Customer Reviews

Cure for the Common Life: Living in Your Sweet Spot

5 star:		(67)
4 star:		(28)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

My wife brought "Cure for the Common Life" home from the local public library for me. I've been struggling with my work life for awhile, and she recognized the struggle. And, while it's too long a story to post here (I won't bore you), it's been a time of significant introspection.

I wasn't sure what to expect from Lucado. However, he has an excellent reputation in Christian circles, so I approached the book with an open mind. I'm nearly through the workbook component at the end as I write.

"Cure for the Common Life" is a good piece of work. In it, Lucado outlines how to discover and work toward finding your sweet spot in life. He defines the sweet spot as a place in life where all of your unique abilities are focused on your favorite topics under your optimal conditions with the right people in such a way that you will say "Yes!" I can recommend the book heartily to those looking for the sweet spot in their lives. Let me tell you why.

Lucado approaches the problem from two perspectives, internal and external. To find the sweet spot, one must understand that one fits into a larger context and has unique talents to bring to others. This external position is necessary to understand and accept. While Lucado approaches the external context from a Christian perspective, his statements are consistent with other worldviews.

The internal context requires the individual to do a lot of introspection to discover those things, situations, and actions that make work uplifting. Lucado provides instructions and a set of tools to assist the process. The tools are simple, easy to apply, and work. Some time is required, but the investment is worthwhile.

In the end, you will find yourself with a substantial amount of motivational material from the Bible, plus a list of strengths and a context for those strengths, all in a concise package that is short and sweet. You will have your S.T.O.R.Y. -- your "Strengths, Topics, Optimal Conditions, Relationships, and Yes!" put together in one short bit of writing. It will be up to you to decide how to implement what you learn, but Lucado offers some suggestions for actions to help get you moving.

Did my analysis teach me anything I didn't already know about myself? My honest answer is "a bit." I had a fair grasp of my strengths and skills, some knowledge of the context in which I prefer to apply those abilities, and some understanding of my leadership interests. However, I now have all of those facts in a concise, complete package. I also gained a substantial amount of encouragement from Lucado's writing.

I can strongly recommend this book for those individuals seeking to find the sweet spot in their work life. The book will work for non-Christians who are tolerant of a Christian worldview. It would also make a good gift to another who is facing those kind of life-struggles, perhaps with an offer for some mentoring. There's also a section on working with your children to help them find their sweet spot in life.

A new release by veteran author and pastor Max Lucado usually means one thing: someone else's book is about to get bumped off the bestseller list. Few Christian authors are as prolific as Lucado, and among those who are, even fewer have anything as significant to say as he does. Fewer still say it as well as he does. Yes, Lucado is in a class by himself.

Lucado seldom disappoints, and THE CURE FOR THE COMMON LIFE exemplifies why that is. This is the author at his best, clearly delivering an inspirational message that has substance to it, using language that perfectly illustrates each point he makes. And he seems to do all this so effortlessly that I suspect he has caused more than one budding writer to give up trying altogether as a concession to Lucado's superior skill.

The message of this, his umpteenth book, is clear: God has called you to an uncommon life and a one-of-a-kind assignment as you live out that life. To discover what that is, Lucado offers you a set of tools. Thankfully, this set is not based on the usual psychological tests or personality assessments or spiritual gifts inventories. To find your "sweet spot" --- that place where your passions and talents intersect --- he encourages you to use a method known by the acronym STORY and developed by People Management International. This method involves an analysis of your Strengths (the verbs that describe the actions that have proven successful and satisfying for you, such as "creating" or "organizing"); your Topics (concrete objects or abstract ideas that have fascinated you --- as mundane as "fruit" or as lofty as "wisdom"); the Optimal conditions under which you work (emergency situations, predictable routines, and so forth); Relationships (whether you work better alone, in a partnership, or as part of a team or large group); and your Yes! moments, those times in your life when it all came together, when you felt you had found what you were made to do.

Part career guide but mostly a life guide, CURE FOR THE COMMON LIFE avoids many of the legalistic teachings that Christians hear about their work life. Yes, Lucado believes you should perform the duties of your current job "as unto God," but he also believes that being miserable at work is not exactly a blessing from God. He urges readers to be "uncommon" --- unlike the two-thirds of American workers who toil away in the wrong job. If Lucado himself doesn't convince you to take action, then the statistics he cites should: suicides are most likely to occur on Sunday night, while heart attacks are most likely to occur on Monday morning. One-third of Americans hate their careers. Not just dislike them, but hate them.

Other "cures," all pure Lucado: Don't heed greed. Be a God-promoter. Every day do something for someone else that you don't want to do. Color Christ with the crayons God gave you. (That last one is typical Lucado: a concrete image that helps you remember the point he just made, long after you've closed the book.)

