Today, I thought I had been forgotten by my friend but I came around at the last minute to find the question, "What's the part of you that you can't trade for anything?"
I stared out of my window as I watched the breeze break through the Guava tree in my compound preparing for a downpour and searched my heart. While watching the leaves dance to the tunes the breeze was playing, the answer dropped.
A part of me that loves reading. Phew! I'll be lost without books.
Source
Yes, I have no idea where I would have ended up without my books. They have been the lamp unto my feet and a light to the path as the scripture describes the Bible. My books have been my compass and the part of me that loves turning the pages of books hoping to find something new to hold unto; something to set a course for the next few weeks or months or year; something new to try; something to stop doing; anything should not be given up for anything.
The books and the embedded lessons are always there though. As though they were waiting for me to find them. And every time I find them I feel a breath of gratitude pass through my lungs. As I am almost always finding answers to things happening at the moment to me. Or something warming up to happen. Or a lesson for how I should have reacted to an event in the past and this one brings me fresh lessons in case it happens again in the future or someone needs those answers.
I would have loved to talk about the different books written by one of my favorite authors, Robert Greene, but I'll spare these stories because you must have read them in my posts or comments in the past. Several authors have changed my life but not as much as Robert Greene, maybe, that's why I can't always keep him off my lips.
Today, I'll introduce you to an author I admire in the financial world. This is none other than Morgan Housel. This man has stolen my heart as it is. I have learned a lot about money from a couple of 20 points broken into 20 chapters for me in his book. Every time I read his book, The Psychology of Money, I feel as though it was written for me.
By the way, that's the way I feel about every book that changes my outlook on life.
But Morgan Housel just like Robert Greene does with his life lessons, takes me through a journey of financial lessons that cut across every facet of my financial skills. I am almost having each chapter in my head as I do with Robert's book. I keep re-reading it every time it feels as though I am losing track of how I should behave with money. As though I am sinning against the Lord .. lol.
Another Author, you should meet if you haven't is Jim Collins. The first time I met him, it was his book, Good to Great, I was soon bored when I found out, he had a certain book I was supposed to read before this one. So I dump that book. But the moment, I found Great by Choice, I was shunned and I appreciated this author better. Although his ideology centered upon business, I found a way to match this to personal finance, and I wasn't so far away from the logic because I had my Hive account and that is a business to me.
Rob Moore is the first author I met who revealed making money doesn't stop at filing your bag. He gave a full resource on knowing more about money and making more money, and when all has been said and done, you give a bit of that you accumulated.
I don't even want to talk about, Your Money or Your Life, that book alone even though I am yet to finish it has set me on some sort of financial management skill that still marvels me. No one told me Vicki and Joe would have such an effect on me, but here we are, I already know I am not supposed to spend money recklessly seeing how many hours it took me to make them.
The one book that strengthen my resolute to live stealthily had been The Millionaire Next Door, although a lot of critics say the logic in the book has aged, it hasn't for me because we live in a world where new money wants to show off, while old money tries to protect their assets and keep quiet to keep predators away. I'll rather stick to the process old money uses to protect their assets than the way new money flaunts theirs. So, Stanley and Danko are good authors to me.
From all these books highlights, I am trying to tell you, I'll be lost without my books. It doesn't matter if it's a financial book, a psychological book, a motivational book, a religious book, or Romance, every book goes, I don't discriminate when it comes to books or genres. As long as there will be helpful lessons waiting for me to discover.
This is the part of me I can't trade for anything.
Ha! I forgot one book, The Alpha Strategy.... I'll spare the details for another day.. lol.
##Image sources: Screenshots from the PDF on my device, Rob Moore, Money, captured with my phone, and the header image has been sourced.
