Rating: 
Summary: For the career person
Review: This book wasn't for me. I am a 30 year old stay at home mom and I was looking for something to help me get the courage to go after my dreams. But, instead, I only felt like it was geared toward those looking to be more successful in the working world. I work (hard) just not outside the home. But if you are stuck in a dead end job, with your life on hold, this could be the book for you. I always thought Dr. Phil was awesome in his no nonsense approach, and this book is no exception. He cuts to the chase in saying that what matters now is what you are going to do with your life presently. I gave it 3 stars because it didn't help me personally, but for someone else it might.
Rating: 
Summary: A Must-Read!
Review: Phillip C. McGraw, Ph.D., better known to Oprah Winfrey fans as Dr. Phil, has popped out a refreshingly in-your-face contribution to the self-help genre that doesn't beat around the bush. You will not be asked to commune with your inner child or vent your anger and pain. Instead, Life Strategies is a prescription for action, complete with stories, including about Oprah. Each chapter contains at least one writing assignment, designed to stimulate honest inquiry and to challenge even your most basic assumptions. These culminate in a meticulously detailed set of instructions for creating your life strategy. Organized self-starters will love the lists and matrices, but even readers who don't plunge into the assignments will gain fresh insights into their behavior. We from getAbstract prescribe this bouncy book to anyone seeking a step-by-step plan for self-assessment and realistic life change. Cynics need not apply.
Rating:
Summary: The book was ok, but how do i get tickets to his show!?
Review: Although I'm a huge fan of Oprah and Dr. Phil, having purchased this book, I can safely say, tough love only works when Dr. Phil is present. I read the book, did all the exercies and still found myself absolutely depressed. It wasn't until I started therapy that I could safely put Dr. Phil's advice into my own perspective. It's not that Dr. Phil isn't a good writer, or that his exercises don't help, it's just hard to make a true impact from the written word. Worth a read, but my advice, save the bucks and see a counselor instead.
Rating:
Summary: Be Honest With Yourself
Review: There is so little time and so many things to do in life. Dr. Phil helps you cut through the clutter and focus on what you really want out of the journey. Straightforward, direct, thoughtful, truthful and sincere are a few of the words to describe his approach. He doesn't candy coat is words but he does hold your hand and lead you through the tough questions that can help you do what works and what matters just as the title promises. Take the time to work through this book -- you won't be sorry.I liked this book so much I included it in the suggested reading list of my own book titled Rat Race Relaxer: Your Potential & The Maze of Life.
Rating: 
Summary: Procedures Rule OK!
Review: Amongst the many ways we decide how to interact with the world around us is a pattern called "options and procedures". Options people, "free spirits", hate procedures - detailed lists of instructions - unless they are creating such a list for someone else. By the same token, a strongly options person is almost pathalogically incapable of following any set of instructions or rule "to the letter". They just "must" customise it in some way (that's if they don't junk it completely). So guess what, if this description sounds at all like you, there's very little chance that you'll even finish reading this book, let alone find it useful. HOWEVER If you're a "procedures" person - someone who loves to run their life according to various sets of rules, someone who can actually feel nauseous at the very thought of abandoning their daily routine, no matter how good the cause - then you'll probably find this book is entirely consistent with your view of how life ought to be. If you think I'm over simplifying things, just read some of the previous reviews, especially where people specify what they think is good or bad about the book. Oh, just one other thing - just because someone tells you that life can be summed up in ten short rules doesn't make it so. Believe me? Avoid the book.
Don't believe me? You'll love it.
Rating:
Summary: A "Tool Box" for Living
Review: This is the first of several books in which McGraw introduces essentially the same core concepts which inform and direct his presentation of material in Relationship Rescue: A Seven-Step Strategy for Reconnecting with Your Partner and the most recently published Self Matters: Creating Yourself from the Inside Out. In our personal lives as in our workplace situations, I believe that strategies function as "hammers" and tactics function as "nails." Moreover, to extend these metaphors by adding a third, each of us needs a "tool box" to solve problems. The more and better "tools" we have available, and the more adept we are when using any of them, the more effective we will be. But if the only tool we have is a hammer, every problem looks like a nail. If we have only one strategy....You get the idea. In this volume, McGraw identifies what he calls the "Ten Laws of Life." In his opinion, each is a reality which we deny or ignore at our peril. He suggests a specific strategy by which to cope with each of the ten "laws." For example: Life Law #4: You cannot change what you do not acknowledge. Strategy: Get real with yourself and everybody in it. Comment: Words are very important. Note that McGraw uses the word "acknowledge" rather than "recognize," "understand," "accept," etc. How many times have you cited a painful reality inorder to help someone else solve a problem of some kind, only to be told "I know...I know..."