No matter your goals, Atomic Habits offers a proven framework for improving–every day. James Clear, one of the world’s leading experts on habit formation, reveals practical strategies that will teach you exactly how to form good habits, break bad ones, and master the tiny behaviors that lead to remarkable results.
If you’re having trouble changing your habits, the problem isn’t you. The problem is your system. Bad habits repeat themselves again and again not because you don’t want to change, but because you have the wrong system for change. You do not rise to the level of your goals. You fall to the level of your systems. Here, you’ll get a proven system that can take you to new heights.
Clear is known for his ability to distill complex topics into simple behaviors that can be easily applied to daily life and work. Here, he draws on the most proven ideas from biology, psychology, and neuroscience to create an easy-to-understand guide for making good habits inevitable and bad habits impossible. Along the way, readers will be inspired and entertained with true stories from Olympic gold medalists, award-winning artists, business leaders, life-saving physicians, and star comedians who have used the science of small habits to master their craft and vault to the top of their field.
Learn how to:
* make time for new habits (even when life gets crazy);
* overcome a lack of motivation and willpower;
* design your environment to make success easier;
* get back on track when you fall off course;
…and much more.
Atomic Habits will reshape the way you think about progress and success, and give you the tools and strategies you need to transform your habits–whether you are a team looking to win a championship, an organization hoping to redefine an industry, or simply an individual who wishes to quit smoking, lose weight, reduce stress, or achieve any other goal.
5. Beauty: The Invisible Embrace by John O’Donohue
Beauty is a gentle but urgent call to awaken — Bestselling author John O’Donohueopens our eyes, hearts, and minds to the wonder of our beauty by exposing the infinity and mystery of its breadth. His words return us to the dignity of silence, profundity of stillness, the power of thought and perception, and the eternal grace and generosity of beauty’s presence. In this masterful and revelatory work, O’Donohue encourages our greater intimacy with beauty and celebrates it for what it is: a homecoming of the human spirit. As he focuses on the classical, medieval, and Celtic traditions of art, music, literature, nature, and language, O’Donohue reveals how beauty’s invisible embrace invites us toward new heights of passion and creativity even in these uncertain times of global conflict and crisis.
I trust that this handful of podcast and book suggestions will inspire you to fill your brain with insightful and inspiring information.
Stay true and be you —
Annie