4 Books That Inspire, Challenge and Motivate In April 2020

On the road to 100 books in a year… these stood out

Photo of Pittsburgh, taken by author

April was perhaps the best month of this year to get cozy on the couch with a book. To explore new topics and even re-read old favorites. Books have always been a special kind of portal- whether that is to worlds unknown or just to the land of inspiration and motivation.

So far this month, I’ve cracked and finished 12 spines (plus 3 or 4 I’m planning to finish this weekend). While each was inspirational in their own way, there were 4 that really stood out to me as the top inspirations and motivational works for this month.

The Good Neighbor- Maxwell King

I have wanted to read a book either by or about Fred Rogers since A Beautiful Day In the Neighborhood (starring Tom Hanks) came out. I saw that movie 3 times in a month… a feat that I haven’t accomplished since I was 12 and the Titanic came out.

Although a long read at over 14 hours by audiobook or 461 pages by print, this book is well worth it.

Things I Learned About Mr. Rogers that inspired me:

• He refused to let an autobiography be published about his life while alive because he felt it would detract from the focus on children
• He constantly thought about early childhood education. He was interviewed for a national morning show and his comments were about the fountain and young children’s control of bladder
• He worked several jobs in television learning the trade before becoming Mr. Rogers
• Although he came from extreme wealth (his grandmother bought him a piano worth 10,000 by today’s standards when he was 10) he rejected materialism and chose instead to be there for others instead of lavish spending as an adult.
• He refused to allow advertising to children during his broadcasts. This cost him a lot of additional revenue but he kept the main thing the main thing.
• He was an ordained Presbyterian minister who saw his vocation as a producer and actor for children’s television as his ministry. This adds a new meaning to ministering where you are.

Of course there were other fun tidbits:

• His mother loved creating cardigans for him every year, hence the famous cardigan
• His wife called him on a payphone after receiving a letter proposing marriage to say yes (long distance relationships)
• He wrote a response to each fan letter by hand, sometimes having his wife help. If the fan letter was from an adult, he added something for the child.
• He loved taking photos of people he met and sending them after he met them instead of being photographed.

This book was captivating, educational and inspiring. I would make it the best book I read this month… maybe this year.

Make Time- Jake Knapp and John Zeratsky

Before the current pandemic happened, a large majority of us were looking to make more time in our daily lives. It is still a big question and will be prominent again.

Containing over 100 time management strategies for making more time, this book covers everything from routines, to social media and e-mail, to choosing top priorities and more.

The biggest tip I got from this book was creating a daily highlight. The highlight can be something that we NEED to do, something enjoyable or a main project. The idea is to carve 60–90 minutes each day to work on our highlight.

There is a singular focus in creating the highlight. It’s the top task, not set of tasks. There is only one and for a good reason, it allows us time and gives us the energy needed to accomplish.

The Gratitude Diaries- Janice Kaplan

What does your gratitude practice look like? How does gratitude change your mindset and therefore your life and well being?

Former editor and now author Janice Kaplan spends a year seeking to answer these questions in all areas of life: including marriage, parenthood, work, home decor, and health.

She decided for one year to look on the positive, research how gratitude affects areas of life and keep her own gratitude journal.

This book is part memoir and part research findings which makes it a solid read.

I had a hard time with this one, but I see the value of taking on this challenge. My hard time with this book lead to this post from earlier this week.

For me, it was a challenge as I kept wanting to compare my life with hers.

I too would love to meet Clint Eastwood, get a letter from Jerry Sinefield and make my full time living doing what I was passionate about. The multiple things that happened in her life inspired envy for each of them. However, that is not most of our reality.

The key for me was to remember the heart of the challenge and mentally noting the research that were sprinkled throughout the book. Gratitude does transform our minds which change our outlook and life, regardless of external circumstances.

The Spender’s Guide to Debt Free Living- Anna Newell Jones

I’ve been on a financial reading kick lately. For me, life circumstances and the current state of the world have pushed me to wanting to kick my credit card debt, my car loan and then refinancing my student loans.

Becoming a minimalist has curbed a lot of my impulse spending, but what else could I cut?

In her book, Jones works through both her own financial journey as she takes on a spending fast and how to create one of your own.

She covers how to: ask for credit card interest rate reduction, making your wants and needs list, making extra money, what to do with the free time you gain, money free activities and more.

Her journey is inspiring: from evaluating her debt to being able to pay almost all of it off in a year and changing her spending priorities after the year has ended.

I’ve taken my own pledge, at least until the end of 2020. Saying no now is hard, but I know it’ll be more rewarding to be able to say yes at a later time.

Continuing the Journey

I’m currently at 42 books in 2020. I set the goal to read 100 in February because I kept seeing the number pop up on a lot of friend’s past yearly books read number. I wanted that for myself as well.

I plan to finish 48 by the time April is over. That’s almost a 52 week challenge in 4 months.

I write about what I find inspiring as a way to capture the key points for later and as a way to shine light on what I find truly exceptional.

I plan to do this as a series for every month or bi-monthly for the rest of the year.