Power Living - Mastering The Art of Self-Discipline [Paperback]

Michael Anthony Janke (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1, 2000

This powerful book is a complete guide to developing mental, physical, and spiritual discipline. This book combines Navy SEAL and special operations mental and physical discipline tools with ancient philosopy and nutrition and modern success formulas. Learn how to control all aspects of your life with self-control, mental programming, the predator's mindset, and ancient discipline secrets. Packed with over 200 warrior quotes, 20 illustrations, and various tools and techniques for strengthening your personal discipline. Includes an index, bibliography, and appendix with over 200 website urls

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Michael Anthony Janke is a Navy SEAL commando, professional speaker, author, and founder of Special Operations Consulting. Mike is considered to be one of the world's foremost experts on personal achievement and the science of self-discipline. He teaches tens-of-thousands of people each year how to improve the quality of their lives through self-discipline.

Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Special Operations Publishing (January 1, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0967513936
• ISBN-13: 978-0967513935
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.4 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #848,560 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The information I was looking for and more., October 28, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Power Living - Mastering The Art of Self-Discipline (Paperback)

This book provided me the information I was looking for to help improve my self-discipline. There is lots of helpful advice and suggestions and thought provoking missions (i.e. exercises). The book touches on the power of the mind, setting and attacking goals and improving the body.

Like all self help books all of the information does not apply to everyone. Self help is a very personal thing and it's difficult for a book written for the general public to apply to each of us individually. I found that 80% - 90% was relavent to me. I found myself doing a lot of underlining and making notes. Most of the information is obvisious, but putting it together is difficult for most people. To improve your self-discpline I would recommend reading and re-reading this and other books on the topic to make the important points stick.

The best and worst part of the book is the 100 Secrets of Power Living. The good thing is the bullet format (concise). The bad thing is that there are number of repeated items (i.e. #24. Stop overeating and #62 Don't eat so much). The list could have been cut down to about 80-85 items. The other thing is most people would never have the time to incorporate all of the suggestions (i.e. 30 minutes per day for this and 1 hour per day for that and 1 day per week to do nothing (not with three kids and a working wife)).

All in all the book gives you what you need to help improve your self-discipline I would recommend the book and would seriously consider going to one of Michael Janke's seminar.

51 of 60 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Nothing new., December 24, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Power Living - Mastering The Art of Self-Discipline (Paperback)

Despite the fact there are many positive reviews out there given by other readers, I found this book is yet another book on self-discipline, the only new ingredient is the author has some kind of military training and he keeps on reminding the reader about this(i.e. he was a navy SEAL commando). To be fair, some of the techniques outlined are useful, but this kind of information is readily available in many other books/articles as well(names like Covey, Robins come to mind), not necessarily only known to the military, as the author tries so hard to press onto the reader.

Chapter 7 (The 100 secrets of power living) is a major flop. Lots of the 'secrets' are not only redundant, some actually contradict with one another.

The redundancy is evident, for example, #17 Breath of life and #57 Power breathing are saying the same thing; #3 Exercise and #66 Endorphin Fix are also identical, namely encourage you to exercise. This is just a partial list of the redundancies. I think those 100 secrets actually can be pared down to around 50 or so and be categorized into a few groups, namely self and mind management, nutrition, physical fitness and general wisdom. These so-called 'secrets' are pretty much common-sense or common-wisdom that most people should know in order to survive. A few of them are quite subjective, like #20 Buy a pet.

In #12 Turn Off the TV, Janke described television as 'the most powerful form of mind control known to man' and urged the reader to 'Unplug the brain-washing machine!', however in #44 Enjoy nature, he said 'If you can't go to nature, bring nature to you. Watch the Discovery channel or wildlife films with your children or spouse and enjoy the marvels of Mother Nature.' This implies we should unplug the TV to avoid getting brain-washed, but in order to enjoy nature without getting outdoor, plug it back on and watch the discovery channel!! This is one of the inconsistencies I noticed, there are more sprinkled throughout the 100 secrets in Chapter 7.

This book is prosaic, in fact it is just a compilation of some general self-help books and quotes. The only 'new' thing that I can tell is it takes advantage of the curiosity ordinary people have on special operations teams and keeps pressing on the fact that the techniques in the book are used by the Navy SEALs.

35 of 41 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Enjoyable read, but nothing really new., January 24, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Power Living - Mastering The Art of Self-Discipline (Paperback)

I read your book in the hopes that it would present me with information that was easy to read, understand and apply. In this I was not disappointed. It obviously took a lot of effort, passion and, yes, self-discipline to develop this book and incorporate so much information in such an effective way.

However, I must say that it didn't present any original ideas for me. Having read so many similar types of books, that is understandable. I liked the "warrior" theme even though I don't personally advocate aggression as it is currently socially defined - the expression of power. I did understand how it could be used effectively as a foundation for self-mastery. I was somewhat concerned with the redundancy in the list of 100 'Secrets' of Power Living. Many of the items were so similar to each other that they didn't warrant their own bullet point. i.e. 42. Master Patience, 60. Priceless Patience. Some items were even contradictory - 4. Sleep Less, 51. Do Nothing Day - suggesting that people gain seven hours a week by getting up early and then spend one whole day a week (!) doing nothing.

Really liked the extra references at the end. It's an excellent source for related information. Much appreciated.

Would love to see more from you - but do you have anything new to add?

P.S. Reading a book by Peter McWilliams - Just Do It! Let's Get Off Our Buts. Excellent read. Very humorous. Concise - Lots of new stuff I've never seen elsewhere.