Customer Reviews

The Little Gold Book of YES! Attitude: How to Find, Build and Keep a YES! Attitude for a Lifetime of Success

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4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(9)

 

 

I've been gravitating more towards personal improvement books and blogs of late, and this particular book was one that I was looking forward to receiving... Little Gold Book of YES! Attitude: How to Find, Build and Keep a YES! Attitude for a Lifetime of SUCCESS by Jeffrey Gitomer. It may not be everyone's particular style of choice when it comes to self-improvement, but I loved this little gem...

Contents: Insight to Your Inside Attitude; Attitude Self Awareness; Attitude Actions; Attitude Attributes; Attitude Achievement; Attitude Fulfillment

Gitomer is well-known as a sales motivator, and many of his prior titles deal with the art of the sale. While there's still a bit of a sales focus in YES!, it's more designed to be a personal motivator for your attitude in all areas of life. In terms of content, he's similar in nature to the big names of personal improvement, such as Zig Ziglar, Jim Rohn, and others. But his style of writing is more "in your face", more "cheerleader" in look and feel, and I don't mean that in a bad way. He uses a never-ending kaleidoscope of fonts, colors, and print layouts to get his point across. You definitely don't get bored reading the book...

He is big on surrounding yourself with positive influences as well as structuring your schedule to get positive input each day (preferably first thing in the morning). By consciously focusing on these things, you start to ensure that your attitude moves from (potentially) negative to positive, and then to the level of YES!. There were a number of things that resonated with me when reading this, such as taking an hour a day to work on your skills instead of spending that time watching news (largely negative) or TV (mostly worthless). At the end of a year, those hours will add up and make you really knowledgeable on whatever you focused on. You might become an expert on some part of your career, or you may be an expert on American Idol. Which is going to be more beneficial to your personal success? I've found this to be true when it comes to my writing activities. I've gotten much better at it (whether I'm "good" is up for debate), and I'm sure it's due to spending time at it as opposed to following the latest reality series... I would like to apply this same focus to attitude, and see the improvement that would make both at work and home.

An excellent book, fun to read, and very thought-provoking. And if you take his words seriously, your life will never be the same (and that's a good thing)...

I think this is Gitomer's best book yet. I own his other 3 little books (selling/sales answers/connections). It all starts with attitude and this type of book is the most critical to success. If I had to lead people to one book I would tell them this because attitude really is the foundation.

"You become what you think about all day long." I think I had to hear this 150 times before I truly began to live/grasp it. I still am challenged with keeping the right thoughts in mind daily, this book helps you do that.

Best thoughts: Gratitude, Bible verses, Goals, solutions and not problems, your best qualities, what you love, what's great, past victories in your life.

Seriously, if you think these types thoughts all day you have a great life. If you think negative all day, your life sucks.

Specifics of the book:

It tells you that you have to make a study of the subject, not just read a book. DAILY ACTIVITY.

You learn what attitude is/isn't. You learn if you really do have a good attitude by taking a test (everyone THINKS they have a good attitude but less than 10% of people do). You then learn actions that will help you develop a game plan to have a better attitude.

Next you learn how to focus on your best qualities. You learn other habits to implement good attitude.

THIS IS REAL WORLD ADVICE WITH CONCRETE GAME PLANS/ACTIIVITIES. Good stuff, this is worth it's weight in gold. I told my sister to stop what she is doing right now and go buy the book. She said she would borrow mine... DON'T BE CHEAP. It's 13 bucks on Amazon, if you can't afford that then you aren't serious about success.

Jeffrey Gitomer knows how to write about selling . . . I've read
and enjoyed two of his other books--THE LITTLE RED BOOK
OF SELLING and THE SALES BIBLE . . . in each instance, I
found myself taking copious notes . . . that's always a good sign;
i.e., it shows there is something that I wish to retain and/or share
with others.

The same thing happened when I devoured JEFFREY GITOMER'S
LITTLE GOLD BOOK OF YES! ATTITUDE . . . it took me just a few hours to read, but that's
misleading in that after I finished, I had to go back to revisit much
of it . . . and I'm sure I will continue to do so in the future, in that it
is that good.

Perhaps most importantly, Gitomer got me to think about what's
important in life . . . for example, when feeling down, he advises that all
you need to do is:

Visit a children's hospital or help someone less fortunate than
you. Get comfortable with the plight of others, and feel good
about the minuteness of your problems compared with theirs.

I also liked his advice on how to find out about the weather:
Poke your head outside in the morning. It's a lot more
accurate than the weather guy.

The above might seem basic, but if you're like me, you need
to be reminded of it every so often . . . likewise, Gitomer
urges you to think the following when it comes to making money:

Most people get into a career to "make money." There could
not be a worse reason to enter a profession. The best way
to amass a lot of money in a career is to earn it.

And, also, I liked the author's shortest goal lesson in life:
Post your goals (in front of your face) on your bathroom
mirror, and say them twice a day. Once achieved, post
your accomplishments on your bedroom mirror so you
can start each day by looking at your success.

Lastly, Gitomer constantly offers readers the opportunity
to gain even more from his book by references to his
website . . . one free offer promises you his collection
of personal quotes for your personal inspiration . . . please
excuse me while I go get that now.

I confess I am usually a sucker for this genre of motivational self-help books. I thought Gitomer's "Little Black Book of Contacts" was superb. I think he laid a repetitious egg, a repetitious egg, a repet - oh, well, you get the idea.

