Customer Reviews

Simple Steps: 10 Weeks to Getting Control of Your Life: Health, Weight, Home, Spirit

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Anyone who attempts the SIMPLE STEPS program with a full heart, and a true sense of committment, will be a better person at the completion of this program. SIMPLE STEPS is based on a philosophy of dedicating 10 weeks to changing bad habits in small and, yes, simple steps.

This is a small book that is amazingly vast in its scope. It deals with life's mundane necessities, like controlling dirty laundry so that it doesn't take over a participant's life. Spiritual issues are addressed as well, and so is health advice that is so basic--walking, taking vitamins, drinking water--that one wonders why it is necessary to buy a book to assimilate it. Yet necessary it is, if only to have a cohesive and tidy plan on which to rely.

Anyone who makes an effort to implement some of the SIMPLE STEPS plan will be the better for this effort by the end of the 10 weeks. Anyone who succeeds in applying the entire formula will be a changed person: Better organized, healthier, far less stressed. The chores of yesterday are streamlined by this book's suggestions into the good habits of tomorrow.

Sometimes, we forget that the meaning of "inspirational" is "to inspire." SIMPLE STEPS is inspirational in the purest sense of the word. People who want to make improvements in the routines of their own lives will be well-served by SIMPLE STEPS.

The book Simple Steps is a guidebook for the woman whose life according to the book is "a cluttered mess of worries, wishes and chores that you can't keep track of."
The authors tell you to do one thing each week for your health, your weight, your home and your spirit. If you add these steps each week, in ten weeks you will be in greater control and according to the authors "cultivating the life you always wanted."
Week 1 for example suggests you drink eight glasses of water every day for your diet, walk twenty minutes a day for fitness, clean out a drawer or cabinet every week for your home, and save $2 a day for self.
Other weeks include tips such as keeping a food journal, cleaning out your fridge, taking a multivitamin, cleaning and flossing your teeth (yes you read that right) and cutting back on caffeine.
The authors tell you why you should do these things and how to "attach them to your lifestyle".
You already know you should be doing everything in this book.
You already know the techniques in this book.
On the back cover the authors say they will empower you by helping you attain the body you want with simple tricks like avoiding the kitchen after hours and using herbs and spices. (You knew that already). They say you can make room for fitness by using new techniques like kitchen dancing. (Is this new to you?)
There really is nothing new here. But sometimes we are so overwhelmed, we don't do the things we should. So the authors have written a book to get you to add these basic skills to your life one week at a time so they become lifelong habits. They walk you through each good habit step by step and hold your hand so you can accomplish your goals.
The choice then is do you need the book to tell you what you should already be doing? Or could you just make a list of habits that you know are good for you and then add one or two habits each week?
A lot depends on the type of person you are. If you feel like you want some support and are so flustered with your life you don't know where to get started buy the book. If not just make a list of things you want to accomplish and do a little bit each week.

This is a progressive program that's designed to teach you very simple steps to reorganize your life, your health, and your surroundings. It's fairly easy to follow, with four new assignments each week for you to continue practicing the rest of your life. Some of the assignments are very simple and basic (like brushing your teeth and flossing every day), others are more complex (like learning about good and bad fats and making the necessary changes). By the end of the ten weeks, you'll have acquired 40 habits that will help you feel better and get rid of chaos in your life. Many of the steps should already be part of a normal adult's life, and organized people will scoff at their self-evidence! But for those of us who are always running late, whose house is in a perpetual mess, who can't find anything, and who are always tired, I guarantee that you'll already see improvement by the second week! The only problem for me was to remember all the steps, but the author gives many suggestions on how to incorporate the steps in daily life. I highly recommend this book, because even if you don't practice all the steps, the ones you do will make a huge difference in your life!

This book is excellent for any woman that craves a quick way to get a few ideas that will lead her to feel a very empowering sense of order and control. If you only put a few of the thoughts into action, you will be greatly rewarded. I liked that the "steps" are realistic - in terms of time you spend reading and putting them into action - and amazingly easy to accomodate into any lifestyle. The authors do an excellent job of keeping the reader interested and motivated. This is good fun that pays off.

