I’m back again with another review of the books I read last month! I meant to share this earlier in April but honestly, I just had a lot of other content to share so this kind of got pushed to the backburner. With that said, this month’s list is really good in my opinion.

The past couple of months, I felt like my books sort of had a theme, but this month, there was a good variety of topics. I started the month by reading The Common Rule by Justin Whitmel Earley, which was a great reminder of the importance of habits.

After I finished this book, I moved on to Choosing Marriage by Debra Fileta. I really like to have at least one book on marriage on my nightstand at any given time and then I slowly make my way through it over a few weeks.

Finally, I read Profit First by Mike Michalowicz, which I finally started after my time management coach recommended it to me. Another one of my big goals this year is to be more confident in my finances, and this book was exactly what I needed. Highly recommend it!

Below are some of my thoughts on the books I read last month. I hope you find them helpful if you’ve been on the fence with any of these books! I think they’re all a good read and can benefit you in a number of ways.

The Common Rule by Justin Whitmel Earley

Justin Whitmel Earley

The Common Rule

I am all about any book that talks about routines and ways to improve them. This book is full of really tangible ways to create better habits in a world that’s always busy and chaotic so you don’t feel constantly stressed and attached to your devices.

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I actually bought The Common Rule several years ago and never got around to reading it for some reason. This book reminded me a lot of The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry that I read in January (read my review of that here). Both talk about the pursuit of finding peace and creating good habits in today’s crazy and chaotic world.

Justin Early, the author of The Common Rule, wrote the book about a time when he was going through a rough patch in life and wasn’t living the way he really wanted. He found himself shackled to his devices and exhausted by his current routines. So he decided to implement some habits to become the man he wanted to be.

After sharing what he was doing with friends, more and more people started asking him about his plan, so he wrote it down in this book. I really enjoyed how he goes through the specific things he does on a daily, weekly, and monthly basis. It was honestly really refreshing and affirming of the things I’m already doing — plus, it gave me some ideas of how I can improve on my own habits. I actually really loved this book and would totally recommend it to read or listen to on audiobook.

Choosing Marriage by Debra Fileta

Debra Fileta

Choosing Marriage

This is a great book to help remind us of our role in marriage. I feel like reading a book on this topic at least once every few months keeps me in check and shows me the areas I need to improve as a wife.

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A few years back, I read a book called The 5 Love Languages by Gary Chapman. (It’s a great book if you haven’t read it yet!). Since I ordered that book on Amazon, the book Choosing Marriage recently popped up on the “recommended for you” section of my Amazon, so I decided to give it a try.

One of my big goals this year was to pursue my husband/marriage, and part of that goal included reading at least one marriage book each quarter. I found myself reading this book in small chunks (like 10 pages at a time) because it’s really full of a lot of information. Any more than 10 (ish) pages and I would get totally overwhelmed.

I don’t know why but I liked reading this book before I went to bed at night. It’s a good refresher on how I can be better as a wife and provides insight on what I can do to improve my marriage. I’m definitely not an expert, but I did find this as a good way to remind myself of the role I should be playing out in my marriage.

Profit First by Mike Michalowicz

Mike Michalowicz

Profit First

This popular book was a good read. I’m not going to sugarcoat it and say it was an easy read necessarily (it took me longer than I thought it would) but there were a ton of great takeaways. If you’re wanting to become better with your finances, this is a great place to start!

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I’ve been seeing Profit First everywhere lately and wanted to read it for months, but it wasn’t until my time management coach, Anna Kornick, recommended it to me that I decided to give it a ready. I’d been sharing with Anna that I was feeling overwhelmed with my finances and really wanted to be a good steward of my money. In fact, I’d set a goal in 2022 to be more confident in where I was spending in my business so that, ultimately, I could start giving more.

One thing I really enjoyed about this book was hearing about other people’s experiences with the Profit First method. Essentially, the author recommends you set up 5 different bank accounts (Income, Owners Compensation, Operating Expenses (OpEx), Profit, and Tax) and allocate money to a different account as it comes in. I’m sure the method is easy enough to apply, but I’m planning to hire a professional to help me implement Mike’s strategies to make sure I have a full understanding of it all.

I’ll be totally honest, there were parts of this book that were a tough read. It gets super technical in some chapters and I honestly found it a bit boring at times. However, I really loved the key takeaways. The book in general made me feel excited and more confident in the progress I’m making toward my goal of being more financially aware of both my personal and business finances.