Customer Reviews

Fully Engaged: How to DO Less and BE More

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Overall I thought this book was good. It had some negatives and some positives...let me explain:


The Negative...
It was hard for me not to notice right away on the jacket of the book the list of all the things the author is involved in...kind of ironic!


There were also a couple of times Busacker said this: "Abundance creates contentment."
I fully and whole heartily disagree.
This is not a Biblical concept. Thankfulness for what God has given you creates contentment and looking to Him to find the strength to do that. (Philippians 4:11-13)


These were just a couple small statements that did seem to come out of no where and the rest of the book didn't reflect that thought, so if you keep this in mind, I would say that the rest of the book was really motivational(...almost too much at times...like you are back in High School at a pep rally. But he is a motivational life speaker, so it comes with the territory!)!!


The Positive...
One of the best parts of this book was reading a line out loud to my husband and having it really encourage and bless him,
"Then he asked, 'What do you think is the most important characteristic a leader must possess to be successful?' My honest response was 'She or he must have been broken-physically, spiritually, professionally, personally, relationally-and then gotten up, dusted themselves off, and continued forward with the wisdom from that loss seared in both mind and heart. I would never follow a leader that is unbroken. He or she lacks the compassion and humility to lead others.'...And the truth is that the seeds of consistent full engagement are forged in the moments that test us to the depth of our being. It is there that we learn what really matters and acquire the necessary humility to depend on God's great grace, rather than on our own inconsistent efforts."
Beautiful.


Some of the end of the chapter life planning exercises where kind of pointless feeling, but others were wonderful...one made me realize that this statement is what I believe God has given me passion for to be reflected in my life:


Creating simple beauty for encouragement, healing and joy for myself and others as we draw closer to Jesus.

This is reflected through my children, photography, homemaking, notes to others, etc...underneath it all lies this passion.


Even though this book is written to better understand your passions for your job and then focus your energy on that, it was easily transferable to the career of a stay-at-home-mom. It reminded me of why I want to stay at home and homeschool my children, and that the Lord has given me strengths to do just that and to not do it with a half-heart, time or attention.


This book was an easy read. Also, the book was a well made and even had an attached ribbon bookmark...I thought it was a nice touch and very cute. But I'm a girl and I really like cute things. =)


So, if you are looking for hard core theology, this might not be the book for you. If you are looking for a light read that is full of motivation for your life, this is just the book for you!

In today's high speed society of doing more and getting more this book calls for some self examination of what drives us. If you feel that life is speeding by, filled with things and action - yet at night you feel unfulfilled and longing for meaning this book is the one to read.

In his book Busacker explores how we can do less in life and be more - an oxymoron in the truest since. For we are taught from birth to have a desire for more, more, more. Somehow we become engaged in a race for more things, more activities, more work, more service and yet we end the day feeling that all is lost - nothing has meaning. Though we have achieved the next promotion or pay raise, though we have acquired the cars and the house, though we serve on every committee at church we still feel driven to do more in order to find the feeling of contentment we truly long for - that feeling of having achieved.

Busacker begins the book with a thought-provoking statement: " Life worth is the investment you make into and the return you receive". This is stated after the acknowledgement that most of us live by the net worth of ourselves as the standard of achievement rather than life worth. This seems simple enough but really is quite a radical thought in today's society. The simplicity is shockingly profound - we are worth what we invest (emotionally and spiritually) in life not what we gain in materials. Our worth is in God and in living out God's will in an active, totally sold out way!

In addressing how BE more by Doing Less Busacker explores 3 major themes:
1. Awareness: living life with purpose. Knowing your worth, sharing your story, and doing what matters.

2. Alignment: How does what you have and what you do match with what you want.
I especially like this section as it calls us to be actively, totally involved in all parts of our life - having a passion to enjoy every moment and make in worthwhile.

3. Action: How do you move forward.

The over all theme is to live life with a directed purpose - to get the most out of every moment and make every moment count.

I recently read on a friends Facebook wall the following statement, "What good is it to own my own business and get everything I've ever wanted when I'm never home to enjoy any of it - or too tired when I am home".

The comments following his were a sad statement of striving for net worth instead of life worth: "One day you'll enjoy all of it", "It will be worth it when you retire", "Hard work is a great thing - you've never shied away from a challenge".

As you see the drive is more, more, more. Yet my friend made a profoundly simple statement - What good is it when I'm never home to enjoy it?

When I read this book I immediately thought of him - net worth without life worth is really worthless. He has more and does more - but in the end actually has less because he can't be fully and purposefully engaged in making the most of his life.

Thank you B&B Communications for this review copy.

I loved this book. I read it, and am still processing it. After I read it, my wife and I read it to each other on a long drive, and spent hours discussing our life, how we have fallen victim to so many of the trends he points out, and what we could do about them.

Busacker invites you to really examine what you're doing in and with your life, and offers some great perspectives on how to think differently. I've been trying to put some of those ideas to work, and I really feel different.

First, I would like to extend a heartfelt "Thank you" to John Busaker and his publisher for sending me a copy of "Fully Engaged: how to DO less and BE more" to review for them. I am truly grateful for this generosity. I really appreciate the time, effort and expense it takes to make a reviewer copy available to me.

