Book picks similar to
How To Be The Greatest Improviser On Earth by Will Hines
improv
non-fiction
comedy
nonfiction
Meditation for Fidgety Skeptics: A 10% Happier How-To Book
Dan Harris - 2017
After he had a panic attack on live television, he went on a strange and circuitous journey that ultimately led him to become one of meditation’s most vocal public proponents.Here’s what he’s fixated on now: Science suggests that meditation can lower blood pressure, mitigate depression and anxiety, and literally rewire key parts of the brain, among numerous other benefits. And yet there are millions of people who want to meditate but aren’t actually practicing. What’s holding them back?In this guide to mindfulness and meditation for beginners and experienced meditators alike, Harris and his friend Jeff Warren, a masterful teacher and “Meditation MacGyver,” embark on a cross-country quest to tackle the myths, misconceptions, and self-deceptions that stop people from meditating. They rent a rock-star tour bus (whose previous occupants were Parliament Funkadelic) and travel across eighteen states, talking to scores of would-be meditators—including parents, military cadets, police officers, and even a few celebrities. They create a taxonomy of the most common issues (“I suck at this,” “I don’t have the time,” etc.) and offer up science-based life hacks to help people overcome them.The book is filled with game-changing and deeply practical meditation instructions. Amid it all unspools the strange and hilarious story of what happens when a congenitally sarcastic, type-A journalist and a groovy Canadian mystic embark on an epic road trip into America’s neurotic underbelly, as well as their own.
The Practice: Shipping Creative Work
Seth Godin - 2020
But there is a pattern to who succeeds and who doesn't. And engaging in the consistent practice of its pursuit is the best way forward.Based on the breakthrough Akimbo workshop pioneered by legendary author Seth Godin, The Practice will help you get unstuck and find the courage to make and share creative work. Godin insists that writer's block is a myth, that consistency is far more important than authenticity, and that experiencing the imposter syndrome is a sign that you're a well-adjusted human. Most of all, he shows you what it takes to turn your passion from a private distraction to a productive contribution, the one you've been seeking to share all along.With this book as your guide, you'll learn to dance with your fear. To take the risks worth taking. And to embrace the empathy required to make work that contributes with authenticity and joy.
It's Called a Breakup Because It's Broken: The Smart Girl's Break-Up Buddy
Greg Behrendt - 2005
Greg and his wife, Amiira, share their hilarious and helpful roadmap for getting past the heartache and back into the game. From Greg Behrendt, the co-author of the smash two-million copy bestseller He's Just Not That Into You, comes It's Called a Breakup Because It's Broken.There's no doubt about it--breakups suck. But in the first few hours or days or weeks that follow, there's one important truth you need to recognize: Some things can't and shouldn't be fixed, especially that loser who dumped you or forced you to dump him. Starting right here, right now, it's time to dry your tears, and open this book to Chapter One-and start turning your breakup into a breakover.The ultimate survival guide to getting over Mr. Wrong and reclaiming your inner Superfox. From how to put yourself through "he-tox," to how to throw yourself a kick-ass pity party, and reframing reality-- seeing the relationship for what it was. Complete with an essential workbook to help you put your emotions down on paper and heal.
Love Louder: 33 Ways to Spark Inspiration and Amplify Your Life
Preston Smiles - 2016
As a teen he joined a local gang that was first involved in petty burglary but later escalated into more dangerous crimes. One night when Preston was fifteen, he was faced with a decision to take a routine ride of mischief with the friends or stay home. Intuition told him not to go. Within an hour, everyone in that car was shot. This tragic event shook him to his core and catapulted him to finding higher purpose for himself.Love Louder presents a positive approach for getting more love and meaning out of life. With the lessons he’s learned through the years, he distills ancient wisdom and new thought teachings into thirty-three timeless tools to living your best life and asks questions such as:-What do you truly believe you deserve? Are your actions reflecting that?-What are you a slave to? Facebook? Twitter? Alcohol? Him? Her?-Do you have the need to be “right” all the time?Love Louder can help you tackle these everyday challenges and teach you how to live with more excitement, productivity, clarity, and confidence. Full of insights and powerful anecdotes, Preston’s motivational story is a heartwarming read for anyone seeking guidance on overall happiness and fulfillment in life.
