Stillness is the Key
I was given an advance copy of Stillness is the Key by Ryan Holiday. It’s a non-traditional HR book, which means it’s the best kind of book. I highly recommend it.
You might know Holiday from other books such as The Obstacle is the Way, The Daily Stoic, and Conspiracy. This new book is all about the science and wisdom of calming the mind, clarifying your thinking, and improving your performance through stillness.
What is stillness? Does it work? How do you do it? What’s the correlation between stillness and peak performance? Those are some of the questions Holiday attempts to answer while also providing examples of storied leaders who embodied the principles of stillness throughout the ages.
What I like about this book is that it’s a nice mix of research and storytelling. You have the academic and instructional principles of stillness combined with stories of how successful people put these practices in motion.
Stillness is Inspirational
The book is also motivational and inspirational. Who among us isn’t struggling for more balance and tranquillity in our lives? Show me someone who has it all, and I’ll show you a liar. Stillness is the Key reminded me that it’s not about winning the work-life balance debate. It’s about slowly and methodically improving the quality of our lives through intentional choices, behaviors, and actions.
If you’re looking for a book that doesn’t hit you over the head with trite leadership messages but inspires you to think differently about daily habits and routines, this is it. I’d also recommend Stillness is the Key as a gift for leaders and colleagues who are interested in wellness and wellbeing but aren’t about to book themselves on a 5-day silent retreat.
Stillness is the Key is a helpful book for executives, supervisors, HR professionals, and even individual contributors who believe that there’s no leadership without self-leadership. We fix work by fixing ourselves, and Ryan Holiday wrote an essential book to help us achieve our personal and professional goals.
Get still. Develop routines. Feel better about life. Isn’t that what the best HR books are all about?
