Search This Blog

Showing posts with label Self-development. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Self-development. Show all posts

Friday, August 12, 2011

The Element: How Finding Your Passion Changes Everything

Robinson (Out of Our Minds), renowned in the areas of creativity development, innovation and human resources, tackles the challenge of determining and pursuing work that is aligned with individual talents and passions to achieve well-being and success. The element is what he identifies as the point where the activities individuals enjoy and are naturally good at come together. Offering a wide range of stories about the creative journeys of different people with diverse paths to the element—including Paul McCartney, The Alchemist author Paulo Coelho, and Vidal Sassoon as well as lesser-known examples—he demonstrates a rich vision of human ability and creativity. Covering such topics as the power of creativity, circles of influence, and attitude and aptitude, the author emphasizes the importance of nurturing talent along with developing an understanding of how talent expresses itself differently in every individual. Robinson emphasizes the importance of mentors and reforming and transforming education, making a convincing argument bolstered by solid strategies for honing creativity. Motivating and persuasive, this entertaining and inspiring book will appeal to a wide audience.


Wednesday, August 3, 2011

Where Good Ideas Come From: The Natural History of Innovation

Johnson--writer, Web guru, and bestselling author of Everything Bad Is Good for You--delivers a sweeping look at innovation spanning nearly the whole of human history. What sparks our great ideas? Johnson breaks down the cultural, biological, and environmental fuel into seven broad "patterns," each packed with diverse, at times almost disjointed anecdotes that Johnson synthesizes into a recipe for success. A section on "slow hunches" captivates, taking readers from the FBI's work on 9/11 to Google's development of Google News. A section on error takes us through a litany of accidental innovations, including the one that eventually led to the invention of the computer. "Being right keeps you in place," Johnson reminds us. "eing wrong forces us to explore." It's eye-opening stuff--although it does require an investment from the reader. But as fans of the author's previous work know, an investment in Johnson pays off, and those who stick with the author as he meanders through an occasional intellectual digression will come away enlightened and entertained, and with something perhaps even more useful--how to recognize the conditions that could spark their own creativity and innovation. Another mind-opening work from the author of Mind Wide Open.

Friday, July 15, 2011

The War of Art: Break Through the Blocks and Win Your Inner Creative Battles

Drawing on his many years' experience as a writer, Pressfield (The Legend of Bagger Vance) presents his first nonfiction work, which aims to inspire other writers, artists, musicians, or anyone else attempting to channel his or her creative energies. The focus is on combating resistance and living the destiny that Pressfield believes is gifted to each person by an all-powerful deity. While certainly of great value to frustrated writers struggling with writer's block, Pressfield's highly personal philosophy, soundly rooted in his own significant life challenges, has merit for anyone frustrated in fulfilling his or her life purpose. Successful photographer Ulrich (photography chair, Art Inst. of Boston; coeditor, The Visualization Manual) explores the creative impulse and presents an approach to developing creativity that, like Pressfield's, will be relevant to artists and others. He identifies and explains seven distinct stages of the creative process: discovery and encounter, passion and commitment, crisis and creative frustration, retreat and withdrawal, epiphany and insight, discipline and completion, and responsibility and release. He also develops his view of the three principles of the creative impulse, which include creative courage, being in the right place at the right time, and deepening connections with others. Rooted in Eastern philosophy, Ulrich's fully developed treatise nicely updates the solid works of Brewster Ghiselin (The Creative Process), Rollo May (The Courage To Create), and Julia Cameron (The Artist's Way). It also supplements Pressfield's inspirational thoughts on overcoming resistance through introspective questions and practical exercises that further elaborate the creative process. Both books are recommended for public libraries needing additional works on creativity.

Download Link

Thursday, July 14, 2011

The Road Less Traveled : A New Psychology of Love, Traditional Values and Spiritual Growth

Psychotherapy is all things to all people in this mega-selling pop-psychology watershed, which features a new introduction by the author in this 25th anniversary edition. His agenda in this tome, which was first published in 1978 but didn't become a bestseller until 1983, is to reconcile the psychoanalytic tradition with the conflicting cultural currents roiling the 70s. In the spirit of Me-Decade individualism and libertinism, he celebrates self-actualization as life's highest purpose and flirts with the notions of open marriage and therapeutic sex between patient and analyst. But because he is attuned to the nascent conservative backlash against the therapeutic worldview, Peck also cites Gospel passages, recruits psychotherapy to the cause of traditional religion (he even convinces a patient to sign up for divinity school) and insists that problems must be overcome through suffering, discipline and hard work (with a therapist.) Often departing from the cerebral and rationalistic bent of Freudian discourse for a mystical, Jungian tone more compatible with New Age spirituality, Peck writes of psychotherapy as an exercise in "love" and "spiritual growth," asserts that "our unconscious is God" and affirms his belief in miracles, reincarnation and telepathy. Peck's synthesis of such clashing elements (he even throws in a little thermodynamics) is held together by a warm and lucid discussion of psychiatric principles and moving accounts of his own patients' struggles and breakthroughs. Harmonizing psychoanalysis and spirituality, Christ and Buddha, Calvinist work ethic and interminable talking cures, this book is a touchstone of our contemporary religio-therapeutic culture.

