Describe a book you have recently read

As people, we all have different tastes in food, clothes, and hobbies such as reading. But today it’s all about the life inside the page, would you be willing to describe a book you have recently read?

So what is it with books? Well, some people only grab a book because they’ve been forced to read it (usually in school), but with time this doesn’t always change, and there’s nothing wrong about it.

On the other hand, there are others who, once they start a book, not even a tornado, takes them from it. It could be a mystery novel, the latest invention investigation, a biography, a language book; you name it, it just has this effect.

And then, you have a third group of people, ones like me, that can sometimes “eat up” an entire book in a day or can take up to 3 months to get it to read. Hey, it happens.

So, what is this blog post all about? My most recent finished book - the 5 Love Languages.

Another romantic novel?

Actually no. It’s nothing like a romantic novel; it’s been one of the most inspiring self-growth, inner reflecting books I’ve come across recently.

I won’t tell you the details because… where’s the fun in that? A good book is to be personally understood and enjoyed, but I will do what I asked at the beginning: describe a book you have recently read.

I will tell you this if you want to improve your relationship with loved ones, friends, even colleagues, it’s a priority book for you.

The author’s first book on the topic was actually for married couples, and then he created a version for singles, children, teenagers, and more. Because although to some, it might seem silly, he understood the core strength behind the real concept of love and has done everything possible in the version we need it throughout our lives.

So how would I describe a book I have recently read?

This book is about reflecting on yourself and the actions of people around us. It’s about realizing why we could be laughing our hearts out one minute and resentful or angry at each other the next.

We don’t do things on purpose, they just happen, and it’s usually because we started to hurt the other person’s love language instead of promoting it.

Again, I won’t give you the details but will give a quick example for today’s digital – remote working system.

Love Language in the digital world

If you ask your colleague or employee to create a specific kind of content and once delivered, you just say things like

“I don’t like the design”

“The wording just doesn’t match the idea”

“Can you redo the entire thing?”

What will you get? Probably someone that will start resenting having to work with you.

Because this is a digital workplace scenario, our love language must adjust

In most cases, the most we can do as a remote worker is improving our knowledge and use of words of appreciation.

Let’s go back to the example, how different would you have personally felt if, instead of all the negative feedback, you heard something like

“I don’t really like the design, but I appreciate your hard work in putting this draft together. How about we brainstorm some ideas that align more with the topic?”

“The used wording doesn’t exactly match what I had in mind; how about we spin it with a more blablabla focus?”

“I appreciate your participation and teamwork in the company, always coming up with new ideas. Could you recreate the design that relates more with the clients’ past documents?”

These might not be first-class examples but I hope you get what I mean.

How we share our ideas, feedback, and opinions towards others and their tasks will reflect on their future performance at work and personally towards ourselves.

Conclusion

There are 5 types of love languages from this book: words of appreciation, quality time, acts of service, gifts receiver, and physical touch.

We all speak them at some degree; one of them is usually our first language (just like our speaking the first language), but it doesn’t mean we sometimes make use of any of the other languages.

Once you’ve learned (and read) about your love language, you won’t only realize which makes you feel better; your relationship with partners, family & friends, colleagues, and even kids will improve exponentially.

Heads up - we don’t all have ONE single primary love language; we CAN have two.

I better wrap this up before I give more info about each language.

Until next time!

PS: Leave me some tips on a book you have recently read so I can add it to my pending to-read list!