August Book to Live By

Inheritance

by Dani Shapiro

In the spring of 2016, through a genealogy website, Dani Shapiro received the stunning news that her beloved deceased father was not her biological father. Over the course of a single day, her entire history—the life she had lived—crumbled beneath her.  Inheritance is a book about secrets and about the extraordinary moment we live in where science and technology have outpaced not only medical ethics but also the capacities of the human heart to contend with the consequences of what we discover. Part mystery, part real-time investigation, part rumination on the ineffable combination of memory, history, biology, and experience, Inheritance is a devastating and haunting interrogation of the meaning of kinship and identity.

June Book to Live By

Strangers

by Belle Burden

In March 2020, Belle Burden was safe and secure with her family navigating the early days of the pandemic together—Then, without warning or explanation, her husband of 20 years announced that he was leaving. Overnight, her partner became a man she hardly recognized. In Strangers, Burden revisits her marriage, searching for clues. As she begins to see through a new lens, she reckons with the lessons about how a woman is expected to behave in the face of betrayal and transforms from a discreet, compliant woman to someone braver, and determined to use her voice.

May Book to Live By

UP! The Playbook for Every Woman on the Rise

by Kelly and Katy Mooney

UP! is the book to catapult your career no matter the stage. If you are new to the work world and want a strong foundation, or need help being seen, heard, and valued, look inside for a jump start to the next level. Navigating a male-dominated culture? This book will help. If work is taking over your personal life, you feel anxious and unsure of your next move, or even if you are on a roll and aiming for something bigger, these are the tools you need to create the career and life you deserve. Providing expert insights, proven strategies, real life scripts, and step-by-step actions, UP! leaves out “shoulds” because there isn’t one path or pace that works for everyone.

March Book to Live By

The Comfort Book

by Matt Haig

THE COMFORT BOOK is a collection of notes, lists, and stories written over a span of several years that originally served as reminders to the author’s future self that things are not always as dark as they seem. Incorporating a diverse array of sources from across the world, history, science, and his own experiences, Haig offers warmth and reassurance, reminding us to slow down and appreciate the beauty and unpredictability of existence.

January Book to Live By

A Year of Self-Care

by Dr. Zoe Shaw

A Year of Self-Care will jump-start your self-care practice in just fifteen minutes every morning helping you to feel stronger, happier, and healthier. The full year of research backed exercises inspire gratitude, positive thinking and self-love. Discover a fresh outlook on life and improve your confidence and well-being with this guided journal and spend 2026 focusing on what matters- YOU!

And for some additional self care strategies: https://bit.ly/4ahiwid

August Book to Live By

Mind Your Body

by Nicole Sachs

Do you suffer from chronic pain? Have medical treatments proved disappointing? Psychotherapist Nicole Sachs offers another way to tackle chronic pain by nurturing the mind-body connection. Based on the work of Dr. John Sarno, she believes pain is an invitation to explore our emotional depths by acknowledging common traumas such as shame, grief, suppressed emotions and unresolved issues. Using practical tools, journal prompts and self-inquiry, she offers deeply healing ways to truly understand our body-mind connection and to get to the bottom of chronic conditions in order to live life to the fullest.

May Book to Live By

Why Has Nobody Told Me This Before?

by Dr. Julie Smith

Drawing on years of experience as a clinical psychologist, Dr. Julie Smith provides the skills you need to navigate common life challenges and take charge of your emotional and mental health. Her debut book is filled with secrets from a therapist’s toolkit, teaching you how to fortify and maintain your mental health, even in the most trying of times. The expert advice and powerful coping techniques will help you stay resilient, whether you want to manage anxiety, deal with criticism, cope with depression, build self-confidence, find motivation, or learn to forgive yourself. 

February Book to Live By

Super Communicators by Charles Duhigg

In Supercommunicators, Charles Duhigg blends deep research and his trademark storytelling skills to show how we can all learn to identify and leverage the hidden layers that lurk beneath every conversation. Communication is a superpower and the best communicators understand that whenever we speak, we’re actually participating in one of three conversations: practical (What’s this really about?), emotional (How do we feel?), and social (Who are we?). If you don’t know what kind of conversation you’re having, you’re unlikely to connect. Taking us from the writers’ room of The Big Bang Theory to the couches of leading marriage counselors, Duhigg shows you how to recognize these conversations—and teaches us the skills we need to navigate them. In the end, he delivers a simple but powerful lesson: With the right tools, we can connect with anyone.

May Book to Live By

The Perfectionist Guide to Losing Control

by Katherine Morgan Schafler

This book is an invitation to challenge the way you look at perfectionism. As psychotherapist and former on-site therapist at Google, Katherine Morgan Schafler explains we’ve been looking at perfectionism all wrong. You don’t have to stop being a perfectionist to be healthy. After a quiz to determine which type of perfectionist you are, you’ll go on to learn how to make your perfectionism work for you, not against you. Brimming with humor, empathy, and depth, this book is a love letter to the ambitious, high achieving, and full-of-life women who dare to want more without feeling greedy or ungrateful.

May is Mental Health Awareness Month. Women on Fire is committed to offering strategies for you to be your best self, but ultimately it is your decision to choose resources that work for you. This book recommendation is not medical advice.

Who is the CEO of your life?

When you think about someone being a CEO, what comes to mind?

And how does that apply to you?

In a quick survey, here’s what women in my life said a CEO is responsible for:

  • ˜ Is in charge of the direction
  • ˜ Holds the vision, values and goals
  • ˜ Knows how and what to delegate
  • ˜ Builds and sustains a great team
  • ˜ Holds the ultimate responsibility and is where the buck stops
  • ˜ Leads everyone through good times and bad
  • ˜ Is the one in charge who doesn’t give up when others do
  • ˜ Has tough skin to receive criticism and either ignores it or uses it for growth
  • ˜ Figures out complex issues
  • ˜ Knows when to take charge and when to let go

Unless you are currently the CEO of a company, you may not think of yourself as a Chief Executive Officer.

But I urge you to carefully read each statement above, and I think you may look at being CEO a little differently.

No matter your job or your position, at the very least, you are the CEO of your life and your family’s life!

In today’s video, I ask three questions that will help you to see how well you are doing at being the CEO of your life.

Use your answers to the questions in the video as a starting point to begin taking charge of your life in a way you might not have done before.

With this new knowledge and power, what is one change you’re going to make this week?

However you decide to fully express your CEO capabilities, we are here to cheer you on!

Now…about that private jet 😉

Love,

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