Customer Reviews

The Practical Dreamer's Handbook: Finding the Time, Money, and Energy to Live Your Dreams

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The gurus of working from home have done it again-- managed to package a personal coaching experience into the pages of their latest work, The Practical Dreamer's Handbook. I wasn't looking for a book that would change my life, but I sure found it. With their usual practical hands-on approach to working through a problem, the authors have provided us with the means to evaluate our life, choose our dream, and find tangible ways to achieve our goals.

From visualization exercises to training us to set measurable goals that can be attained, Paul and Sarah Edwards provide us with the tools to finally live our dream. I started reading this book on a Friday afternoon, and by Sunday I had rewritten my business plan and set some personal goals with my spouse. I guess you could say it has changed my life, and I plan to practice these techniques for continued success and stress-free living. Many thanks to this talented pair who continue to share their secrets and talents with the rest of us.

This is not a get rich quick or what I would call a yuppie new age mode book. But rather a well thought out book that is laid out in Three Parts with sub sections that cover everything from DESIRE -Awakening the Dream which then discusses Imagining, believing and being committed to creating what one seeks. To ACTION-Building a New Reality, which discusses following a plan or thread, finding the money, making the time, and having the needed energy. Part three is SATISFACTION-Enjoying Yourself, and is about feeling fulfilled and appreciating the ongoing process that never ends, but is always evolving.

The Parts on finding the time and money to go after ones goals were excellent if for no other reason than for the common sense shared. Challenging people to be quiet and be honest and look at how much time we waste doing nonsensical things, and spending money we should be saving for the goal. And the authors were smart to tell the reader to even downsize, and move to a smaller less expensive home or area if this will provide the extra income one needs to create the extra income one needs to have ones goals. That even cutting back on lunch everyday and taking a bag lunch or going for a walk will save a good 25-50 dollars a week that can be stuck away in a goal savings account.

They also are great at making the reader think about what do we REALLY want and WHY? Are we honest enough to realize that it could take 3-5 years before we see a payoff? Are we willing to put in the needed elbow grease to get the goal?

But most important to me was reading and being constantly encouraged to NOT give up. So many people grew up in homes where lofty goals were either not encouraged or sadly laughed at. The authors tell the reader that the world is full of naysayers and people who will laugh at dreamers. Yet ever notice how the nerd in school that everyone laughed at, becomes famous and has more friends from high school that were in the whole school in ten years?

Good book. Read it!

This book was (for me) just the right mix of motivation for following your dreams and practical advice. The book is nicely divided into three sections - 1) Desire-Awakening the Dream, 2)Action-Building the New Reality, and 3)Satisfaction-Enjoying yourself. This is an uplifting, can-do type of book that celebrates your dreams and ambitions, which is nice in the face of all of the nay-sayers. If you don't have a dream yet but want one, _The Practical Dreamer's Handbook_ might just help get your juices flowing again!

At last, a book that gives us permission to dream and a guide on how to bring those dreams to fruition. Only Paul and Sarah could have written such a book. So often others tell us to forget our dreams and merely live as the rest of the world. But in "The Practical Dreamers Handbook" we're told it's all right to have these dreams and to act on them. I've noticed a different writing style from Paul & Sarah..one of peace and tranquility. Thank you Paul and Sarah for this book.

What a wonderful, uplifting book! I admit to being a little bit prejudiced--I've known Paul and Sarah for some time and have always admired how consistently positive they are and how joyfully they create their lives. If you want practical, down-to-earth information about how you, too, can live your dream, you've come to the right people with the right book. They show you how to transform your dreams into reality simply and economically. They don't just preach it--they live it. Their story of their move from the hustle and bustle of Los Angeles to the forest hills of Pine Mountain is wonderfully inspiring. They share how to find the time, find the money, and find the will to "just do it." Don't wait one more day to get started on your dream. It's haveable. This book will become your trusted friend and guide along the way.

This book does talk about dreams, all right - too much. Oddly enough, all I've ever found in it was talk about (insert New Age-y accent here) "finding your DREEEEEEAM!!!", and very little "practical" advice on how to make your dream a reality, once you find it. And I've read it twice, just to see if my first impression was correct. The authors also talk too much about finding their own dream. It's great when authors relate their own stories in a book, so you know they've experienced what you're experiencing. But it got to where if I read one more word about them buying their home in Pine Mountain, I was going to scream. I've read other books of theirs, and I just have to conclude that their books simply aren't for me. Great if they work for other people, but I need more actual, practical advice.

This book tells the author's story of moving from the city to the mountains. She first paints this paradise like picture of her new chosen home town. She tell us about the live-and-let-live attitude the permeates everything about this heavenly little oasis. She tells a story about an old man that is so happy and satisfied with his life that he dusts outdoors. I might draw a different conclusion seeing this, but I took here at her word. It's obviously the greatest, most balanced community there ever was - - That is until she decides to write a chapter about sticking to your dreams in spite of obstacles.

She tells about this couple that wants to open a Bed and Breakfast in a small town and the ENORMOUS, totally out-of-proportion reaction of the town's folk against them. They were abused and mistreated in the most horrible way by their small town. They had to FIGHT everyone and every institution in the town to simply open up their little bed and breakfast. It's a truly heart-breaking story. Until the authors join the battle. They join with the Bed and Breakfast couple in fighting the whole town. It's an extended battle, full of drama. But finally the good people overcome all of the evil red-neck townsfolk. Wonder where this town was? Yep, you guessed it, it's THE SAME TOWN. In THE SAME BOOK! Crazy huh?

As I was reading just how horrible this couple was treated by this same town I realized that the author should have scrapped her book right then and there. She started this book with a PREMISE that she herself proved to NOT be true. But she was committed to this book now obviously so kept writing. Developing a sort of schizofrenia in order to continue writing.

She seems to be confused and not sure herself about her choice, but intent on writing a book about it, so full speed ahead, damn-the-torpedoes, this book got written. To the detriment of any perspective readers. It is definately not the inspirational fire-side read I expected. Very disappointing. VERY.

And one last thing, at the end of the book you will find out that the authors teach people (for a tidy sum of course) how to do what they do at their place in Pine Mountain. And their students get to stay, you guessed it, at the Bed and Breakfast.

When I saw this blatant bit of self-promotion I realized what this book was all about. It wasn't a book to help you or me. It was a book to sell the author's Retreat. "If you liked the book you'll love to visit our retreat in the mountains!" It's just a sales tool uncleverly disguised as a "handbook" to a better, happier life. Which I found very insulting. VERY.

If "a dream is a wish your heart makes," The Practical Dreamer's Handbook is your best guide to make your dreams come true. Skeptics are reluctant to dream, cynics refuse to dream. There are too many skeptics and cynics in this world, but deep inside all skeptics and most cynics is a deep ache to dream again. And this is just the book to find your dream, pursue your dream, and live your dream.

I have been reading this book for a month, I first got it at the library, but there was some much good information, I had to buy it. I haven't finished it yet-- reading 5 others books, but what I have read is very good.

I read this book in one sitting back in 2000 when I was still a newspaper photographer wrestling with the choice of my chosen career path. This book details a couple who left steady jobs behind the follow their dream of opening a b&b. I furiously highlighted passages and scribbled notes in the margins as I read. The next day, I bought a binder and stayed up all night drafting sections a business proposal. It took a little while, but I was eventually able to leave a full-time job with benefits and job security and launch my own wedding photography business. The idea of creating your own career path and not just following one was definitely not on the best seller radar then like it is now. And that book is what I lead with when I talk to photographers now about following their heart. It changed my life. Seriously.