...this book was different. First of all, written by three "regular" women instead of doctors or professionals gives this book a fresh perspective that is sometimes missing from most books of it's kind. I liked the fact that it talks about simple, everyday things that everyone can do, but few take the time to do them. It sort of brings to your attention small details that can make a big difference in your life. For instance, in the first chapter, one of the simples steps is drinking water. The book explains why this is effective and how to easily incorporate this step into your life. The whole book is outlined with small, unscary steps, that can easily be carried out successfully by anyone. I highly recommend this book to anyone looking to make major changes without major disruptions in daily life.

I didn't finish this book. I got as far as the week where they tell me to start incorporating yoga every day and just couldn't deal with it anymore. I have a full-time job, a 3-year-old, a husband, and a house to maintain. If I had time to do 30 minutes of yoga daily (in addition to the 20 minute walk from week 1), shop weekly for fresh flowers, and sip my 8 glasses of ice water from a fine crystal wine-glass - I wouldn't need advice books.

This book is geared to a certain type of woman. One wealthy enough that she has never lived without an in-home washer and dryer (there is a step about organizing when to do your laundry). One whose children are at least out of diapers (or safely set up with the nanny). One who, if she works outside the home at all, has the sort of job where she controls her own schedule and has her own desk. Preferably her own office.

Some of the steps aren't stupid, really. And some of the annoyances are specific to me. I get so sick of advice books that tell me to save money by forgoing lattes and manicures - I've had 3 lattes in the past year and my last (and only) manicure was sometime in the early 90's.

Overall, these didn't seem to be the right steps for me.

I think it is a nice approach to making simple changes to improve your life. It was informative, it just wasn't the book for me. Every week or so you focus on making one change until it becomes a habit and then you move on to the next step. I will say that my cupboards and closets have all been cleaned out, and I was certainly motivated to clean out one space in my life every week. Therefore nothing gets out of control.

Great book - easy to understand - great ideas and useful helps.This book can
help you change your life..All the steps can be incorporated into your daily life and this books helps you to make each one a habbit before going on to the next.

My book club chose this book, and we are all so excited to be making little changes in our lives. This book is set up so you read a short chapter a week, and then apply the weekly four steps to your life with the idea that by the end of the book these small steps have become new habits. It is hard not to read ahead to see what is next, but nearly every one of the steps has been something I would really like to do anyway, just never made it a priority. I will keep this book forever, for the inspiration it gives me every time I pick it up!

This book gives me a headache. At first I thought it would be good. It gives 4 *big* steps in the first layer to add to your life. Such as drinking more water or adding 20 minutes of exercise to your day. Ok, can do. But that book would be about 18 pages and no publisher is going to go for that. After that - the book gets crazy in an unending series of lists seemingly taken from a woman's magazine. At one point you are up to about 27 new things to do every day. Some smart and needed, ie - clean out a drawer. Some tremendously stupid like: have a song daily, "treasure mapping", "gratitude journal", drink out of champagne glass. Much of this book is silly busy work that IMHO was added to publish a book. Ok fine, ignore the treasure mapping section, but having so much in a book just tends to make me overwhelmed and irritated in reading it and I never actually finish.

I am single and still can't keep up with even the second layer of lists to do. I work 8+ hours a day, eat, sleep, commute, and do mandatory chores. That leaves me about 1.5 hours a day; ie, there is no time for 30 minutes of exercise, 30 minutes of yoga, 30 minutes of organizing a drawer, 30 minutes of organizing my drawer at work, drinking water, taking my multi, calling a good friend, sorting my laundry, reading a good book... beyond that, sometimes you are just too tired to achieve any of these things.

As one other reviewer said, this book only works for non-working mom's who either work part-time or control their workplace. That is really far from "simple steps" for everyone. Maybe cut 1/2 the suggestions and do another book and call it "simple steps" for busy people.