Welcome to my weekly Book-ish post where I share what I’ve been reading and watching recently. If you missed it, you can see my Reading Goals for 2018 and 44 Books I Plan to Read This Year.
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I’m reading a few different books right now, but I only finished one book this past week. (I know, I’m falling off the 3 books per week bandwagon! But I hope to get back up on it next week. We’ll see!)
The one book I finished was one I just can’t stop talking about. And it’s one that I immediately want to start reading again now that I’ve finished it.
It’s Chasing Excellence by Ben Bergeron. If you are my close friend, I can guarantee you that I will be bringing this book up in conversation very soon — if I haven’t already!
Truth be told, I’d never heard of this book before. I just was so inspired by watching the athletes at the CrossFit Games that I went on Amazon and searched for, “CrossFit athletes”. It pulled up Tia-Clair Toomey’s book and then this one was recommended, too.
I read the premise for Chasing Excellence and thought it sounded intriguing. Well, it was far more than just intriguing. It was excellent — as a book with the word “excellence” in the title should be!
The author, Ben Bergeron, is a coach to some of the world’s most well known CrossFit athletes. If you love CrossFit, you must read this book. But even if you don’t care a tiny bit about CrossFit, this book is packed with nuggets of truth and inspiration.
There’s so much I could say about how this book is impacting me, but I’m stilling mulling over a lot of it and don’t feel ready to write a post about it just yet.
I will say this: Chasing Excellence challenged me to see so many areas in my life where I’ve settling for mediocrity. And I’ve been contemplating practical ways I can change my mindset and my daily habits to pursue excellence in all areas of my life— in my marriage, in my parenting, in my home management, in my relationships, in my work, in my writing, in the way I’m leading other women at church and online.
I don’t have a lot of answers yet, but this is something I’m going to be contemplating and working on during the coming months.
When I Find Time to Read
People are always asking me how I find time to read. Honestly, it’s because I love to read, because I’ve chosen to prioritize it, because I don’t have a lot of other hobbies, and because I can’t not read. Also, when you love something, you usually can find ways to get creative to find time to fit it in — even if it’s in the little nooks and crannies of life.
I wrote a post on 3 ways to find more time to read — even when life is busy. And here are 7 more ways to find time to read.
I haven’t commented in a long time but I’ve been here reading anyway. I want to specifically comment to your statement about ‘settling for mediocrity.’ My question would be, “how I find out if I’m settling for mediocrity?” I’ve taken a huge step back from pursuing blogging because I just didn’t feel like I was able to do that and be the (homeschool) Mom and wife I wanted to be. Here’s the thing: my stress level is way down but I wonder if I’ve just gotten comfortable…
I think it’s different for different people. And I think it’s okay to choose to be mediocre in certain areas in order to be excellent in other areas. I just realized that I’ve kind of fallen into a pattern of accepting good enough as good enough… and I want to challenge myself to pursue excellence in the areas that are priorities.
There’s lots more I’ve been mulling over on this topic, but I want to take more time to mull over it before I write about it! 🙂
Rosanna, I just read your comment and I just had to chime in and encourage you. I homeschooled 2 precious daughters through high school. I am so thankful for every single minute that I dedicated to them. I put aside many, many things in my life in order to pour into them every single day. Let me tell you – those 2 girls are absolutely in no way mediocre! I have lots more time now to pursue other talents and ministries that God has placed before me. The season of schooling and raising my kids feels like it was over in the blink of an eye. Sweet mama, you are doing exactly what you have been called to do and I just know that you are already excellent.
Robyn, thank you so very much for taking the time to comment. Your comments brings tears to my eyes. The things you touched on are exactly the things that I’ve struggled with. Thank you for the (much needed) reminded that what I’m doing is enough.
Hi there!
Any Christian influence or principles in the book?
I don’t see anything in the table of contents.
Just wondering as I’m looking for a book like this written by a Christian athlete for a specific friend.
Many thanks!
=)
It’s not written from a Christian perspective. You might check out Rich Froning’s book. I read it quite awhile ago, but I remember that I enjoyed it.
Thanks for the recommendation, I clicked over and found out it is in the Kindle Unlimited Library. I got the .99 cent 3 month trial of Kindle Unlimited during Amazon Prime Days and so I snatched it up and plan to read it as soon as I finish my current read.
Oh YAY! Thank you for letting us know!!