Everybody Needs to Read This Book!

I'm not exaggerating one bit when I say EVERYBODY needs to read this book! Do Hard Things is written by homeschooled twin teenage brothers Alex and Brett Harris. It is written to other teens, but I can't begin to tell you how much I got out of this book. The basic premise is that teens (or us old people - ha) ought to do things outside of our comfort zone to stretch us and make us accomplish a lot more than we think we can for the Lord. They call their movement the "rebelution", rebelling against the idea that teen years are for wasting.

I originally purchased this book with my own teens in mind, but wanted to read it for myself. Wow. I've never been so motivated by a book (other than the Bible) in my life! I have thought of several things I could do better, or attempt that I have always figured were too hard, or that I didn't feel like trying because it would take too much effort. What a great book. You probably can't tell that I'm really impressed with this book, huh? Just read it. You'll see what I mean.

Just so you can get an idea how motivating this book has been to me, here is my own list of hard things I would like to do...

1. Write at least one book for the Lord
2. Write an autobiography Laura Ingalls style
3. - Get a bachelor's degree ... just for the fun of it
4. - Complete XXXXX in time for Christmas for Mom
5. Learn to drape garments (a sewing technique)
6. Design my own clothing (just for myself personally)
7. Improve my sewing & quilting skills
8. Learn to use my serger
9. Learn to machine quilt well
10. Learn to knit
11. Completely organize our garage storage/store less
12. - Weigh less than 175
13. - Be consistently organized
14. - Get in the habit of having nothing out but what I'm currently working on
15. - Play every hymn in the hymn book well enough for church requests
16. - Be consistent in devotions
17. - Read through the Bible every year at least once without fail
18. - Complete an in-depth study of one book of the Bible each year - RA Torrey style
19. Whatever you're doing, be ALL there
20. - Teach preschool in my daycare consistently every single weekday
21. - Walk every single day (treadmill or outside)
22. Read through the Bible and through HA Ironside's commentaries concurrently
23. Create and market my own preschool curriculum? (not sure I want to do this yet)
    

The items with a dash in front of them are the things I am currently actively working on. I've come up with a very motivating method of getting a lot accomplished, which I will share tomorrow.