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Book to Read

Over 500 pages, this book looks a bit daunting and scary if you’re not a huge reader.  I would suggest that you start with something a bit slimmer if you’re just getting into the world of books, otherwise, Awaken the Giant Within is a book that everyone should read.  Why our high schools don’t teach us this valuable content is beyond me.

Okay – you’re thinking…how will this book help me.  Well, I can only explain what it’s done for me, but I feel that if you get 1/10^th of what I absorbed (and am currently reabsorbing) you will make an improvement in your life.

Anthony Robbins explains that many of us are just bumbling along in life, not really controlling how we feel or what we focus on.  When I read that, “…everything we do is based on the state (mood) we’re in, and our state is determined by our physiology and the way we represent things in our minds,” a little light went off in my head. 

I thought, is it possible to control the state we’re in – for example, can we make ourselves feel happy? Sad? Empowered? Successful? Angry? (As opposed to other people and events making us happy, sad, etc.)

And if we can control the states we’re in, what the heck does our physiology (or physical stance – they way were holding our body) and our representations/thoughts in our mind have to do with it?

Well…while reading the book, I finally understood that we create our own world, our own reality; not our bosses, husbands/wives, children, strangers, friends.  Everything, and I mean everything, that happens for better or worse in our lives comes down to our current STATE/MOOD.  And in saying ‘State/Mood,’ I really mean, how we FEEEEEEEL about our life and how we describe what is going on around us.

Not too long ago (about 4-5 years ago), I felt that the world was a somewhat crappy place.  I actually decided that I would forgo having kids because bringing anyone into this world was a punishment.  I thought that hell was on earth.  I didn’t believe in marriage.  I was poor.  I thought that there was a glass ceiling for women in the work place.  I felt that I had to live out my ‘lot’ in life and that was to work my butt off to make some other person wealthy…and on and on.  I was a classic misery-guts.

Now...(as you can hopefully see) I’m a different person. 

I’ve learned how to change the STATE/MOOD that I’m in and empower myself to achieve anything I want.  I now have excellent health, an amazing relationship with my husband and family, tons of friends, a great home and a lifestyle that I truly love to live. 

Thanks to Awaken the Giant Within and other similar books, I’ve learned the psychology behind the way we think.  And by understanding how to control and empower your thoughts, you can do anything. 

I am the one who is in control of my life and I ultimately control my STATE/MOOD.  If you’re sick and tired of being sick and tired, take control and do something good for yourself – get the book!  It actually gives you tools to change your life and increase your happiness. 

For those of you that either have the book or are interested in knowing a bit more about the content, check out the ‘Motivation Cards’ (another window will open), which are quotes from Awaken The Giant Within.

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Gawain starts off the book with the 'how to' of visualizing a future that you're interested in achieving.  She then attaches the skill of visualising with affirmations so that you see your future and then verbally state that you already have it.  (For a worksheet on how to write Affirmations, click here for the Affirmation pdf.) 

One of the major distinctions that Gawain made throughout the book was that, "Often people attempt to live their lives backward:  They try to have more things, in order to do more of what they want, so that they will be happier."
 

Throughout the book there are hundreds of Affirmation examples along with tools and techniques for visualising, setting goals and working towards the various different aspects of your life.  It's a great book to help you raise your self esteem, create a vision and motivate yourself forward!

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Any how, Excuse Me, Your Life is Waiting is a New York Best-Seller and I now know why.  The contents and flow of the book are easy and uncomplicated. 

Grabhorn explains that in order to get what you want you have to experience the feelings that you'll have when you get it.  For example, if you're eager to get a dream lifestyle (i.e. working from home), instead of thinking 'I'll never be able to do that!,' think and feel how you would feel when you worked from home.  What would you feel, hear, smell, taste, think if you were living your dream lifestyle now.

In order to decide what you want (i.e. the dream lifestyle), you need to figure out what you DON'T want and from that figure out what you Do want.  Once you know what you want, you need to FEEL how it would feel to get what you want and then finally, sit back and wait for it to come.

Grabhorn explained, "We get what we emotionally focus on!  Focus on what we want with passion and excitement, and presto!  It's on its way".  She also stated that, "You deserve it all.  You deserve to have all of your aspirations realized, no matter what they may be.  You have only to want it and feeeeel it, and a whole new life of extraordinary happiness will be yours".

All these great tips are explained using the scientifically proven Law of Attraction. So, if you want to find out:

• Why your bank balance never seems to go up
• Why your dreams fail to materialise
• Why some days go from bad to terrible
• AND....how to change all of the above around - right now...

You need to get Excuse Me, Your Life is Waiting.  It's one of those books that will help empower you to change the way you live life - a must read!  (There is also a workbook that you can get called the Excuse Me Your Life is Waiting Playbook, click here to view on Amazon)

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Again, this is a book that I was too afraid to by at the bookstore because the title is *goofy*, so I ordered it off of Amazon.  I'm sure that many of you have heard about this book, but have you all taken the time to read it?

How to Win Friends and Influence People, is one of those books that should be added to the school curriculum - in all honesty, I truly think that I would have benefited much more from this book rather than the lessons learned from 'Death of a Salesman,' by Arthur Miller or 'Hard Times,' by Dickens. 

(do you mind if I totally go off topic....if you do mind, skip the next few paragraphs...

And..just because I'm picking on books here doesn't mean that the rest of the curriculum is correct.  This message extends to all the subjects taught in the current school systems.

If schools stared early and taught kids to believe in themselves rather than concentrate so much on learning *Stuff* I truly believe that kids would ultimately be more interested in learning.  When I went to school, they taught me cooking, sewing, wood burning, art, and all the other typical topics however no one ever consider to teach me how to be social, explained integrity, expressed what successful people do and say...essentially...teach me how to live!

Yes, perhaps that's what your parents should do, but not everyone is blessed with parents who know the keys to success and happiness....Perhaps when I make millions, I'll start the school of KIM which will help kids learn how to live while teaching them the wonderful and amazing ways of the world!  Yeah - that sounds good.  Okay, I feel a bit calmed down now...I can move forward.
(OFF-TOPIC RANT OVER) **************************************************************************************

Back to the Book...How to Win Friends and Influence People could be considered a reference book on how to deal with people and make the most of every interaction you have with other humans.  Lets face it - most people do not have the best social skills in the world (on and off-line), therefore if you can master these, it will only put you ahead of the game.  I found this interesting quote in the book:

 "...about 15 percent of one's financial success is due to one's technical knowledge and about 85 percent is due to skill in human engineering - to personality and the ability to lead people."  (hmmm...what about that?)

This is how the book changed me:

• I seriously curbed my ability to criticize people and realized that although it's harder to enforce self-control and forgiving, I ultimately end up as the winner.  In the past, I thought that my way was always right until I realized that 'everyone thinks their way is ALWAYS right'...It is amazing what happens when you try to UNDERSTAND other people rather than quickly shooting them down.  Most of the time, you gain a different and even better perspective than you had before.
   
• I began to offer more *honest* appreciation and encouragement to others.  Once you start showing appreciation, it comes right back to you.  The hardest part is to pull yourself out of your world and realize that there are others out there and they want to be noticed!
   
• From the book and my observations, I noticed that people always want to talk about themselves...so I now let them.  When I go to social functions (i.e. to network with people), I tend to allow the person I'm talking with to go on for ages.  They usually talk 80% of the time and during the last 20% I add my bits and bobs.  Believe it or not, the person usually walks away and thinks I'm the greatest person on Earth - simply because I took the time to truly be interested and listen. 
   
  • What's even more fascinating is that that person will remember me when they need to call on my service AND I usually learn tons by listing to others. I have made more friends and business associates using my 80/20 rule than if I change that formula.
     
  • It's also important to note that I sometimes do all the talking too - I'm not always a listener as I'm HUMAN and want to have an audience just like everyone else.  The key is to find a balance...
     
• Remember and Use peoples Names!  While in my last employment, I asked the staff of 8 people to do a little test at our local sandwich shop.  Since the sandwich shop people wore name badges, I asked the staff to use their names before ordering and notice if the service was different.  After a week, we chatted about it and discovered that we ALL actually got more filling in our sandwhiches and better customer service by simply using the attendants name.  HOW INTERESTING IS THAT?
   
  • Ever since that day, I make it a rule to ask peoples names and then use them.  If it's my Taxi driver, waitress, banker, etc.  You just wouldn't believe what people will do for you if you use their name....(try it out yourself - I'm not kidding...I'm living proof of the power of names).
     
• Is this review starting to get too long?  Well...I'll try to wrap it up but there is so much more I could say.  Any hoooo...There is an entire section on arguing and allowing people to think ideas are theirs.  Being a headstrong and loud person, I had major issues with this.  Heck, I love to argue for the sake of arguing.  After reading the book, I looked at arguing and other people's feelings with a much higher respect.  I also started to look back on arguments and discover whether I gained more by wining the argument or lost out by damaging a relationship.  Most times it was the latter, so I had to change my ways (booohooo - I do love to argue..)

• Being a Leader.  The book, How to Win Friends and Influence People, really helped me to understand leadership and how to gain respect.  I think that some people are born with the skills, but most of us need to learn them.  From the book, I was able to talk to people about their mistakes without hurting their feelings.  I also learned a wonderful, wonderful skill on giving people a reputation to live up to.  It will take me too long to explain, but WOW - if you want to influence people (for the better), that in itself is amazing.

Perhaps you wonder where I use these new skills?  To be honest, I use them on my Mom and Simon (hubby) the most, and the skills have enabled us to have a much stronger relationship.  I've also used these skills with my co-workers and ultimately I try to use them whenever I'm in the public domain.

How to Win Friends and Influence People is a short book - only 247 pages.  If you need help with your social skills, you want to influence people to work with you, or you just want more friends, read this book!

(Let me know what you think!!!!)

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My motivation for buying it?  I've often thought that we make our own luck and after realizing that the author was a doctor, I felt it would be interesting to hear what a professional thought about it...as opposed to a *self-help* guru.

Richard Wiesman is a psychologist over here in the UK and for the past 10 years he's been experimenting with the study of Luck and the psychology behind peoples perception of luck. 

I don't know about you, but I used to hear people from the corporate scene (and currently from my in-laws) say that self development doesn't work and it's just a bunch of namby-pamby crap.  Even if I went out and purchased a book as a gift because I knew it would help someone, they would often say 'thanks, but I don't believe in it' or 'Is this about the walking over hot coals stuff - I don't want it'.  (I always wondered how they didn't believe in something they didn't read, but heck, you can't help every one).

Richard Wiseman actually created tests, questionnaires and ways to scientifically prove that luck is made, not something that spontaneously happened.  Within the book he also proved that superstition doesn't hold any water in the slightest, which I thought was comforting.  (not that I'm going to go looking for ladders and walk under them...)

Wiseman had thousands upon thousands of participants enrol into his Luck study spanning 10 years.  The BBC helped along with countless newspapers and media all around the world.

Throughout the book there are 4 factors that Wiseman explains are our Luck principles.  The first principle is that lucky people maximise their chance opportunities - they create, notice and act upon the chance opportunities in their life, whereas unlucky people aren't open to see the opportunities.  And what he has proven (scientifically on graphs) is that lucky people build and maintain a strong network of luck, have a relaxed attitude about life and are open to new experiences in their life - UNLUCKY PEOPLE DO NOT DO THIS. (you'll have to read the book to get the other principles).

The information that Wiseman provides can be found in any self-development book and has been known for years upon years, HOWEVER I found this book fascinating because the author has actually proven that lucky people, or successful people, are lucky because they have better beliefs over their unlucky counterparts.

