motivational

This website is about motivational strategy, and also contains resources about motivational lyrics , motivational seminars , and motivational speech .

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

if you want to feel good about yourself it helps you let go of built in past tramas,your tears will surface, but it clears you out,
[Great for healing your life if you are going through emotions],
I am starting to love myself which i never looked at before listing to this cd
I also recommend a book i bought just after, this will awaken you to who you are she is a medium and reiki master of healing and it will help you understand why we are here
both this cd and the book [the calling of your true self] will help heal your life great cd great book both recommended highly

Title : The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Personal Change
Author : Stephen R. Covey
Rating : 5 Stars out of 5.
Summary : filled with important information

Not that I'm an expert in the subject, but I'm guessing that this isn't your typical success book. In many ways it's a general purpose psychology book, dealing with such things as motivation, organizational skills, and how to deal with stress. It's chock full of seemingly unique information, and interesting quotes and tidbits. For example, it states "Management is efficiency in climbing the ladder of success; leadership determines whether the ladder is leaning against the right wall." The book isn't boring or repetitive, and is written in a pleasing, conversational manner. Everyone should give this a read, not just those interested in business success. Author of Adjust Your Brain: A Practical Theory for Maximizing Mental Health.

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 : Well, this book is the one I needed....

10 years of reading "I have the power". Hmm. This guy cuts straight through it to laser focus on what you need. It actually makes sense - being taught acheievement strategies by a military Navy Seal. He's had to make quick, good, tough decisions. He establishs his cred by telling you about Hell Week - the place where most wanabe Seals Break. Then he mingles his talks about fear and action with examples of how he's helped others get over them (not just himself). I listen (figuratively) to this guy because he knows what fear is so if he can overcome it then it's worth taking seriously what he says.
I'm only three chapters in and have noticed a significant improvement in the way I think about getting things done. Target - keep it simple - Weapons - what is the most effective way to get there (not necc the fastest) and Movement (be flexible about how you do what you need to to get the result). I have read literally hundreds of self-help books. This one I am using to not just read but get results. I reccomend it.

Title : Sticky Wisdom
Author : Dave Allan
Rating : 5 Stars out of 5.
Summary : a great read

Written clearly, without patronising the reader. A book created by masters of innovation. Good techniques and tips as well as really interesting applicable cultural perspectives for an organisation wanting to move it's product development strategy forward.

This book is well worth 8 quid as it will help shape/structure your thinking on being innovative, as well as providing you with a 'toolkit' of language to encourage supportive innovative behaviours in others, who are determined to think too critically about fledgling ideas before they have had a chance to grow into potential winners.

Whatif also was 2004/5 best company to work for in the UK which in itself gives weight to the ideas in this book.

Title : Never Eat Alone: And Other Secrets to Success, One Relationship at a Time
Author : Keith Ferrazzi
Rating : 4 Stars out of 5.
Summary : Very practical

I read Never Eat Alone after attending a Keith Ferrazzi seminar. So I was already familiar with his approach to networking. The book provides a deeper and more structured perspective to relationship management in various settings - in the office, before/during/after a seminar, on the plane and many more.

My main takeaway from the book has been 'even very small details make a big difference to build your network and you should build it before you need it'. 'Do your homework, share your passions, follow up or fail, build your brand' are some great sections from the book - very useful and practical.

Title : Sink Reflections
Author : Marla Cilley
Rating : 3 Stars out of 5.
Summary : Great system - poor book

I came across Flylady last year, starting with the BabySteps, and found very quickly that I could keep my over-cluttered home clean and tidy by following these routines - this was a great help when my flat went on the market, as it would be ready for viewings with a simple 'swish and swipe' each morning!

I bought the book to help me move onto the next stage of Flylady - decluttering, zone cleaning and the control journal - but I was really disappointed. I found the book poorly laid out (the chapter on babysteps introduces a number of new steps, numbering them would have made the book easier to read and the routines easier to follow) and the tone of writing grated on me after a couple of chapters - too many references to God and how cleaning your home will demonstrate to yourself and your family how much you love yourself and them (I'm not a lazy frump with a filthy house, I'm just a busy full-time worker who can't keep on top of the housework and can't afford a cleaner). All of the recommendations in the book, and more, are already covered on the Flylady website.

The Flylady system does work, but I would recommend saving yourself a few pounds and using Flylady.net instead of buying the book. 5 stars for the system, 1 star for the book itself.

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.