He takes a simple idea - that we need a good attitude -- and pumps it up with so much hype and hot air, you could power a small city for weeks with the methane given off.

The idea could be expressed in two pages but he uses lots of EXCLAMATION POINTS!!!!! and large print, cartoons and icons to stretch this into a book.

Nice try, Jeffrey, but there are likely 10.5 reasons why I thought the book laid an egg. (Your mileage may vary.)

Like chicken soup for your motivation -- it won't hurt and it may help.

I've purchased and read all of Gitomer's "Little....." series and, in my opinion, this is far and away the best of the bunch. Why? Because without the right attitude, none of the others come into play.

You can have all the sales training in the world - even from great resources such as Gitomer himself - but if you're not properly wired, they're all rendered useless. For that reason, I feel that this should be the FIRST book read in the Gitomer series, followed only then by all the others.

Let's be honest: most of us need a lift from time to time, especially those of us in sales-related businesses. I'm a very optimistic and positive person myself, but I experience moments and/or days when I slip and lose a bit of my enthusiasm for whatever it is I'm doing.

That's where this book becomes a valuable, on-the-desk, beside-the-bed, in-your-pocket asset. There are so many pick-me-ups, attitude-lifters, and great pieces of advice that you're bound to find something that works specifically for you. I'm not an author, not on Gitomer's payroll, and won't receive a free book or tape for writing this review. I'm a consumer like most everyone else who reads Amazon reviews. I'm a 20-year veteran of the Financial Services industry, and I highly recommend this book.

I have only read 30 some pages, and my attitude is changing already. I just went to run a few errands and took Gitomer's "Yes" attitude with me, what a difference it can make because there is incompetence everywhere. Gitomer is a real jewel, a Napolean Hill for the modern age. Thanks Jeff for another chance to get inside your beautiful mind.

After reading this book a month ago, I just reread it again. It just keeps getting better like a fine wine.

I'm not sure how I discovered this little gem, but I was obviously in the mood for something upbeat - and that's what this book delivers. Gitomer isn't all that different from thousands of self-help authors that have come before him. He even gives away the secret of his success on page 8 when he tells the reader that he has 982 books on positive mental attitude and personal development in his own library.

There's little doubt that everything in this Gitomer book can be found in one or more of the books in his library. But here's the difference: Gitomer is a showman, a one-man revue of positive thinking. Every page sparkles with the force of Gitomer's personality and his relentless (if ancient) message: you are what you think.

You can dip in anywhere and come up with a handful of bright, shining attitudinal nuggets to carry you through a bad moment, a bad day, maybe even a bad year. He intersperses quotations from self-help classics with his own kind of homespun advice. Some of it just plain corny: "If you think I'm nuts, you may be right. But I'm a nut with a positive attitude, baby." And does it ever show.

In a hundred years, there will probably be no mention of Jeffrey Gitomer in any history books. Maybe not even in twenty years. But the guy is definitely in the "now". An effective self-promoter of his own self-help regimen, sales consultancy and a bunch of other businesses. He claims to deliver more than 120 live seminars a year. I think he'd be a treat to see: I get the idea that he could light up a string of Christmas tree lights with his own energy.

In any event, the "Little Gold Book of YES! Attitude" is a handy thing for your desk. Pull it out whenever you need a little does of attitude improvement.

Jerry

Let's face it - all the sales tricks and techniques in the world won't do you a bit of good if you don't have the proper attitude at the outset. And yet, most salespeople are only looking for tricks and tactics, the "easy way" to fast success, rather than looking at the most important thing at the start - their attitude.

Attitude is the #1 most important determiner of a salesperson's success, and Jeffrey Gitomer has written the definitive guide to creating and keeping the proper attitude to make you successful. This isn't just for salespeople either; I'd recommend this book to anyone in any field of endeavor who wants to be happy and successful. Get this book, you can't go wrong!

In the Little Gold Book, Gitomer does a great job of revealing the keys to an affirmative attitude. The beauty of this book is that it's easy stuff. In fact, we probably know most of the content already. But then again, it's not knowledge that gives us power... it's APPLIED knowledge. Jeffrey gives us the roadmap and he's led by example for years.

Add Gitomer to the short list of positive attitude masters... Nightingale, Peale, Hill, Marden. I've read the book twice already and plan to make it a regular in my rotation of "reading for profit." If you haven't jumped on the Gitomer bandwagon yet, what's stopping you?

Jeffrey Gitomer has put together a slick, well-packaged piece, complete with a colorful layout, bullet points, catch phrases and a carefully designed Yes! logo prominently displayed at the top of each page. To his credit, he tells you up front that he has trademarked the phrase "Yes! Attitude," and plans to market more books, courses and products in the future. So, you shouldn't be surprised that his Little Gold Book reads somewhat like a PowerPoint presentation. However, his basic premise is solid. Achieving and keeping a positive attitude can improve your life at home and at work. Gitomer's snippets of advice suggest, for example, beginning each day with a positive thought, avoiding negative people and situations, and spending time with upbeat, successful people. Stretching these simple principles and others into a book took ingenuity, repetition and lots of large type. On the flip side, this showy presentation makes it an easy read for someone looking for a quick fix of inspiration. We suggest keeping it on your bedside table as a resource for starting every day with a positive thought.