Customer Reviews

Five Steps to Overcoming Fear and Self Doubt

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

 

 

A great little book from the heart, Wyatt Webb's Five Steps have some real gems in them. My initial thoughts were that it may repeat or just rehash the information from his previous book, 'Its Not About the Horse' in a different context, and I was pleased to be proven wrong.

I've had several insights into how to approach my fear simply by quantifying it, and then realising it does not relate to present moment time so it must come from previous trauma. This is useful because it means in order to feel safe now we don't have to negate our feelings of fear, and that we are not in the process of being abused or hurt again. This hopefully creates a present moment pocket of space/time where we can feel physical and emotional security which is what allows the releasing of past pain, and then the healing of our unmet needs to occur.

Webb does not simply present the Five Steps as a dogma; he backs the process up with invaluable real life examples. So the credibility of the approach is pragmatically validated which again, creates security.

Its a cheap buy - probably less than a 15% of one hour with a therapist, so you can't lose! And we get to keep it and remind ourselves we are not alone, anytime we want.

So go for it.

Regards,

Daniel John Hancock

In over 20 years, I have never read a book that is more empowering, transformational or life changing! Written in easy to understand terms, this book offers practical and valuable insights into how to take better charge and control of your life so that you can live the life of your dreams.

If you are looking to make changes in any area of your life - then this is the book to own. It doesn't matter what background or belief system you have either - everyone can find valuable insights that can be useful to living a more empowered life.

If you only buy one book this year - this should be the one! You won't regret it. You will find not only directions to more empowered living, you will discover personal stories that will inspire and motivate you beyond your own present limitations or fears. While this is a relatively small book, the message is huge.

All I can say is: Thank You Wyatt for having the courage, compassion and wisdom to share these valuable insights with the world.

Don't let any limitations stand in your way - this book will deliver all the title implies - and much, much more!

Wyatt has an easy way of sharing his life experiences with the reader that lead to lots of "oh my" moments. He has a distinct way of reaching out to you and getting inside your head. When you slap your forehead and realize that even though it's his experience he is walking through at that moment in the book, he's talking about you. Your life. It's a powerful book that you'll use tools from each and every day. An absolute must read for anyone looking to enjoy a fuller, more joyful life. It's pure truth.

Five Steps For Overcoming Fear And Self-Doubt: Journey Into Present Moment Time is a straightforward self-help guide to taking back control of one's life from the ominous press of negative emotions. It walks the reader through the steps of acknowledging fear and self-doubt, quantifying it, imagining the worst-case scenario, gathering support and confronting the perception to dissipate the fear, and celebration. Individual personal testimonies add insight to the practical wisdom of Five Steps For Overcoming Fear And Self-Doubt. The text and duotone illustrations are printed in orange ink on white paper, presumably to symbolize the sunrise.

I read this book expecting to learn a few things about myself and my fears. Instead, after 100 pages of useless anecdotes, and self-serving, cheesy ranting by the author, it took monumental effort to finish the rest. So the least I can do is spare you the mistake that I made by giving a you a few examples of why this book is terrible.

1. The author repeatedly plugs his previous works as an author, and the mental wellness resort in Arizona, Miraval, where he holds seminars:

"Melody told me that from 1988 until she came to Miraval, she'd walked with a pronounced limp, but that was no longer the case. She said 'I think it was a combination of going to Miraval and then going home and reading your book, It's Not About The Horse, especially Vanessa's story'."

2. Discussing his former female boss whom he was afraid of at first, he once again promotes his resort in Arizona:

"Over the years I've stared in touch with Judy, who remains one of the kindest, sweetest souls I've ever met. She continues to be totally successful in her life and has shown up at Miraval on a few occasions with friends to do the Equine Experience."

3. The author frequently exhibits egotistical self-celebration masqueraded as useful advice. He seems to love to pat himself on the back.

"What has always made my life the most fertile of landscapes for spiritual and emotional growth is my willingness to acknowledge and quantify my fear, to look at the worst-case scenario, to get information that's supportive, walk through the fear, and come out on the other side with a smile on my face."

4. Talking about overcoming his own personal fear of heights in his diary entry, the author insults the reader with his 1st grade level choice of words:

"I'm going back to bed now so that I might sleep, so that maybe my challenge won't be more difficult than it needs to be because I didn't get enough rest. Life is zoo-y sometimes!""

5. As he talks about the horse-related activities in his resort, he exaggerates the problems of his patients in order to make their eventual recovery seem miraculous. Take Jack, the wealthy businessman who lacks confidence despite his success. It sounds more like he needed to see a physical therapist than some horse-loving author:

"As one of the women in the group worked with her horse, she asked Jack to come into the arena and be of emotional support to her. He was sitting on a crate, and he was so shaky that two people had to help him up. His body was so saturated with fear that it was taking away from the power of his muscles and skeletal system."

This book has very little substance, and too many anecdotes. It sickens me to think that the author is making money off of this. The author's thesis is that in order to overcome fears, you have to admit to the fears, quantify the fears, identify the worst case scenario associated with the fears, gather information to help solve the fears, and then celebrate after you've confronted the fears. Big deal! Please don't bother with this book. I tried reading it, and now I want my $10 back.

The guy who wrote this book really has no business writing books. After reading the book, you get the impression that he really wants to help people, but the real content of his book could have been condensed into a brief 300 word essay. And his steps aren't really very enlightening, its things you probably know already.

The examples he uses to illustrate each of the five steps don't seem to bear much correlation to the steps. There are some other space filling tricks in there like a random peaceful type picture every few pages - you know, the closeup of a woman smiling, or someone petting an animal or something like that.

And something else which really frustrated me about the book is that the font is in Red. yes RED. Reading red font either (1) agitates people, (2) makes them hungry or (3) just tires the eyes easily. It did (1) and (3) to me.

If you've never done any personal soul searching over what makes you tick, or why you feel things you feel or why you fear something and come up with your own answers and done some personal experimentation to see what works, then maybe you can benifit from this book. But if you're looking for something a bit deeper, that moves you to have conviction for the food the author is feeding you, then this book is sorely lacking.

There are lots of good self help books out there from which I've learned, internalized ideas and continue to implement a great deal of change in my life. The good ones are the ones which don't become just something you read, but something that shook your old perspectives and beliefs to such an extent that it changed the way you conduct your business of every daily life - in small ways at first but gradually more and more.. In that respect I really got nothing out of this book as compared to gems like "The road less travelled - M. Scott Peck" or "The Practicing mind" or "The art of learning"...

The writer of this book in one of his stories indicated how he was mandated by his publisher to write this book. Its almost as if after being promised a sum of money, he took some conventional wisdom, labeled it into "steps", and finally threw in some random Chicken-Soup-For-The-Soul-type-make-you-feel-warm-and-fuzzy stories from his life and threw something out there...

A little light on substance and a little self indulgent, but otherwise a reasonably good book.

I have all three of Webbs books and i will buy his next. They have been the best self help books for me personally on the market. Not just because i am a horse person because this trully is "not about the horse" as is the tittle of his first book. Webb is a down to earth, plain to understand therapist and gives his readers examples of breakthrough using the horses flight survival to mirror back what people cant see in their own lives. Complicated? Absolutly not. To meet this man would be would be a memorable moment indeed. To read his books is all i can afford and i am thankfull he shares his work this way so that we can take a peek into the wonderfull world of therapy with horses.