You Get What You Play For

Screenwriter and new voice to fiction Jeff Farley delivers a nostalgic Brooklyn coming-of-age tale about finding love, holding on to dreams, and learning to forgive. It’s 1992, Brooklyn, New York. All of the girls had bamboo earrings—at least two pair. Charisse Hawkins, adored and admired by her best friends and one of the smartest and most sought after girls in high school, has dreams of becoming a doctor. Her mother, who works tirelessly to support her, is proud she’s on the right path. Then she meets him, Jamal Butler, a part-time college student who lives at home and works an obscure job. Too old, not her type, and certainly not part of her plan, Jamal wants Charisse for nothing more than to please his ego. He is willing to use any tactic to gain the affection of a naive Charisse. He offers what she’s never known before—the love of a man. Or so it seems. Life takes a sharp turn when Charisse spends her graduation day giving birth to their premature daughter. Her priorities change and so does Jamal. Suddenly Charisse’s world is turned upside down and truths are exposed about her family and friends. She begins a journey of tough life lessons as she struggles to come to grips with her role as mother and ultimately having to accept one of the simple rules of life: You Get What You Play For.

If you enjoyed Friday Night Lights, this book is a must-read. Remember Why You Play documents the lives, struggles, and triumphs of the players and coaches of Faith Christian School in Grapevine, Texas. Sports columnist and author David Thomas followed the team for a full season, recording a story that will inspire readers to understand that relationships are more important than winning. One of the key events was a game that Faith Christian played against the Gainesville State Tornadoes, a school for convicted juvenile offenders. The story of this spectacular game is being made into a movie, titled One Heart, with an anticipated release in November 2010. Reminiscent of Hoosiers and Remember the Titans, this true story makes a strong statement about the impact of compassion and sportsmanship.

The Game of Life by Florence Scovel Shinn is a transformative guide to understanding and playing the game of life with spiritual insight and practical wisdom. Originally published in the early 20th century, this classic work combines metaphysical principles with real-life anecdotes to provide readers with a comprehensive approach to living a life of purpose and fulfillment.

Forget the 10,000 hour rule— what if it’s possible to learn the basics of any new skill in 20 hours or less? Take a moment to consider how many things you want to learn to do. What’s on your list? What’s holding you back from getting started? Are you worried about the time and effort it takes to acquire new skills—time you don’t have and effort you can’t spare? Research suggests it takes 10,000 hours to develop a new skill. In this nonstop world when will you ever find that much time and energy? To make matters worse, the early hours of prac­ticing something new are always the most frustrating. That’s why it’s difficult to learn how to speak a new language, play an instrument, hit a golf ball, or shoot great photos. It’s so much easier to watch TV or surf the web . . . In The First 20 Hours, Josh Kaufman offers a systematic approach to rapid skill acquisition— how to learn any new skill as quickly as possible. His method shows you how to deconstruct com­plex skills, maximize productive practice, and remove common learning barriers. By complet­ing just 20 hours of focused, deliberate practice you’ll go from knowing absolutely nothing to performing noticeably well. Kaufman personally field-tested the meth­ods in this book. You’ll have a front row seat as he develops a personal yoga practice, writes his own web-based computer programs, teaches himself to touch type on a nonstandard key­board, explores the oldest and most complex board game in history, picks up the ukulele, and learns how to windsurf. Here are a few of the sim­ple techniques he teaches: Define your target performance level: Fig­ure out what your desired level of skill looks like, what you’re trying to achieve, and what you’ll be able to do when you’re done. The more specific, the better. Deconstruct the skill: Most of the things we think of as skills are actually bundles of smaller subskills. If you break down the subcompo­nents, it’s easier to figure out which ones are most important and practice those first. Eliminate barriers to practice: Removing common distractions and unnecessary effort makes it much easier to sit down and focus on deliberate practice. Create fast feedback loops: Getting accu­rate, real-time information about how well you’re performing during practice makes it much easier to improve. Whether you want to paint a portrait, launch a start-up, fly an airplane, or juggle flaming chain­saws, The First 20 Hours will help you pick up the basics of any skill in record time . . . and have more fun along the way.