motivational

This website is about motivational assessment, and also contains resources about motivational messages , motivational factors , and motivational fitness .

Title : Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion
Author : Robert Cialdini
Rating : 3 Stars out of 5.
Summary : Good, but not totally convincing or that useful

I bought this book for two reasons - one to make myself more alert to sales techniques, and two to see if there are any useful insights to glean that could be applied to other areas of life.

On both counts the book delivers. Having recently been pitched to at work by a media tracking agency and nearly taken the bait (didn't in the end) I immediately recognised the use of reciprocity and scarcity to try and harry me into signing up. That alone was worth buying the book for, and I will definitely use that insight in future.

In addition, the chapter on consistency is also very useful. I've been involved in trying (and failing) to get people behind certain campaigns in the past. As such the discussion about getting people to make small commitments to establish a self image which they then feel the need to act consistently with both rang true on a personal level, and seems like something worth trying out in future.

So why only three stars? For one I did not find elements of the book convincing. The section dealing with newspaper coverage of suicides is the bit that really troubles me. Some of the data seems both to be limited and have been interpreted quite loosely. I would need a lot more convincing that the stats are being interpreted reasonably, it looks far too rough and ready. Given that this book is really about behavioural biases surely it should be extra careful about interpretaion of data as this is something we humans tend to be very bad at, always looking for patterns that aren't there and so on. That then leads me to query the hypothesis built on top of the data and to be honest I find myself not buying it. That also makes me query whether other chapters suffer from similar flaws.

Secondly, the book isn't actually that useful once you get your head around the key techniques because, as a previous reviewer says, simply having the knowledge that you have biases doesn't make them go away. To be really useful the book should have spent as much time reinforcing ways to resist the influence of biases as it does explaining what they are.

That said it is very readable, and I got what I wanted from it, but it could have been better.

Title : The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Personal Change
Author : Stephen R. Covey
Rating : 5 Stars out of 5.
Summary : Well read Bestseller

After the Bible, no other single book has shaped my leadership mentality and disciplines like this one by Covey. I first read it in 1991 and his recommendations brought it all together for me. Success in effective living begins with Private Victory (Be Proactive, Begin with the end in mind, Put first things first) then moves on to Public Victory (Think Win-Win, Seek first to understand...then to be understood, Synergize), and finally back into personal effectiveness by Sharpening the Saw. These concepts are essential to weeding through all the fluff of the information age. This book also contains fantastic practical advice on living out one's priorities ("Exercise integrity at the moment of choice") and teamwork ("Defend those who are absent").

Title : Born to Win: Transactional Analysis with Gestalt Experiments
Author : Muriel James
Rating : 5 Stars out of 5.
Summary : Possibly the best Self-Help book ever!

Transactional Analysis and Gestalt may seem old hat these days but the basic priniples have stood the test of time. This book formed the basis of my own study of TA in the seventies and also enabled me to beat a long standing history of recurrent depression and stress-related illness. I now teach TA to medical professionals and, 30 years on, this is still the best book available! Last updated and revised on its 25th birthday in 1996 this really is a "must buy" for anyone interested in digging through the "psychobabble" to the core of what makes people, including you, tick.

Title : The 8th Habit: From Effectiveness to Greatness
Author : Stephen R. Covey
Rating : 5 Stars out of 5.
Summary : This book has changed my life!

This book has profoundly changed the way I perceive my work, family, and myself. In short, I now have a reverence for the greatness in each of us - and desire to treat others accordingly. As I remember and practice the principles taught so eloquently my Mr. Covey in this book, I find myself at peace with others and myself.

There is a spiritual dimension to our lives, relationships and potential that Mr. Covey taps into. Unfortunately, we have ignored these principles for too long in our families, organizations and society. And we have paid the price. Covey's book is a timely, refreshing and unique contribution that is a must read for everyone who wants to find their talent, passion, need and conscience - their voice!