Whether you're a fan of Lucado, a newcomer to his work, or simply someone who has this nagging feeling that you were meant for something very different from what you've known so far, you're likely to find a great deal here that will prove valuable to you. Well worth reading.

All of Lucado's works are inspiring and Christ-centered. I know of no one as equally gifted both as a writer and as a speaker. Great stories and effective word pictures are everywhere in this volume.

The uniqueness of this book lies in its intense practicality. The last 71 pages make up an actual "workshop" on how one finds their spiritual giftedness or "sweet spot". What is my unique purpose in life? Steve Halliday and People Management International, Inc. walk the reader through steps to answer just that. It is an educational and life-confirming experience.

This is not a book for a quick read and to be put on the book shelf. No, this one drives me to examine and discover the self that God has in mind for me to be. Thanks, Max!

Lucado is being honest Chapter 11 ("Take Your Job And Love It") when he states "Change careers? Perhaps. Find one that better fits your design. But until you change, how do you survive? You still have to pay bills and obligations to meet. The problem might be less the occupation and more the outlook toward it. Before you change professions, try this: change your attitude toward your profession."

It all hinges on the word "until"..."until you change"...but the only suggestion Lucado has for the "until" part is to change your attitude and see the work as coming from God, not your employer. Sometimes people overlook the "until" part and surrender to a job that is toxic to them. They become one of the Sunday night suicides or Monday morning heart attacks that Lucado discusses. The word "until" is critical, but it's not framed that way in this chapter.

I've heard that logic before. It is much, much easier said than done. I'd rather have Lucado say "You have bills to pay, you have obligations, make the best of the situation UNTIL you can change it, but WHILE you are doing this, CONTINUE taking whatever steps you CAN toward a better situation...go to school, get the training you need, go on informational interviews, etc..."

He doesn't do that. He suggests that the problem might be YOU (and it may very well be), but if you go through the process of elimination and determine that no matter WHAT you do you're not going to make silk purse out of a sow's ear, you have to STOP accepting FULL responsibility for a bad situation and START accepting responsibility for CHANGING it.

Lucado never says this. Perhaps we're supposed to assume it. I know a lot of people who wouldn't.

He ends the chapter by saying "Everything changes when you give Jesus your boat," and that's TRUE...BUT...some times you give Jesus your boat and it's NOT the boat he wants you in. He wanted you in it for a WHILE, for a "season," to give you experience or shape you for something else, but this chapter of the book has too many loose ends and doesn't integrate well with the rest of what's being said here. A job that is killing you in inches can't necessarily be turned into a "sweet spot" just by the simple act of saying "I love my job."

A five star book with one chapter containing reasonable raw material, executed in a questionable manner.

I agree with other five star reviewers when I say MAX HAS DONE IT AGAIN. Ever since the first Lucado book I read (When God whispers your name) I have been a huge fan. I consider myself a discerner, and its great to relax my pride a bit and savor the books of Max Lucado.

On page 18, Max writes "You can be anything you want to be. If you work hard enough. But can you? If God didn't pack within you the meat sense of a butcher, the people skills of a salesperson, or the world vision of an ambassador, can you be one? An unhappy, dissatisfied one perhaps. But a fulfilled one? No.... You cannot be anything you want to be. But you can be everything God wants you to be."

So the tinge of the whole book is to live in our sweet spot; where the gifs of God, your everyday walk, and God's glory converge on the center of your life's 'tennis racket', if you will. To be fair to Max in leu of reviewer Mike's remarks, Max does evenly address issues of leaving the workplace in some instances. On page 108 Max writes, "God may want you to leave your Capernaum, but you're staying. Or he may want you to stay, and you're leaving. How can you know unless you mute the crowd and meet with Jesus in a deserted place?"

Amen Max. Thank You. Again.

DAH!!! to the reviewer that didn't know it was a christian book!! Max Lucado does not write anything BUT from a christian perspective. What is so wrong with reading a book that provides biblical instruction? To be honest, our world would be a much happier, secure place if we would all read and take to heart what God is trying to tell us through his word! I suggest you read the book if you didn't, or re-read it and take to heart what it says. Lucado is the first author to win the Gold Medallion Christian Book of the Year three times! This book, as with ALL of Max's previous books was a blessing to me. This book will help you if you feel you're sliding through life instead of soaring as God intended you to. Your life has a purpose and this book will bring that purpose to light. The light only God can give!!

