Customer Reviews

Don't Waste Your Talent: The 8 Critical Steps To Discovering What You Do Best

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

 

 

This book is for people serious about gaining more self-awareness of their own abilities. I say that because there are lots of principles and ideas shared in this book, but one of the most valuable parts of it are the thought experiments in every chapter which guide you toward personal application of the principles. When you buy this book, get a notebook or journal to go along with it. That will greatly increase the value of the concepts.

The authors have crafted what they call the Personal Vision Process, made up of eight components: your natural talents and abilities, skills and life experience, interests, personality, values, goals, family history, and your stage of life development. It is a very comprehensive model and draws on solid work in developmental psychology.

I think the previous review was off-base that called into question the authors' work. It's clear they have done their homework, and if you're looking for career direction, don't you want a guide that is fairly optimistic and supportive?

The authors have developed a CD called the Highlands Ability Battery that profiles your own ability pattern. I purchased this separately and completed the process. It was very helpful to do this with a trained consultant. The book has a self-assessment in it that you can complete, but I found the personal feedback from the consultant much more nuanced and customized to me.

Back to my first statement: this book is for those serious about gaining self-awareness of their abilities and setting their life/career direction. Except for the few rugged individualists, you will benefit most from working through the book with a friend, career counselor, coach, or a group that is providing support. For those seeking life direction, this is one of the best processes I've seen.

I enjoyed this book enough to read it several times and to give it to several friends. The authors weave years of experience and research findings into a plan book for discovering who we are and where we fit best. In doing so the book tackles head on the questions that so many of us have about fitting within the systems that surround us.

While most people would like to have life on their own terms, most are unclear on what those terms are. This book helps us uncover those terms through explanations, true stories and thought experiments that lead the reader through the interplay of one's core abilities, skills, interests, style, family background, values, goals and career development cycle.

This is a hands-on book-one that encourages active participation as well as simple understanding. It is inspirational without being glib; radical without sacrificing practicality. I recommend it to anyone who feels he or she is at a turning point.

These guys have really nailed the subject of life and career planning. I'd found the category to be so "fragmented" until I ran across this book. It's so practical and so much fun. I took the ability battery and learned why I'd been frustrated with various roles I'd thought I was interested in. I was NOT hardwired to do those things. The good news: I AM hardwired to do things I'd only dreamed of doing. The exercises in the book then guided me through ways to look more honestly and deeply into the other dimensions of myself such as interests, values, personal style, goals, skills and family of origin influences. By the time I'd gone through the process, I had several career options that match the REAL me for a change. I HIGHLY recommend this book to anyone from 18 to 80.

That reviewer who gave this book 2 stars seems to have obviously either, A) Not finished the book, or B) Be SO cynical that they cannot appreciate good and honest advice. I just want to say to everyone considering this book that I am the kind of person who absolutely HATES self-help books. I think they are for whiny idiots who are lazy and want a self-esteem boost without actually doing anything worthwhile. That being said, this book was a Godsend. I do not consider it to be 'false sense of esteem' self-help, but rather, a book which guides you into helping yourself as long as you are willing to do the work. It took me 6 months to complete the work here and, therefore the book. I WAS under the guidance of a career counselor AND had taken the abilities battery test first though. I know some people don't have access to that (I live in a big city). But still, even if you can't afford the test or a counselor or there isn't one available in your area, I think if you do the work you will find out a lot more about yourself than you ever thought.
The reason for that is that the exercises don't have you focus on evaluating what YOU think your personal values and/or background are; but on practical, real-life exercises which end up surprising you with who you REALLY are deep down. I have to say that, in order to get the best possible experience from this book, you CaNNot just sit down and read it cover to cover. You HAVE to do the work and let it take it's time. Do not move onto another exercise/chapter until the previous one is complete. Otherwise you will be cheating yourself and the whole experience will turn into your perception of yourself as opposed to your real self. The 2 exercises I found the most helpful were 1) The shoebox you keep filled with cut-outs and post-its of things that interest you. Do not cheat on this exercise. Follow the instructions completely (it is a bit hard, but if you stay busy you won't have the time to over-analyze it). And 2) The family interviews. I had never felt much of a connection with any of my family members. When I was a kid I was absolutely convinced that I must have been adopted. But actually asking those questions (and recording them for later review) gave me SO many real insights into who my family REALLY is as opposed to my perceptions (read: assumptions) as to who they are. I have never felt closer to them then I do now.
So, in summation, I have told you that I HATE self-help books, but here is my overall experience with the Highlands Ability Battery: I was 31 years old when I went down this path. My life sucked. I was college educated yet had chosen a career path which made me hate my life. I therefore quit my career, moved in with my parents, and managed a video store (assistant managed! I was managing whole firms when I was 26!) for over 2 and half years. I was disappointed with life and miserable. I had low self-esteem and felt like a failure and a loser. I thought had done everything right and "followed all the rules" (got good grades at a top high school, went to one of the top colleges in the country and graduated with a high GPA..). I thought that would mean my life was set up for automatic money and happiness. Boy was I wrong. Thank God for my career counselor who introduced me to this book and to the test. I am now more sublimely happy and optimistic about the future then I have ever been in my life. Don't get me wrong; it is a lot work but it's actually fun work getting to examine and know yourself. I have started over now in a new career path and am the top dog of all my other co-workers. I plan on starting my own company within the next year or two and already have a business plan and investors on board. I no longer wander aimlessly through life nor seek escapism (I used to spend most of my time at bars while awake, and the rest of my time was spent sleeping - 12-18 hours a day typically). For the first time in my WHOLE life I actually now wake up in the morning and am energized. I eat breakfast! (I've NEVER done that before) and I am in a committed relationship due to my boost in knowing who I am and what I can accomplish. Like I said, Do the work and you will be rewarded.
Also, that previous reviewer's comments about corporations wanting the "true-self" you is the exact OPPOSITE of what they keep repeating in the book. The book tells you over and over again that a company does want the "true self" you because that interferes with their goals. I don't know how that person got that impression of this book (amongst other things...). I would ignore them.

