Often times during the football season, we can see our favorite players as merely actors on the field, rather than as fully realized human beings. At times we get glimpses, but as games are played and wins and losses pile up and as the stakes are raised at the end of the season, it's easy to focus solely on the games and the team's performance.
It's the offseason now and as the withdrawal symptons are fading, it's time to find a way to focus our energies.
Amari Cooper offers a unique solution.
Amari has been a dynamic, difference-making receiver; he's also a man who is intent on improving himself in all facets of life. Even better yet, he's willing to take everyone along with him as well.
His pet project for the 2017 year is a book club that he's been promoting on his instagram account :
His challenge to himself and to us is to read one book per month for the next calendar year, starting now in January. He's prepared the "syllabus" and the first book is "Becoming Your Best : The 12 Principles of Highly Successful Leaders" by Steve Shallenberger.
On Sunday Jan 15th, he launched his accompanying blog here at : https://12booksayearblog.wordpress.com/
And here's Amari's first post :
The first chapter of this book "Be True to Character" Build and be guided by a strong moral authority explains the importance of character as it relates to being a succesful leader. However, I think anyone with a decent moral compass knows how important character is in every facet of life whether it is business or personal. This chapter seemed redundant initially, but as I read it I thought Shallenberger did a fantastic job explaining why we need character instead of simply shedding light on having it. The anecdote at the very beginning of the book is one I became familiar with back when I was in college, Coach Saban would bring in a speaker every once in a while named Dr.Kevin Elko who is a motivational mastermind, and when he told this story I felt that I had recieved my dose of widom for the whole week. There are few things better than a great parable.Anyways, what are your thoughts on the first chapter?
So for those inclined and interested in this, I encourage you to not only follow along, but give Coop some feedback on his blog. The responses have already been quite positive and I'm ready to get started with reading it myself.
He states that he chose these books for "self help purposes, spiritual growth, mental growth, leadership, motivation, education, and entertainment" and his list is certainly diverse and eclectic.
His full list of books is as follows :
- Becoming Your Best by Steven Shallenberger
- The Samson Syndrome by Mark Atteberry
- The Stand by Stephen King
- Mentoring 101 by John Maxwell
- City of Glass by Paul Auster
- The Irresistible Revolution by Shane Claiborne
- S.H.A.P.E by Erik Rees
- The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett
- The Intelligent Investor by Benjamin Graham
- 1984 by George Orwell
- The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell
- The Wisdom of Crowds by James Surowecki
The book that gives me pause is The Stand because 1200 pages in one month is a bit of an effort!
It's an interesting project and a great way for him to reach out to the Raider Nation and to bring members together in a way that complements our fandom.
If you're even remotely interested, give it a try and then go give Amari some feedback on his blog.
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