A More Exciting Life: A Guide to Greater Freedom, Spontaneity and Enjoyment
The School of Life - 2020
We know that many things have to be routine, hard and a little boring. But we also sense that, if only we could find a way, our lives could be rendered more joyful, intense, thrilling, and beautiful.This is a guide to the more exciting life we know could be ours. It isn’t about the outward things we might do: travel, parachute out of airplanes, or learn a foreign language. This is a book of psychology, teaching us how we can nurture a sense of inner liberation, accept our desires and aspirations, and then have the courage to set ourselves free. Perhaps we have resigned ourselves to things that aren’t fair or necessary; we have felt too constricted (and perhaps unloved) to communicate well with others, and the proper expansion of our characters has been sacrificed for the sake of compliance.Now is a chance to recover some of our spirit and become open to the full intensity, beauty, and mystery of life and to the richness of our own possibilities. Here is a guide to that more exciting life that should—and could—be ours.
Adulting: How to Become a Grown-up in 468 Easy(ish) Steps
Kelly Williams Brown - 2013
. . if you wear a business suit to job interviews but pajamas to the grocery store . . . if you have your own apartment but no idea how to cook or clean . . . it's OK. But it doesn't have to be this way.Just because you don't feel like an adult doesn't mean you can't act like one. And it all begins with this funny, wise, and useful book. Based on Kelly Williams Brown's popular blog, ADULTING makes the scary, confusing "real world" approachable, manageable-and even conquerable. This guide will help you to navigate the stormy Sea of Adulthood so that you may find safe harbor in Not Running Out of Toilet Paper Bay, and along the way you will learn:What to check for when renting a new apartment-Not just the nearby bars, but the faucets and stove, among other things.When a busy person can find time to learn more about the world- It involves the intersection of NPR and hair-straightening.How to avoid hooking up with anyone in your office -- Imagine your coworkers having plastic, featureless doll crotches. It helps.The secret to finding a mechanic you love-Or, more realistically, one that will not rob you blind.From breaking up with frenemies to fixing your toilet, this way fun comprehensive handbook is the answer for aspiring grown-ups of all ages.New York Times Bestseller.
Start Finishing: How to Go from Idea to Done
Charlie Gilkey - 2019
The joy-producing, difference-making ideas are waiting for when the time is right, when the current project is over, when they have a little more money, when the kids are grown, or when they get a more understanding boss. They are waiting for someday. The trouble is someday never comes on its own.
Start Finishing
presents a nine-step method for converting an idea into a project by addressing the challenges you'll face and getting the project on a reality-based schedule. This critically acclaimed book will teach you how to:• Practice the five keys that lead to self-mastery• Build your success pack of supporters, guides, peers, and beneficiaries• Keep working through the thrashing that comes with any project that matters to you• Chunk, link, and sequence your ideas down to doable parts• Use the Five Project Rule to prioritize your daily schedule and be at peace with the work you choose not to do• Fly through drag points—how to deal with head trash, no-win scenarios, and other people’s priorities• Heatmap your schedule so you do the right work at the right time• Overcome cascades, logjams, and tarpits—the three ways projects routinely get stuck• Finish strong—celebrate, review, and ride the momentum to your next goal You are not incapable, wired to struggle, or fated to be unable to get your act together. With a few key steps, you can change the way you show up, how you plan, and how you respond when things get tough. You can
Start Finishing
the work that matters most to you.Includes original contributions from Seth Godin, Susan Piver, Jonathan Fields, James Clear, and many other teachers.
