motivational

This website is about motivational poster, and also contains resources about best motivational quotes , fish motivational , and motivational poems .

Title : E-myth Mastery: The Seven Essential Disciplines for Building a World Class Company
Author : Michael Gerber
Rating : 5 Stars out of 5.
Summary : In business?Buy this now.

Having started my own business this book, and the whole Gerber approach, has revolutionised the way we work. We already knew we wanted to change some of the things we were doing but not sure exactly what or how. This book crystallised our thinking and has made us a better outfit because of it. I have no hesitation in recommending this to anyone in a business or thinking of going into business. It is not a quick fix, it's not a load of guru speak. It is a very real set of ideas that have worked for this humble photographer.

Title : Self-esteem Affirmations: Motivational Affirmations for Building Confidence and Recognizing Self-worth
Author : Louise L. Hay
Rating : 5 Stars out of 5.
Summary : Lifesaver!!!

I'm going a difficult phase of my life now- I just finished my doctorate and currently going through a divorce- and needed something to help boost my self esteem. I found it in this beautiful cd by Louise Hay. The first 2 days I listened to Side B (which is the subliminal part of this cd) I just cried like a baby for the entire track! I didn't know how much sadness I was carrying inside and this cd really helped me to release some of the negative feelings I had about myself. I still listen to it everyday and feel that it is definitely working to increase the love I have for myself.

Title : Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion
Author : Robert Cialdini
Rating : 4 Stars out of 5.
Summary : Excellent content somewhat marred by impractical conclusions

3rd edition/publication (2007), Collins Business Essentials, 320 pages (of which 280 pages for actual book)

Influence is another of the twenty books Charlie Munger recommends in the second edition of Poor Charlie's Almanack. Its content is excellent (and sometimes even hair-raisingly remarkable - as when he shows that media reporting of suicides actually causes more of them via the social proof bias) but I think Cialdini could have done a much better job of turning the research evidence into useful/practical advice. (The same problem manifests itself in Gilbert's book `Stumbling on Happiness' - though Cialdini's is the better book.)

I was discussing this book with a friend who had also read it and I thought he put it very well: Cialdini is one of those clever people who is not very wise. That is also why Poor Charlie's Almanack is so good and unusual: Munger is both clever and has deliberately attempted to distil a lifetime's worth of reading over a broad subject matter area into practical advice on how to live a successful/useful life.

In particular, Cialdini shows us clearly that a significant number of our psychological biases work completely unconsciously. (By that I mean it can be demonstrated that a certain bias has affected a group of individual's actions/conclusions whilst they strenuously deny they have paid any attention to or are even totally unaware of the biasing factor.) For example, Cialdini quotes one study where "men who saw a new-car ad that included a seductive young woman model rated the car as faster, more appealing, more expensive-looking, and better designed than did men who saw the same ad without the model. Yet when asked later, the men refused to believe that the presence of the young woman had influenced their judgements."

He then goes on to suggest various complicated ways to try to monitor ourselves to see if we are being affected by some of these biases - in order that we can attempt to limit the damage from faulty decisions (often in situations deliberately set up to cause our faulty decisions to be detrimental to us and advantageous to some other). For example, he highlights the "extreme caution" needed in auction situations where one encounters the "devilish construction of scarcity plus rivalry" - and suggests that we watch ourselves for signs of arousal so that we can stop short.

Well, I think Munger and his partner Warren Buffett have a much more practical and simpler way of dealing with that problem, based on the wisdom of the rustic that Munger likes to quote: "all I want to know is where I'm going to die so can avoid going there." The whole thrust of Cialdini's book is that these biases are often unconscious and are in any case often very strong (and usually much stronger that we believe/expect) - which is another way of saying you're unlikely to have good results fighting against them.

Much better to simply bypass the problem where possible and do as Buffett does and refuse to get involved in auction situations. Using rules like this, to paraphrase Munger on a different subject (tax shelters): if you always avoid auction situations you might miss out on the odd good deal, but overall your life is likely to be better.

This is also why I consider Taleb (Fooled by Randomness) to be much wiser than Cialdini: he understands that being aware of biases doesn't make them go away. You need tricks and methods to live successfully with them.

I also think the advice in Cialdini's epilogue is very poor. He suggests that we rise up to fight people/organisations who misuse our psychological biases for their own ends: "In short, we should be willing to use boycott, threat, confrontation, censure, tirade, nearly anything, to retaliate."

This is crazy advice: the effort and time required to do it would leave little for anything else and would also guarantee a miserable life focussed on negativity. It also shows Cialdini's lack of familiarity with good training principles (an excellent book on the subject is Karen Pryor's `Don't Shoot The Dog'). Plenty of research now shows that positive reinforcement (rewarding behaviour you like) is at least as effective as negative reinforcement and much more so than punishment. It also has the huge benefit of leading to a much more pleasant life.

However, even with those caveats (essentially that you have to do your own thinking about how to cope with the biases that Cialdini does an excellent job of laying out) it is still a very useful book.

Title : The Richest Man in Babylon: Now Revised and Updated for the 21st Century
Author : George S. Clason
Rating : 5 Stars out of 5.
Summary : Want to Learn how to get wealth ?

This should be a must read especially for young people. Anyone who wants to get on the road to financial freedom needs to read this book.

Title : Unleash the Warrior Within: Develop the Focus, Discipline, Confidence and Courage You Need to Achieve Unlimited Goals
Author : Richard Machowicz
Rating : 5 Stars out of 5.
Summary : Do it like your going to attack it.

I recommend this book. It is very helpful. Makes decission planning simple and effective. Makes you do what you say you will do. Achieve what you want. All you need is focus and the will. I avoid violence at any cost, but when it comes to business or sport I don't play to come second; Machowicz advice and way is amazing. Get the book, if anything, it is a good motivational read.