Customer Reviews

The Skinny on Willpower: How to Develop Self Discipline

5 star:		(48)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Jim Randel has published eight books entitled The Skinny On. All are clever, humorous, and entertaining. All teach vital need-to-know lessons in an informal, non-pedantic, concise, and engaging fashion by generally using drawings of stick people engaged in dialogue. This volume shows how people can improve their will power by self discipline. As in other books in the series, Randel shows how to develop willpower by giving his readers more than a hundred examples and quotes from famous successful people.
The stick figures in this volume, who serve as humorous examples of Randel's teachings, are a married couple. It is New Years and the husband wants to lose ten pounds. But how can he develop the discipline to do it when he loves to eat fattening foods such as marshmallows? How can he make sure that he will exercise? How can he control himself not to go overboard, eat too little or over-exercise? What should he do when he slips up and overeats or becomes distracted from his goals because of stress at work?
The wife wants to start a business, but she has to do several things before she can start, such as write up a plan for the bank so that the bank will lend her money. But she never did such a thing before and feels stymied. How can she develop the discipline to move ahead?
Among fifteen points and Randel suggests and explains are: set for yourself a clear, concrete, specific goal; divide the goal into manageable parts; and become totally committed.

I am what many would consider a classical cynic. I look at every event and consider and apply the worst possible outcome. I usually avoid doing things I've always wanted to do because I think it will be hard, or there will be a negative or undesirable outcome. One thing I will say from the offset is that, I realise how much I've been holding myself back. When I finished this book, I was literally overcome with goosebumps at how simple it all seems to turn things around for the better and to put it in one simple phrase; it just involves a positive mental attitude. I feel like I've been inspired to make a change instantly, but I know that if I just jump right in there, then I've not learned much from this.

Running through 15 tips on how to improve your willpower, this book adopts a casual and comic approach as to how YOU can improve YOUR willpower and ultimately achieve the things you have always wanted. It doesn't sugar-coat events or possibilities with the idea that the minute you adopt the positive mental attitude, everything will change for the better. It promotes the idea that gradually and consistently moving towards your goals is much better than thinking what if, even if you're faced with difficulties. Although I'm naturally quite a cynical person, due to my disability, I've developed a personal saying which is "Whenever there's an obstacle, there's always a way to overcome it"; and I do truly believe that. My problem is usually not being that bothered to work hard enough to do it.

Consider the old Homer Simpson saying "if something's hard to do, then it's not worth doing". This is me all over, and although I do believe there's always a way to get around an obstacle or to defeat it, my problem is having the willpower to really work at overcoming the more difficult life obstacles. I hope that I will be able to really take a lot from this book in the coming weeks and months. Talking from personal experience, I enrolled in university last year which was a big step for me. For the first few months I was on top of the world for making this massive change in my life, but gradually I have grown more and more negative and have began to think negatively as to whether I can really handle University life and studying a degree. When I begin my second year in September, I will really put the tips this book gave me into action and pray that I notice gradual changes in my overall motivation.

Let me put it this way. If this book got through to me, then it can get through to anyone.

Although I love the concept of this book, I think the book fell way short of its goal. There was too much "cutsie" and not enough information. The hard information of the book could have been stated in about one sentence: Your level of motivation to stick with something is determined by your level of desire to actually accomplish the goal.

Don't get me wrong, I do love the concept. I just think this was way too light on information.

This book is designed to give information to those busy people who don't have time to read more lengthy books. It contains a wealth of information in little space.

I don't know anyone keen on self improvement who hasn't moaned at one time or another, "If I just had more will power I could . . ." Sometimes it feels as if our willpower is won't power.

This book talks in detail about will power and how to get yourself in a better position to accomplish your goals. It is a startlingly different book - short but powerful chapters with stick figures illustrating the point they are making. Don't let the stick figures put you off-guard and make you think this book doesn't have content for grown-ups. It definitely does.

You will learn the 15 points for developing will power and self discipline. (and you will learn that discipline is not a dirty word). I work in the "self improvement" arena and I highly recommend it.

Disclaimer -- this book was provided by the publisher to me in an electronic format for review.

This is a new way of communicating -- sort of a "Rosetta Stone" approach combining hieroglyphics (in very creative graphics and stick drawings) with simple yet engaging stories interwoven with a solid synthesis of famous source material on the subject. The stories used to illustrate (in both senses) the principless are well-thought out, but they are GOOD stories. The interspersed, and more traditional text (also very effectively laid out, in my opinion, actually summarize and point to resources or the basis for its assertions. After reading the book twice, over a couple of weeks, I realized I had initially been prejudiced by the unusual format to what is a very fine book.