Storyworthy: Engage, Teach, Persuade, and Change Your Life through the Power of Storytelling
Matthew Dicks - 2018
Sanford Meisner on Acting
Sanford Meisner - 1987
Throughout these pages Meisner is delight--always empathizing with his students and urging them onward, provoking emotion, laughter, and growing technical mastery from his charges. With an introduction by Sydney Pollack, director of "Out of Africa" and "Tootsie," who worked with Meisner for five years."This book should be read by anyone who wants to act or even appreciate what acting involves. Like Meisner's way of teaching, it is the straight goods."--Arthur Miller"If there is a key to good acting, this one is it, above all others. Actors, young and not so young, will find inspiration and excitement in this book."--Gregory Peck
On Being Human: A Memoir of Waking Up, Living Real, and Listening Hard
Jennifer Pastiloff - 2019
Centered around the touchstone stories Jen tells in her popular workshops, On Being Human is the story of how a starved person grew into the exuberant woman she was meant to be all along by battling the demons within and winning.Jen did not intend to become a yoga teacher, but when she was given the opportunity to host her own retreats, she left her thirteen-year waitressing job and said “yes,” despite crippling fears of her inexperience and her own potential. After years of feeling depressed, anxious, and hopeless, in a life that seemed to have no escape, she healed her own heart by caring for others. She has learned to fiercely listen despite being nearly deaf, to banish shame attached to a body mass index, and to rebuild a family after the debilitating loss of her father when she was eight. Through her journey, Jen conveys the experience most of us are missing in our lives: being heard and being told, “I got you.” Exuberant, triumphantly messy, and brave, On Being Human is a celebration of happiness and self-realization over darkness and doubt. Her complicated yet imperfectly perfect life path is an inspiration to live outside the box and to reject the all-too-common belief of “I am not enough.” Jen will help readers find, accept, and embrace their own vulnerability, bravery, and humanness.
The Power of Discipline: How to Use Self Control and Mental Toughness to Achieve Your Goals
Daniel Walter - 2020
Talent, intelligence, and skill are only a part of the equation. Positive thinking, affirmations, and vision boards are only a part of the equation. If you want to turn your dreams into reality, you need self-discipline.Self-discipline is what will keep you focused when all hell is breaking loose and it looks like you are one step away from failure. It will give you the mental toughness required to dismantle the limitations you have placed on yourself and break through all obstacles standing in the way of your goals.How would you feel if I told you that your inability to achieve your goals does not arise because you are lazy or lack drive, but rather it’s a problem because you have never been taught how to practice self-discipline?People are not born with self-discipline. Like driving or playing tennis, it’s a skill that you learn. In The Power of Discipline you will gain access to easy-to-read, scientific explanations about self-discipline including:How to master self-discipline by targeting certain areas of the brainThe Navy SEALs’ secrets to self-disciplineThe Zen Buddhists’ secrets to self-disciplineHow to make hard-work excitingHow to ditch your bad habits and adopt the habits of successful peopleStrategies to keep going when your motivation runs outAnd much, much moreBy applying the principles in this book, you will develop your self-discipline, bulldoze through toward your goals, become an unstoppable force of nature, and start living the life you know you deserve!It’s impossible to buy back the time you have lost, but you can take control of your future. Click the link below to view the book on Amazon! https://amzn.to/3bdYlR3
You Turn: Get Unstuck, Discover Your Direction, and Design Your Dream Career
Ashley Stahl - 2021
The good news is that you have the power to stop living on autopilot and turn your career around.“Follow your passion,” “find your purpose,” and “do what you love” have joined the parade of bland directives that aren’t doing much to actually help you figure out what you’re meant to do with your career. Instead, they only create more confusion. If all we had to do is “follow our bliss” . . . why aren’t we blissful yet? The truth is, the best career is not one where you only do what you love, but one where you honor who you are.In You Turn, counterterrorism professional turned career coach Ashley Stahl shares the strategies she’s used to help thousands ditch their Monday blues, get clarity on what work lights them up, and devise an action plan to create a career they love.This book gives readers access to Stahl’s coveted 11-step roadmap that has guided thousands of coaching clients in 31 countries to self-discovery and success. Throughout her process, you’ll: • Discover your Core Skillset. Uncover your gifts and talents to create an intentional career path that’s fulfilling and aligned with who you are—and what you’re good at. • Understand your “Inner Money Blueprint.” Discover the root of your money mindset, and how to break free of financial limitation. • Clarify your Core Interests. Identify the difference between a passion, gift, and calling so you can get clear on what’s meant to be a hobby-and what’s meant to be a career! • Become your own coach. Walk away with a unique set of tools for staying true to your best self in times of stress, frustration, or anxiety.Whether you’re considering a career pivot, or just curious about what else is possible for you, it’s time to make a “you turn”—to get unstuck, discover your true self, and thrive (not just survive) in your career.