Monday, July 11, 2011

StrengthsFinder 2.0

Do you have the opportunity to do what you do best every day?

Chances are, you don't. All too often, our natural talents go untapped. From the cradle to the cubicle, we devote more time to fixing our shortcomings than to developing our strengths.

To help people uncover their talents, Gallup introduced the first version of its online assessment, StrengthsFinder, in 2001 which ignited a global conversation and helped millions to discover their top five talents.

In its latest national bestseller, StrengthsFinder 2.0, Gallup unveils the new and improved version of its popular assessment, language of 34 themes, and much more (see below for details). While you can read this book in one sitting, you'll use it as a reference for decades.

Loaded with hundreds of strategies for applying your strengths, this new book and accompanying website will change the way you look at yourself -- and the world around you -- forever.

AVAILABLE EXCLUSIVELY IN STRENGTHSFINDER 2.0

(using the unique access code included with each book)

* A new and upgraded edition of the StrengthsFinder assessment

* A personalized Strengths Discovery and Action-Planning Guide for applying your strengths in the next week, month, and year

* A more customized version of your top five theme report

* 50 Ideas for Action (10 strategies for building on each of your top five themes)

Download (ePub for iPhone)

How the Mind Works

MIT's Pinker, who received considerable acclaim for The Language Instinct (LJ 2/1/94), turns his attention to how the mind functions and how and why it evolved as it did. The author relies primarily on the computational theory of mind and the theory of the natural selection of replicators to explain how the mind perceives, reasons, interacts socially, experiences varied emotions, creates, and philosophizes. Drawing upon theory and research from a variety of disciplines (most notably cognitive science and evolutionary biology) and using the principle of "reverse-engineering," Pinker speculates on what the mind was designed to do and how it has evolved into a system of "psychological faculties or mental modules." His latest book is extraordinarily ambitious, often complex, occasionally tedious, frequently entertaining, and consistently challenging.

Why do fools fall in love? Why does a man's annual salary, on average, increase $600 with each inch of his height? When a crack dealer guns down a rival, how is he just like Alexander Hamilton, whose face is on the ten-dollar bill? How do optical illusions function as windows on the human soul? Cheerful, cheeky, occasionally outrageous MIT psychologist Steven Pinker answers all of the above and more in his marvelously fun, awesomely informative survey of modern brain science. Pinker argues that Darwin plus canny computer programs are the key to understanding ourselves--but he also throws in apt references to Star Trek, Star Wars, The Far Side, history, literature, W. C. Fields, Mozart, Marilyn Monroe, surrealism, experimental psychology, and Moulay Ismail the Bloodthirsty and his 888 children. If How the Mind Works were a rock show, tickets would be scalped for $100. This book deserved its spot as Number One on bestseller lists. It belongs on a short shelf alongside such classics as Darwin's Dangerous Idea: Evolution and the Meanings of Life, by Daniel C. Dennett, and The Moral Animal: Why We Are the Way We Are: The New Science of Evolutionary Psychology, by Robert Wright. Pinker's startling ideas pop out as dramatically as those hidden pictures in a Magic Eye 3D stereogram poster, which he also explains in brilliantly lucid prose.

Download Link

Tuesday, July 5, 2011

The Six Pillars of Self-Esteem: The Definitive Work on Self-Esteem by the Leading Pioneer in the Field

Nathaniel Branden's book is the culmination of a lifetime of clinical practice and study, already hailed in its hardcover edition as a classic and the most significant work on the topic. Immense in scope and vision and filled with insight into human motivation and behavior, The Six Pillars Of Self-Esteem is essential reading for anyone with a personal or professional interest in self-esteem. The book demonstrates compellingly why self-esteem is basic to psychological health, achievement, personal happiness, and positive relationships. Branden introduces the six pillars-six action-based practices for daily living that provide the foundation for self-esteem-and explores the central importance of self-esteem in five areas: the workplace, parenting, education, psychotherapy, and the culture at large. The work provides concrete guidelines for teachers, parents, managers, and therapists who are responsible for developing the self-esteem of others. And it shows why-in today's chaotic and competitive world-self-esteem is fundamental to our personal and professional power.

