motivational

This website is about motivational interveiwing, and also contains resources about motivational gifts , motivational song , and motivational images .

Title : Unleash the Warrior Within: Develop the Focus, Discipline, Confidence and Courage You Need to Achieve Unlimited Goals
Author : Richard Machowicz
Rating : 4 Stars out of 5.
Summary : Some good ideas here, worth a read

It's not that easy to evaluate and review `self-help' books, as what I find useful is probably not at all useful to someone else. I guess it depends on what your perceived `problem' is, or more positively, what is `your area of desired improvement'.
I liked this book, I found it very helpful. This book deals with fears that are preventing you from becoming the person you wish or be or attaining a target that you are aiming for in your life.
The approach is very aggressive as you would expect from the title and front cover. Machowicz encourages you to `live life aggressively'. Machowicz draws on his experience as a Navy SEAL, and tells us about how he went through some very extreme situations that inevitably lead to fear and how he developed mechanisms to cope with and conquer that fear. It is a macho approach and in some places reads very much like the true to life novel by Andy McNab, `Bravo Two Zero'. However, I don't think that should put readers off, there is some very useful insights here. Take the CARVER matrix for example. This is a target evaluation method of military origin. Machowicz applies it to everyday life. If you enter `Waging Project Management Warfare' into a search engine you will find an article where an attendee of one of Machowicz classes applies the principle to software development!
There is definitely as much value in reading this as in relying solely on the works of desk bound psychologists.
I also liked the fact that it was written relatively recently, 2002. The context is relevant. I have read seminal works that were written nearer the turn of the last century, and although the content of these is beyond reproach they are very dated and increasingly hard to relate to the present and the type of problems encountered in today's world.
Some of the author's quotes come from such diverse works as Dune, by Frank Herbert. He refers to the training of Paul Atreides where he is taught that `fear is the mindkiller'. As a part-time Sci-Fi fan, I am encouraged to read a self-help book that values some of my favourite literature.
Throughout the book Machowicz refers to his self-defence style called Bukido. This comes across as a bit of a blatant sales pitch, but does nonetheless encourage the curious to enter `Bukido' into a search engine to see what it is all about. You might want to do that before you buy the book! Machowicz seems to be aggressively following his own advice, and is also now a TV star I believe hosting `Future Weapons' on the Discovery channel. Maybe that in itself should suggest that there is something of value in this book. However, reading the output of famous people telling us `how to become successful' does not always work. I'm thinking of the book by Noel Edmunds, `Positively Happy'. It is also very hard to determine if you should take the cynical, and possibly accurate viewpoint, that the author is more interested in selling his product, in this case his book and his training courses, than he is in the altruistic intent of making you a better person.
The author's intentions and motivations aside, I picked some ideas from this book that I liked and am actively making use of them. Although I have completed the book I still want to review some of the sections at a later date. So for me there was some useful ideas here and so I give it a four star rating.

Title : Goals! How to Get Everything You Want - Faster Than You Ever Thought Possible
Author : Brian Tracy
Rating : 5 Stars out of 5.
Summary : I read it seven times!

I've read about fifty self-help books and this is the best.

Brian Tracy can say in one page what other authors (notably anthony robbins) will spend a whole chapter on.

Title : Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion
Author : Robert Cialdini
Rating : 5 Stars out of 5.
Summary : Priceless

I have been entertaining my friends at dinner parties with this book. Cialdini, who admits to being a bit of a sucker himself, shows all the ways we've been manipulated over the years by small gestures and situations contrived by salesmen.

There are so many good stories. The one about Joe Girard, a car salesman who sends out each month 13,000 cards every month to former customers with a card saying, "I like you". Surely people wouldn't fall for that? Yes they do, he made more than $200,000 a year selling cars. He's in the Guinness Book of Records.

There's the story of how the Chinese got the American prisoners in the Korean War to betray their country by setting them essay questions. There's accounts of the trouble we can get into when we insist on being consistent or make a vague commitment to supporting a cause.

Cialdini exposes loads of sales techniques and has some fascinating insights into what motivates us.

As a self-employed person I'm really grateful for this knowledge. This is a book that everyone should read.

Title : Now Habit: A Strategic Program for Overcoming Procrastination and Enjoying Guilt-free Play
Author : Neil A. Fiore
Rating : 5 Stars out of 5.
Summary : Helps you understand and overcome a crippling habit

I've read hundreds of self-help books, but this blows almost everything else out of the water. This book helped me to understand the reasons why I procrastinate and showed how this habit leads to worry, loss of confidence and chronic underperformance - even in areas that I had not considered to be linked to procrastination. It's like suffering a mysterious illness and feeling that, at last, there is a proper diagnosis and cure. It even shows how the classic shaming and bullying tactics others use to 'spur us on' only serve to fuel the emotions which block natural performance and success. This is now available on audiobook, read by the author. Play it on the way to work and improve your performance!

Title : The Richest Man in Babylon
Author : George S. Clason
Rating : 5 Stars out of 5.
Summary : Honest to goodness common sense.

Straight forward and good honest advice. Despite being set in an ancient civilisation the lessons within hold true from page one. Don't make the mistake of dismissing the simple principles that the book extolls for you will find them written in much more complex a fashion in other books. I recommend this to all and suggest you give copies to your family (kids in particular) straight away.

Title : Never Eat Alone: And Other Secrets to Success, One Relationship at a Time
Author : Keith Ferrazzi
Rating : 5 Stars out of 5.
Summary : Masterful Networking Tactics

Author Keith Ferrazzi is a master networker who claims that his Palm Pilot holds the names of 5,000 people who will take his phone calls. That's a powerful claim. Starting as a self-made man of humble origins, Ferrazzi developed his social network by helping people and by developing and mastering the techniques for networking. Here, he shares his methods. His light, engaging and entertaining story will motivate those who want to enhance their social and business friendships. The author advocates generosity as the key to success. That's a radical business concept, but he claims it works. It's certainly worth a try. We recommend this book to people who want to be more social, make friends and expand their business connections. It should also prove invaluable for those who are sick of sitting at home on Saturday nights.