Who Are You Becoming?

Oct 5

September 2026 Reading Round-Up

It was an eclectic month for my personal and professional development.

I completed reading seven books and tried two others on for size. Two of the seven were book club selections. One was a book I'd read before. Another found its way to me because I stumbled across an Instagram post about Dolly Parton. More on that in a minute.

Seven books Annette Garsteck read in September 2026, featuring titles about career growth, coaching, curiosity, leadership, and personal development.

When I looked back through the quotes I'd saved and thought about what stayed with me, I kept coming back to one central question:

Who are you becoming?

I spend a lot of time talking with people about where they're going in their careers. What do you want next? What are you learning? What skills are you developing? What opportunities are you pursuing?

But there's another question worth asking.

Who are you becoming as you do all of that?

Because we aren't static beings while our careers progress forward.

We're learning
Evolving
Changing our minds
Encountering new ideas
Revisiting old ones
Letting go of things that no longer fit

All while creating enough space to wonder what we want in the first place.

Are You Leaving Enough Room to Wonder?

I discovered Carlos Whittaker in an unexpected way.

I came across a piece he created about Dolly Parton, which eventually led me to his audiobook, Reconnected: How 7 Screen-Free Weeks with Monks and Amish Farmers Helped Me Recover the Lost Art of Being Human.

Whittaker spends seven weeks without his devices, including time with monks and Amish farmers, exploring who we are when we disconnect from the technology occupying so much of our attention.

This thought stood out:

“Waiting is what makes space for wondering to happen.”

Wondering.

When was the last time you gave yourself enough space to do that?

We're surrounded by opportunities to fill almost every empty moment. We put the earbuds in…we pick up the phone. Listen to a podcast. Or an audiobook. Check email. Scroll LinkedIn. Doom scroll. Look something up. Ask AI.

I love having access to information just as much as the next person. You don't have to spend much time with me to know that.

But having an answer available doesn't mean we always need one immediately.

Sometimes there's value in sitting with a question.

What do I think?
What am I curious about?
What do I want?
What am I ready to learn?
What might I be ready to leave behind?

And yes...

Who am I becoming?

Those questions need some room.

The Same Book. A Different Reader.

I reread Michael Bungay Stanier's The Coaching Habit in September as part of leading the International Association of Career Coaches Path Book Club.

Apparently, time and space have done very little to change my taste in highlighting. 🤷🏻‍♀️

I highlighted the same passage again:

“It’s useful to understand the difference between two types of coaching, coaching for performance vs. coaching for development. Coaching for performance is about addressing and fixing a specific problem or challenge. It’s putting out the fire, building up the fire, or banking the fire. It’s everyday stuff, and it’s important and necessary. Coaching for development is about turning the focus from the issue to the person dealing with the issue. The person who is managing the fire. This conversation is more rare and significantly more powerful.”

How did I manage to highlight the same quote two years in a row?

I think I know.

The words haven't changed, but I have.

I've had another year of coaching conversations. Another year of working with people navigating change. Another year of developing my own thinking about what good coaching looks like.

That's one of my favorite things about rereading a book.

You bring more life with you the next time.

Something you underlined years ago may mean more now. Something you barely noticed the first time may suddenly feel relevant. And occasionally, you discover that an idea you believed deeply then still matters to you now.

There is still an important difference between helping someone solve the problem in front of them and helping them develop the ability to navigate the problems that come next.

Maybe that's why I reached for the green highlighter again.

Learning Is Part of Becoming

Rachel Collins writes in HIRED: How to Navigate LinkedIn, Harness AI & Build a Network That Opens Doors:

“The best way to future-proof your career is to learn how to learn, continuously.”

After spending so much of this year thinking, writing, speaking, and coaching about AI and the ever-changing workplace, this one landed for me.

We don't know exactly what work will look like five years from now.

We do know we'll have things to learn.