First, it's a very good synthesis of the "state of what we know" about this subject. Second, the very ingenious format communicates well. I admit to being somewhat dismissive of the "graphic" approach of the book, but within a couple of pages I could see how quick and effectivly it does communicate, and that even people who don't process "mere words" very well can get this message. However, it manages to also entertain (perhaps assisted by its novelty) those of us who are "readers by nature and by choice." Fun is good!

Third, it's effective. It really simplifies its message and hammers it home. This is a really useful book, whether you are trying to lose weight but its message is so much more than mere weight loss coaching. Its methods would be useful to anyone trying to develop any difficult competency.

I'm a lawyer, and I make my living by communicating to other people, and sometimes you run into a method that is so surprisingly effective, you have to shake your head in wonder and admiration. I am impressed at the skill of communication going on here!

Finally, about the PDF format, some readers didn't like it on their Kindles. I have a Kindle DX, which is a larger format, and I found the PDF looked great on it, and was very easy to read. Perhaps the readers who found it a problem were using older or smaller devices, but if you have a Kindle DX, it worked fine to me.

I give this book a 4 for substantive content alone. It deserves a 5 but I felt the Kindle readers should know that the PDF format makes it difficult to read on the Kindle. Thank God the book is short. I read it on my computer because the type is too small on the Kindle. It's a formatting issue that the publisher should address. But overall very informative. Just make sure you have the computer Kindle application. Enjoy!

When it comes down to it, I believe that the biggest obstacle that has worked against me in all aspects of my life is my lack of self-discipline. That's why I took great interest in this particular Skinny On title. My verdict? I loved it.

I'm pretty sure that I would not have endured reading all these huge self-improvement books without boring myself to death. The Skinny On is simple, it's fun, it's entertaining, and it's very helpful.

I have found myself taking notes from this book and examining them daily. Not a week goes by without me citing from this book as I engage my friends and colleagues.

Whether you are trying to lose weight or open your own business the information presented here is priceless. In this book we learn the importance of positive thinking and how to obtain it, different ways to use our energy to develop willpower, how to resist negative pressures and take appropriate actions day in and day out, how to sustain the willpower we will need to achieve our goal, what NOT to do to hinder our progress, how to use the power of inertia, why to keep our impatience in check, how to create a willpower plan (My Favorite Part), and 5 steps for building mental fortitude and focus. I could go on and on but you're better off reading the book for yourself.

My life has improved a great deal since I have been reading and following the suggestions found in these pieces of treasure titled The Skinny On. The examples given are very fun and very interesting. How can something so simple have so much helpful information is beyond me. I hope and pray that this book will bring as much joy to you that it has done to me.

"The journey of a thousand miles begins with a first step"

I used to be a quitter, many years ago. I would quit jobs I didn't like, I quit college, I quit everything. When I was in my mid-twenties, I turned it all around with the power of willpower. I would tell myself, just do it (like NIKE) and the motivation will come. Often, the motivation never did come, but look what all I had accomplished by just doing it! It was like I had tapped into some superhuman force.

This book is an enjoyable, breezy read on the subject of Willpower. It's the perfect book to get you motivated to turn your attitude around.

I have to share my favorite excerpt from this book:
"...every single person who achieves something of value struggles and at times thinks about quitting. The succeeder is most often simply the person who won't quit."

This is so true! It always amazes me at how many folks get jealous of others and downright angry that things don't work out for them, yet most of them put zero effort toward bettering their situations. Self-discipline is the key to all good things in life, including happiness. When you realize you don't "need" a new car, then you don't care that you don't have one and once you have the money to buy one, you save it because you realize investing in a vehicle is a waste of money if you already have an operable vehicle. I believe that self-discipline is the key to wealth. This book will help to give you a shove in the right direction.

Disclaimer: I received a complimentary copy for review.

This is a great book. It is easy to read, very informative, and above all does what it has set to do. The book is an easy to read summary of a lot of research on the subject. Granted, it does not get into all the depth that other books on the subject get. But it does tell you most of what you need to know and has references for further reading. It can be read in a day or two while commuting to work, which is great because then you can come back to it and reread it again so the it sinks in better ;)

I am hooked on Stick people Books!
My latest read was the Skinny on: Willpower. Simple read on self-disipline that can be read over and over again. I even gave it to my teenage daughter to read and learn from. Has so much common sense its a must read for all business people, especially those in sales.
Enjoy reading The Skinny on Willpower, you will not have the will power to put it down!
Lee S.