Customer Reviews

Breaking the Pattern: The 5 Principles You Need to Remodel Your Life

5 star:		(35)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

"I can assure you that the successful people in your life who you admire apply many, or all, of the techniques described in this book. Success is no accident, nor is it unconscious. People who achieve their goals are almost always acutely aware of what directions they take in reaching their destinations." ~Charles Stuart Platkin

If you are tired of spinning in the same circular conversations, walking the same paths to the same unfulfilling destinations or can't seem to implement strategies to reach your goals, "Breaking the Pattern" might encourage you to remodel your life.

Charles Stuart Platkin has discovered five basic principles you can apply to your life in order to make changes, reach your dreams and finally live the ideal life of your choosing. He used the principles in this book to change his own life.

What started as a letter to a friend turned into self-reflection and through writing, Charles started to think more clearly. Through further interviews and discussions with friends and professionals the author started to find real answers:

1. What's a Pattern and How Do I Know What Mine Are? - A study of self-sabotaging and self-paralyzing behavior. Are you choosing the easy path of substance abuse, short cuts or just making bad choices and finding someone else to blame? What are your triggers?

2. Self-Evaluation and Reflection Workshop - A variety of exercises where you answer questions and then analyze the answers. One of the most important sections in this chapter is "Asking the Right Questions."

3. Failure Is an Asset Waiting to Be Discovered - Successful people seem to see rejection and failure as a reminder that they are still on the path towards their goals. Sometimes just having the goal and continuing towards that goal, no matter what, is a formula for success. The author explains how you can overcome fear and move beyond failure.

4. Taking Responsibility Leads to Freedom - An interesting look at blame, being a victim, making excuses, avoiding responsibility and being the martyr. A discussion of why many people surrender their responsibility to a higher power.

5. What Makes a Goal a Goal? - An interesting section on intrinsic rewards.

6. If You Can See It,It Can Happen - Do you have the discipline it takes to reach your goals? Ideas on how to set realistic goals and overcome obstacles in your way. There is a place to write down your ideas for short and long-term goals.

7. Making Change Happen and Transforming Your Life -What are your values? Are you open to possibility? How do you find the positive patterns?

8. Tactics and Strategies for Changing Your Life -In the final chapter, the author explains how our "internal commentary" can change our lives.

I loved all the inspirational quotes and stories, the positive and healing environment this book provides, and the idea that short-term failure is no excuse not to achieve long-term success.

Do you feel imprisoned by the past? Do you desire a more fulfilling future? "Breaking the Pattern" will help to set you free from the disappointments of the past so you can reach for a more positive future.

"Breaking the Pattern" is a well-written and well-organized collection of empowering ideas to help you modify your own behavior so you can finally leave failure in the dust. This is a book to help you reach your personal, relationship and career goals. It is perhaps one of the most important books you will ever read if you want to break free from destructive patterns of behavior.

~The Rebecca Review

Breaking the Pattern held an added surprise in the sense that while I was prepared for improvements in my approach to professional and personal issues, I was not as prepared for a realization.

By applying the exercises in Breaking the Pattern to my professional life and personal life, the similarities that emerged were significant. The lasting effect beyond the book's positive exercises was the ongoing connections I now see between my work life and personal life.

Also, while I am not usually a fan of "workbooks," the exercises in Breaking the Pattern were well constructed and communicated in a way that made it possible for me to get the full benefit from them.

In general, Breaking the Pattern surpassed my expectations and gave me a stronger foothold in my professional life and personal life.

I just finished reading "Breaking the Pattern" by Charles Stuart Platkin, and I immediately felt the need to write about it. Lately, I've been feeling really down. I've had a little bad luck when it comes to relationships-- okay, so my boyfriend dumped me for our campus paper's sex columnist. In addition to that, I haven't gotten into any of the grad schools I've wanted to because I get nervous in interviews, and my parents just announced to me that they were moving to New Zealand to be alone and would appreciate it if I only visited them on holidays. So, as you can see, it hasn't been an easy year for me.
When I was in kindergarten, I was always told that I could do or be anything, and somewhere in between high school and college, everyone told me it was time to start getting real, and I lost the belief that my life could be everything I want it to be. I began to think I just should settle for what I could get.
Well, Platkin taught me to get S.M.A.R.T. After reading this book, I began to believe again that I could have the life I dreamed of...and not only did it make me believe it. It taught me how to actually achieve it. Also, despite all the bad things that happened to me this year, Platkin gave me a new perspective on them. This book helped me find a little piece of me that I thought died a long time ago-- the piece of me that believed in me and knew I could do anything I put my heart to. I know I'm going to get past all these setbacks from this past year and move on now thanks to Platkin. Before this book, I just wanted to sit around and eat and feel sorry for myself. After reading this book, I think I'm finally ready to get back up, dust myself off, and take on the world.

