Did you ever feel stuck? Unable to move forward or blocked?

Or did you make a New Year’s resolution to tackle a project that has been laying dormant for some time?

In her newest book, The 7 Secrets of the Prolific: The Definitive Guide to Overcoming Procrastination, Perfectionism, and Writer’s Block, Hillary Rettig tackles the issues of blockages, procrastination and perfectionism.

Even though this book is aimed at writers, I believe that the core information on procrastination, perfectionism, time management, and tempo apply to everyone out there, who are writers or not.

Procrastination

In the first chapter, the first of the book, Ms. Rettig gets right to business: procrastination is out there. And guess what? Laziness and lack of will power and symptoms of procrastination, or under-productivity, as she refers to it. They are not causes. So stop beating yourself up and learn to get beyond it! If you’re procrastinating, she shows you how to recognize it, get to the bottom of it, and move on.

The 7 Secrets of the Prolific

Another feature of the book is that the secrets touted on the cover are available in the first chapter. No digging around to find out what they are. And the differences between the under-productive and the prolific are highlighted, and a path drawn to show you how to get there

Did you know that if an under-productive person has too much noise in their environment, they are likely to try and ignore it? Prolific people will remove the distraction, either by removing themselves or eliminating the noise. Every barrier is dealt with quickly so the prolific can keep producing.

Perfectionism

It doesn’t matter why you may be a perfectionist, or in what areas. Perfectionism can paralyze you and keep you from doing anything.

In the second chapter, Ms. Rettig goes over various causes of perfectionism and how it plays out, and then gives an alternative that is gentler and easier to live with.

Time Management

The chapter on time management gives us a great method to find time to achieve our dreams. While it is geared at writing, these techniques can be applied to anything you want to achieve.  As she says,

“The purpose of time management isn’t to stuff as much as possible into your schedule, but to remove as much as possible from your schedule so you have time to get the important stuff done to a high degree of quality with as little stress as possible.”

This chapter on time management is worth the price of the book alone, simply because it tells you how to get to the point where you are getting the important stuff done with high quality and low stress.

Who doesn’t want less stress in their lives?

Summary

This book picked me up and shook me. I started working on my novel again, stalled because I was thinking I hadn’t plotted it right (perfectionist anyone?) I also began to finish a quilt that has been languishing for 4 years because I was afraid to do it wrong (again? perfectionism?)

While I read every book that I am asked to review, rarely do I find one that is so immediately and thoroughly applicable to my life.

If you are a writer, this book is an absolute must read.

If you’re not a writer, this books is still a read that should not be missed.

Book Information

Book:The 7 Secrets of the Prolific: The Definitive Guide to Overcoming Procrastination, Perfectionism, and Writer’s Block (Kindle)
Non-Kindle formats:Author’s Website
Author: Hillary Rettig
Publisher: Infinite Art
ASIN: B006J7BZ8E

Disclosure:

Hillary Rettig provided me with a free copy of the book enable me to write this review.

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What a concept: creating your life instead of just taking what comes. When I was offered a chance to review the new book by Louise Hay (You Can Heal Your Life) and Cheryl Richardson (Take Time for Your Life and Life Makeovers: 52 Practical & Inspiring Ways to Improve Your Life One Week at a Time), I was intrigued. These two women have written books that have caused me to re-assess where my life was; what would they do together?

I was not disappointed.

The book takes the form of documenting a series of interviews with Louise Hay being the interviewee and Cheryl Richardson being the interviewer. It walks through various scenarios, such as being present to where life is taking you, starting your day, living your day, dissolving bad habits, and “The End”.

Chapter One: Answer The Phone And Open The Mail In this chapter, Louise talks about how she got where she is today. In her mid-80s, she is strong and vibrant, but she has survived childhood abuse, her husband leaving her, cancer, and a host of other things. It wasn’t until she was in her 40s that she started growing spiritually, she says, and learned that changing thinking can change lives. In this chapter Louise talks about affirmations, and how she doesn’t do goals, but focuses instead on her mission: How can I help people?

