Will it change your life? (Change Your Life in Seven Days - Paul McKenna)

Name: noodlesandwich

Hello doyoo user, You have to be logged in to use these functions... Login or register Close window

Send message to member

Product:	Change Your Life in Seven Days - Paul McKenna
Date:	21/09/05 (1516 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Contains useful confidence boosting exercises and a CD.

Disadvantages: The title is gimmicky and unrealistic.

I bought this book early last year. At the time I was in a job I hated and was looking for a quick fix confidence booster that might help me to improve my situation. I heard Paul talking about his book on the radio and thought I'd give it a go.The book promises a great deal, but is it realistic to suggest that anyone who reads it can change their life in such a short space of time? In a way he can't be challenged on his title because everything we touch changes us in some way, but he offers us supreme self confidence that will lead us to the life of our dreams.

The book is divided into sections from day one to day seven and each day contains different mental exercises designed to help us take control of our self image and hence our lives. There is a mind programming cd,(I know this is just a niggle but it is described as being FREE which it clearly isn't), which we are instructed to listen to twice a day.This is an hour out of your day besides reading and taking the time to do the exercises.On my first attempt at following the instructions I gave up in frustration after having spent nearly three hours on the second chapter.

Fast forward almost a year later and I have the time to pick it up again, (having walked out of hated job and being temporarily unemployed). I am normally a very fast reader but I did get very frustrated on occasion by the sheer amount of mind work involved in following the books instructions and think it would be fairer to the consumer to suggest that it be read at a slower, more realistic pace.

There are a great many mental techniques within the book and while I think it unrealistic for anyone to truly follow the guidelines the way they are set out, I found some of the exercises very useful. Titles of some of the exercises include: 'Instant Confidence Booster', 'Anchor Youself to Wealth' and 'Instant Endorphin Release'. There are techniques for diminishing unpleasant experiences, tackling phobias and boosting the immune system.The book is also peppered with positive quotes by successful people.

As you may have gathered I didn't follow Pauls instructions to the letter and I think it would take a very determined person to do so-probably the kind of person that doesn't need to read such a book in the first place. However while I may not have gained supreme self confidence and am very far from living the life of my dreams I do feel I gained something from the book and feel it was worth my while to have read it. I still use some of the exercises, not in a focused determined way-I'm too lazy for that, but I do find that they crop up in my mind as ways of dealing with stressful situations, (perhaps the cd has affected me subliminally as paul claims it does). I think it's the kind of book that you could pick up now and again for a 'positivity shot', long after you've finished reading it.

*Details*

ISBN 0593 05055
Price: £7.99
Published by Bantam Press
256 pages (paperback edition)
Available from Amazon: new £6.99, used from £4.50.

Summary: Overall a useful and positive book if you ignore the '7 days' claim.