What I’m Reading: Say Goodbye to Survival Mode

As I look back at the end of 2014, I’ve been contemplating what all I’ve accomplished in the last year. I have to admit, not much. 🙁 As I was mulling over my lack of progress, I had an epiphany that really set me free. Always being the Type A personality, I set down at the beginning of 2014 and made out a huge list of goals for 5 areas of my life. They were lofty. They looked good. They sounded good…. I really didn’t accomplish any of them. Why didn’t all my lofty dreams and goals come to pass?

After reading Say Goodbye to Survival Mode it was like I was finally seeing my goals through new eyes. I realized I set such high goals, and then expected such perfection from myself that I couldn’t allow myself to mess up…or it was all over.  Thankfully, this book and a few other great people who know a thing or two about goal setting and dreaming helped to set me straight. It’s not about setting huge, impossible goals that demand all your time and attention, but starting to develop small, doable habits that eventually add up over time to create the life you truly want. I guess you could say I was putting the cart before the horse, trying to paste a picture of perfection that I couldn’t possibly deviate from, or I felt like a failure. I was kind of missing the point. Thank goodness for Chapter 7- When you feel like a failure. Yeah, so I’ve failed to achieve some things for my life. It’s not over yet! If you haven’t achieved the life of your dreams, don’t give up yet!

I read Say Goodbye to Survival Mode by Crystal Paine earlier this fall, but loved it so much that I’m am reading it again. I’ve read several really good books on goal setting and such in the last year and this one was a favorite! So many books on goal setting and success are written by multimillionaire business men who I finally realized I had a hard time relating to. No that there is anything wrong with being a multimillionaire business man (or woman).  As a stay at home mom I just had a hard time relating to their experiences and examples. Not so with Crystal. Unless you live under a rock you probably already know that Crystal is the amazing woman behind the amazing blog moneysavingmom.com.  She is a regular, every day stay at home mom (I can relate!) who also happens to be a successful business woman. In this book she shares her story and her struggles to move from that frazzled, unproductive mom (you know the one) to successful, productive and happy. Whether you stay at home to take care of kiddos or you run a fortune five hundred company, you will definitely glean

The subtitle of this book is 9 Simple Strategies to Stress Less, Sleep More, and Restore Your Passion for Life. Sounds good to me! Let me share one of the biggest take-aways for me. Chapter 1 is titled Stop Trying to Do It All. Yep, that’s it! Stop trying to do it all.  I absolutely love Crystal’s candid stories of the mistakes she made learning to let go off all the things she “thought” she should be doing and embracing the things she truly loved.

I checked this little gem of a book out at the library but I definitely plan on purchasing it soon! I have a lot of underlining and highlighting I need to do! I hope you will grab a copy of this book and say goodbye to survival mode too! You can find Say Goodbye to Survival Mode on Amazon.