{"id":53616,"date":"2025-10-24T16:04:32","date_gmt":"2025-10-24T13:04:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/crinailiescu.ro\/?p=53616"},"modified":"2025-10-24T16:04:33","modified_gmt":"2025-10-24T13:04:33","slug":"weekend-reading-3-books-that-changed-how-i-see-success","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/crinailiescu.ro\/en\/weekend-reading-3-books-that-changed-how-i-see-success\/","title":{"rendered":"Weekend Reading: 3 Books That Changed How I See Success"},"content":{"rendered":"

Weekend Reading: 3 Books That Changed How I See Success<\/h1>\n\n\n\n

Published on October 24, 2025<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I’ll be honest with you\u2014I used to think success was about having all the answers. As a business consultant, I felt this pressure to show up perfectly, to have the right strategy for every situation, to be the person who never doubted herself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then I read three books that completely shattered that illusion. And thank God they did.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These books didn’t just teach me consulting frameworks or business tactics. They taught me something far more valuable: how to grow authentically, how to measure progress in ways that actually matter, and how to show up as myself\u2014flaws, doubts, and all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let me share them with you, along with the messy, real ways they’ve changed my life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

„Puterea pe Tocuri” by Monica Ion: The Day I Stopped Apologizing<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

I remember the exact moment I realized I was exhausted from trying to be someone I wasn’t.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was a Tuesday morning, and I was preparing for a client meeting. I caught myself thinking: „Should I be more assertive? Less emotional? More like that consultant I saw at that conference?” I was literally trying to rehearse being someone else.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That’s when Monica Ion’s „Puterea pe Tocuri” (Power in Heels) found me. Or maybe I found it. Either way, it was exactly what I needed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Monica writes about something we don’t talk about enough in business: the cost of abandoning yourself to fit in. For years, I thought being professional meant hiding the parts of me that felt „too much”\u2014too empathetic, too intuitive, too focused on relationships rather than just transactions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here’s what changed:<\/strong> I had a client who was struggling to lead her team. She kept saying, „I’m just not tough enough. I care too much about what they think.” Instead of coaching her to be „tougher,” I remembered Monica’s words about authentic power.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I asked her: „What if caring is your superpower? What if the way you naturally build relationships is exactly what your team needs?”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Three months later, her team’s performance had doubled. Not because she became someone else, but because she stopped apologizing for who she was.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Monica taught me that power\u2014real power\u2014comes from knowing yourself and having the courage to show up as that person. Whether you’re in heels, sneakers, or barefoot, the question isn’t „Am I doing this right?” It’s „Am I being myself?”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I wear this lesson every single day now. And I’m still learning it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

„Atomic Habits” by James Clear: My 1% Revolution<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Let me tell you about my most embarrassing moment as a consultant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A client once asked me, „Crina, how did you build your business?” And I started listing all these big moves I’d made\u2014launching my website, getting my first major client, that speaking engagement that changed everything.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then she said something that stopped me cold: „But how did you actually do it? Like, what did you do every single day?”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I didn’t have a good answer. I’d been so focused on the highlight reel that I’d forgotten about the boring, unglamorous daily work that actually built everything.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That’s when I picked up „Atomic Habits” by James Clear. And it humbled me completely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Clear’s core insight is devastatingly simple: You don’t rise to the level of your goals. You fall to the level of your systems. All those big wins I was proud of? They weren’t separate achievements. They were the inevitable result of tiny habits I’d built over months and years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The shift this created:<\/strong> I started paying attention to my daily 1% improvements. Not the dramatic stuff. The boring stuff.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For example: I used to wait until I „had time” to reach out to potential clients or partners. Which meant I rarely did it. Now? I spend the first 15 minutes of every workday sending three messages\u2014just three. Some days they’re to clients, some days to colleagues, some days just checking in with someone I admire.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That’s it. Fifteen minutes. Three messages.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In six months, this „tiny” habit generated over half my new business. Not because any single message was magic, but because 3 messages \u00d7 5 days \u00d7 26 weeks = 390 meaningful connections I would have never made.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But here’s the deeper lesson that really changed me: Clear talks about identity-based habits. He says, „Every action you take is a vote for the type of person you wish to become.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So I stopped saying „I want to write more” and started saying „I am a writer.” Even if I only wrote for 10 minutes. Even if what I wrote was terrible. Because writers write. And slowly, through hundreds of small votes, I became the person I wanted to be.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What are you voting for with your daily actions? That question haunts me in the best way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

„The Gap and The Gain” by Dan Sullivan and Dr. Benjamin Hardy: The Measurement That Saved Me<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

I almost burned out last year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I was working harder than ever, achieving more than I had in previous years, and I felt… empty. Like I was running on a treadmill that kept speeding up no matter how fast I ran.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One evening, my partner asked me, „When was the last time you felt proud of yourself?”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I couldn’t remember.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That’s when a friend recommended „The Gap and The Gain” by Dan Sullivan and Dr. Benjamin Hardy. I read it in one sitting, and I cried. Not gentle tears\u2014ugly crying. Because I saw myself on every page.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The authors explain that we can measure progress in two ways:<\/p>\n\n\n\n