Chapter Two: Becoming the Creator of an Exceptional Life. The thing that struck me the most about this chapter was Louise’s example of how she left a store and returned later because some of the salespeople were being really negative. By consciously choosing not to subject herself to that energy, she maintains her equanimity.

Chapter Three: How You Start Your Day Is How You Live Your Day We’ve all had bad mornings, and they generally lead to a bad day. In this chapter, Louise talks about things she does to make her mornings pleasant, and ensures a good day.

Chapter Four: How You Live Your Day Is How You Live Your Life Lives are made up of days. If you have good days, you’ll have a good life. The opposite is true as well.

Chapter Five: Don’t Break A Habit — Dissolve It! In this chapter both Cheryl and Louise talk about how changing their behavior changed a situation around them. Things that were habitual dissolved away under a new chosen attitude and action.

Chapter Six: The Beauty of Wisdom How wisdom can make us beautiful.

Chapter Seven: The End of the Movie Dealing with the end of life.

Summary of book

I thought this book was a great read. It is short, reads like a conversation and contains some great information. I’m not a great believer in affirmations, because it seems to me that if all you had to do was think something to make it be true, there would be no hunger, poverty or war. And we know that’s not the case. But there were parts where Louise explained the affirmation process a bit better (admitting that sometimes it seems like it must seem fake — except I can’t use her exact words on this family-friendly blog!). Affirmations are not about denial. They’re about focusing your attention.

I’m not a student of psychology, but I do know there is a phenomenon that has been studied – where once you decide to buy a certain type of car you see them all over the road. The same thing, I think, applies to affirmations. It brings the things that were there to our attention and lets us focus on them.

I did try some of the techniques in the book. What happened was I had smoother mornings, less stressful commutes, and less stress at certain times. It’s enough of a positive result that I will keep doing these things.

All in all, I was very pleased with this book. I recommend it to anyone who wants to decide which direction their life is going.

Book Information

Book: You Can Create An Exceptional Life

Author: Louise Hay and Cheryl Richardson

Publisher: Hay House

ISBN-13: 978-1401935382

Disclosure:

Hay House provided me with a free copy of the book enable me to write this review.

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When I am asked to review books, they are generally involved and complicated. It was truly delightful to be asked to review ABC Organization by Marie Calder Ricks.

Marie is a professional organizer, and teaches children how to organize. She understands how important it is to get our kids organized as young as possible. Her latest book, ABC Organization, is aimed at the preschool age child and goes over the basics of organization.

This book was a light and fun read. Although my daughter is older, she enjoyed looking at the pictures of the animals getting organized and cooperating.

Book Information

Book: ABC Organization
Author: Marie Calder Ricks
ISBN-13: 978-1463738051

Disclosure:

Marie Calder Ricks provided me with a copy of the electronic book proofs to enable me to write this review. I have received no books, nor will receive any affiliation fees for this review.

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Look for the interview with Paula Renaye, author of
The Hardline Self Help Handbook: What Are You Willing to Do to Get What You Really Want? on Monday 11 July 2011.

The Law of Attraction is all well and good, but it doesn’t work for everybody. Or most people, actually. But that doesn’t mean that the rest of us are out of luck. The methods of The Hardline Self Help Handbook by Paula Renaye can help you get through the stuff that is keeping you stuck and help you move into the future of your making.

I’ve always wanted there to be a magic wand to make my ideal life appear. But coming up through life the way I have, I also know that nothing worth having comes easy.

Many people will say “I’ll do anything to [have/do/be]…” But that isn’t the truth. They won’t do anything. And it is this limiting belief that helps keep them from reaching what they want.

What are you not willing to do? To counter the realization that there are some things you are not willing to do or give up, Paula asks you to list what you’re not willing to give up. In my case, I realized that the things I was not willing to give up were the choices I was making to keep in my life, and those choices have a cost. This cut some resentments I was starting to harbor off at the knees.

