Kate’s Favorite Things: A Holistic Guide to Personal Growth

These are a few of my favorite things…

If there’s one thing this community knows about me, it’s that I’m all about personal growth.

I’m constantly reading, attending conferences, and soaking up knowledge because growth and personal development are at the core of who I am.

That’s why I wanted to put together a round-up of my favorite things in 2023, from the books I can’t put down to the apps and products I’m using daily.

In this blog, you’ll find a thoughtfully curated selection of my favorite things covering the essential aspects of life: health, wealth, business, faith, and overall well-being!

We’ll cover insightful and educational books and audiobooks, practical tools and apps, noteworthy individuals to follow, and more.

Please note, none of the items listed in this blog are sponsored or affiliate links. These are truly just my favorite things right now and I wanted to pass them along to our community.

So, join me as we dive into my favorite things and explore what’s helping make my life richer and more fulfilling. It’s your holistic guide to personal growth!

What I’m Reading

• Vivid Vision by Cameron Herold – This was the first book I read this year to kick off 2023 and it’s core idea is creating a powerful 3-year vision for your business. By setting a 3-year vision, you can break it down into what you need to accomplish this year to make steady progress towards achieving your long-term goals. It helps you work backwards and plan each of your quarters in your business so that you reach your goals in that time frame. This book not only helps you plan your year but it also guides you through a creative journey of envisioning your goals. Vision mapping isn’t just about where you are now and where you want to be; it’s about erasing your beliefs about your current position and envisioning a fresh start toward your goals.
• The Second in Command: Unleash the Power of Your COO by Cameron Herold – This is a newer book released this year by the same author as ‘Vivid Vision’ that’s all about the idea of the ‘visionary integrator’ and the CEO/COO relationship. This book details how important it is to have a second in command or to have a partner in execution as you scale your business. Typically the CEO/Founder has a vision for the business they’ve started, but they don’t have the business skills to implement the idea at scale, and that’s where the COO comes in and shines. Shout out to my COO, Wednesday, who is the yin to my yang and my partner in execution of all things here at Social Media Pro!
• Buy Back Your Time by Dan Martell – This book was recommended to me by my friend Ryan Stewman. On a high level, we all understand that if there are tasks that we can pay to have done, it buys back some of our time. This book is all about using your free time and creating more free time for yourself. I almost didn’t read it because I thought “Oh, I probably know all of these things already”, but I’m so glad I did. It’s well done, super smart, and is great for anyone aiming to scale their life effectively. If you’re looking to boost your productivity and precious hours in your day, I highly recommend giving this one a read.
• The Having: The Secret Art of Feeling and Growing Rich by Suh Yoon Lee and Jooyun Hong – This is my favorite book that I’ve read this year. It’s a beautiful book that delves into the concept of scarcity and abundance mindsets. A central message is that if you feel scarcity in your present moment, you will never reach a place where you are rich. You have to feel rich in the present and be grateful for what you have now in order to call more of it into your life. This might sound a bit ‘woo-woo,’ but trust me, it’s a heartwarming and inspiring read.
• I’m Grateful Everyday: One Year of Gratitude, Daily Gratitude Journal – On the topic of gratitude, this quick 5-minute daily gratitude journal is something I’ve done for the last few years. If you’ve read my blog post on “Starting Over From Scratch“, this little gratitude journal, just 5 minutes a day listing out 3 things I’m grateful for, has been the backbone of getting me out of tough places I didn’t think I could get out of. No matter how challenging the day, it helps me find three things to be grateful for. Even on the most stressful day, if something didn’t go as planned or if you’re struggling, there are things that you can find to be grateful for and a gratitude journal is something that can help put that structure in place to turn gratitude into a daily practice.
• Mind to Matter: The Astonishing Science of How Your Brain Creates Material Reality by Dawson Church – I’m a huge Dr. Joe Dispenza fan and he wrote the foreword for this book so I decided to give it a read. Dawson used to be one of the lead researchers for Dr. Dispenza and if you’re into the “How Your Brain Creates Reality” topic, you’re going to like this one.
• Keys to the Vault: Lessons From the Pros on Raising Money and Igniting Your Business by Keith J. Cunningham – This book is for those of us that want to scale our business or have a great idea for our business, but we don’t know what steps to take next. If you want to dive more into the money/financial side of running a business, I recommend this read.
• Be Your Future Self Now: The Science of Intentional Transformation by Dr. Benjamin Hardy – If you’re enjoying the concepts of ‘Vivid Vision’, ‘The Having’, and ‘Mind to Matter’, this book is another great read which dives into the science behind being the person you want to become now, in the present. There’s a theme you might be seeing with some of these book choices and this is a quick, insightful read touching on the same themes.
• Die With Zero: Getting All You Can from Your Money and Your Life by Bill Perkins – This book tackles how to use your money to live a full life, buying experiences rather than buying things, and how to get all you can from your money. Read this to learn how to really squeeze the lemon and get all of the lemon juice from it.
• $100M Offers: How To Make Offers So Good People Feel Stupid Saying No by Alex Hormozi – Alex is a leading voice in marketing right now and this book is a great read for anyone in marketing, specifically on how to get better at marketing. In the beginning of our Social Media Manager Pro course where I teach you how online marketing works and where social media fits into the equation, if you feel like you’re not fully understanding it or you’d like to deepen your understanding, you’re going to want to check out Alex’s book. He also offers a free course on his website where he covers the materials from the book.

