Self-Control in Seven Steps
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2.0 • 2 Ratings
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- $1.99
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- $1.99
Publisher Description
When you want to get up for an early flight, what do you do? You set an alarm. If you want to benchpress your body weight, how do you start? You slowly build up your muscles so you can achieve your goal. And when you’ve got a big deadline looming, what’s the best way to handle it? Plan out your time.
If you’re like most people, you know all these things are true, but at some point or another, you’ve dropped the ball: You’ve missed a flight because you cut it too close, you’ve overestimated what you can physically do, hurting yourself in the process, or you’ve tried to cram in a month’s worth of work into a frantic forty-eight-hour panic fest. Yes?
You’re not alone. Even Aristotle knew this when he said, “I count him braver who overcomes his desires than him who conquers his enemies; for the hardest victory is over self.”
You want the secret to success. You want to take control of your life and achieve your goals. We all do. Since research has repeatedly shown that self-control is like a muscle, think of this book as your personal trainer to build up your skills and strength. Self-Control in 7 Steps offers the proven mental tricks, organizational strategies, and tools to transform the bored, unfocused, and lazy in all of us.
Customer Reviews
Generously Average
I'll preface this review by stating that I decided to buy this book after a particularly horrible series of life events over a relatively short time period which made mush of my prior life habits. The deaths of both parents and a brother, three major surgeries, and a broken back all left me physically and emotionally worn, and so I unconsciously settled into bad habits to cope. I frequently found myself yielding to the moment rather than planning for the next. Now that those poor habits I created are "on-conscious," I've found those bad habits inexplicably difficult to kick. Hence, I needed a booster.
This book wasn't it.
The author prefaced her book by stating she had culled her material from other writers' work. That borrowing was evident, but it never felt as if she took any of that prior material in a direction that warranted this particular self-help effort. Those other writers left a veritable stew for reader consumption, and she simply ladled out a serving. I could have accepted that serving as a helpful condensation of those earlier efforts but for one annoying trait woven throughout this eBook: Her tendency to promote her website. Every 48th word directed the reader to her website to get more information or to download a list, or...whatever. My hope was this: Here's a little gem to take along with me to aid and abet my desire to resurrect my prior self as I refer to its hints and tips throughout the day...BUT WAIT!!! I can't, because part of what I would need (according to the eBook) is on a blasted website, and I may not be in a wifi area!
Second critique: I couldn't relate. Nearly every anecdote was about some twenty-something having trouble getting the grades or landing a job. Oh, there was a weight-loss anecdote tossed in toward the end with no obvious age given; but by then, I felt I was getting through this book, rather than it getting through to me. I can't recall the book's description stating this was geared toward the hopefulness of youth, but the final product sure didn't appeal to the 40-year-old who has lived an entirely different set of life events. Rationally, I suppose the life event doesn't matter -- when one loses focus, it doesn't matter whether one needs help due to grades or (in my case) the after-effects of surgery for a brain aneurysm. However, I would have felt the book was more evenly geared to a wider population (and thus more relevant to me) had more of the author's subject material included permanent, life-altering events.
On a positive note, I did highlight a few of the books to which the author referred. I will probably seek those out. My wild ride began 8 years ago; my last major event was 18 months ago when my mother passed. I have to stop the excuses and get myself back on track. Alas, this won't be the book to get me there.