If it’s broken, fix it. This seems obvious, but how many things are broken in your life that you just put up with, knowing you will fix it some day? This can be anything from minor annoyances to the major stuff. In my case, I was inspired to take action to get my gutters cleaned, get the smudge of yogurt (?) off my side mirror and get a handle on my reading. Paula has you examine what is broken in your life

You become who your friends are. In this section, Paula examines the influence of people around you. We all have the Debbie Downers at work, those people who feel it is their job to whine and complain. I saw the affect of two of them first hand at work. Two people who had handed in their notice spent the last two weeks complaining about how bad the job was, etc. Everyone that wandered into their cube area started complaining as well. Paula gives some concrete strategies to deal with this.

Have you ever said “That Makes Me Sick!” Would you say it if it were really true? What about “you’re a pain in the neck?” Would you say that if you knew you would have real pains in the neck? We internalize our emotions, and they pop out in various ways in our bodies. Paula has you look at the mind and body connection.

Bite the bullet. Wouldn’t it be nice if we had, or could hear, a best friend who would really tell us what we needed to hear? Someone to tell us “life isn’t fair, get over it!” Sometimes we just need to hear the hard truth and get on with it. This list of bullets is a dose of cold water.

What is it you want? Once you get through the stuff that is keeping you stuck, you have to know what you are going for. And how exactly do you get it? Nothing substitutes for the hard work, but you can keep your dreams in front of you, reminding you where you are going with vision boards and vision scripts.

But what if I get stuck? Once you are on the right path, there are lots of techniques you can use to get unstuck. The list is a good starting place to get moving again.

So what can you do right now? Take some time and list five things that you are not willing to change about your life. Everything is on the table here. Consider if you are willing to give up a relationship, a home, where you live, what you do, everything. See if they answers shock you as they did me.

Book Information

Book: The Hardline Self Help Handbook
Author: Paula Renaye
Publisher: Diomo Books
ISBN-13: 978-0967478654

Disclosure:

Paula Renaye provided me with a free copy of the book through YP Publishing to enable me to write this review.

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It is always amazing to me that when I am having trouble in an area of my life, a teacher appears. Lately I’ve been struggling with my creativity. Having felt blocked for several months, I teetered near the edge of burn-out and began to loathe sitting down at the computer to write.

Out of the blue, an offer to review a new e-course, "Take Back Your Creativity" appeared in my inbox.

Sure, I fought it. "Another e-course? Who has the time! And they’re so hard to read, always needing to be on the computer." (whine, whine whine).

But when I opened the course, I was shocked to find that the course was offered in three formats: Kindle-ready ebook, screen-friendly and printer-ready. Plus all the bonus materials (interviews) were provided in PDF, Kindle and MP3 format. Talk about making it easy!

And the course material itself was written in a way that was exactly what I needed to hear.

Take Back Your Creativity, The E-Course

The book is divided into three sections: Integrating Your Daily and Creative Lives; Increasing Creative Output and Overcoming Creative Blocks.

Integrating Daily and Creative Lives

This section of the book deals with where to find the time to be creative. And the first step in finding time is to know where your time is going now.

I took the book’s advice and installed RescueTime, a free tool that tracks what I do on the computer. In spite of the fact that I am very productivity-motivated, I found that I spend a lot of time in email. A LOT of time. (Read: too much time). Disconnecting from the internet makes putting together the blog difficult, so I re-installed LeechBlock to give me the space I need to get away from the distractions.

One of the things I really liked about this first section is that she didn’t insist that you do a minute-by-minute time log. I’ve never been successful using that type of approach; rather the automation tools for the computer and an end-of-day log will do. She understood that we’re not trying to get lost in the detail of everything we’re doing, but rather find the general trends.

The rest of the module was how to get more time out of your schedule and how to inspire yourself to use the time you find. I have never been encouraged to make an inviting space for writing before; yet this idea resonated with me because my environment really does affect my writing output.

Increasing Creative Output

Let’s face it. Most of us don’t have large chunks of time when we can be creative. Michelle gives us ways to use bits of time very effectively.

