13 in 13 Challenge - Completed!!

Yay! I have actually completed a challenge I started in January.  For those of you who know my history, I am not very good at that :).

The 13 in 13 challenge has been run this year by Little White Dove who challenged us to read 13 books in 2013.   The details can be found here.  Anyway I am very excited to say I have now finished my 12th and 13th books for the year - what a blessing a holiday is.

While we were away in Thailand and ploughed through a couple of 'work' books to help me create the programs for my coaching clients and I won't bore you with all of those but one of them I loved and it really took my fancy how it was writtent so book number 12 is:

Taking Flight - Merrik Rosenberg

This book is split into two parts.  The first is a fable of the birds in the forest and how they learn to honour each others strengths and weaknesses and how to work together in a time of need.

Part 2 is the information behind the fable.  The four personality types, their traits, strengths and weaknesses and how to work with them to form a better relationship either in work or at home.

Having studied Extended DISC back in May and now being an accredited Extended DISC consultant and trainer it was fascinating to read the information I already knew from a different perspective.  I love this book and it is a great way to get a understanding of the DISC model and how it can help you change your life.  I actually recommend it to a lot of my clients who are interested in this area.

Book 13 was one my mum gave to me to read, although she did say not to start it till after CT has weaned.  However I have started it and in fact finished it and CT has not yet weaned (I am letting him do it at his pace).

The Fast Diet - Michael Mosley

This is a diet book (obviously from the title) with a bit of a difference.  It is about Intermittent Fasting and the benefits it can provide both with weight loss and with your health, such as stabilising blood sugars.  I honestly found this completely fascinating and seeing the change in my parents since they started this has convinced me to give it a go.

The basic premise of the Fast Diet is that you eat completely normally for 5 days a week and for the other 2 days you limit yourself to 500 calories (600 for men).  The 2 days 'fasting' are recommended to not be consecutive days as mentally it is easier to restrict yourself if it is only for one day at a time.  Easier to not eat that bit of chocolate today knowing you can eat it tomorrow :).

There is a Horizon show on SBS called Eat Fast and Live Longer by Michael Mosley on this very book and topic being shown on Monday 11 November 2013.  

So there we have it.  13 books read and still 2 months of the year left.  I doubt I will get much more reading in this year as I have discovered I need to get 6 assessments in to college by the end of the month!  Time to get my nose to the grindstone methinks.