Personal Brilliance: Mastering the Everyday Habits That Create a Lifetime of Success [Hardcover]

Jim Canterucci (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 9, 2005

Whatever your definition of success, you'll achieve it only when you apply four key habits to your life and work - not once in a while, or just "when the going gets tough," but every single day. Once you master that ability, you'll find that control, freedom of choice, and spectacular success are yours. "Personal Brilliance" helps you maximize your awareness, curiosity, focus, and initiative. These four traits we all have can be the catalysts for achieving your best.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

While the idea of finding one's own "personal brilliance" is certainly appealing, Canterucci never really defines what he means by this term. Nevertheless, he breaks down the concept into four "catalysts"-awareness, curiosity, focus and initiative-that, when developed and honed, will help readers "bring an innovative solution and value to any situation" and thus lead a more fulfilling life. Canterucci recommends that readers take a "Personal Brilliance Quotient Assessment" to figure out which areas of the book to focus on, but requires them to visit his Web site to do so. Included in the book, however, are a number of exercises designed to help readers adopt what the author sees as good habits, but some, such as Canterucci's suggestion that readers pause to study their hands, are rather contrived.
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Review

Canterucci offers easy, practical and enjoyable exercise to incorporate into daily routines. -- Fort Worth Star Telegram, FT.Worth TX October 2005

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Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 17 and up
  
• Hardcover: 224 pages
• Publisher: AMACOM (September 9, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0814408389
• ISBN-13: 978-0814408384
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.2 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,319,865 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars What's Your PBQ?, October 8, 2005

By 

Don Snyder "The Idea Guy" (Columbus, OH USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Personal Brilliance: Mastering the Everyday Habits That Create a Lifetime of Success (Hardcover)

Hey, I'm an "Action Hero!" Who knew?
Jim Canterucci's book has absolutely changed the way I "think about thinking." My business is all about creativity, ideas, and innovation -- but PERSONAL BRILLIANCE has shown me it is also about Awareness, Curiosity, Focus, and Initiative.

PERSONAL BRILLIANCE is an entertaining read, as well as a well-designed and formatted book. The chapters are well constructed, and it's easy to flip back through sections when revisiting the core concepts (which I do quite frequently).

I recommend this book to anyone and everyone -- from the boardroom to the living room -- this book is for YOU. You don't realize how just a *little* action taken toward implementing these four catalysts can absolutely change your outlook on your work or your home life. Don't just READ this book, take the extra step and put the catalysts into action (that falls under INITIATIVE, duh.)

AND don't forget to check out the companion website. They have an online assessment that calculates your Personal Brilliance Quotient (PBQ), and a ton of extra content. Definitely worth a visit to mypersonalbrilliance-dot-com.

11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Still a worthwhile book to read on developing personal mastery!, September 4, 2005

By 

Lee Say Keng "KNOWLEDGE ADVENTURER/TECHNOLOGY... (Ho Chi Minh City/Singapore) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Personal Brilliance: Mastering the Everyday Habits That Create a Lifetime of Success (Hardcover)

I would rank this book in the same genre of books that include `Million Dollar Habits' (by Robert Ringer), `Seven Habits for Highly Effective People' (by Stephen Covey), `Mastering the Rockefeller Habits' (by Verne Harnish) & `Developing the 21st Century Mind', by Marsha Sinetar.

In the case of this book, the author has added fun practices, discovery exercises & many inspiring stories (as well as abundant `success' quotations, which help to fill up text space) to maximize & leverage on your innate habitual traits, as follows:

- Awareness;
- Curiosity;
- Focus;
- Initiative;

These are nothing new or exciting, if readers have been pursuing & exploring self-mastery principles.

According to the author, all these four habitual traits, when developed further & honed properly, can be the catalysts for achieving our personal best. The secret is in consistently applying these four `habits of mind."

To each key trait, content-wise, the author devotes from two to four solid chapters. They are consistently well-treated. I really marvel at the author's narrative ability, by being able to explain, describe & illustrate in both scope & depth, just on these four habits. He certainly knows how to profit from his personal knowledge & field experiences as an executive advisor & success coach.

At the end of each chapter, the author offers many useful strategies in developing & enhancing the habits as well as dealing with personal barriers. I particularly like the author's attitude towards barriers: "Barriers provide us with important information about who we are & how we function under challenging conditions. Every time we confront a barrier, we improve our problem solving skills."

From my personal perspective, I definitely enjoyed perusing - as well as playing with the exercises - chapters 7 to 10, on the Curiosity habit.

The author's writing is also crisp & succinct, almost in a friendly conversational style.

The author also invites the reader to take a live "Personal Brilliance Quotient Assessment" on his website. There are twenty assessment questions. My own score is 84, & am now classified as a Prospector. An explorer, to be exact, just as I have expected, as the questions are too simplistic.

Upon completion of the assessment, the author leads me subtly to `procure' more stuff from the website. Frankly, the author's website is still incomplete. There are still many areas under construction. To me, this is almost like selling vapour-ware! Undoubtedly, a smooth operator, with a slick marketing move!

Overall, it is still a worthwhile book to read. You can treat it as an opportunity for some mental workout, as some of the exercises can be quite intriguing & perplexing.

To be fair to the author, & in summing up my review, there are indeed good stuff in the book. Get it & read it, if you are seeking more perspectives on developing personal mastery &/or if you are building up a repertoire of skills & knowledge to deal with the 21st Century.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A book to read!, February 21, 2006

By 

Armchair Interviews (Minneapolis, MN) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Personal Brilliance: Mastering the Everyday Habits That Create a Lifetime of Success (Hardcover)

im Canterucci's Personal Brilliance: Mastering the Everyday Habits that Create a Lifetime of Success takes a somewhat different approach to self-help than many of today's popular and widely-read books in the genre. His focus is not on the past, but on living and being active and aware in the present.

Canterucci describes Awareness, Curiosity, Focus, and Initiative as the natural gifts that are catalysts to unlocking personal brilliance. His online survey helps individuals easily determine which of the four areas need the most focus, and each section of the book guides readers through interesting, thought-provoking, and easy-to-follow exercises to hone their skills in a specific area.

The final chapter offers guidance for using the four catalysts to help readers make choices in their everyday lives that will ensure success.

Jim Canterucci is the founder and CEO of Transition Management Advisors. He writes and speaks extensively on the topic of maximizing personal and professional success.

Armchair Interviews says: Following Canterucci's exercises, readers will find that a few simple changes can really go a long way