The first technique is to find what she calls micro-actions. This method is about eating the elephant one bite at a time. Find some small things you can do, and list them out. Listing them out makes them much more likely to be acted on when you do have that bit of time. This was something new for me. I’ve heard of the concept, but I’ve never actually written the actions down. I find it amazingly effective, because I don’t have to do any thinking, just creating.

The rest of this module has so many techniques for getting things moving. They range from the practical (swipe files, timers) to attitude (the flow state) to ethereal (defining done) to counter-intuitive (increase output by increasing input).

This module is chock-full of prime techniques and ideas that are easy to implement. It’s like I was given a whole toolbox in one place; I can pick and choose what works.

Overcoming Blocks

When one thinks of blocks to creativity, it’s generally performance based: writer’s block and the like. But there are other blocks to creativity, from financial worries to self-talk to stalled projects. Each one of these is dealt with in turn, with a list of resources for further help.

One of the things I loved about this section is that it wasn’t linear. After talking about creative prompts, for example, Michelle adds in the related topic of working in a different medium. These tangential topics made me think in new ways about what was blocking me.

This book was the gentle nudge I needed to get going past my creative blocks. If you are a creative-type person (and I believe everyone is), and you feel stuck, I urge you to give this a try. It was an amazing shove in the right direction for me, and really helped me snap out of a slump that had lasted a few months.

Book: Take Back Your Creativity
Author: Michelle Nickolaisen, of Wicked Whimsy

Disclosure:

Michelle Nicokaisen, the author of the ebook, provided me with a free copy of the book enable me to write this review.

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The title had me. When the email came through asking me if I was interested in this book, I did a double-take. A book on cannibalism?

No. It turns out to be a book on entrepreneurs, and as the email explained, how productivity makes entrepreneurship possible.

So I started to read this oddly-titled book. It has twelve rules, laid forth in an orderly fashion, each one with a catchy phrase:

• If it doesn’t scale, it will get stale. Talking about how if prices comes down, new applications will pop up.
• Waste what’s abundant to make up for what’s scarce. I’m still grasping the theory on this one, and it keeps unfolding on me.
• When in doubt, get horizontal. Go for horizontal applications rather than vertical.
• Intelligence moves out to the edge of the network. Information is where the power is, and the fastest access to that information wins.
• Wealth comes from productivity; everything else is gravy. The more productive you are, the more you can do. And wealth will follow.
• Adapt to humans; don’t make them adapt to you. This is not about machines – but figuring out what the people using your product want next. Before they do.
• Be soylent — eat people. Get rid of people and replace them with machines.
• Markets make better decisions than managers. A long chapter to say what was already apparent to me after the advent and popularity of pet rocks.
• Embrace exceptionalism. These are the few who are “making” versus “taking” and paving the way to the future.
• By a market entrepreneur and attack political entrepreneurs. Political entrepreneur is someone who leverages political power to tax us for using their item. Market entrepreneurs go for the market.
• Use zero marginal cost to create a flood (or someone else will). Cheapest gets bought. Make sure you’re the cheapest.
• Create your own scarcity with a virtual pipe. Example: Apple and iTunes.

Summary of book

I would like to say that I enjoyed this book. But I was put off within the first 20 pages, and it took me multiple tries to get through it. It wasn’t the content. Some of his ideas were great. It was the way it was presented.

Mr. Kessler wrote an op/ed piece for the Wall Street Journal that appeared last week. I went out and read it, and at the time had generated 200+ comments. (See the article at the Wall Street Journal) I wasn’t surprised it had generated so many comments. He basically labeled pretty much everyone in the country who works with some unflattering title. Like “slimer” or “sponges” or “sloppers”.

Nice.

See, the thing is, I believe that we don’t need to add any more anger and venom to our world. It takes more skill to say something nicely; it doesn’t take talent to call people names. And honestly, those who do call people names end up looking like the children I see at my daughter’s playground.

