“There are only two ways to influence human behavior: you can manipulate it or you can inspire it.”

Hello long-lost friends! It is often too easy to get caught up in the day-to-day, the routine we all can find ourselves settling into. I have neglected this blog much to my dismay! I wish I could blame it on a crazy schedule (true), need to use every spare moment to catch up on sleep (true) or a million other reasons, but excuses don’t really do much of good for anyone. It has been a crazy month since coming home from Bolivia almost a month ago and I still like I have barely had a moment to breathe and process it all. With a new job, another summer class and weekend excursions with friends, I have been one busy bee. I just got back from a weekend road trip back from Texas where I flew down to help a friend drive her car back to Boulder. We spent 48 hours straight together in a car in mostly the middle of nowhere and still are friends!

“But no matter how inspiring a dream maybe, a dream that cannot come to life stays a dream.”

This book, Start With Why, is one of the latest books I have read since coming home and really love the concepts that Simon Sinek dissects. While at the embassy in Bolivia, a foreign service officer recommended that I read this book and this suggestion got lost in my notes in my journal. However, on the return trip home I was in the airport browsing the book selection and saw this book and knew I had to buy it! It was on those serendipitous moments. I read most of the book on the many flights home back to Denver and finished it up in my hammock on my balcony in Boulder.

The main premise of the book stays true the title; looking at all facets of life and “starting with why.” Why are you doing your job? Why do you wake up? Instead of focusing on the what, how or when, Sinek explains how the root to success is by starting with why. He looks at companies and why the succeeded or failed based on this concept with the most prominent story being about Apple. I would recomend this book to anyone! I wouldn’t classify it as a self-help book or business book, but somewhere in between.