Book Review: Sarah Knight

I am not usually a huge fan of self-help books. However, two great reads inhaled over the past few weeks include Sarah Knight's "The Life-Changing Magic of Not Giving a F*ck", and the sequel, "Get Your Sh*t Together: How to Stop Worrying About What You Should Do So You Can Finish What You Need to Do and Start Doing What You Want to Do (A No F*cks Given Guide)". Both simple, clear and irreverent: nicely told tales of why we should learn to say no, and learn to create careful - and respectful - boundaries.

Many might think that the advice may turn us into 'take' people, à la Adam Grant (2012). But that is not the case. Neither book is a treatise on selfishness, but have been written for self-discovery. Life is busy, and if we are to stay healthy, we need to prioritise what is important, and what is less so. Active decision-making will get us closer to what we really want to get from life than passive drifting. Also, neither book is so formulaic that we cannot relate the concepts to our personal and work lives.

KonMari acolytes will find these difficult, as these books shamelessly poke fun at the KonMari craze of thanking your worldly possessions before relegating them to the rubbish tip (read my thoughts on the Mari Kondo method here).

While I bought the first book, I luckily was able to check the second one out as a talking book from my local South Island Library Service. It was great to hear the author read this herself. If you have not run across Sarah Knight yet, you can watch her TEDx Talk here:



She's a hoot. Have a read - or a listen - and think about how to take ourselves less seriously.


Sam

References:

• Grant, A. M. (2013). Give and Take: the hidden social dynamics of success. USA: Penguin Group.
• Knight, S. (2016). Get Your Sh*t Together: How to Stop Worrying About What You Should Do So You Can Finish What You Need to Do and Start Doing What You Want to Do (A No F*cks Given Guide). USA: Emergency Biscuit Ltd (Little, Brown & Company).
• Knight, S. (2015). The Life-Changing Magic of Not Giving a F*ck: How to Stop Spending Time You Don't Have with People You Don't Like Doing Things You Don't Want to Do. USA: Emergency Biscuit Ltd (Little, Brown & Company).
• Knight, S. (2015). TEDx CoconutGrove: The Magic of Not Giving a F***. Retrieved 30 September 2017 from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GwRzjFQa_Og
• Kondo, M. (2014). The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing. USA: Ten Speed Press