In the introduction, there are five pages concerning Mr. Kessler’s reaction to a conversation he eavesdropped on while watching a basketball game. A conversation which nettled him so much he called a friend on the other side of the country (who was sleeping) to be calmed down.

He could have just minded his own business and saved him and us the aggravation.

Why do I bring this up? Because this type of chiding name-calling was peppered throughout the book, and it colored my ability to hear what he was saying.

In other words, his words were eclipsed by his taunts.

Oh, and just for the record, not everyone likes Tim Ferris.

OK, on to actually critiquing the content.

Replace people with machines? Hmm. Not everyone is made to be an entrepreneur. We are varied people with varied talents. If we are to do away with the service industry jobs and replace them with machines, well, what happens to all the people out there who are struggling to feed their families? Sure, we could teach them to assemble computers. But that doesn’t mean they’d be any good at it or be happy doing it.

For the most part, with the exception of the second rule (which I still cannot grasp, despite two readings; all I retain is he got someone drunk), these things are not earth-shattering or new. And they probably are the key to wealth. But what about the humanity? What about happiness? What about satisfaction?

Life isn’t about making wealth. Perhaps it is to some people, but not to me. And trampling over people and calling them names isn’t likely to make me subscribe to the idea.

Book Information

Book: Eat People: And Other Unapologetic Rules for Game-Changing Entrepreneurs
Author: Andy Kessler
Publisher: Portfolio/Penguin
ISBN-13: 978-1-59184-377-1

Disclosure:

Portfolio/Penguin, the publisher of this book, provided me with a free copy of the book enable me to write this review.

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Could you live with just 100 things?

If you were so fed up with consumerism, and how much we are pressured to acquire, would you react by going in the opposite direction?

Dave Bruno did.

The 100 Thing Challenge: How I Got Rid of Almost Everything, Remade My Life, and Regained My Soul details Dave Bruno’s rejection of consumerism and his quest to get away from the desire to consume and acquire that he felt was robbing him of his soul.

The book takes a rather meandering journey from where he was to how he made the decision to how it was implemented. He explains how he came to decide on 100, what the “rules” were, as well as how it affected his family. It also looks at people’s reactions.

One of the most interesting things I found about this book was the process he used to let go of some of the baggage of his past. The story of how he let go of the idea of building a model train layout hit particularly close to home, because living with a model train enthusiast, I understand how difficult this hobby is. Dave Bruno laid forth his honesty with himself and how much he felt lighter when he admitted he was never going to build the full-blown layout.

One idea, about a quarter through the book, gave me pause. It’s how as Americans we are constantly buying things that are not quite right, and how this fuels our quest for more. I thought about this as I looked around my office and reading area. Both are littered with tools that are not quite right – particularly my writing instruments and notebooks.

The 100 Thing Challenge has caught on. Many people have taken it and found profound shifts in their lives.

While I find the idea of downsizing intriguing, particularly as I look around my spaces, I don’t think I’m up for a 100 thing challenge. However, reading the book coincided with a Decluttering Challenge I took with a women’s group I belong to, and it added fuel to my enthusiasm. I was really honest as I purged my bookshelves. The books that I would not read again, or would never get to, went to be donated. I attribute that directly to reading The 100 Thing Challenge.

For those of you who have read this blog for a while, you know that I am not an advocate of radical anything. The same goes with possessions, either acquiring or ridding myself of them. But a gentler take on the 100 Thing Challenge I believe is worth thinking about. After all, what would you do if you didn’t have a “need” to buy things? Would you be able to leave your job and pursue something else? Live life on your own terms?

It’s worth thinking about. And a good place to start is by reading The 100 Thing Challenge.

Book Information

Book: The 100 Thing Challenge: How I Got Rid of Almost Everything, Remade My Life, and Regained My Soul
Author: Dave Bruno
ISBN: 978-0061787744

Disclosure:

Harper Collins, publisher of the book, provided me with a proof copy of the book enable me to write this review.