I've learned new technology throughout my entire career. I've learned new industries, new roles, new ways of communicating, new ways of running a business, and new ways of doing work I already knew how to do.

Some of that learning was intentional. Some of it happened because my work demanded it. Some of it started with a natural curiosity.

All of it changed what I was capable of doing next.

That's why I think learning how to learn matters so much for career management.

A tool you use now will become obsolete. A process or procedure will change. A role you fill now will evolve. An industry will be disrupted.

Your ability to learn? That travels with you.

And every time you learn something new, you become a slightly different and elevated version of the professional you were before.

Books I Read | September 2026

Four more books rounded out my September reading.

View from the East Wing: A Memoir by Jill Biden

There were two quotes I saved from this one, including an observation that feels especially tied to the moment in which the memoir was published:

“My office was located in the White House's East Wing, may it rest in peace.”

And this:

“People like to tell us what they think we can't do, don't they? They say it's going to be too hard or too complicated, that no one like you has done this before

I'm Starting to Worry About This Black Box of Doom by Jason Pargin

My friend Pamela started an informal book club built around books that “Broke My Brain.”

This was the selection for our October 8th discussion.

The quote that stood out to me:

“You know how this works, they just run with whatever fiction will save off their boredom for the next two minutes.”

There is plenty to think about in that sentence. And you won’t believe what the black box of doom is.

The Audacity to Be Queen by Gina DeVee

“The Queen, she believes, my life has a purpose, I have access to all the resources necessary to fulfill my calling, and I always manifest my desires.”

Nobody Cares About Your Career: Why Failure Is Good, the Great Ones Play Hurt, and Other Hard Truths by Erika Ayers Badan

“This book is for...anyone who wants a change at work and understands that change at work is the gateway to changing your life.”

I've seen that connection between changing your work and changing your life play out so many times in my own career and in my work with clients.

Two Books I Tried On for Size

I also spent time with two books I decided not to finish in September.

She Builds by Jadah Sellner

This wasn't a bad book at all. It wasn't for me at this stage of my entrepreneurial journey.

I am finally at a place where I can recognize that a book can have plenty to offer and still not be what you need right now.

I'm So Effing Tired by Amy Shah

This wasn't the type of book I was looking for at this time either.

I may come back to it in the future.

I've become increasingly comfortable putting a book down when it isn't giving me what I need. There are too many books I want to read to push through one simply because I started it.

And sometimes “not for me right now” is all the reason I need.

Continue Your Reading Journey

Seven books finished. Two more tried on for size. And plenty of ideas I'm still thinking about.

If something from my September reading caught your attention, I've collected the books in my Amazon Storefront:

Explore My September 2026 Reading List

Which one is going on your TBR?

One Final Thought

We spend a lot of time measuring development by what we accomplish. The promotion. The certification. The new skill. The career move. The business milestone. Numbers, always, percent improvement or dollars saved.

Some development is harder to measure.

You ask better questions.
You become more curious.
You reconsider something you thought you knew.
You recognize an idea you're not ready for, or one you've outgrown.
You become more willing to try.
You understand yourself a little differently.

Those changes matter just as much

So here's the question I'm sitting with as September turns to October.

Who are you becoming, and are you paying enough attention to notice?

Continue Investing in You and Your Career

If these are the kinds of questions you're asking about your own career, Own Your Career: Take Control + Accelerate Your Professional Growth was written to help you take a more intentional role in what comes next.

It explores the five areas I believe shape our professional growth: Mindset, Personal Development, Knowing Your Worth, Accomplishment, and Circle of Influence.

Explore Own Your Career on Amazon

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More Opportunities for Growth + Development

If you are struggling to find the words to describe a recent workplace challenge or feel your career identity is stalled, join me and Sandra Wint weekly as we have conversations around workplace dynamics, leadership, and how to move in your career as a woman.

Our weekly podcast, Exposing the Hidden Reality, explores all of these topics in detail. Listen to the latest episode and promote yourself to career owner status.

Annette Garsteck