6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Winning Ways, April 16, 2002
This review is from: Go the Distance: 21 Habits & Attitudes for Winning at Life (Paperback)
There are two ways to evaluate success, one focuses on the end results (scored 36 points had 12 rebounds) the other focuses on the means (played my best, worked hard, was in my "zone"). In Go the Distance, Ed Rowell coaches his readers to be a success in life and focuses more on the means than the end results. He writes, "Real success is the result of implementing simple disciplines and practicing them consistently over time."
The book explains 21 habits and attitudes a person needs to win at life. Certainly, the book reflects significant research into current literature and the opinions of others that Rowell gleaned from interviews with people he admires. And those insights are helpful, but the strength of the book is when Rowell looks inward and examines his own personal demons.
When you buy the book, read chapter 11 first. It is powerful. In it, Rowell talks about his own struggle with anger and the things he is doing to get the best of it before it brings out the worst in him. He shows how he turned to others for help in managing the fire that raged in his soul and how he is finding victory. Maybe this chapter spoke to me so much because of Rowell's brutal honesty, or maybe it is because I too struggle with anger. Either way, it was worth the price of the book.
I'm glad I bought this book, after I post this review, I'm going to buy another copy to give to my son as a High School graduation present. I know that before I'm done shopping for this special occasion, I will give him other gifts that will be more expensive, but I can imagine how I could give him one that will be more important.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Banishing Boredom, April 10, 2002
By A Customer
This review is from: Go the Distance: 21 Habits & Attitudes for Winning at Life (Paperback)
Are you just plain bored and feel your life has no purpose? If so, Ed Rowell suggests you should refocus on "winning at life."
Rowell, author of a new Broadman & Holman book, "Go The Distance: 21 Habits and Attitudes For Winning At Life," says people need to run the race of life with the finish line clearly in mind.
Divided into 21 chapters that focus on individual "winning" habits, Rowell's book pushes readers to discover their God-given purpose in life, work toward achieving it and find lasting satisfaction in their choices.
"Every pastor has had the experience of sitting with someone who knows they are dying and listening to that person express remorse and guilt over the life they neglected to live," Rowell said. "I've walked out of those situations begging God, 'Please let me live in such a way that I can die with minimal regrets.'"
Rowell said his book isn't a how-to manual for life, though he does offer insights and suggestions to readers based on his own life experiences.
"It is for people who are searching for a purpose," Rowell said of his book. "It is for people who are bored with their jobs, bored with their marriages, bored with their churches."
Boredom is the inevitable result of life out of focus, he said.
"As I wrote Go the Distance, I prayed that God would use it to give believers of this generation a clear focus on his purposes and banish their boredom. Beyond that, I continue to ask him to use this book to transform pew potatoes into intensely fit, thoroughly trained and wholly committed spiritual warriors."
Each chapter focuses on a specific issue, such as discipline, learning to say 'no' and building character, and can be a useful discipleship tool, he said.
While the book doesn't tell people how to live their lives, Rowell said he hopes it helps them grow spiritually and win at life by accomplishing God's goals.
"Success is not about my agenda, my plans or my priorities," Rowell said. "I gave all that up when I surrendered to Christ. That's what it means to let him be Lord of my life."
(Reviewed by Mandy Crow--first appeared in Baptist Press)
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Real Advise for Real People, May 29, 2002
By A Customer
This review is from: Go the Distance: 21 Habits & Attitudes for Winning at Life (Paperback)
So often in the world of self-help this and self-help that, major points get lost in the writer going on and on about how HE or SHE overcame negative circumstances and eventually found happiness, rather than on practical steps that can be implemented in the life of the reader. While Ed Rowell does draw upon his own life and the lives of his family and friends to make his points, he does so only to illustrate how YOU can benefit from the very practical, very thoughtful principles contained within the pages of Go The Distance. For me, I realized that life is more about my relationship with God than it is my relationship to failure and adversity. Ed Rowell points out that our response to life is more important than what life throws at us - which sometimes can be a substantial mess of stuff.
In the end, it's not about where you start, it's where you finish. Sound advise from a sound writer who has a lot to say. Listening will help you win the race and enjoy the journey.
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