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If you have ever, like most people, tried to lose weight, you have probably struggled with it. And you may have wondered why. After all, in theory losing weight is easy: eat less, move more. It is the number one New Year’s resolution, yet most people can’t do it.

For most of us, it’s not just eating less and moving more. We all know that part. It’s all the other stuff that gets in the way: emotional eating, bad habits, not being able to listen to our bodies.

Marianne Williamson released a book called “A Course In Weight Loss: 21 Spiritual Lessons for Surrendering Your Weight Forever” that looks at these alternate reasons.

The book has 21 chapters, each focusing on a particular issue. The book is meant to be read in order, but I found myself going back and revisiting previous chapters as I read through it.

Each of the chapters asks you to do real work, be it getting through stuff that is causing you pain, to viewing yourself as sacred and worthy of health. Feelings, pain, and relationships with food and yourself are examined in detail.

Summary

I found this book to be a refreshing change from any “diet” book I have read. I don’t do well with severe restrictions or weird recipes. I am very aware of the bad habits I possess with relation to food, particularly stress eating.

While I don’t know that the book will lead to long-term weight loss for me, I do think it helped me clear away some of the emotional baggage that was blocking my creativity and feelings.

Book Information

Book: A Course In Weight Loss: 21 Spiritual Lessons for Surrendering Your Weight Forever
Author: Marianne Williamson
ISBN:978-1401921521

Disclosure:

Hay House, publisher of the book, provided me with a free copy of the book enable me to write this review.

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Wednesdays are simplicity days at SimpleProductivity blog.

Putting out a blog is a lot of work. And every day there are more articles out there about how I need to expand…into social media, other niches, other blogs…it’s really overwhelming to me.

Because like you, I have a life.

So when Rachel Meeks, author of Small Notebook (one of my favorite places to read about getting a handle on a crazy life), announced she had written a book on simplifying blogging, I was excited.

The bullet point said it all: “Don’t have 40 hours a week to spend on blogging? The Simple Blogging E-book helps you grow your blog with less time on the computer.” I don’t have 40 hours a week to spend, and I want to make the best use of the time I have, without being chained to my computer.

There is a lot of information out there on how to blog. This book is a concise summary of those techniques, aimed at the thousands of people out there blogging around their lives.

The ebook is broken down into 17 chapters. Each chapter is concise and to the point, covering a specific aspect of blogging and managing online time. At the end of each section is a set of questions to get you thinking.

Finding Your Purpose

Too often I see blogs that wander hither and yon, never settling. I’ve been guilty of it too, in my now-defunct sister blog. It takes up an amazing amount of energy if you don’t know what you are focusing on. This chapter takes you through the process of deciding what to focus on.

How To Write Faster and Better

The next two chapters focus on writing. Blogging is all about writing. But it can also be about procrastination and perfectionism. In this section, she talks about some tried-and-true strategies for making it easier to produce content. The number one thing I need to take away from this: editing. I’m not the best editor in the world, and I want to improve my writing, paring down the fluff to get to the true meat of what I am saying.

Better Design

It is really easy to get caught up in design. It is also really easy to use something that is truly awful. I speak from experience. In this chapter she talks about the basics of blog design and how to make it work for you.

Getting Attention, Building Community

A blog is nothing without readers. (Unless you intend for no one to read it). In this next chapter Rachel talks about how to (and not!) link up with readers and other bloggers. This includes the basics of good headlines, and how to comment (and deal with comments). I was reading this part as I got treated to a royal dose of abuse (thankfully caught by moderation), and it really helped me get past it.

Email Strategies

I can always find something to do on the blog, even if it is just responding to emails. Emails come in fast and furious. The email strategy section is a really good one, and applies to anyone, not just bloggers.

Time Management

Balancing activities means time management. This is no ordinary make-a-list and check-your-schedule section. It’s about momentum, expectations, where to cut back, and how moving ahead on something big is actually a great boost. I really took her section about paring down blog reading to heart, and I am able to keep up now.