The Little Book of Talent: 52 Tips for Improving Your Skills
Daniel Coyle - 2012
It is an easy-to-use handbook of scientifically proven, field-tested methods to improve skills—your skills, your kids’ skills, your organization’s skills—in sports, music, art, math, and business. The product of five years of reporting from the world’s greatest talent hotbeds and interviews with successful master coaches, it distills the daunting complexity of skill development into 52 clear, concise directives. Whether you’re age 10 or 100, whether you’re on the sports field or the stage, in the classroom or the corner office, this is an essential guide for anyone who ever asked, “How do I get better?”“The Little Book of Talent should be given to every graduate at commencement, every new parent in a delivery room, every executive on the first day of work. It is a guidebook—beautiful in its simplicity and backed by hard science—for nurturing excellence.”—Charles Duhigg, bestselling author of The Power of Habit
“It’s so juvenile to throw around hyperbolic terms such as ‘life-changing,’ but there’s no other way to describe The Little Book of Talent. I was avidly trying new things within the first half hour of reading it and haven’t stopped since. Brilliant. And yes: life-changing.”—Tom Peters, co-author of In Search of Excellence
Your Best Year Yet!: Ten Questions for Making the Next Twelve Months Your Most Successful Ever
Jinny Ditzler - 1998
The life you want is yours for the taking. This unique, bestselling guide from a successful corporate coach shows you how.Jinny Ditzler has helped thousands of men and women achieve new milestones of personal and professional success over the past twenty years. YOUR BEST YEAR YET! is a fun, proven, interactive workshop-in-a-book that offers a transformational, goal-oriented program based on ten simple questions. These straightforward, life-changing practical steps will help you make this year -- and every year -- the best year of your life as you achieve: -- Greater income -- Time for what matters -- Fulfilling relationships -- A satisfying career -- Physical wellness -- Spiritual abundance
What's Your Creative Type?: Harness the Power of Your Artistic Personality
Meta Wagner - 2017
What's Your Creative Type? helps artists do the same in a fun and witty way. Stepping away from the hyper-focus on how people create, What's Your Creative Type? instead explores why. By identifying your creative motivation type, you'll be able to find renewed energy, overcome creative blocks, and release the artist within. Drawing from creativity theory and personality typology, each chapter of the book is devoted to a creative type, from the A-Lister seeking recognition to the Activist who wants to change the world. What's Your Creative Type? is peppered with pop-culture studies of famous artists and illustrates each type with entertaining examples from legendary figures. Whether you're a seasoned artist or writer in search of inspiration or simply looking to explore your budding creative talents and motivations, What's Your Creative Type? has fresh and reliable advice and insight for you."A fun, inspiring, and practical trip through our own psyches."--Scott Barry Kaufman, author of Wired to Create"The stories of famous creators are compelling and the lessons learnt can illuminate for you a path to unfold the magic of your unique creative potential."--Sanjiv Chopra, M.D., Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School, author, and speaker"Meta Wagner's book proves that self-discovery can be a real pleasure: lively yet insightful, practical and compassionate, it's a must-read for creatives of all ages."--Camille DeAngelis, author of Life Without Envy: Ego Management for Creative People“The author, Meta Wagner, is brilliant with this topic! An early read showed a great balance between meaningful academia, total fun, and extraordinary tools for self-examination.” --Randy Susan Meyers, author of The Widow of Wall Street