13 book recommendations to empower your move abroad
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Reading can be an escape or it can be what inspires us to make our own escape.
The books below are all sources and recommendations in my book How to Move Abroad: And Why It’s The Best Thing You’ll Do, which I wrote to take the mystery out of moving abroad so you can take the leap and live your dreams.
These resources are meant to help arm you with stories that prove that radical change is not only possible and survivable, but it is rewarding and exactly the path you are meant to be on!
Moving abroad is both scary and exhilarating, but for centuries now, countless people have survived it, thrived and gone on to lead more exciting and fulfilling lives by spending a few years or a few decades of their lives living around the world. It can be done. It has always been done. It will only be done more in the new normal.
These books below prepare you with job success, financial success, intercultural success, interpersonal success, and an outlook on priorities - what matters, and more importantly, what doesn’t, when preparing to move abroad.
Travels
Michael Crichton
One of the great benefits of living abroad is getting in touch with and learning about a side of ourselves that we otherwise wouldn’t. I have always considered that side our essence, who we are when faced purely with ourselves.
A quote from Crichton’s book, referenced in Chapter 1 of How to Live Abroad And Why It’s The Best Thing You’ll Do, emphasizes that when stripped of familiar circumstances, people, and surroundings, we are forced to rely on a part of ourselves that may otherwise remain hidden, undiscovered, and undeveloped. Crichton’s autobiographical account of his adventurous travels highlights his personal journeys in the world and within himself.
When you are thrust into an unfamiliar culture, especially if you don’t speak the language, your reliance on body language and other non-verbal cues becomes critical. Navarro’s book offers up strategies and clues to decoding body language. His emphasis on “speed-reading” people’s non-verbal cues provides a useful guide for not only cross-cultural experiences but also business and personal situations in one’s own culture.
People focus so much on their fears of not speaking the local language, but body language makes up 50, 60, sometimes up to 80% of all communication. This book can be a great guide for you!
This book can be - and has been! - a bible for anyone looking to unplug from the matrix. Ferriss’s book turns the traditional approach to the work week upside down outlining ways to earn more by working less, including working remotely - quite a groundbreaking concept when he wrote the book in 2006-2007, but the message is still as relevant as ever today.
He includes tips for reinventing yourself, doubling your income, and using technological tools and tricks to change the way you approach your work. More people than ever are working remotely, which opens up more opportunities to live abroad while still working your day job. This makes it feel safer than ever to live differently.
Kiss, Bow, or Shake Hands: The Bestselling Guide to Doing Business in More than 60 Countries
Terri Morrison and Wayne Conaway
When this book was first published, it was the most comprehensive shorthand for high-level employees doing global business in over 60 countries. Today, the world is more connected and it is easy to think that everyone around the world has started doing business the same - especially as Americans who see people watching American shows, or wearing a more ‘American’ style of dress. But the truth is, that assumption can hurt your relationships when you move abroad, because while the differences today might be more nuanced than they once were, you have to always be aware of local cultural and business etiquette.
Principles and Practice in Second Language Acquisition
Stephen Krashen
Do I really expect you to go pay $864 dollars on Amazon for this academic book I read in college? Absolutely not.
Here’s what you really need to know: In the 1970s, Krashen coined the term “Affective Filter,” which refers to the walls we put up when learning languages due to our fear of making mistakes. The lower our Affective Filter is, the more likely we are to take risks and experiment with language learning. This increases the likelihood of success.
Learning to reduce your affective filter is what makes you fluent - not studying harder, memorizing vocabulary or conjugating irregular verbs.
Krashen links to the PDF of Principles and Practice in Second Language Acquisition for free on his website!
I Wonder as I Wander
Langston Hughes
I don’t know where I found this book over 20 years ago now. This is not one of his most famous works, in fact I don’t even think it’s his most famous autobiography. But this is the book that inspired me to become a travel writer and see the world.
Hughes’ autobiography depicts his travels through Cuba, Haiti, Russia, Soviet Central Asia, Japan, and Spain in the 1930s. What I love the most about it is that you experience how Hughes’ identity is able to shift and change outside the confines of the United States. As a black man in the 1930s, he is revered abroad for the color of skin, while in other places it is his craft, his poetry, that brings him to local fame and celebrity upon landing. When you live abroad, you are often freed from the societal chains of your home country in similar ways, and it is fascinating how imaginary border lines and geographical boundaries can lift barriers from your own life.