I've read a lot of the other reviews--and they are right. This is a good book. However, what I don't see is a general warning: THIS BOOK IS HARD! For the 87% of us not in our sweet spots, you really have to peel back layers of self-defense and coping mechanisms that get you through the day-to-day grind of work. It's worth it, but as truths surface, they ripple. There is pain with this growth, but stick with it. The truth's worth it. Very life changing.

Imagine three circles intertwined (a la Olympic rings), with one central area where all three cirlces converge.

Circle #1 is Your Everyday Life
Circle #2 is Your Strengths
Circle #3 is God's Glory

Where the circles converge....there is Your Sweet Spot. This is what Max Lucado writes in his book "Cure for the Common Life: How to Live in Your Sweet Spot."

I've read some of Max Lucado's children's books to my kids - sweet, poignant stories about accepting who you are as a divine creation of a divine being. When I saw this book at the library, I thought it might be interesting to read what this Christian author had to say about adults and our everyday lives. Not surprisingly, his message is the same for the parents as it is for his younger audiences: accept who you are as a divine creation of a divine being.

Lucado spends much of this book cheering the reader on to accept and act upon the principles that each of us is created with unique worth and talents and abilities. "Your life has a plot; your years have a theme. You can do something in a manner that no one else can."

He compares each of us to a piece of luggage being packed for a trip. If you were going to Hawaii in July you wouldn't pack a parka and snow boots. You would pack what was appropriate for the time, place, the owner of the bag. WE are prepackaged by God for the lives we are to lead while here on our earthly "trip": when/where/who we are. We find unhappiness when we try to fit ourselves into the clothing in someone else's bag. If that were to happen in real life - if we pick up the wrong suitcase at the airport terminal - what would we do? He says, "you'd hunt down your own bag. Issue an all-points bulletin. Call the airport. The taxi service...No one wants to live out of someone else's bag. Then why do we? Odds are, someone urged a force fit into clothes not packed for you." Sometimes, that "someone" is ourselves, isn't it?

Lucado suggests that we get smart and get brave about trying to live in our Sweet Spot. He challenges us to find the things that we love to do, where we have natural abilities and feel the greatest measures of success, and then incorporate those things into our everyday. In doing so, we glorify God by glorifying the gifts and talents he gave us. I know, I know, people have been saying for years that a genius is the person who can figure out a way to make a living doing what he loves, but how many of us really go for it? And I, for one, never really thought about it in terms of my faith. If I have faith that God made me individually, that he knows every hair on my head, then doesn't it make sense that he cares about how I spend every minute of my day?

There are chapters that deal with how to make the most of what you ~are~ doing, if an immediate change is not feasible. Lucado says, basically, take God to work with you. Every single day, have Him in your heart, and it will change how you do things.

Lucado by profession is a preacher, and some of the sections are...well..."preachy". I even started snoring a bit at some of the parts, and I'm a believer. I also wondered if he's gotten to be such a prolific author that the editors give him the go-ahead a little sooner than they should (holy goat, the man rambles!). But all in all, I think this book has some very profound things to say about what we should choose to do and why we should choose to do it.

There is an acronym in the book that is meant to help readers find their Sweet Spot. It is STORY:
S: Strengths (what are yours? what comes easily? VERB)
T: Topics (what do you like to talk about? learn about? NOUN)
O: Optimal Conditions (under what conditions do you naturally thrive? what triggers your motivation?)
R: Relationships (what is your ideal relationship pattern? alone? in a group?)
Y: Yes! (what is paydirt? what makes you say YES!)
One of the ways to study your STORY is to read your life backwards. Regress through adulthood to adolescence to childhood, and try to chart out times when you felt the strongest about something you were passionate about. Something that made you think (or say) Yes! There is a section at the back of the book that offers worksheets helping the reader to identify those types of moments throughout their life. The ultimate goal is to rid yourself of your common life and make things extraordinary.

I really enjoyed this book and felt it was a fresh way to look at my life and how I'd like to revamp it.

As a former leadership development trainer, I LOVED this book. I am now a stay at home Mom and this book spoke volumes to me, even in my situation (outside the workforce) about finding a ministry niche in addition to my new vocation as Mom.

In true, Lucado style, Max points out the obvious in such a clear simple way that it is truly profound. I read most of this book aloud to my husband because I just wanted to chew through it with someone.

I recommended this to a couple of friends and they have found it very powerful, as well.

As a Christian AND as a former professional in this area, I found this book to be hitting on all cylinders.

I am not a Christian. I describe myself as a Spiritual Nomad. However, I thoroughly enjoy Max Lucado's writing. The reviewer who stated that there was no mention that it was written from a Christian perspective is puzzling. This would be like complaining that all books by the Dalai Lama are from a Buddist perspective, but don't necessarily carry that warning.