Tuesday, April 12, 2011

The Art of Changing the Brain: Enriching the Practice of Teaching by Exploring the Biology of Learning

Neuroscience tells us that the products of the mind--thought, emotions, artistic creation--are the result of the interactions of the biological brain with our senses and the physical world: in short, that thinking and learning are the products of a biological process.

This realization, that learning actually alters the brain by changing the number and strength of synapses, offers a powerful foundation for rethinking teaching practice and one's philosophy of teaching.

James Zull invites teachers in higher education or any other setting to accompany him in his exploration of what scientists can tell us about the brain and to discover how this knowledge can influence the practice of teaching. He describes the brain in clear non-technical language and an engaging conversational tone, highlighting its functions and parts and how they interact, and always relating them to the real world of the classroom and his own evolution as a teacher.

"The Art of Changing the Brain" is grounded in the practicalities and challenges of creating effective opportunities for deep and lasting learning, and of dealing with students as unique learners.

Tuesday, September 28, 2010

Learned Optimism: How to Change Your Mind and Your Life

Martin Seligman, a renowned psychologist and clinical researcher, has been studying optimists and pessimists for 25 years. Pessimists believe that bad events are their fault, will last a long time, and undermine everything. They feel helpless and may sink into depression, which is epidemic today, especially among youths. Optimists, on the other hand, believe that defeat is a temporary setback or a challenge--it doesn't knock them down. "Pessimism is escapable," asserts Seligman, by learning a new set of cognitive skills that will enable you to take charge, resist depression, and make yourself feel better and accomplish more.

About two-thirds of this book is a psychological discussion of pessimism, optimism, learned helplessness (giving up because you feel unable to change things), explanatory style (how you habitually explain to yourself why events happen), and depression, and how these affect success, health, and quality of life. Seligman supports his points with animal research and human cases. He includes tests for you and your child--whose achievement may be related more to his or her level of optimism/pessimism than ability. The final chapters teach the skills of changing from pessimism to optimism, with worksheet pages to guide you and your child. --Joan Price

Download Link

Mastery: The Keys to Success and Long-Term Fulfillment

Drawing on Zen philosophy and his expertise in the martial art of aikido, bestselling author George Leonard shows how the process of mastery can help us attain a higher level of excellence and a deeper sense of satisfaction and fulfillment in our daily lives. Whether you’re seeking to improve your career or your intimate relationships, increase self-esteem or create harmony within yourself, this inspiring prescriptive guide will help you master anything you choose and achieve success in all areas of your life.

In Mastery, you’ll discover:
The 5 Essential Keys to Mastery Tools for Mastery Mastery and Energy How to Master Your Athletic Potential The 3 Personality Types that Are Obstacles to Mastery How to Avoid Pitfalls Along the Path

and more . . .

Tuesday, August 24, 2010

The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment

Eckhart Tolle is emerging as one of today's most inspiring teachers. In The Power of Now, a #1 national bestseller, the author describes his transition from despair to self-realization soon after his 29th birthday. Tolle took another ten years to understand this transformation, during which time he evolved a philosophy that has parallels in Buddhism, relaxation techniques, and meditation theory but is also eminently practical.

In The Power of Now he shows readers how to recognize themselves as the creators of their own pain, and how to have a pain-free existence by living fully in the present. Accessing the deepest self, the true self, can be learned, he says, by freeing ourselves from the conflicting, unreasonable demands of the mind and living "present, fully and intensely, in the Now."Eckhart Tolle is emerging as one of today's most inspiring teachers. In The Power of Now, a #1 national bestseller, the author describes his transition from despair to self-realization soon after his 29th birthday. Tolle took another ten years to understand this transformation, during which time he evolved a philosophy that has parallels in Buddhism, relaxation techniques, and meditation theory but is also eminently practical.

In The Power of Now he shows readers how to recognize themselves as the creators of their own pain, and how to have a pain-free existence by living fully in the present. Accessing the deepest self, the true self, can be learned, he says, by freeing ourselves from the conflicting, unreasonable demands of the mind and living "present, fully and intensely, in the Now."

