t has been one of those books that has helped me to realise more often than not, how I have been creating some of my fears by letting my inner voice run amok 👻👻👻

📖In this book, the author, Ethan Kross explains why, when and how we can become a victim of our inner voice and become our own worst critics and saboteur.

🔷He then goes on to provide multiple pragmatic tools to manage and harness this voice for our benefit and have control over it

🔷He illustrates our experiences and challenges with this voice through his own lived experience, numerous scientific research and studies and provides a comprehensive list of techniques to leverage this voice to our advantage.

🔷The book is not only meant to help you but can help you help others as the techniques that he provides are offered in three categories-

🌟For yourself on your own

🌟With other people - Giving support to others and/or Receiving support from others

🌟Tweaks to our environment – green space is one of the recommended ways to quieten the chatter ( in case you haven’t yet heard how beneficial it is to you to spend time in nature then here’s another endorsement)

You may ask, who may find this book useful. I would say:

✅Anybody who’s interested in the topic of self-awareness

✅Anybody who wants to understand if they have self-limiting barriers and how might they overcome them

✅Anybody who may have been told they “get in their own way”

✅Anybody finding that they tend to make a mountain out of a molehill in their imaginations

✅Anybody who is a mentor or a coach

✅Anybody who is a Mental Health First -Aider or believes in supporting others with their mental health challenges

✅ A parent, partner or pal

In other words, anybody can benefit reading this book 🌟🌟🌟

An essential book in everyone's toolkit as it highlights the significance of our mindset in what we can and cannot achieve in life, purely on the basis of how we look at things.

This book by Carol Dweck is a 'must' read for anybody and I would encourage even young people reading this book. I loved this book  as it  helps to recognise :

🌟We all have a growth mindset and a fixed mindset and by understanding what is our dominant mindset , we can work towards changing it and making it work in our favour in different circumstances.

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🌟The book highlights how the mindset enables us to achieve our dreams and acquire skills and competencies that we may not necessarily be  born with.

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🌟This mindset is relevant to different aspects of life and therefore the book is relevant for our personal and professional lives, and also to different stages of our life.

I am passionate about inclusion of diversity and continue my own journey of inclusive behaviour. During my holidays in late August, there were a couple of books that I had manged to read. One of them was “Demanding More” by Sheree Atcheson
It is a book that I have loved and since reading it, recommended to many.
Here’s why:
🌟It highlights the various challenges that exist around this systemic issue and why to solve it, there needs to be an effort to understand the issues

🌟It is very easy to let our biases drive our behaviour, but an effort to observe it or check ourselves can go a long way in removing inequalities

🌟Every chapter has been written with lot of research embedded in it and all those of are included for references should someone want to go deeper

🌟It highlights the different actions you can take as an individual or as a leader

🌟If I were to choose only one favourite chapter, it will be the one on privilege and the privilege walk exercise. Just undertaking a self-diagnosis by going through the 56 questions listed can bring home how privileged one is or isn’t. This realisation is very powerful to provoke actions should one genuinely want to be inclusive towards others

🌟The chapter on Intersectionality( my second favourite) is another very well written one articulating the complexity that exists in challenges faced and why an individual may feel excluded if there are measures to address only one dimension of their identity

🌟There’s an interview in every chapter adding so much lived experience to every topic being discussed - Vanessa Vallely OBE CCMI , Anne Boden , Meri Williams, Kike Oniwinde, Andy Ayim MBE ,Kate Robertson and Brian Reaves (he/him/his)

Each one of us has a role to play in driving inclusion and should play an active role in creating a better environment at work ,in our families and in our societies.

Congratulations Sheree for a brilliant book📙👏💫

To everyone who believes in Inclusion and Diversity, do read as am sure you will find new things to consider.

To those who are cynical and do not understand, please read as it will help you understand why

Pluto seized the book as it meant less playtime & attention from me 😂