if u read this book its key u take the highlands test too as you will NOT guess correctly in many of the central chapters. I also think this book is best read as a young person as many of its steps are sort of moot at age 50+ unless you are independently wealthy.

A sure road to success involves two things: find out, once and for all, just what you are really good at, then find the right fit between you and your job. That's what this book is all about.

Few people think like this because of what the authors call The Lemming Conspiracy. People are supposed to work 60 or 70 hour weeks in some office building, because their worth as a human being is defined by their job title, and the number of zero's in their bank account. Anyone who is not on the "fast track," thinking of little beyond that next promotion, must be morally deficient. Liking your job, or feeling fulfilled, or having time for your family, is irrelevant; work is supposed to come first. Sound familiar?

Most books of this type look at just one or two areas, like interests, or goals, or hardwired abilities, to decide what is the "right" sort of job for an individual. This book explores eight different areas, with thought exercises throughout, so the reader can be pointed in the right direction.

Does the answer to a problem suddenly pop into your head, or are you more of a methodical, step-by-step type? Can you handle people coming to you with problems or questions on a non-stop basis, all day? Introvert or extrovert? Specialist or generalist? What is most important to you; family, health, excitement, spiritual fulfillment, etc? How much time per day do you spend doing what's most important to you? What sort of family did you grow up in? What sort of personal boundaries would you like to set up regarding your job (no more late nights, no more weekends, etc.)? What is your boss likely to accept?

Many books are available attempting to help the reader find the sort of occupation that is best for them. This one belongs at, or near, the top of the list. It will get the reader looking at themselves in a whole new way.

This book falls squarely in the self-help book genre and has all of the usual oversimplifications. One is urged to shed the various nefarious social systems which have operated on one since birth causing untold Stress, to find one's True Self, and to return to those very systems, mostly family and work, a new recharged and in-charge person. According to the authors, most simply need to go through a self-assessment process and thought experiments to reveal Personal Visions for the future.

Nowhere in the book do the authors discuss the power dynamics of the broader economy, society, and the polity and the impacts on persons. Managers are depicted not as powerful players in organizations who demand adherence to rules but as employee allies who want you to achieve your self-defined goals. Perhaps the authors could have reflected on the reason that labor unions formed. Or perhaps they could have pondered as to why social-democratic political parties exist in most democratic societies. The answer is most certainly not that corporations are interested in your True Self. Try the fact that workers and citizens need help against powerful players.

The authors operate a company that sells Whole Person Technology out of which comes a Personal Vision. Their customers are mostly large corporations which only adds suspicion about whom is to benefit. In fact, most of their individual customers seem to find happiness where they were previously unhappy. How convenient. For the readers of this book a battery of tests is available on CD for the tidy sum. The book has an unmistakable feel of being a promo for their self-help products.

In addition, the book is clearly intended for professionals, executives, managers, knowledge workers, etc. The book is loaded with snippets of case studies of such workers. Of course, they all found their Personal Vision. Apparently blue-collar workers don't have near the need to find a True Self.

Is the book completely bogus. No. It is Briggs-Myers on the cheap. Yes, distinctions between introversion and extroversion, specialization and generalization, logical and spontaneous, etc are minimally presented. If someone was hopelessly in the wrong job, perhaps that would be seen by reading this book ignoring the question of how he or she got there in the first place. But the book greatly oversimplifies the ability of individuals to make major transformations in their lives. I suspect that for most the costs and risks, resources and information available, and the power to affect change make real changes nearly impossible. And books that oversimplify the problems do not help.

Great book. Didnt want to put it down!! These two quys figured my out, read me like a book! Im ready for success