Family

Families figure into blogs. They might be the subject of the blog, highlighted in a few posts, or just around when you are trying to write. Rachel gives strategies for all three of these. I took away the shifting priorities. Coming off of NaNoWriMo, I have a hard time putting my family in front of my writing.

Success and Taking Breaks

One of the behind-the-scenes blogging activities involves checking the various statistics to see how the blog — and you — are doing. This chapter deals with how to look at statistics without being obsessed.

And following on the obsession topic, she follows with how to take a break. I decided last year to take week-long breaks (there will be one coming up here soon), but I always have content to cover it. She was brave enough to walk away for a month and gained some insight and perspective.

The Stories

The last section is stories from successful bloggers in various niches.

Summary

I realized after reading this book that there is a need in the world for information on how to blog in the way that most people blog. That is after hours, in free moments, sandwiching it in with family and work.

While I love other courses I have toted on this blog, Simple Blogging made me see that these might not be the place to start for the beginning blogger.

I liked the tone of this book, as well as the organization and information provided. I wish it had been around when I started blogging.

If you are interested in starting a blog, or want to get better at blogging, give this book a try. It’s very good.

Book Information

Book: Simple Blogging
Author: Rachel Meeks

Disclosure:

Rachel Meeks, the author of the ebook, provided me with a free copy of the book enable me to write this review.

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Fridays are tip days at SimpleProductivity blog.

Tossing away possessions, limiting spending and decluttering your scheduled are great first steps when it comes to simplifying your life. Dozens of books have been written on similar outward changes aimed at making life less complicated. The problem with outside simplicity is that our lives can still be overly complicated.

Joshua Becker’s new book, Inside Out Simplicity talks about how to make a more profound and lasting change by simplifying from the inside out. This ebook shares about making changes to our inner selves that can result in lasting simplicity.

Benefit to Reader

Inside Out Simplicity takes you through the various areas of our lives that can benefit from simplicity. It gives succinct instructions on areas to think about and focus on to give yourself lasting change.

Essential Information

• Title: Inside Out Simplicity
• Author: Joshua Becker
• Copyright: 2010
• Format: downloadable ebook Buy Now!

It’s All About Relationships

One of the reasons people fail to make lasting changes when they simplify their lives is because they are just moving stuff around. In order to make a lasting change, you have to change your relationship to the stuff. After all, getting rid of widgets isn’t going to make much of a difference if they are replaced with other widgets.

The book talks about various relationships, and how changing these relationships have a profound impact on the level of simplicity in your life. But topping the list is not our relationship with stuff. It’s our relationship with ourselves. Many people (myself included) will try to buy things to make themselves feel different. I am always convinced I will write more if I find the perfect pen, for example. So until I address the relationship and reality I have with myself and writing, I will continue to buy pens, even though in the back of my head I know it will make no difference.

The book walks you through a series of relationships, from ourselves to others to our family member and finally onto our stuff. From there the book goes into other areas that matter: words, sexuality and spirituality.

Not for People Seeking Fluff or Quick Fixes

I admire the material put forth in this book, because it cuts to the bottom line of making lasting change in our lives without being preachy. But the material in the book is not for those looking for a quick fix. The foundations of lasting change take hard work, and a willingness to look deeply at ourselves.

Simplicity in the Book

The book itself is a showcase of simplicity. The words are to the point, yet gentle and understanding. In fact, Joshua Becker makes a point of saying at the front of the book that he is not perfect, that he doesn’t believe he is superior to anyone, that it is not too difficult, and that he expects disagreement. That’s a pretty big admission from an author, if you think about it.

He then goes on to explain what simplicity is, and how it runs counter to our modern culture. Yet during this section, and the whole book, he lays out his conclusions backed with his logic. Straightforward and plain spoken, and simple.

If you are interested in truly making your life simpler, and not just getting rid of stuff, I urge you to buy and read this book. You have nothing to lose — it comes with a 90-day money back guarantee.

The book takes a slant on simplicity I have seen in no other book, while remaining achievable. Read the book, take some time to think and apply some small changes, and you will find yourself on a path to a simpler life.

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