How to Work on a Cruise Ship
Wandering Earl
Working on a cruise ship (when it’s safe and logical to do so again!) gets you a job quite literally filled with travel, and a free pass out of your nine-to-five office job. Not only do you get to travel the world, but you make local contacts in countries around the world so that when you are finished with cruise ship life, you know people across the globe to reach out to for more permanent expat job / life opportunities.
The How To Work on a Cruise Ship guide provides essential insight into how to find the right cruise ship employment opportunities for you, detailing job descriptions, salaries, sample resumes, FAQs about cruise ship life, and more.
U.S. Taxes for Worldly Americans: The Traveling Expat's Guide to Living, Working, and Staying Tax Compliant Abroad
Olivier Wagner and Gregory Diehl
If I know one thing about unlived dreams, it’s that people tend to freeze when important things feel overwhelming - and the IRS scares even the bravest of us. When people think about how to deal with their taxes from abroad, it can be overwhelming enough to cause their wheels to spin. Don’t let it - even though the U. S. is one of only two countries in the WHOLE world that requires citizens to pay taxes on their foreign income while living abroad.
There are treaties, laws and loopholes to help with this. There are several resources to help you with this. One is Wagner and Diel’s book, which outlines the taxation requirements and implications for expats, providing instructions, tips, and details to help expats avoid costly tax blunders.
The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up
Marie Kondo
Marie Kondo said that what you choose to buy is the life you choose to live. When moving abroad, the decision of what to take with you can be overwhelming, and in How to Move Abroad And Why It’s The Best Thing You’ll Do, I emphasize the process of deciding what to do with your possessions. This popular book shows you how to simplify your life both materially and emotionally.
For every item in your life, you will be left with the decision of whether to sell, donate, store, or throw out anything you aren’t taking abroad. Use this book as the life-changing emotional support it takes to get rid of as much of your ‘stuff’ as you emotionally can!
Minimalism: Live a Meaningful Life
Joshua Fields Milburn and Ryan Nicodemus
You might be dreaming about living in Paris or Tokyo, or on an island in the middle of the ocean somewhere, but when the dream starts to materialize, you realize that your material possessions (and pursuit of more of them) has been weighing you down and will weigh down your move - quite literally.
At age 30, best friends Joshua Fields Millburn and Ryan Nicodemus overcame debt and depression after getting caught up in the pursuit of the American Dream. They adopted the philosophy of minimalism, replacing their pursuit of materialism and wealth. By focusing on health, relationships, and personal growth rather than the acquisition of money and “things,” they discovered a renewed enjoyment of and appreciation for life beyond a focus on material possessions. You don’t want to bring much with you when you move, and I hope this book inspires you to reformulate your relationship to ‘stuff’.
Courage is not an innate gift; it is a muscle we strengthen. Margie Warrell’s Brave guides people through being more courageous, whether it be through speaking up and being more assertive, more forcefully pursuing life goals, or pushing through excuses we all make for ourselves which prohibit us from reaching our goals.
Does totally removing yourself from your comfort zone and moving to a new country take courage? Sure! But courage is only gained by strengthening the muscle. Warrell shows readers how to build and strengthen the courage it takes to achieve loftier goals.
Stop Playing Safe: Rethink Risk, Unlock the Power of Courage, Achieve Outstanding Success
Margie Warrell
They say that high risk equals high reward, but actually let’s flip this around: high reward comes really only to those who are willing to take big risks. Can moving abroad be considered a big risk? Of course.
But taking the risk to immerse yourself in a different culture pays off in multiple ways: you learn about yourself, learn a new culture and possibly a new language, you connect with and build relationships with people you would otherwise never meet, and new, exciting job and career opportunities open up in front of you.
Warrell’s book emphasizes the need to take risks and go after those rewards rather than waiting for rewards to come to you.
How To Move Abroad And Why It’s The Best Thing You’ll Do
Jessica Drucker
Finally, if you are at all considering a move abroad, the investment in this book can help to demystify the process, and show you not only a step-by-step process to making your move, but also give you someone to know personally (that’s me!) who has done it, failed, succeeded, and ultimately would never change a thing. Living abroad isn’t an end goal. It is a means to an end. A life well lived. One you can look back on and feel proud of, like you left nothing on the table.