Start the New Year with Some Super Habits

Barb Szyszkiewicz reviews Super Habits, a productivity book with a Catholic twist.

Super Habits: The Universal System for a Successful Life

by Andrew V. Abela, PhD

Publisher: Sophia Institute Press

The study of habits is nothing new. If you're like me and you enjoy learning how to work smarter (not harder), you've probably already read Tiny Habits and Atomic Habits.

This study of habits, though, leaves those other two books in the dust. Author Andrew V. Abela, Dean of the Busch School of Business at the Catholic University of America, has based Super Habits on the work of Saint Thomas Aquinas, supplementing it with modern psychological and educational research.

A proven path to a better life

In Super Habits, Dr. Abela frames the improvements that can be made by developing a particular set of habits you might recognize as virtues. Can virtues become habits? Yes, he explains, if we learn, develop, and use them, they can function as habits that will improve not only our lives but the lives of others we encounter.

While Super Habits is clearly written for an audience of corporate leaders, moms can apply this wisdom too! After all, we are part of our family's leadership, and many of us are volunteers and employees as well. It's helpful for us to consider ways we can grow in restraint, humility, diligence, "gentlefirmness," forgiveness, orderliness, eutrapelia (the art of playing well), self-discipline, courage, practical wisdom, and justice.

I found this book easy and enjoyable to read. It's packed with anecdotes that illustrate each superhabit, and Dr. Abela is an engaging storyteller. Bonus: chapters are short, which is always a help when you either have limited reading time or get interrupted frequently (or both!).

Super Habits is not a book that will teach you to work smarter (not harder); instead, it's designed to help you live better — and treat those around you better, too. What better New Year's resolution could you make?

Ask for Super Habits at your local Catholic bookseller, or order online from Amazon.com or the publisher, Sophia Institute Press.

Is this a book you'd like to read? Share your thoughts with the Catholic Mom community! You'll find the comment box below the author's bio and list of recommended articles.

Copyright 2024 Barb Szyszkiewicz
Images: (top) copyright 2024 Sophia Institute Press, all rights reserved.
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