Books have always been a part of my life. For the past six months, my work at KukuFm has given me enough chances to explore the self-help genre. I have read a couple of good books in this genre, but the rate I have been reading these days wasn’t the same as before.

Earlier, whenever I read, it was for myself. But now, my purpose is very different. First, I have to understand the book; second, I have to interpret and summarize it in an easily understandable language (Hindi and Marathi), and the third record it for my listeners. It is a very time taking process. A good amount of hard work goes behind each book. But I feel satisfied that today, my writing and voice are reaching so many people, not just across India but outside India. Here are a few self-help books I have read in the last few months.

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Four truly unique books for some real inspiration and motivation

The Secret

Awaken the Giant Within

No Excuses! Power of Self Discipline

The Confidence Code: The Science and Art of Self assurance

Let’s dig in…

1. The Secret

Author:  Rhonda Byrne

Pages: 224

The Secret in Marathi

I did the Marathi Voiceover for this fantastic book. In this book, Rhonda Byrne talked about the Law of attraction, the Universe, and its power. Once we know is power, we can achieve everything we wish for in our life.We often feel that our words go waste as no one is listening to them. But we are wrong. The universe is listening to those words. Whatever we say, its vibrations are sent into the universe. And universe responds to us in the form of vibrations. So, if we send positive vibrations, we get a positive response and vice versa. We should not send mixed signals. If we do that, we will get mixed results. You must have noticed that when you want something at any cost, you will come across something or other related to that. It is because of the vibrations that you are sending into the universe.

2. Awaken the Giant Within

Author: Tony Robbins

Pages: 548

Awaken the Giant Within in Hindi

This is a must-read book for everyone. Quite a long and detailed book. But the content is compelling. This will surely awaken the giant within you. We all have the power to take our life towards something remarkable. But we haven’t explored it. We get trapped in the blame game, cribbing over our situations, and our past experiences. But the truth is we have the power within us to get over all of this and be the driver of our life. If we train our mind to think and act in a certain way then nothing is impossible. In his book, Tony Robbins has touched many topics related to psychology, neurology, chemistry. And he has also discussed a few exercises which will help us to train our brain. Due to variety of complexities of subjects, it took me the longest duration to complete this project compared to all the other projects I have done with Kukufm so far. But I am happy that my NLP knowledge helped me a lot while I tried to explain those complicated words using simple language and day today examples.

3. No Excuses! The Power of Self Discipline

Author: Brian Tracy

Pages: 306

No Excuses! The Power of Self Discipline in Hindi

I am fortunate to work on this book in two languages. First in Hindi and then in Marathi. Brian Tracy is a high school dropout. He did several jobs which were barely meeting his needs. But within limited education and experience, that was his only option. But after doing it for several years, he wanted some change in his life. And that realization made him study the life of many successful and accomplished people. One common habit that he found in all of them was self-discipline. After he understood its power, he not only did he finish his remaining studies but also got his MBA degree at the age of 30. Brian Tracy explained many concepts related to life, profession, relationships, and how self-discipline can bring harmony at every stage. He explained challenging ideas with the help of case studies and exercises. Its Marathi Version will be up

4. The Confidence Code: The Science and Art of Self Assurance

Author: Katty Kay & Claire Shipman

Pages:  204

The Confidence Code in Hindi

I picked this book because of its subject. This was a little different book in terms of its content. The entire book is a compilation of interviews. So, coming up with a script was little challenging but I explored different writing styles like storytelling, flashbacks, and gist to summarize these interviews.

The Confidence Code is a purely women-oriented book. Very inspiring, persuasive, and practical book. This is a book that every woman should read. We all talk about women’s empowerment, but women lack self-confidence when it comes to finding that empowerment. They get trapped in self-doubt, overthinking, and perfectionism. They find it hard to make their place in the male-dominating society. Katty Kay & Clair Shipman gave examples of several influential women like Hilary Clinton, Christine Lagarde – 11th president of IMF – International Monetary Fund, and basketball players like Monique and Crystal, Pakistani activist Malala Yousafzai . These women have made a mark in their fields, but their journey wasn’t easy. It required high self-confidence, courage, and strong willpower to stand for their words and prove their caliber and talent. They women faced discrimination, even harsh comments, but they didn’t let that affect their inner strength.

Authors also shed some light on how we convey a few things to our daughters or certain expectations we have from them from an early age, which plays a significant role in how they feel about themselves as adults. Social pressure, genes, and the difference between male and female brain wiring affects self-confidence among women. But these cannot be the excuses for women to underperform.

My sincere request:

If you get a chance, I insist, please read these books. And if you have a time shortage, then listen to their summaries. They truly worth your time.