Download Link

The Power of Your Sub-Conscious Mind

"I have seen miracles happen to men and women in all walks of life all over the world." -- Dr. Joseph Murphy. At last, a great new scientific discovery brings the incredible force of your subconscious mind under your control. Here are the simple, scientifically proven techniques and the astonishing facts about how your subconscious powers can perform miracles of healing. How lung cancer has been cured and optic nerves made whole again. How you can use the newly discovered Law of Attraction to increase your money-getting powers. How your subconscious mind can win you friends, peace of mind, and even help you to attract the ideal mate. How your dreams can help you solve problems and make difficult decisions -- or warn you of potential disaster. Prosperity, happiness and perfect health are yours when you use The Power Of Your Subconscious Mind.

Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Be Yourself, Everyone Else is Already Taken: Transform Your Life with the Power of Authenticity

Starred Review. Robbins, the highly visible lantern-jawed motivational speaker/coach/author/guru (author of Focus on the Good Stuff), returns with a primer on authenticity: what it means, what it can do, and how to achieve it. A master of his craft, Robbins' guide is thorough, direct and carefully organized, with an understanding and enthusiastic voice. Beginning with the reasons we lose our authentic selves, Robbins enumerates the pressures to conform in family, school, religion, politics and the media, as well as the damaging messages we absorb, like "be a good boy," "calm down" and "shut up." Robbins explains how these pressures lead to self-criticism and fear, then how to overcome them through greater awareness and compassion for one's faults. With questions, exercises, action points and sound practices, Robbins provides a map to transforming fear, gaining self-knowledge and celebrating your authentic self, with a measured pace and a minimum of distraction (no sidebars, charts or breakout boxes). Readers looking for a positive, no-nonsense guide to self-actualization should find Robbins an ideal guide.

Tuesday, August 17, 2010

Talent Is Overrated: What Really Separates World-Class Performers from Everybody Else

Asked to explain why a few people truly excel, most of us offer one of two answers. The first is hard work. Yet we all know plenty of hard workers who have been doing the same job for years or decades without becoming great. The other possibility is that the elite possess an innate talent for excelling in their field. We assume that Mozart was born with an astounding gift for music, and Warren Buffett carries a gene for brilliant investing. The trouble is, scientific evidence doesn't support the notion that specific natural talents make great performers.

According to distinguished journalist Geoff Colvin, both the hard work and natural talent camps are wrong. What really makes all the difference is a highly specific kind of effort-"deliberate practice"- that few of us pursue when we're practicing golf or piano or stockpicking.

Based on a wide array of scientific research, Talent Is Overrated shares the secrets of extraordinary performance and shows how to apply these principles. It features the stories of extraordinary people who never stopped challenging themselves and who achieved world- class greatness through deliberate practice- including Benjamin Franklin, comedian Chris Rock, football star Jerry Rice, and top CEOs Jeffrey Immelt and Steven Ballmer.

Monday, August 16, 2010

The Art of Public Speaking with Connect Lucas

By far the leading speech textbook of our time, The Art of Public Speaking has defined the art of being the best for more than 10 million students and instructors. Whether a novice or an experienced speaker, every student will learn how to be a better public speaker through Lucas' clear explanations of classical and contemporary theory and thorough coverage of practical applications.

The new edition offers a revolutionary digital experience--McGraw-Hill Connect Lucas and Connect Lucas Plus. The Connect Lucas products allow students and instructors to access all course materials including a complete media and research library, study aids and speech preparation and assessment tools from a single place, connectlucas.com. With Connect Lucas, students use the traditional printed text. Specially marked icons in the text guide students to the media-rich, interactive features available at connectlucas.com. Connect Lucas Plus allows students and instructors to access the fully-integrated, media-rich textbook from connectlucas.com. As students read the book online, linked icons guide them to embedded media-rich, interactive features.

Download Link

Sunday, August 15, 2010

The Power of Full Engagement: Managing Energy, Not Time, Is the Key to High Performance and Personal Renewal

The authors, founders of and executives at LGE Performance Systems, an executive training program based on athletic coaching programs, offer a program aimed at stressed individuals who want to find more purpose in their work and ways to better handle their overburdened relationships. Just as athletes train, play and then recover, people need to recognize their own energy levels. "Balancing stress and recovery is critical not just in competitive sports, but also in managing energy in all facets of our lives. Emotional depth and resilience depend on active engagement with others and with our own feelings." Case studies demonstrate how some modest changes can have an immediate impact. Loehr (Mental Toughness Training for Sports) and Schwartz (Art of the Deal, writing with Donald Trump) also include a chart highlighting Action Steps, Targeted Muscle, Desired Outcome and Performance Barrier and apply these tenets to individual cases. A chart analyzing the benefits and costs to taking certain action shows the impact negative behavior can have on both physical and mental well-being. However, the actual "training program" whereby readers can learn how to institute certain rituals to change their behavior is less well-defined. Managers and other employees who have attended HR seminars may find this plan easy to use, but self-employed people and others less familiar with "training" may be unable to recognize their behavior patterns and change them.

