Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Welcome to Two Booked Up, a podcast about business and personal development books, and the conversations they ignite. I'm Rowena Mabbott. I'm a career and life confidence coach and a mom.
[00:00:16] And I'm Shelley Tonkin Smith. I'm a copywriter, entrepreneur and homeschooling mom. And together with my lovely co-host, I am also a podcaster and I've got to say a very proud podcaster today because Rowena and I have officially completed our first full season of Two Booked Up. And so what Ro I thought we do today is give you a bit of an executive summary, a highlights reel, if you will, of the books that we've profiled and chatted about so far.
[00:00:50] We've had conversations about three books this season and our aim has been to do quite a bit of a deep dive into the books we choose, and then to extend the conversation with stories and examples of how we've applied the book to our lives so that you can apply it to your life too. And it's been really wonderful to see how well this concept has been received. So if you've left us reviews or comments, or sent us encouraging messages, thank you so much.
[00:01:18] Oh yes, thank you, thank you, thank you. As a podcaster or any content creator, it's so wonderful to know that people are listening in and sharing your work. So if you're listening and you've enjoyed Two Booked Up so far, here's a reminder to share it with your friends, to subscribe or follow the show if you haven't done so already.
[00:01:38] And maybe even leave us a review on Apple Podcasts so that all those other bookish podcasty people out there can find us and join us in the Two Booked Up Bookclub Party! And really thanks to your comments and reviews that we've realized we've got so much more to share, so many more questions to answer and so many books to read.
[00:02:04] So I think we're gonna come right out and say it. There is a second season of Two Booked Up in the works.
[00:02:14] I'm so excited. We have already started planning which books to read and share with you all with our aim to have season two of the two booked up. Available in February 2023 after we've had a break for summer. Now I know you might be thinking, "what that's so far away!" But never fear. We have you covered.
[00:02:34] Shelley and I have been working on some bonus mini episodes that will air over our summer break.
[00:02:41] Yes, it's our summer break. Here in the Southern Hemisphere and the Northern Hemisphere listeners winter or the holidays. So you can look forward to discussions about topics that are all related to books, but rather than focus on one particular book, we're gonna be nerding out on books in general. We'll tell you more about what's in store for our Summer Series a little bit later in the episode.
[00:03:08] For now, let's get to that highlights reel from Season One of Two Booked Up.
The Four Tendencies by Gretchen Rubin
[00:03:15] Okay, so first up, we explored The Four Tendencies by Gretchen Rubin, which we discussed in episodes one through number four. What was your highlight from this book, Shelley?
[00:03:27] Hmm. I'd say my highlight was the four tendencies framework itself. So those four different archetypes, I suppose you could call them, of how people respond to both outer and inner expectations and how then that influences their thought patterns when they're considering whether to take action or not to take action. And so as a reminder, the four tendencies are the upholder who readily
[00:03:56] Woohoo.
[00:03:57] that's you. The upholders readily respond to outer expectations from others and inner expectations of themselves. And so they're good at adopting new habits, but they also might have big expectations of anything and everything, which has its downsides.
[00:04:19] Then the majority of the population are the Obligers, and those are the people who readily respond to outer expectations, but not to their own inner expectations of themselves. So Obligers need external accountability to get things done.
[00:04:38] And then Questioners are the opposites of Obligers. They don't respond to outer expectations, but they respond readily to their own inner expectations.
[00:04:48] That means they need clarity and answers in their own minds and hearts before they take action. And so they need to be careful analysis paralysis.
[00:05:01] And then there are the Rebels who resist both outer and inner expectations. You don't get a rebel to do something by creating expectations, you get a rebel to take action only by appealing to their identity.
[00:05:17] And ask me, I should know. I am a rebel.
[00:05:21] Oh, and you do know how to harness your rebel tendency though, Shelley, Just as I've had to embrace the strengths and challenges of my Upholder tendency, and I guess for me that is really the essence of The Four Tendencies. We need to get to know ourselves. And in the case of this book, knowing our tendency can shed a lot of light on why we act or don't act.
[00:05:44] And when you know yourself and start to understand the people around you, you are happier. You can also be more efficient and productive as a parent in your life, in your business when you know your tendency and leverage its strengths. So my back home message from the Four Tendencies was that getting to know yourself is key to living a happy life.
[00:06:06] So anyone interested in being happier, um, raises hand . Well then go on and listen to those first four episodes of Two Booked Up. And you can also take the Four Tendencies Quiz. It's at gretchen ruben.com/quiz. The link will be in the show notes.