? Unless and until that person "gets real," the problem will remain and probably become worse. Here is another example: Life Law #5: Life rewards action. Strategy: Make careful decisions and then pull the trigger. I am reminded of the fact that Dante reserved the last and worst ring in Hell for those who, in a moral crisis, preserved their neutrality. We almost never have all the information we need nor enough time to prepare to make a decision, especially in a crisis. (The Chinese word for "crisis" has two meanings: peril and opportunity.) McGraw's proposed strategy is proactive. His use of the word "careful" implies prudence. But at some point, we must "pull the trigger": DO THE VERY BEST WE CAN in the given circumstances. This book's subtitle places appropriate emphasis on practicality and value. In this book and in his others, McGraw offers no-nonsense advice to help others become most effective when undertaking initiatives of greatest importance to them. He seems to agree with Bossidy and Charan's primary assertions in Execution: The Discipline of Getting results. Each of the strategies which McGraw proposes requires self-discipline to achieve the desired "results." Consider: Life Law #3: People do what works. Strategy: Identify the payoffs that drive your behavior and that of others. Comment: It is often said that people fear change. I disagree. I think what they fear is the unknown. The most effective change agents are those who help others to understand the proposed change and (more importantly) to understand why it will be of substantial benefit to them. Stated another way, the most effective change agents nourish rather than threaten others' self-interests. Earlier in this review, I presumed to suggest some metaphors (i.e. hammer, nail, tool box) which seem to me relevant to McGraw's purposes. Now I ask you pretend that you have entered McGraw's Hardware Store. He greets you at the door. You indicate that you have all manner of questions to answer...all manner of problems to solve...and need some help. "Let me show you what I have," he replies. For the next hour or so, he takes you on a personal tour of his store, explaining along the way what is available, what the functions and features of various items are, which skills are required, and finally, how and why the items could be helpful to your needs. Which items do you add to your personal tool box? That is for you to decide. How carefully and conscientiously will you then use your "hammers," "nails," and other "tools"? Again, that is up to you. With the force of his personality and his "straight talk," McGraw has done just about all he can. The rest is up to you. It really cannot be otherwise, can it? Those who share my high regard for this book are urged to read McGraw's previously mentioned works. To business executives, I also highly recommend David Maister's Practice What You Preach: What Managers Must Do to Create a High-Achievement Culture and David Whyte's The Heart Aroused: Poetry and the Preservation of the Soul in Corporate America. However phrased, the "laws" which McGraw discusses are at least as important in the business world as they are in all other areas of human experience.
Rating:
Summary: Give it a Chance
Review: I am not the type that normally shops in the self-help section. I always thought of self-help books as telling people what they already knew or should have known. Weak people who want to read a book that tells them its not their fault shop in that section, or so I thought.
When my girlfriend (who I mistakenly thought was "the one") sent me packing, I was willing to try anything to find guidance. I wasn't sure who had the answers I was seeking but I figured that I shouldn't put too much emphasis on the advice of my 20 to 25 year old, single friends. Then I remembered back to one of the arguments that my ex and I had: I was bashing ... and Dr. Phil (with no real basis for my remarks) for feeding on needy soccer moms by offering cheesy advice in an attempt to get rich. Well just to prove to myself that I hadn't ruled anything out... I tried reading one of his books for thoughts on relationships. It didn't help me win her back, but it helped me deal with the collapse of the relationship (especially his comments about a relationship not working unless both people have to want it).
I am now reading Life Strategies not in search of enlightenment but just as a bit of a compass by which to guide some of my decisions as I am in a particularly turbulent stage in my life. Its more helpful than I ever imagined. So to sum up: give it a chance, what have you got to lose?... There has to be at least something worthwhile in it for it to be this popular right?
Rating:
Summary: Not what I thought
Review: This book had a lot more bio on Dr. Phil than I wanted. It also seemed to skirt the issues in each chapter, instead of getting down to real nitty gritty advice. I expected more, and was disappointed. I really like Dr. Phil, with his "down to earth" "tell it like it is" advice, but this book fell short.
Rating:
Summary: Too complex
Review: If you have a feeling that you are not living the life you should, I would caution you that this may not be the book to help you. Dr. Phil's ten life laws make sense and seem mostly self-evident. His ten life laws can be considered specific examples of behavior that leads to positive or desirable outcomes. It's not clear to me that these are the ten most important life laws. The life laws and accompanying discussion are interesting, and most readers will find more than a few useful ideas for self-improvement in this portion of the book. In contrast, when Dr. Phil moves towards asking the reader to complete in-depth self surveys, the books disappoints. After completing very extensive written self-interviews, the reader is left to transform pages of written text into an action plan for self-improvement. The problem is that Dr. Phil says little about transforming this "tour of your life" into actionable goals. Having actually completed all the exercises in this book, I did not find any additional clarity about my own life. I believe a few simple questions could take the place of Dr. Phil's in-depth interview process (e.g., What are your dreams? What are you hungry for?) I would not recommend using this book to gain clarity about your life or for developing a plan to improve your life.
Rating:
Summary: Worth a Look
Review: If you are even thinking of buying a book like this then you are likely feeling that you may want more from life. This book is but one of many like it but I would like to encourage you to try it, Why? It is consise, and it is based in a world I feel many of us live in. We can do this work and it will help us, but only If we apply it to our lives. I have found that no one self help book can be all things to all people. I have also found that if self help were easy, everybody would be doing it, and many are not. If you are looking for an esotericly written book with a new fangled, no work, pie in the sky, Fairy God Mother tap-you-on-the-nose-with-her-wand solution, that causes you to walk away a perfect, new, shiny being from, this is not the book you are looking for. In fact, that book will be a long time in coming. This advice is not cookie cutter, you have to apply all advice to your life. Nothing is ever be all and end all. You have to make it fit the ways that are uniquely you. Take what you need and leave the rest. Your Choice. Put your open minded thinking cap on and give this book a chance. You won't be out much. In fact, you may come out ahead. Or, you can spend a long time and a lot of money with a counselor. Your choice. They will tell you the same thing. If you get but one thing out of this book at this price, you got away cheap.
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