Review: The Soccer of Success: How the Beautiful Game Can Help You Achieve Goals in Business & Life by Ciarán McArdle

The Soccer of Success: How the Beautiful Game Can Help You Achieve Goals in Business & Life by Ciarán McArdle
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I was provided an ARC and an ALC of this book via Netgalley, all opinions are my own.  I found it helpful to have both formats available as there are some lists in the e-book and as I was listening along with the audiobook I always find it helpful to refer to the print version when lists are being read aloud.  The author did a good job with the narration and explaining his points, giving examples, and giving us his perspective.

This was a great common sense approach to achieving goals and setting yourself up for success.  The author uses soccer as an example for how elite professional soccer/football players around the world achieve their goals when it comes to training and living their dreams both on and off the field/pitch.  Having played soccer through high school and for fun through my adult life, the comparisons made a lot of sense to me.  His advice is common sense and straightforward, but sometimes you need to hear it to put it into action.  I've been struggling to get back into an exercise routine since COVID, but his method of prioritizing your top three at work and at home and eating the frog really resonated with me.  I found myself listening to this while I was getting some exercise, and thinking to myself "This isn't that hard, I can do this!  I really need to eat that frog."  Eating the frog refers to a concept of performing and prioritizing undesirable tasks, like exercise, first so you get them out of the way instead of putting them off until last so you never get them done.

My own kids want to be high achievers when it comes to sports and have high aspirations in their future careers.  I think this book would be great for a new high school or college grad.  The author speaks to breaking your day up into chunks to increase efficiency and prioritizing tasks, and most importantly turning off your phone to prevent internet distractions.  The book is not very long but McArdle gets to the point and lays out his keys to success in an understandable way.  If you are fan of soccer I think this will really hit home if you are struggling to prioritize or looking for some perspective on goal setting.  

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Review: The Ultimate Glow Up Guide: A Guide to Self Growth, Self Care, and Becoming the Best Version of You

The Ultimate Glow Up Guide: A Guide to Self Growth, Self Care, and Becoming the Best Version of You by Elicia Goguen
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I was provided an ALC of this book via Netgalley, all opinions are my own.

This initially appealed to me because as a middle aged mom of two, self-care is something that always falls to the wayside.    I'm not typically one who turns to self-help books but this was a short audiobook and sounded promising.  Who doesn't want an empowering book about how to stick to the plan and become the best version of yourself?  I've really struggled to get back in the routines I had pre-pandemic and I can contribute all of those things to stress as the author points out.  Unfortunately the focus of this book is mainly how to deal with negative self image, unhealthy relationships with food, and delving into potential trauma in your early life that may have caused those things to develop.  

This has some nice tips about facing the the reasons you may want a glow up or issues you may have with your own body image.  She makes some good points about stress and developing self soothing activities and how to develop good behaviors and identify potential unhealthy behaviors.  She gives journaling activities to help with your journey.  I'm not a journal person, so I'm not sure how helpful those are.  She points out that you should seek a glow up for the right reasons not because you are trying to please someone else or conform to unattainable social media standards, and on that we agree.  I'm looking to restart my exercise routine and eat better to be healthier so I can walk my dog when spring comes and keep up with my kids at amusement parks on vacations.

Overall, I think this book may helpful to younger readers.  I think for me, this isn't what I was looking for to empower me to restart my self-care journey.  My reasons aren't the same as the author's nor are my experiences.  I don't have a negative self image or an unhealthy relationship with food.   The author does make some good points and I do have some takeaways, however I think I am not the target audience for this particular book. 

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