5 smart books you’ll have time to read over the New Year holidays

It is hard enough to find time to read books when you are immersed in the work routine from morning to evening. But on New Year’s vacation, you can add this useful habit to your life. We’ve gathered a few recommendations that will broaden your horizons and allow you to get to know yourself better. Read more about books in this article.

“Life Context. How do we learn to manage the habits that control us?”

Three authors worked on the book at once – Vladimir Gerasichev, Ivan Maurakh and Arsen Ryabukha. Their text is worth reading to realize negative habits and start listening to others. The authors describe in detail seven basic habits: to be right, to be good, to be afraid to take risks, to control everything and others. Each example shows that the real solution to a problem is born in dialog.

It is important not only to realize that you are controlled by programs laid down in the early years of life, but to allow yourself to accept this thought. The book will help you realize that others also want to be right and have their own stereotypes that prevent them from living. The book teaches the important lesson of actively listening to others and through that, constantly expanding your horizons.

“The Mamba Mentality. The Philosophy of My Game.”

The book, written by Kobe Bryant, introduces the legend’s philosophy of self-development and competition. The basketball player describes his own understanding of the sport and tells who he was inspired by and learned from. Within the pages of the book are stories of there how he played through pain and didn’t accept defeat.

He inspires aspiring athletes and believes that only a mindset of constant learning and working on oneself allows one to become better. Moreover, in this book, Kobe dissects the playing philosophy of his opponents, from Michael Jordan to LeBron James. The Mamba Mentality is a book about how an outstanding athlete dedicated his life to his vocation and the game of basketball.

“Finding Balance. 50 Tips on How to Manage Time and Energy.”

Writer Karen Tyber Leland has seen firsthand that work-life balance really does exist. We do have a lot of tasks to do during our workdays, which makes us not always make time for ourselves, our hobbies, and our families.

This book will help us to understand what we do wrong and how to change our routines in order to have time for everything. The author believes that success starts with learning to value time and not wasting it (for example, she recommends not sitting on your phone before bed or starting the morning by reading posts on social networks).

In the book you can find time observation journals, daily diaries, formulas for realistic goals and steps to achieve them. It’s a collection of effective techniques for combating procrastination and laziness for every occasion, from the advice to leave your computer at home when going on vacation to putting on socks before bed to wake up in the morning without a headache.

“Unsportsmanlike Behavior. How to fail and not screw up.”

“I feel bad all day. And ashamed that I’m Russian and guilty by association. The most important thing for me is to not take it personally and do my own thing. To stay healthy and not let this absurdity affect my World Cup and my health. Although I have less and less strength to fight with life,” writes Alyona Zavarzina in her book.

In it, the Russian snowboarder shares her psychological difficulties in big sport and tells how she prepared for the last Olympics in her career in Tokyo.

After reading it, everyone should realize that you can improve your skills every day and win thousands of times, and then only lose once and destroy the expectations of your coach and fans. In this case, Alyona believes, it is important to maintain mental fortitude and not to lose yourself.

“My body.”

Recently, a collection of essays by model and actress Emily Ratakowski was released. In it, she recalls that her career for a long time built on the basis of patriarchal rules, and tells about several episodes of violence in her life.

She also reflects on her complicated relationship with her mother, who was obsessed with the appearance of the people around her. She evaluated the appearance of Emily’s friends and thus laid in her daughter certain standards of beauty, which affected the psyche of the model.

I did not want my mother to look at me, because I knew that she was looking evaluating, examining and comparing me with others.

Emily Ratakowski

Ratakowski is convinced that even famous women have to adjust to a world sharpened for men to be heard, but she absolutely does not agree with such social orders.