Title : The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens: The Ultimate Teenage Success Guide
Author : Sean Covey
Rating : 5 Stars out of 5.
Summary : WHO AM I ... ?
WHO AM I?
I am your constant companion. I am your greatest helper or heaviest burden.
I will push you onward or drag you down to failure. I am completely at your command. Half the things I do you might just as well turn over to me and I will be able to do them quickly and correctly.
I am easily managed - you must merely be firm with me. Show me exactly how you want something done and after a few lessons I will do it automatically. I am the servant of all great individuals and, alas, of all failures, as well. Those who are great, I have made great. Those that are failures, I have made failures.
I am not a machine, though I work with all the precision of a machine plus the intelligence of a human. You may run me for a profit or run me for ruin - it makes no difference to me.
Take me, train me, be firm with me, and I will place the world at your feet. Be easy with me and I will destroy you.
WHO AM I? ... Read the book and find out!!
Title : It's Not How Good You Are, It's How Good You Want To Be
Author : Paul Arden
Rating : 5 Stars out of 5.
Summary : It's not how good it is, but how good you want it to be!
This is a very witty, imaginative and thought-provoking read! It will push you to go that extra-mile and to aim high. And as a bonus, you get some savvy business and career advice! Highly recommended!
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 : A Fantastic Book that gives you the kick up the ass
Its not everyday you find someone writing on subjects they have personally , truly mastered.Richard takes you through his experiences as a Navy Seal and shows you how to face the challenges you face in life. A fantastic book I would recommend to anyone , Thank you for this book Richard.
Title : Motivational Interviewing: Preparing People for Change
Author : William R. Miller
Rating : 5 Stars out of 5.
Summary : Wonderful book
I found this book very helpful indeed and many of its techniques have been successful in my practice.
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 : Think and Grow Rich
Author : Napoleon Hill
Rating : 5 Stars out of 5.
Summary : ingore negative reviews of this book
It's a truly amazing book - the philosophy works.
You need to read the book at least twice, open your mind,
follow wholeheartedly what it instructs you to do and you
will have success you never dreamed of.
I first thought it strange, abstract and unconnected to
reality but when I actually tried it without prejudice I
found a whole new world outside my door. Amazing. Everyone
should have a copy of this.
Title : The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Personal Change
Author : Stephen R. Covey
Rating : 2 Stars out of 5.
Summary : A number of years
I read this book a number of years ago as part of a semester long class with it as the main teaching tool. From what I remember it provides good insights into time management, prioritizing tasks and breaking down a goal into bite size pieces so that a person isn't overwhelmed by the size of what needs to be done.
Other Related Resources:
1: http://karenblundell.com/motivational/thought-for-the-day
2: http://kissoftruth.com/?p=704
3: http://www.outspoken-kate.com/daily-inspiration-1/
4: http://www.smilespedia.com/if-you-lack-motivation-take-a-peek-here/
5: http://www.thelifeledger.com/2008/04/26/peta-creates-prize-cloned-meat/