"Breaking The Pattern" is a brilliant new book about an age-old issue: how to stop repeating behavior that is self-destructive. Be it in love, career or even in friendships, this book is very useful for everyone who wants to improve their lives. I found the book both entertaining and incredibly useful, because it made me think about aspects of my life that warrant some introspection. Like many others, I know that even when things are going well, we can all use some helpful hints to get even better. "Breaking The Pattern" is worth reading (and then re-reading six months later) because each time you peruse its easy-to-use instructions, new insights come to mind. Buy it for
yourself, give it to a friend and keep a few more in stock because your family and friends will thank you for getting it for them.
--Tom Allon

Breaking the Pattern forced me to examine certain things about myself that often stood in the way of my personal and professional progress and allowed me to deal with them in a step-by-step manner that didn't make me want to run and hide. I found it to be the kind of self help book that held my hand while also being tough -- something different from other self help books that I've read which tend to be more cheerleading in nature. In particular, I found the written exercises to be useful because they brought to light certain of my destructive behaviors that I didn't realize were recurring in various aspects of my life, but which, in retrospect, seemed to rear their ugly heads in everything from my everyday business interactions to family social events. Every time I was forced to write something down, it was like reflecting on my life with 20/20 hindsight. In addition, I found that Platkin's suggestion of writing down my goals, rather than just thinking about them gave me a concrete roadmap to follow. My ability to monitor my success at each level, no matter how small, was a boost towards the next step. In sum, this book gave me a simple way of discovering, attacking and overcoming some of my most destructive behaviors, while laying the foundation for a more directed and goal oriented professional and personal life. I highly recommend this book.

The first step is buy the book. We all have negative patterns....it's recognizing them, isolating them, and making the conscience effort to CHANGE them that is the challenge.

The first reward can be knowing that you are moving possitively in the direction you visualize that you want to be in - your life, health, and relationships. The next reward is seeing those goals come into fruition. The last is true self-acceptance (which I am still working on) but I see that reward as being immeasurable.

I could really identify with his case studies - I felt there was a bit of me in all of them. I also liked his approach to goal setting and how to break it down on a daily/weekly basis so it is more managable.

The bottom line: if you are looking for some real ephonies in your own life, this is a great tool to get you there.

If you can only read three books for the rest of your life...these are the three I recommend:

1.) Breaking the Pattern
2.) How to Win Friend and Influence People
3.) The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People

If you read all three of these books, you'll be set for life! "Breaking the Pattern" shows you how to reach all the goals you've ever wanted to. "How to Win Friends" makes sure that you wont be alone when you do reach those goals, and Stephen Covey teaches you how to do both most effectively!

With these three books, you can't lose! You won't lose! I've been recommending them to all my dearest friends!

Breaking the Pattern by Charles Stuart Platkin resounds with sound advice on taking responsibility for your actions and inactions. He takes particular note of one's ability to turn failure into successful thinking patterns. By following his recipe for self direction it is possible to understand fully how one can break the pattern or break the cycles of self indulgence. His examples of real life situations underline his theoretical presentation and ensure easy transferral of the powerful information. I would recommend this book to those who are in a rut or those who are trying to make change in their lives. A fast , good read.

Breaking the Pattern offers excellent advice that can help anyone follow through with their dreams. If you are like me, and wish that certain aspects of your life could be improved upon, but fail to do anything about it, then this book is for you. It will make clear what your problems are that prevent you from reaching your potential by forcing you to analyze your lifestyle. The various exercises provide the reader with the perfect opportunity for productive self-analysis. Once you read this book you'll realize that procrastination is no longer an option for ambitious people. The 5 main principles are universally applicable, logical, and easily understood. It forced me to change my lifestyle and as a result, has made me a healthier person.

As one of the millions of unemployed ex-dotcommers living in San Francisco, I've grown increasingly displeased with the current state of affairs in my life as my job hunt turns up nothing (and I'm left to wallow in my lack of job, lack of motivation, etc.). In her effort to get me out of this ill-deserved bout of self-pity, my mother actually sent this book to me (luckily I had nothing better to do than read it, as I would never read this kind of thing). I actually found it really, dare I say, enlightening, as in, I feel "lightened" now. For the past few months I've felt like I was just at a total dead end, and was just suffering through a huge spell of bad luck, but this book really hit me with what a useless way of thinking that was, and is helping me emerge from this funk with some sense of understanding of my personal responsibility for my situation, as well as pointing out new paths and strategies that I hadn't thought of before.

What can I say...I was taken by surprise, and really actually enjoyed reading this book. (Thanks, Mom.)