Rating: Summary: bland Review: perhaps it's the fact that the author who narrates her own book has a very monotone, flat voice--this is the disadvantage to an audiobook--you have the voice and tone qualities to factor in also--which isn't entirely fair. i found it bland and heard my mind replying "yeah, but we know that--that's why i bought the book!" anyway, there is a man who asks her questions and she responds--audio interview format--
Rating: Summary: "The Mass of Men Lead Lives of Quiet Desparation" Review: So wrote Henry David Thoreau in the classic "Walden." After reading Marsha Sinetar's book, you will understand why. Most people, for a variety of reasons, have been schooled away from listening to their "inner voice," which is there to guide us in the discovery of our inate talents and interests. This is the basis upon which we should be engaging in our "Right Livlihood," a Buddhist term to describe the work that we were destined to do, which is more than just earning a paycheck, but is fulfilling in a Maslow "self-actualization sense," and is in service to humankind. Ms. Sinetar's masterpiece is written from the perspective of someone who has looked within themselves and has asked themselves the tough questions about the quality of life they are living. She posits that to ignore that inner longing is to basically live in denial, and untrue to yourself. This incongruity, she argues, is the root of a great deal of dissatisfaction that people have with their lives. Hence the admonition, "to thine own self be true," which is the antithesis of the quote from Thoreau. This book was instrumental for me during a period of major depression that I was experiencing, that I credit it completely in helping me "find my way back," onto my unique path. Space prohibits me from sharing any details, but I will happily correspond anyone who feels that they are in the middle of a midlife, or carerr crisis. But first, buy this book, heed its admonitions, and prepare for a major change in your life!
Rating: Summary: Good For Starting Review: This is a good book when you're trying to get the inspiration or courage to change. It's very spiritual and "pick me up" which is something everyone needs before they take action. That said, this book won't really help you in developing a plan of action towards that goal. If you want that, try Barbara Sher or Zig Ziglar or Tony Robbins.
Rating: Summary: Little Book, Big Impact Review: Why don't we do what we really love. Why do most of us choose 'the bird in the hand' over the 'many in the bush'. Sometimes, it has little or nothing to do with money. Maybe it has to do with something internal to ourselves- our fear of failure, or the unknown or rejection. In short, we need to question ourselves as to why we do what we do.
The simple and short answer for most people is money. Whatever it is that we currently do either pays the bills, pays the most, or is what we felt at some point in time was the most, if not the best, we could get. It has nothing to do with our likes, our desires or our talents. Many people fall into a situation one way or another, or are lured into something by hook or by crook. Ask yourself if something like this even remotely applies to you:
You spend your entire life judging your own worth based on the opinions of those you look up to, hold in high esteem/regard, and yet they have absolutely no respect for you, your ideas, your perspective, or even you as a human being. You spend a great deal of time doing things for the benefit of others, yet you yourself do not reap any of the benefits or rewards.
You do what others tell you to do, and get only what they think you deserve, and not what you want, or more importantly, need. They could care less about your wants, or your needs, and all that matters to them is that they get what they want from you.
You stay in toxic, hostile, life-draining situations out of fear, because you do not know what to do next, or because this is what you know, this is what is secure, and take the paycheck (always with a large serving of abuse), only to end up at the mercy of those who, quite literally, could not give two s---s about you.
If it does, then Do What You Love is required reading for you.
Marsha Sinetar's book, Do What You Love, The Money Will Follow seeks to answer the inter-related questions why we do what we do and why we do not do what we love by going deeper than the superficial reasons almost always given as answers to these questions. Too many people have missed the point of this book, which is unfortunate. Many readers and more than a few reviewers are too caught up on the money side of the proposition. Others see it as a choice between love with poverty and hate with plenty. Ms. Sinetar states right in the beginning that the money may not materialize immediately, and maybe not at all. For those of us who were not born with a strong character, it takes real courage to act on what we value. Those that are truly successful achieve not only because they love what they do and are good at what they do, they consistently achieve great things because they have the courage to act on their convictions.
Which in the end is what this book is really all about- having the courage to act on one's convictions. The true purpose of the book is to force those of us who know what we love to do to look inward, and ask some very tough questions of ourselves. Why are we doing this, and why aren't we doing what we love? Only we can answer these questions for ourselves, and no book is going to have the answers for us, for each one of us is unique in experience. This book helps the reader to uncover those hidden barriers, which may be psychological or spiritual or both, that prevent us from acting on our convictions and doing what we love.
The book assumes from the outset that you the reader know what your right livelihood is. This can be an important drawback for many readers that are still searching for their right livelihood. Essentially, the book delves into what prevents many of us from doing what we love. More often than not, the thing keeping us from doing the work we love is internal to ourselves, though in more than a few cases, very real physical and external barriers prevent us from pursuing our right livelihood. The book really stresses getting to know yourself before getting busy, or as was often said in 1970s, getting down. As an aside, it really helps if you are preferably young, single, used to a low overhead, not obligated to support one or more dependents, and finally and most important, not encumbered in some kind of co-dependent relationship. And the rest of you can still get something out of the book, though it will be much more difficult (but not impossible) to implement its lessons.
In short, this book forces us to think. It asks us to ponder some difficult issues- where we have been, where we are now, where we would like to be, and where we will end up if we continue our past and present behavior, and how best to determine what it will take to get us where we would like to be.
Those who read this book and are still concerned about the money issue should read 'Your Money Or Your Life' by Julie Dacyzyn and the late Joe Dominguez in conjunction with this book. In any case, please do not take this book to an extreme. Before you make the plunge, do a little planning. The more planning you do, before you take the plunge, the better.
A more appropriate title for this book is: Do What You Love and the Rewards Will Come. Money is but one of the rewards.
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