What's more interesting is that throughout the book, the author allows the reader to take the same tests and discover their luck factor.  Wherever the reader has a low score, Wiseman offers suggestions on how to change your beliefs and thus increase your luck.

This book changed me for the positive because although I already believed in the concepts, I believed due to experience and faith...Now, I can believe that optimism, the power of beliefs, etc. enhances your luck and it's scientifically proven....Strengthens the whole self-development case - doesn't it?  I'm going to try and give this to my father-in-law and see if he might read it...

Unfortunately, those of you in America will have to wait until March 23, 2004 to get the book off of Amazon, however you Brits can pick is up for only £4.89 at Amazon.co.uk...http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0099443244/moneyonlinere-21

(I bought it at a high street bookstore and spent £6.99 - I feel ripped off now!  I always thought that Amazon was slightly more expensive, but I've been proven wrong...)

Any way, get the book and give it to all those people that think luck is spontaneous...wouldn't it be great to watch someone realise that they actually DO make their own luck.

One of my property expert mentors gave me this book at a networking function.  She told me to keep the book as she has a box of them, so I assume she hands them out at her training events or to members of her website.  The point I want to make is - this is a book that is read by a very successful person AND must have made quite an impact on her as she hands them out!

On my way home, Simon (hubby) and I started to read the book while on our one-hour train journey out of London.  Within seconds we were both totally engaged and hungry for each new page.  Out of all the books I've read over the past few weeks, this tops the list.

Let me tell you a bit about it so that you can make up your mind on whether it's a book for you or not...

Mike Litman is a guy who interviews very successful people in the all sorts

The interviews include: 

• Jim Rohn - One of the most famous, if not the most famous, personal development guru's of all time.  This is the guy that trained Anthony Robbins, Mark Victor Hanson and many other's.
• Mark Victor Hanson - The multi-gazillionaire co-author of the Chicken Soup for the Soul series, Unlimited Riches, along with several other amazing books. 
• Wally 'Famous' Amous - The Chocolate Chip Cookie King
• Michael Gerber - Author of the E-Myth (entrepreneur-myth...this is another must read, if you haven't read it yet).
• Jim McCann - CEO of 1-800-Flowers.com
• Many more...

Since each chapter is a separate interview, you can easily pick up the book and read it anywhere at any time.  Also - each topic is different and interesting, so it's not one of those books that you get half way through and fail to pick it up again.

What did I learn from the book:

• Most importantly, I gained an insight into the mind-set of millionaires and was able to draw out what they do, what they read and how they think.  (My Point - if you're going to become a millionaire, it's much easier to model them, rather than reinventing the wheel through trial and error yourself...if you can think like a millionaire, that alone will increase your success rate!)
   
• The interviews enabled me to gather a list of over 10 books that the interviewee's recommended as their favorite and *life-changing* books.  Believe it or not, most of them put 'Think and Grow Rich' at the top of their list.  (Again, if you haven't read that book, it's one that you must put on your list!)
   
• The Millionaires suggested in every interview that we are rewarded for taking action - the universe rewards those who move!  Even if you make mistakes or take the wrong action, at first, you will learn more and more and start heading in the right direction sooner or later.  Those that don't try, get no where.
   
• Make plans, set goals and work out how you want your life to go.  If you don't do it, no one is going to do it for you.
   
• Many examples, point-by-point lists and rules for success,  prosperity and happiness were given.
   
• How to succeed, specifically in business - with an invaluable section from the author of Guerrilla Marketing.  Jay Conrad Levinson offers AMAZING marketing advice - AND stuff that is great for those of us that don't have money and need to promote products/services.

Overall, the book was inspirational, educational and totally incredible.  I've added it to my all-time-favorites list and urge to get it (even if you find it in your library).
 

Whether you need help with hitting your business, personal or financial targets, this book will definitely provide you with the tools to get you on your way!

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