Products I’m Loving

• Portable Monitor – As you know, I travel frequently and this has been a game-changer in my ability to work while traveling. It’s made such a difference for me and I highly recommend this portable monitor.
• Electronics Organizer – A new favorite of mine! This carrying case has been so convenient for preventing all of my cords and charging cables from getting tangled and keeping my electronics organized.
• Hotspot – This has also been a game-changer for traveling. Having a hotspot that I can travel with allows me to have my own Internet with me at all times, wherever I go.
• Standing Desk Converter – Let this be your encouragement to try to stand more while working rather than sitting at your desk all day! I’ve been intending to get a standing desk for months and I haven’t yet. I found this standing desk converter instead and it arrived this week. I’m loving it and it’s quickly become a new favorite thing. If you already have a desk or a table, these standing converters are a great addition so that you have the option to stand.
• Blue-Light Blockers – I have blue-light blocking built into my prescription glasses and I also have a couple of pairs of these non-prescription blue-light blockers as well.

My Favorite Apps

• Iris App – Along with the glasses, this app allows you to adjust the levels of your light and block the blue directly from your monitor. You can also do this on the iPhone by turning on ‘Night Shift’. This has made a huge difference for my sister and I both – we used to get bad headaches and using the glasses and adjusting our screens has helped. It’s relaxing and less straining on your eyes.
• Oura Ring and Oura App – On the topic of health, this is something that I’ve been using this year to track my sleep, my activity, and my recovery rates so that I can more closely monitor my health. Highly recommend!
• Shift App – I’ve talked about this app before, but I can’t say enough good things about it. Shift App allows you to put all of your email accounts and work apps into one workstation. If you’re someone who always has a million tabs open and programs running, your computer is probably operating slower than normal and you’re wasting time having to toggle from tab to tab. This app combines everything into one place so you save time and bandwidth.
• Frame.io – Anyone working on video content with clients, I highly recommend using Frame.io. I’m loving how easy it is to share a video and get everyone’s feedback on it for the video editors to make changes.
• Loom – I can’t live without this one. If you’re not using Loom video messaging currently to share notes and feedback with your team and clients, you need to try it. It’s saved me so much time not having to type everything out. I’m a faster talker than I am a typer, so I can spend 2-3 minutes making a video and send it to my team to watch it or read the text transcript, whichever they prefer.
• StreamYard – At Social Media Pro, we use StreamYard for all of our livestreams and Connect Hangout trainings. With StreamYard, we can stream one video out to all of our favorite platforms at once and it also records the stream for later use. They also have fun features like banners and being able to show users’ comments on screen during the stream. We love it!

People to Follow

• Alex Hormozi – In addition to his book and website, Alex’s YouTube channel is a great resource for marketers. I also follow both him and his wife on Instagram.
• Matt Wolfe – Matt’s been a great resource this year for all things AI related. Not only is he keeping up with everything new in AI, he’s also a marketer so he knows what we need to know as marketers and is talking about AI and tech from a marketing perspective.
• Paul Saladino MD – Jumping back to health for a bit, Paul’s channel is focused on achieving optimal health and he’s who I’m following for general diet, nutrition and exercise information.
• Andrew Huberman & Lex Fridman – These are two people who are asking a lot of interesting questions for the times that we live in. Huberman is a bit more on the health, wellness, and mindset side of things. Fridman is on the technology side – he’s a professor at MIT and he interviews experts about the pros and cons of the future of technology, AI, consciousness, etc.
• Ryan Magin – Ryan is a TikTok expert who’s been on our Connect Group trainings before. Ryan works with some of the biggest online influencers to grow their TikTok and Reels presence and he shares tips for creating short-form videos that are memorable, inspiring, educational and entertaining to maximize viewer retention.
• Codie Sanchez – I love everything that she’s putting out right now and everything that she’s doing across social media and content marketing.
• Nicole Victoria/”No Budget Babe” – One of the things we don’t talk about enough in marketing is investing and what to do with our money once we start making it. This is something I learned later in life and I find following educational accounts like Nicole’s can provide a wealth of knowledge. If you don’t resonate with her account specifically, I recommend finding someone you like who can help you understand how to save and invest.
• Keala Kanae – Keala’s putting out great content on a wide range of subjects including personal growth like finding fulfillment and boosting your confidence, as well as business like scaling and entrepreneurship. He has a really great perspective and shares it in an awesome way.
• Justin Brooke – He’s mostly on Facebook but every single one of Justin’s posts provides value to me. I feel like I would pay for the information he provides, so whenever he posts something I’m always taking notes, saving it, sharing it, learning from it and using the information.

So, there you have it! My current favorite things. I hope you’ve found at least one new thing you love from this list.

If you’re looking for more inspiration from fellow social media marketers, be sure to check out our Connect Community.

Connect is our thriving, members-only community full of social media pros where you can stay sharp with “What’s Working Right Now” in Social Media.

Group perks include a supportive community where every question is answered, live weekly training and Q&A sessions, and access to our library of 270+ past video trainings.

If you have any personal recommendations from YOUR favorite things, please leave a comment for me to check out! I’m always looking for new tools to add to my repertoire.