The Lazy Genius Way by Kendra Adachi
[00:06:26] Then, the next book we featured was The Lazy Genius Way by Kendra Adachi, which might be one of my favorite books. To me, the question that Gretchen Rubin poses in the Four Tendencies is, "why do we act or choose not to act?" And then her answer is The Four Tendencies. And that she writes the whole book on that.
[00:06:48] And I feel like the question that Kendra Adachi poses is: "Why the heck are you still so tired?" You've tried going all in and caring a lot about everything, and that's exhausted you. Then you've tried being lazy and non-committal and not carrying a hoot. And guess what? You're still tired. And so Kendra's answer to this is to get clear on the things that matter and be a genius about those things and only those things. And then be lazy about everything else. And she's got 13 lazy genius principles to guide you in actually executing that. And those lazy genius principles help you to kind of choose your own adventure to lazy genius your life based on what matters to you.
[00:07:43] Yeah, absolutely, and I think the key message that I took from this book was naming what matters. So when you name what matters and remove everything else, that doesn't matter. You essentialize — more on that in a minute — and then this gives you the ability to be a true, lazy genius, to be a genius about the things that matter and lazy about those that don't.
[00:08:07] And from my work as a coach, I really believe that naming what matters is so important. If you miss those episodes or want a quick refresher, they're well worth listening to. Check out episodes 6, 7, 8, and 9, that all cover The Lazy Genius Way.
Essentialism by Greg McKeown
[00:08:26] Which led us to our third book of the season where we read and talked about Essentialism by Greg McKeown.
[00:08:34] The key message in this book was to get clear and intentional in your life. Greg explains that you need to explore what's important to you, find your essential intent and eliminate everything else. Then we execute on this. That is we make it happen. Shelly, I know you enjoyed rereading Essentialism. Is there anything that you wanna highlight from the book?
[00:08:57] Yeah, I do think Essentialism is one of those books that you can revisit every few years. I know that a lot of people that we shared this podcast with were like, "Oh yeah, I've read Essentialism, I need to go and revisit it again." And it was a great book to feature on the Two Booked Up podcast, which we did in episodes 11 through 14.
[00:09:18] It's so tempting to think that we can do all the things, especially for us, multi passionate, creative entrepreneurs, but taking a moment to get clear on what is essential for, for now, at least for like this season. Then eliminating all the non-essentials is really the way to operate at our highest level of contribution.
[00:09:44] And that term of Greg's your highest level of contribution was a big highlight for me because I think this idea of eliminating things, it's tempting to think essentialism is a bit of a party pooper movement, but it is actually about channeling our energy so that we can bring the very best of ourselves to what is most important to us to, for us to achieve.
[00:10:10] So it's that highest level of contribution.
Linking the three books
[00:10:14] So if you've been listening to the whole series from start to finish, thank you, first of all. You, you may see a bit of a golden thread here. The Four Tendencies helped you to get to know yourself better, and then with that self knowledge, The Lazy Genius Way would've helped you to name what matters to you and give you a bunch of practical advice for living that out in your life.
[00:10:43] And then Essentialism will have guided you to eliminate the non-essentials in your life or those things that don't matter, so that you can operate at your highest level of contribution. So I love how the themes of these books have connected and taken us on something of a journey.
[00:11:03] Yep. You'd have thought we might have planned it right. Seriously, though. Um, it's a great summary of what we've covered in this initial season, Shelly. Thank you.
The Minisodes
[00:11:14] Now, careful listeners might have realized we skipped some numbers there. That's because we also shared a couple of bonus mini episodes in our debut season.
[00:11:24] The first one, episode five, featured the lovely Shelly sharing all about how and why to listen to podcasts. We realized that a few of you in new to podcast. So Shelly, an avid podcast listener herself, shared some great tips on getting more from your podcast, listening life, cuz you know that's a thing.
[00:11:46] It is a thing now, and oh yes, I do love my podcasts, making them and listening to them. But we also heard from a few of you that while you enjoyed reading, you were battling to find the time to read. So in episode 10, Rowena talks about how to read more and why it really was a fabulous idea to do so.
[00:12:09] So she's got some great tips in that episode that you, some of them that you may not have thought of. In order to squeeze in a bit more reading into your life.
[00:12:19] Yes. And what better time for a bit more reading than over the end of year holidays? So we're gonna take a little break and when. It back. We're gonna be telling you we've got planned for our Summer Series or our Winter Wander. That'll be happening in between seasons one and two of Two Booked Up.
[00:12:36] As you think about the new year, are you feeling the need to make some changes? Would you like to start a business or launch an offer in your current business?
