Weekend Reading: 3 Books That Changed How I See Success
Published on October 24, 2025
I’ll be honest with you—I 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.
Then I read three books that completely shattered that illusion. And thank God they did.
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—flaws, doubts, and all.
Let me share them with you, along with the messy, real ways they’ve changed my life.
„Puterea pe Tocuri” by Monica Ion: The Day I Stopped Apologizing
I remember the exact moment I realized I was exhausted from trying to be someone I wasn’t.
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.
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.
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”—too empathetic, too intuitive, too focused on relationships rather than just transactions.
Here’s what changed: 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.
I asked her: „What if caring is your superpower? What if the way you naturally build relationships is exactly what your team needs?”
Three months later, her team’s performance had doubled. Not because she became someone else, but because she stopped apologizing for who she was.
Monica taught me that power—real power—comes 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?”
I wear this lesson every single day now. And I’m still learning it.
„Atomic Habits” by James Clear: My 1% Revolution
Let me tell you about my most embarrassing moment as a consultant.
A client once asked me, „Crina, how did you build your business?” And I started listing all these big moves I’d made—launching my website, getting my first major client, that speaking engagement that changed everything.
Then she said something that stopped me cold: „But how did you actually do it? Like, what did you do every single day?”
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.
That’s when I picked up „Atomic Habits” by James Clear. And it humbled me completely.
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.
The shift this created: I started paying attention to my daily 1% improvements. Not the dramatic stuff. The boring stuff.
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—just three. Some days they’re to clients, some days to colleagues, some days just checking in with someone I admire.
That’s it. Fifteen minutes. Three messages.
In six months, this „tiny” habit generated over half my new business. Not because any single message was magic, but because 3 messages × 5 days × 26 weeks = 390 meaningful connections I would have never made.
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.”
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.
What are you voting for with your daily actions? That question haunts me in the best way.
„The Gap and The Gain” by Dan Sullivan and Dr. Benjamin Hardy: The Measurement That Saved Me
I almost burned out last year.
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.
One evening, my partner asked me, „When was the last time you felt proud of yourself?”
I couldn’t remember.
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—ugly crying. Because I saw myself on every page.
The authors explain that we can measure progress in two ways:
- The GAP: measuring against an ideal (where we want to be)
- The GAIN: measuring against where we started
I had been living entirely in the GAP. Every achievement was immediately followed by „Yes, but I haven’t…” Every milestone was tainted by „I should be further along by now.”
The moment everything changed: The book has an exercise where you list your wins from the past year. Not just business wins—any wins. Learning. Growth. Challenges overcome.
I sat down to do this exercise thinking it would take five minutes. I ended up writing for an hour. Pages and pages of things I’d accomplished, learned, survived. Things I’d completely dismissed because they weren’t „big enough.”
I’d learned to manage my anxiety better. I’d had hard conversations I used to avoid. I’d helped a client save their failing business. I’d made time for my family even during my busiest month. I’d started exercising consistently for the first time in years.
All of this—invisible to me because I was too busy measuring the gap between where I was and some impossible ideal.
Now, I do something different. Every Friday, I write three gains from the week. Just three. Sometimes they’re big (landed a new client!). Often they’re small (had the courage to set a boundary, learned something new about myself, showed up even though I was scared).
This practice hasn’t made me less ambitious. If anything, I’m bolder now. Because I’m not operating from a place of lack anymore. I’m operating from a place of growth, momentum, and trust in my ability to figure things out.
A real example: Last month, I didn’t hit my revenue goal. Old me would have spiraled into „I’m failing, I’m not good enough, maybe I should quit.”
New me asked: „What did I gain this month?” I gained a deeper relationship with two long-term clients. I gained clarity on what kind of work I actually want to do. I gained the experience of trying a new marketing approach and learning what doesn’t work for me.
The revenue will come. The person I’m becoming? That’s the real win.
What These Books Have in Common
As I reflect on why these three books hit me so hard, I see a common thread: they all challenged me to redefine success on my own terms.
„Puterea pe Tocuri” taught me that success doesn’t require becoming someone else.
„Atomic Habits” taught me that success is built in the mundane, daily choices no one sees.
„The Gap and The Gain” taught me that success is meaningless if I can’t see and celebrate my own progress.
Together, they’ve given me a framework for building a life and business that feel sustainable, authentic, and actually mine.
An Invitation
I’m sharing these books not because I’ve mastered their lessons—I haven’t. I’m sharing them because I’m in the middle of learning them, stumbling through them, and watching my life slowly transform because of them.
If you’re feeling stuck, exhausted, or like you’re doing everything „right” but something still feels off, maybe one of these books will speak to you the way they spoke to me.
Pick one. Read it slowly. Let it challenge you. Let it change you.
And if you want to talk about it—what resonated, what you’re struggling with, what’s shifting for you—I’m here. Because growth isn’t meant to be done alone.