Saturday, August 14, 2010

Get The Life You Want

When people and therapists alike have a problem they can't fix, they call Richard Bandler because he delivers--often with miraculous results. Hailed as one of the greatest geniuses in the field of personal change, and the father of Neuro-Linguistic Programming, Richard Bandler has helped tens of thousands of people around the globe rid themselves of 'incurable' phobias, fears, anxieties, addictions, negative habits, and past traumas often in a single session. Get the Life You Want is Richard Bandler at his best, sharing his remarkable insights, his controversial signature wit, and more than thirty-five time-tested NLP techniques that will bring about quick and lasting change in every area of your life, from breaking free of toxic or non-productive relationships, to delivering business presentations without a knot in your stomach, to quitting smoking for good. By putting Bandler's techniques into practice, you can literally change your brain chemistry without expensive drugs or endless therapy sessions; most of all, you can finally learn how to run your own brain instead of rehashing the same problems. You'll discover: How to Hone the Habit of Being Happy Why Thinking Positively Won't Change Your Life. . . And Why Thinking Precisely Will The Fast Phobia Cure That Will Banish Any Fear Including Fear of Flying, Public Speaking, and Heights How to Fall Out of Love with Someone (for Real!) If you're plagued with the past, stuck in a fear, or just unable to get your mental motor running on time, Get the Life You Want will offer a mental toolbox of ways to get your life in order. If you have spent too much time in therapy or too much money trying to do it yourself, this book is for you. The key to quick and lasting change is not only right at your fingertips, it's in your head literally. Get the Life You Want will help you unleash it.

The Power of Positive Thinking

Translated into fifteen languages with more than 15 million copies sold, The Power of Positive Thinking is unparalleled in its extraordinary capacity for restoring the faltering faith of millions. In this insightful program, Dr. Peale offers the essence of his profound method for mastering the problems of everyday living. You will learn: How to eliminate that most devastating handicap---self doubt How to free yourself from worry, stress and resentment How to climb above problems to visualize solutions and then attain them Simple prayerful exercises that you can do every day, through-out the day, to reinforce your new-found habit of happiness Eliminating all the negative thoughts that prevent you from achieving happiness and success, The Power of Positive Thinking is an inspiring program that will help you create a positive change in your life.

Friday, August 6, 2010

What to Say When you Talk To Yourself

You don't have to be crazy to talk to yourself! We all talk to ourselves all of the time, usually without realising it. And most of what we tell ourselves is negative, counterproductive and damaging, preventing us from enjoying a fulfilled and successful life. Shad Helmsetter's simple but profound techniques, based on an understanding of the processes of the human brain, have enabled thousands of people to get back in control of their lives. By learning how to talk to yourself in new ways, you will notice a dramatic improvement in all areas of your life. You will feel better and accomplish more. It will help you achieve more at work and at home, lose weight, overcome fears, stop smoking and become more confident. And it works. Shad Helmsetter, Ph.D, is a bestselling author of many personal growth books, and the leading authority in the field of Self-Talk. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Unlimited Power

Anthony Robbins calls it the new science of personal achievement. You'll call it the best thing that ever happened to you.

If you have ever dreamed of a better life, Unlimited Power will show you how to achieve the extraordinary quality of life you desire and deserve, and how to master your personal and professional life. Anthony Robbins has proven to millions through his books, tapes, and seminars that by harnessing the power of the mind you can do, have, achieve, and create anything you want for your life. He has shown heads of state, royalty, Olympic and professional athletes, movie stars, and children how to achieve. With Unlimited Power, he passionately and eloquently reveals the science of personal achievement and teaches you:

* How to find out what you really want
* The Seven Lies of Success
* How to reprogram your mind in minutes to eliminate fears and phobias
* The secret of creating instant rapport with anyone you meet
* How to duplicate the success of others
* The Five Keys to Wealth and Happiness

Unlimited Power is a revolutionary fitness book for the mind. It will show you, step by step, how to perform at your peak while gaining emotional and financial freedom, attaining leadership and self-confidence, and winning the cooperation of others. It will give you the knowledge and the courage to remake yourself and your world. Unlimited Power is a guidebook to superior performance in an age of success.

Download Link: http://www.mediafire.com/?zydgxd0unhz