[00:12:48] Do you need some help with planning your year and setting some goals that feel great to you? If so, we can help.
[00:12:55] As a career and life confidence coach Rowena can help you to clarify your goals and support you as you take action towards achieving them. She can also help you to plan your year or your first quarter using her design your season approach. Now I've worked with Rowena as my coach before and I can say that her calm approach and the clarity she brings are something special.
[00:13:21] You can learn more about the ways in which you can work with Rowena at rowenamabbott.com, and then book a complimentary consultation call to discuss the coaching package and strategy that would be most beneficial for you.
[00:13:35] And for those of you looking for magical copywriting that promotes your business and essentially sells your offer while you are sleeping, then Shelley is the lady you're looking for. Visit ShelleySmithCreative.com to see Shelley's full suite of copywriting services.
[00:13:51] And if you're looking to launch a digital product like an ebook or an online workshop in 2023, then I'd recommend booking an Ask Me Anything call with Shelley and she'll give you individualized advice on your product and your tech so you can launch with confidence.
[00:14:07]
[00:14:10] Okay, we're back. And so we'd love to share with you what we've got coming up for our summer series or our winter wonder for those of you in the north. So as you might have picked up, we read quite a lot of books, , and we can't feature them all on Two Booked Up, but we can give you a rundown of our favorite nonfiction reads for 2022.
[00:14:34] So get ready to add a few more books to your to be read lists in next week's episode.
[00:14:40] Yes, but Shelly, let's be honest, we can't spend our entire reading life reading nonfiction when there is so much joy to be found in the pages of a fictional novel, especially over the holidays. So we've got an episode talking about why we also love to read fiction and some of the research that suggests how beneficial it really is to read fiction.
[00:15:03] Then we'll be sharing the books that are on our summer reading list, and we'll probably end up recommending a few more to each other. So if you are wondering what to read over the summer, you can be assured to get some great recommendations. Then we've also got an episode on the slightly contentious area of audiobook versus a written book, and which is better.
[00:15:28] Oh, I have really come around to audiobooks in the last year or so. Uh, and I think I know which way you lean in this debate, Ro . But we'll leave the discussion for that episode. I know a huge fan of audiobooks is my oldest son. Like sometimes, I can't believe I'm saying this, but it's harder to tear him away from an audiobook than it is from TV
[00:15:53] But speaking of kids and reading, we also gonna do an episode where we share why reading for leisure and pleasure is so important for kids with a few tips on how to encourage a love of reading in your kids. So this is a topic that is really close to my heart. It's a huge part of my approach to homeschooling so I can't wait.
[00:16:17] Now, these bonus episodes will air roughly fortnightly in November, in December and January. So remember to subscribe or follow us in your preferred podcast player, and you'll automatically have all our bonus episodes download as soon as they're available.
[00:16:33] You can find us on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify. Or wherever you listen to podcasts. And if you've been enjoying the show, please would you leave a positive rating and review on Apple or Spotify. This was so encouraging to us and it helps spread the word about the Two Booked Up podcast with other people who will enjoy it.
[00:16:52] We'd really appreciate it if you take five minutes, maybe even less, to rate and review. On Apple, you'll need to be in the Apple Podcast app. And then you must be on the show page, not an individual episode page. Then scroll down past all the episode listing and you'll see ratings and reviews.
[00:17:10] Otherwise, if you are not on an Apple device, then go and rate us on Spotify, and please tell your friends about the Two Booked Up podcasts and get them to subscribe or follow. That really helps us to make friends with the algorithm. Share the podcast from wherever you are listening now or send your friends over to twobookedup.com.
[00:17:34] That's T W O booked up dot com.
[00:17:37] We're gonna wrap things up there today. We'd love to continue the conversation though, so please go and find me on Twitter at Shelley T Smith, or you can sign up for my newsletter at shelleytonkinsmith.Com. And also, if you'd like to learn more about my copywriting services, head on over to shelleysmithcreative.com.
[00:17:57] If you aren't already, please subscribe to or follow Two Booked Up in your podcast player. You can also visit twobookedup.com where you'll find show notes with the links we've mentioned today And a transcript of this episode.
[00:18:12] And you can find me at RowenaMabbott on Instagram. And if you'd like to learn more about how I can support you as a career and life confidence coach, as well as receive my new free book, the A to Z of Career and Life Confidence, head over to my online home at rowenamabbot.com. Thanks for listening to Two Booked Up today, Shelley and I will be back with another bonus episode in a few weeks time.
[00:18:35] Bye for now.
