Customer Reviews

How to Escape Lifetime Security and Pursue Your Impossible Dream: A Guide to Transforming Your Career

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I want to thank Kenneth Atchity, a creative genius for sharing his brilliant mind and writing an inspirational masterpiece that made me realize it is normal to be crazy enough to pursue my dreams for as long as I have been pursuing them and even though I sometimes feel that I have gotten nowhere, it is safe to believe that someday I will reach that place that I need to be and the true success is that I keep going until I get there, because no other place will do.

I always find self-help books to be the most useful when the author has accomplished something more difficult than what I am seeking to do. The lessons from a more challenging transition always seem to make it more obvious to me what I should do.

Top film producer, author and agent, Dr. Kenneth Atchity, has been there and done that. He turned his back on lifetime tenure as a respected professor at Occidental College in Los Angeles to become a creative force and deal-maker in both Hollywood and New York. Why? He wanted to live his dreams . . . rather than be merely secure.

As I often say to friends, I'd rather be exhausted than bored. Dr. Atchity seems to operate on the same wavelength.

The book has a much more sophisticated view of the psychology of personal change than I have read in more self-help books. Dr. Atchity is either extremely self-aware . . . or he has spent a lot of time on somebody's couch.

I found the concepts in his book to be very interesting and helpful. He describes how our minds normally oscillate between the visionary who creates our dreams (who sets no limits) and the accountant (who wants meat and potatoes on the table today). This oscillation can be destructive of both our dreams and our security. In the book, he describes an alternative, a Type C, who reconciles dreams and security in ways that make both more realizable.

I especially liked his discussions of the realities behind the things people fear most: losing their homes; not being able to pay their bills; and filing for bankruptcy. As he points out, it's not great . . . but it's not the end of the world.

Anyone who becomes self-employed will see many ups and downs in their income and prospects. With years of experience, you come to realize that every "down" is merely setting up a future "up" and you act accordingly.

Dr. Atchity seems to have an emotional life that can go up and down with the seasons of his professional life. I was impressed by his many suggestions for how to avoid emotional lows, drag yourself out of an emotional hole and make the most out of your highs.

The Type C concept and the idea about the tension between dreams and security are based in Dr. Atchity's own family. If you have family members who actively encourage and discourage your dreams, you'll recognize what he describes.

If you've ever talked yourself out of living your dreams, you should read this book. You may just want to change your mind, now!

Kenneth Atchity has an amazing personal story. He was a tenured professor in literature when he gave up literal lifetime security to follow his dream to produce movies in Hollywood. And he succeeded! So you don't feel he's asking you to do anything he wouldn't do himself. It's almost as if he is on a hero's journey and you just want to join him.

If you feel like it's time to give up on your dream and become a responsible adult--read this first! Ken Atchity offers wit and wisdom for those of us who are Type C (creative) personalities and can't figure out how to balance doing what we love with what we think we should be doing.

I laughed out loud at Atchity's Mark Twain-like humor in analyzing the creative entrepreneur's thought process and said "been there, done that" a dozen times. He explains how to reconcile the two competing mind forces: the Visionary and the Accountant. You can feed the Visionary by endulging in your creative passion, but will starve the Accountant from lack of funding and security. Likewise, if you feed the Accountant by doing what is fiscally safe, there will be no time or energy to feed the Visionary, and depression is inevitable. So what's a Type C to do?

Read the book. It's a dream saver!

I read a lot and most self-help books are all the same. Not this one. Atchity has created a fantastic book. He doesn't sugar-coat the process you have to go through to pursue your dream, instead he provides answers on how to work through the hard times. He also delivers page after page of inspiration. This is overall one of the most valuable books on doing what you love, on making life an adventure, on following what others might view as an impossible dream. I continue to reread sections and find more helpful instruction.

I've reviewed many How-To, motivational and inspirational books and I've noticed patterns and examples that generate warm and fuzzy feelings but are more philosophical than offer practical applications. I only learned about Ken Atchity because he was a keynote speaker at a conference I was attending. Listening to him speak, I knew this book would be a new slant and flavor to check out and I was very impressed as I read it.

The examples of the Accountant, Visionary and Creative personality types are great. Ken adds charts to achieve your dream with an agenda, time scheduling and word transformations. He uses his experience operating as both the accountant and a visionary to truly show the creative objectives. Then he adds a little yoga, seaweed greens, exercise and fun advice about balancing personal, professional and inspirational aspects of living life to the full, every moment.

I'm recommending this books to many. This book is more practical and motivating than many books I've read.

How To Escape Life Time Security And Pursue Your Impossible Dream is a groundbreaking career guide, written by a tenured professor who pursued his own "impossible dream" to become a story merchant and film producer. Written especially for individuals looking to abandon routine and familiarity to earn a living at what they truly love, How To Escape Life Time Security And Pursue Your Impossible Dream covers how to draw up a step-by-step timetable and plan, how to "steal" time for your dream when the demands on you seem endless, dealing with family, spouses, ex-friends, nay-sayers, and the like while making the transit, and much more. A can-do guide to relishing the unplanned and achieving the highest goals of the imagination.

Yes Ken may have an amazing story but how its supposed to help you is beyond me after slogging thru the most boring book around. It,s all about ME....Did I tell you how I gave up a tenure? Did I tell you how I beat my accountant father in understanding and conquering risk?....Did I tell you.....then let me tell you again and again and again. If this is interesting to you then read on, if not then you should just get the latest 2007 parachuete book (to figure out your real goals and drives) & Napoleon Hill's classic, Think and Grow Rich, to make them happen. Cheers, Remy.

Who doesn't need a trusted guide to help them face what, I think, is one of the most difficult challenges in a lifetime: the ultimate career transition? Ken is the calm voice of reason, guiding his readers on their journey from a lifetime of security into the unknown, and all it has to offer. What's best is that he's done it all before, so he's telling it like it is. There's no sugar coating here. Just the facts.

Moving from a steady paycheck to an unstable life of entrepreneur is one of the most difficult things I've ever done. I wish I had read this book then. I'm glad I read it now. I believe that, no matter if you're new or seasoned, every entrepreneur, or Type C, should read this book. What's the old saying: "It's not how many times you fall, but how many times you get up?" Ken teaches you how to fall gracefully, and get up stronger. Thanks to this book, I'll never "quit" again... I'll simply "regroup."