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Writer's pictureThe Lifestyle Editor

The Best Audiobooks to get you through Lockdown

Updated: Nov 12, 2020

Well… here we go again.


Let’s learn a little from the last lockdown and utilise our time to focus on ourselves, with mental and personal growth.


We’re taking you through our top 5 Audible picks to ease your mind and give you a positive mindset. We Got You!


 


Comedian and broadcaster Susan Calman danced her way across our screens and into our hearts for 10 weeks on Strictly Come Dancing 2017, but how did this ability to find joy change her life?


Susan Calman's enthusiasm at being on Strictly Come Dancing was an inspiration to all of us.


Cheer Up Love, Susan's first book, had a clear aim: to help people understand depression. Sunny Side Up has a similarly clear path: to persuade people to be kinder to each other and spread more joy.


These are extremely difficult and confusing times - people are cross and shouty. It's exhausting! But more than anything, people like Susan, people who don't hate other people, are apologising for the way that they think. Susan wants to make sure that they don't. That it's okay to love people, that kindness is something wonderful and brilliant and to bring on the joy.


So the mission is simple. To get the nation to join her in not being negative. To bring back joy, kindness and community, to find that joy in the little things in life and defeat the hate and fear.

Susan is a one-woman army of hope and joy, and she's ready to lead the nation in a different direction.

 

Nearly all of us want to be more productive, but finding the method that works for you among the hundreds and hundreds of different tips, tricks and hacks can be a daunting prospect. After graduating college Chris Bailey decided to dedicate a whole year to doing just that - experimenting with as many of the techniques as he could and finding the things that work.


Among the experiments that he undertook are going several weeks on little to no sleep; cutting out caffeine and sugar; taking a daily siesta; living in total isolation for 10 days; stretching his workweek to 90 hours; and getting up at 5:30 every morning, all the while monitoring the impact of his experiments on the quality and quantity of his work. The results were often surprising!


This audiobook is the result of Chris' year-long journey, distilling the lessons he learned into a few core truths about how we get things done (or, indeed, don't). Among the many counterintuitive insights Chris discovered that had the biggest impact on his productivity were striving for imperfection, scheduling less time for important tasks, the 20 second rule to distract yourself from distractions, and the concept of productive procrastination.


In this accessible and fun guide, Chris Bailey offers over 30 tried and tested best practices that will help everyone to accomplish more - and become more awesome.

 

The latest no-f**ks-given guide from New York Times best-selling author of the international sensation The Life-Changing Magic of Not Giving a F**k, Get Your Sh*t Together and You Do You.


Do you waste time overthinking things you can't do anything about?


Do you freak out when things don't go to plan?


Does anxiety get in the way of you living your best life?


When life hands you a big fat f**king lemon, Calm the F**k Down gives you practical ways to manage the situation, not to mention your anxiety about the situation. One hundred percent practical and 0 percent Pollyanna-ish, this is a book that acknowledges all the bad shit that can and probably will happen to you - from breakups and breakdowns to floods, family feuds and France running out of butter - and shows you what you can realistically do about it so you can get on with your life, stop worrying and wallowing and start bouncing back.


Think of Calm the F**k Down as the friend who, instead of reassuring you that 'everything's going to be okay', actually shows you how to make it so.

 


What if you could harness the extraordinary power of your unconscious mind, which already determines so much of what you do, to achieve your goals?


Shockingly, we spend nearly half our day repeating things we've done in the past without thinking about them. How we respond to the people around us; the way we conduct ourselves in meetings; what we buy; when and how we exercise, eat and drink – a truly remarkable number of things we do every day, we do by habit.


And yet, whenever we want to change something about ourselves, we rely on willpower alone. We hope that our determination and intention will be enough to effect positive change. And that is why almost all of us fail.


Professor Wendy Wood is the world's foremost expert on habits. By drawing on three decades of original research, she explains the fascinating science of how we form habits and provides the key to unlocking our habitual mind to make the changes we seek.


Combining a potent mix of neuroscience, case studies and experiments conducted in her lab, Good Habits, Bad Habits is a comprehensive, accessible and highly practical book that will change the way you think about almost every aspect of your life.

 


Renowned and loved for her refreshing candour on everyday issues, social, domestic and intimate, Stacey Solomon reminds us how important it is to embrace ourselves; the good, the bad and the ugly.


Stacey’s authenticity and her courage to say what others daren’t opens discussions on sensitive but significant topics: her lack of sex drive after having kids, her battles with anxiety, the lows of motherhood and even the importance of hairy legs.


In Happily Imperfect, be moved to tears and laughter by joining Stacey in her journey so far, as she reveals how to stay positive despite the everyday pressure to be and look perfect. Told through hilarious, sometimes moving and always charming anecdotes, discover how to get the best out of life by being positive, not following the crowd and trusting your gut instincts.


Covering how to navigate motherhood and deal with anxiety and prejudice as well as the experience of getting older, Stacey has plenty of words of wisdom to share. With tips and tricks on how to apply a positive mindset within your own day-to-day life, become emotionally freer and happier with Stacey by your side.

 

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