Book Review: A motivational book that’s hardly preachy

This little gem is as straightforward as books get.

It is a motivational book like none other for the simple fact that it is precise and reads as smoothly as a great fiction book.

The writer, a life coach affiliated with the International Coach Federation, makes sure that her recommendations are simple to remember and even simpler to implement.

While motivational books tend to be preachy and cheesy, this book is conversational. It is written in a motherly voice that feels right to listen to.

The book is clearly meant to make us pause and reflect on the success we think we are pursuing and to be sure whether it is authentic to us or not.

Because once we have figured out what authentic success is to us, then do we stop envying those that we feel have left us behind and keep working at small, daily successes.

Reading this book reminds one of the Bible verse in Galatians 6:4 that goes: “Don’t compare yourself with others.

Just look at your own work to see if you have done anything to be proud of.” While there no direct reference to that verse in the book, much of what is covered in the book agrees with it.  

In our journeys to success, we often use people that are enjoying success as our northern stars, people that inspire us to be like them.

The book however makes the case that this tends to be misleading because someone else’s shiny life may blind you to what makes you truly happy.

It challenges the reader to break away from the mind-set that success is meant to be a certain way.

The tagline, ‘Choosing a life of Freedom and Fulfilment’ is an apt representation of what the book lays out.

The idea that most people live their lives on autopilot, paying bills and pursuing careers, forgetting to pursue the things that would make them truly happy is pronounced in the book.

The book recommends that we often stop in the middle of our busy lives and ask ourselves if this is what we really want. This way, we keep steering the ship of our lives ever so slightly towards our true success rather than tossing in a sea of reacting to the storms of indecision.

The structure of the book is very simple. Simple pieces of advice that are not overstretched with cumbersome ideas, explanations and examples.

The important points are emphasised by placing them in large font faces on a single page, making the book simple enough for any reader to get the best out of it.

It challenges you to write your own reflections in the provided spaces at the end of each chapter. This dares you to take immediate steps instead of waiting to start implementing tomorrow; which may never come.

This book comes from the heart of a person that has pursued success to great business heights only to find that she was not happy when she reached the top.

It comes from a person that realised, while she was trying to get better than others, that what really made her happy was being true to herself and following a path that made her happy, a path that came naturally to her, not necessarily the path that made her appear better than others.