Annie Croner:
Welcome to The Whole Assistant Podcast, where assistants come to embrace their badassery and discover how to show up more strategically for their careers, their executives, and most importantly, themselves. I'm your coach, Annie Croner. Join us as we dive into the skills, strategies and mindset that will help you unleash your full potential. Let's go. Welcome to another episode of the Whole Assistant Podcast. This episode is going to be different because I'm not going to be sharing a tactic or strategy. I'm just going to share four books that will be really helpful in terms of your personal and somewhat professional development. These books were not written specifically for administrative professionals or executive assistants, and yet I find myself referring to these books a lot with my clients.
Annie Croner:
So I just wanted to pop on here and share what those books are and and kind of break down why I like each book and why I am quick to recommend these books. Okay, so the first book I'm gonna share with you guys today is Atomic Habits by James Clear. Now, I round on this book about once a year, if not twice a year. I find James Clear's message to be super profound. And if you're anything like me and you wanna have a huge impact, we can tend to discount the small changes and the small shifts. And what James drives home so brilliantly in this book is that the small changes matter. So definitely check out Atomic Habits by James Clear. This book is helpful for so many different things.
Annie Croner:
It's helpful in us discounting the little things. It's helpful in us making small shifts that will have a huge impact. And it's also helpful when it comes to incremental growth. I know that I often start out with a goal in mind and even a really huge goal. And I am quick to discount and discredit the little things that can help me get there. And so I do listen to James's book once a year on Audible. I also have the paper version in my office. I love this book, guys, and I would highly recommend that you check it out.
Annie Croner:
It can be hugely impactful for you as an administrative assistant. Executive assistant. And so that is the first book that I'm constantly talking about whenever something comes up or a situation comes up where it is relevant. The next book that I talk about a lot with my clients, both my one on one clients and my group coaching clients, is the Confidence Code by Katty K. And Claire Shipman. What I love about this book is that it is totally based on evidence. These ladies have done their research when it comes to confidence and the science behind confidence. Now this means that is a that it is a bit of a dry read, but it is just so revelatory with regards to why women are less confident than men typically are in certain situations, why we have very little room for failure in our lives.
Annie Croner:
This book is really helpful in helping us all reframe failure and it's totally helped me reframe failure for myself as well. Failure is a part of learning and it's a part of growth, but this book just generally goes into the science of confidence. It also helps reframe biases that exist and gives tactics for overcoming them. This book is super helpful and I recommend it to any of you who may want a confidence boost or may want to know more about the science around confidence and around why it is that we as women in particular do not act as confidently as our male counterparts some of the time. So definitely check out that book. It's totally helpful when it comes to building confidence and I recommend that book. I'm always bringing it up to my clients. The next book that I'm going to share with you all is called Ask for It.
Annie Croner:
The like tagline of the book is how women can use the power of negotiation to get what they really want. And this book is by Linda Babcock and Sarah Lashever. This one's all about the art of negotiation. I love negotiating now, but there was a time in my life where I was very intimate, intimidated to negotiate and every now and then I still get nervous. But it is a muscle that we all build. And I just love this book about the art of negotiation, especially for us as administrative professionals because a lot of us don't like rocking the boat or upsetting the apple cart or asking for what it is that we want. We witness our executives going at lightning speed all day and the last thing we want to do is be a burden to them. But this book is really, really helpful in kind of shifting our views on negotiating and is really impactful and empowering when it comes to actually using our voice and asking for what it is that we want.
Annie Croner:
And I think also as a coach, nothing gives me more pleasure than to help you guys navigate a negotiation and to win in that negotiation. Especially when it comes to compensation. I love it when my clients get paid more. So much fun for me. And it's also like validating of my clients investment in themselves and in the coaching. Right? Like if you get $18,000 for paying me a few thousand dollars to coach you, who wouldn't want to make that investment? So I just love getting my clients more money. I love getting my clients a better work situation that they want. I love getting my clients a more aligned circumstance to them and where they're headed in their lives.
Annie Croner:
So that is also an impactful book. I would definitely have you check that out. And I'm going to link to all these books in the show notes as well. Just so you know, if you purchase one of these books through a link in my show notes, I do get a small kickback. I finally decided to sign up for an Amazon link that would afford me a bit of a kickback because I was referencing these books all the time. So please check out the links in the show notes. The next book I'm going to share with you is one that is relatively new to me. But but I have loved it since the first moment, since the moment I finished it.
Annie Croner:
And that is Getting along by Amy Gallo. So this book was brought up in a group coaching session in my leveled up group program and we decided as a group, just kind of an impromptu, to do a book club and to read this book and to come back and to discuss it. Now this book is on Audible, which I love and I love driving in my car listening to audiobooks. So I just really enjoyed listening to this book. And actually I'm considering getting the hard copy because what Amy does in this book is she breaks down how to deal with different archetypes of difficult people and gives advice for how to deal with each archetype. And then at the end of the chapter she actually gives a summary of how to deal with each archetype. So I'm definitely going to get this book for me. I feel like it will help me better coach my clients as well, give me more informed viewpoint on how to deal with certain types of difficult people in the workplace.
Annie Croner:
So definitely check out this book. It's called Getting along by Amy Gallo. I'm a big fan of it. A client brought it up in a group session. So yes, shout out to all of my last round of Leveled up where we read this book together. It's very impactful for all of us and I just feel like it just spurred a lot of interesting conversation as well. And now I'm going to share a bonus. And this book isn't for you, but it's for your executive.
Annie Croner:
And the title of the book is Buy Back youk Time by Dan Martel. So the reason I like this book is because it outlines and makes a case for hiring an executive assistant or or passing things off to your executive assistant. So this book will be particularly helpful if you have an executive who went who won't let go of tasks or who wants to be like really involved with everything and won't let you actually run with the things that you know how to run with or manage the things that you know how to manage. I will say that Dan has an extremely basic understanding of the executive assistant role, as do most executives. Like, this is chronic. And I've noticed this with literally every executive assistant I've ever coached. Ever. And that is that our executives are largely unaware of all that we keep from landing on their desk for every single day.
Annie Croner:
But where this book can be helpful is making the case for your executive letting go of certain tasks of certain things that you were hired to manage for them. So so get this book for your executive. If your executive struggles with this, your leader will ultimately thank you and this will also be helpful for them and give them a good healthy framework from a founder from a CEO with regards to letting go with certain tasks that you are capable of managing. So that's all I have for you guys today. I hope you find this episode helpful. And please, if you are a reader, go check out all of these books. If you not all of these books are on Audible. I know Atomic Habits is.
Annie Croner:
I know Getting along by Amy Gallo is. I'm not sure if the confidence code is. I don't think it is. Maybe it is and ask for it. I don't know about that one either. But please go check out these books and check out the links in the Show Notes there. Again, I do get a bit of a kickback. If you buy this book from the link in the show notes, do not feel obligated to do so.
Annie Croner:
But I was just recommending these books so frequently that I just decided to go ahead and sign up for an account that gives me an affiliate link. Okay, guys, that is what I have for you guys today. Be intentional. Be whole. That is all for now. Hey, before you go, don't forget to grab my free Strategic Planning Session guide. This stealthy playbook will help you and your executive find clarity on their priorities so you can make a greater impact. Go to wholeassistant.com/guide or click the link in the Show Notes to snag your copy.
Annie Croner:
And if you're loving the podcast, please subscribe, leave a review, and share with another assistant ready to level up. Thanks for listening and until next time, keep embracing your badassery.