"Fully Engaged: how to DO less and BE more" by John Busacker may be a small volume and an easy read, but it is one of the most challenging personal growth books to hit bookstore shelves in quite some time. According to the author, there are three key components by which life is marked: awareness, alignment and action. Systematically, Busacker takes the reader on a journey through these three intertwining lands to develop a clear, concise and measurable strategy for living that is bound to lead to greater satisfaction and impact.

Each chapter ends with a series of workbook exercises to help the reader discern his or her priorities and develop a tactical plan for living more deliberately. This is a wonderful book that I will recommend often and revisit to re-evaluate my own life.

This book is a quick read and it contains some introspective and helpful thoughts. However, this is a book that is not NEW thinking just a new way to look at complacency and ruts. If you are missing the life in your Christian living, or know you are deep in a rut and want to get out. Fully engaged is a resource that could really help. It would make a terrific study for small groups or individuals. There are sections in each chapter for personalization and introspection to help clarify what needs to be done to make some changes.

Don't you love the title of this book? I am ABYSMAL at being. Instead I move on do, do, do, and squeeze in a bit more doing. Just the other night I mentioned to my husband that I'd probably work less if I had one full time job than so many cobbled together part time gigs.

This book focuses in a few short pages in helping people figure out what really matters to them. What motivates me? What brings me energy and pleasure? It's when I focus on those things rather than everything else, that I can live in a sweet spot of what God created me to do. This book has several helpful exercises to take the theory of reading and help apply it to real life. Did I do those? Um, not yet. Will I do them? Probably. They looked valuable and worth investing a bit of time in.

I think it's important to live with an eye on whether I'm where God wants me. That will move as I live. Where God wanted me five years ago, is not where He wants me today. So books like this are helpful tools to evaluate and determine whether I'm in the right spots. This short book packs a punch as it challenges you to truly evaluate your life and how to weed out the extraneous things that steal your time and your ability to do what God wants you to.

People, they say are the only creatures that speed up when they are lost or overwhelmed. But busy isn't better--it just leads to exhaustion. What if you could slow down--and experience life as it's meant to be lived?

FULLY ENGAGED is an action plan that will help you identify your passions and your talents, so you can realign your work and day-to-day activity.

FULLY ENGAGED includes little quizzes to determine how satisfied you are, what your life is worth, your life story, life values, and more. Plus it includes personal stories and suggests three key components:

1. Living with Awareness (live intentionally)
2. Living with Alignment (what do you want out of life)
3. Living with Action (the direction you want to go)

"You have gifts to give, family to love, and dreams to live," writes John Busacker. If you are burned out, replicating and repeating, and want to feel happy, connected, and alive, then FULLY ENGAGED is a book you need to read. Includes a handy yellow ribbon bookmarker.

Reading,"Fully Engaged", was both a powerful, humbling and eye opening look at how we often fill our lives with busyness that often isn't so much as fruitful as time consuming and something that in the modern, 21st century is a challenging struggle for the Christian in the 21st century.

As the publisher's notes share about, "Fully Engaged", this book helps provide more of an insight of balancing life's competing demands while helping the individual balance a more fruitful relationship with our Father in Heaven and how often is it that we seem to get our priorities in life mix up?

This really affected the way I found myself approaching things and remembering the most basic priorities in life that seem so easy to remember, but so easy to forget that the things that come important first in life are:

1. God

2. Our spouses

3. Our Children, then

4. Our ministries and the demands of the world beyond our door,

but how often is it to forget that and find ourselves, instead, in a personal and sometimes worldly competition of wants and needs.

With "Fully Engaged" it truly, causes the reader to slow down and re-evaluate, "What is really important in life and what can wait".

Not really an easy answer for many.

Don't let the small size fool you, even at 144 pages, "Fully Engaged" challenges us to rethink the fast pace life that we can easily be lulled into and with so many distractions in the world competing for our attention, be it Facebook, Twitter, ministries, home, work, whatever it is, "Fully Engaged" shows us the need to slow down, to prioritize and in many cases, re-evaluate what is really important in our lives and what really isn't.

If you find yourself facing overwhelming schedules, or maybe thinking more is enough and craving to live and feel like you are living a fuller life, explore what "Fully Engaged" has to offer and how to look differently at what should and shouldn't be engaging our attention.

~~~Thank you to Audra Jennings of B&B Media for the opportunity to read and review this book; In exchange for my honest opinion, a complimentary copy of the book, had been sent.~~~

By John Busacker (Summerside North, 2011)

Don't we all want to do less and be more, in regards to work and life's necessary tasks? This book is a motivational guidebook that contains questions and spaces to write down your answers. "Your values determine your choices," (Bucsacker, 2011, p. 61). There are three main parts in this book: Awareness, Alignment, and Action.

"People in your life want to hear your life story. Share it! It will engage you and transform them," (Busacker, 2011, p.47). Numerous tidbits in this book will make you inquire about your own life and your intended legacy. "To pass away without passing on your own story is like having the town library burn down-and its one-of-a-kind historical archives with it," (Busacker, 2011, p. 46).

Being a great travel size book, this durable hardback book with dust cover will keep you entertained with stories, thoughts, knowledge, quotes, research, humor, and possibly a new outlook on life. There is some Biblical wisdom drizzled in this book. Bound with a built-in yellow ribbon bookmark, this book would make a thoughtful gift and one that you would probably like to keep in your personal library.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free through The B & B Media Group, Inc. book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255vf: "Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising."