Customer Reviews

Taming Your Inner Brat: A Guide for Transforming Self-Defeating Behavior

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Taming Your Inner Brat is a refreshing change from most self-help books. You won't find any "its all my parents' fault" here. Nor will you find a set of affirmations telling you that just need to love yourself more and everything will be fine.

This book takes a hard look at what is really behind your bad habits, problem tempers and other self-defeating behaviors and thoughts. It's the "inner brat," a remnant of early childhood, the part of you that never grew up. This inner brat wants what it wants when it wants it. It pouts, sulks, gets angry and blames others when it doesn't get its own way - just like a bratty child.

Everyone has an inner brat, including me, I now realize.

While not written specifically for the workplace, Taming Your Inner Brat addresses common personal and interpersonal problems that spill over into the office. Things like procrastination, resentment, jealousy, making mountains out of molehills, and even being on a diet all interfere with our working at our best.

The book has a quiz that helps you estimate the strength of your own inner brat. There is also a chapter illustrating the different "personae" of inner brats, and how they affect the way you perceive and react to situations. Toward the end of the book are several do's and don'ts for taming your inner brat. "Don't always trust your feelings," urges the author, because your inner brat can manipulate the way you feel. Instead, she suggests distracting your inner brat and talking back to it in specific ways. More help is available through a free, monthly email newsletter. Sign up at innerbrat.com

Taming Your Inner Brat is mainly about how to regulate your own feelings and impulses. But it also includes a chapter on how we became such a "bratty" culture that demands instant gratification and blames others when things go wrong. This is an interesting backdrop that shows how we got here, but at the same time, it does not let us off the hook for personal responsibility for our actions.

Besides being informative, Taming Your Inner Brat is entertaining and easy to read. It's written by a clinical psychologist in a straightforward, no-nonsense style reminiscent of Dr. Phil, but with a more gentle and humorous tone. Without scolding, this book shows you a new way to look at your problems and to better manage them. When you're done reading it, you'll probably think of at least half a dozen other people who need to tame their inner brats.

Taming Your Inner Brat is an entertaining, yet technically well-grounded
manual for understanding and gaining control of that childlike,
self-centered "brat" that resides within and gets us into trouble: for
example, temper tantrums, road rage and desk rage, addictions and bad
habits, self-absorbed pity and resentment, procrastination and
extra-marital affairs. This "inner brat" embodies the combination of
narcissism and impulsivity which are inherent in these self-defeating
behavior patterns. In this sense, the book is unique, since no other
self-help book of which I am aware addresses this specific combination.

The other night I was trying to find a "self-help" book dealing with being on time. I came across this wonderful book, Taming Your Inner Brat.....". It's great! I could never relate to all the reasons that are given elsewhere for why some people are never on time. But there was always something in the back of my head that questioned where was the fine line between being appropriately self-concerned and being self-absorbed. Your book wasn't an eye-opener, it was a JOLT! It affects so many other areas of my life as well. I am going to have to think of a lot of names for each of these brats!

I've probably read several hundred self-help books in my life time, and even written some of them, and I have to say that I found this book to be one of the best I've read in a long time. The author's combination of research from well respected sources, metaphors and analogies that help bring the philosophical concepts to a concrete understandable place, and her use of personal vignettes is a great combination that makes for easy reading. I find that after reading this book I am much more cognizant of when my own inner brat has gotten out of control, and it has also enabled me to see other people's behavior through that lens as well. If this were required reading in our highschools and colleges, maybe we'd all be suffering less from bratty behavior. One of the most compelling chapters in the book discusses how we as a culture have evolved to encourage and tolerate this kind of excessive brattiness. I hope, with the help of teachers like this author, that we can start teaching our kids a different way to be in the world. Bravo Pauline for a job well done.

Dr. Wallin explains in clear and understandable language how someone can take control of their personal interactions so that they can be a more effective communicator and prevent disappointing situations from becoming larger issues. Taming Your Inner Brat is something that all of us can work on. I recommend it highly.

Taming Your Inner Brat, written by Pauline Wallin, is an enjoyable book. It is such a humorous and conversational book that while reading, I almost forgot that I have an inner brat that could benefit from the book's tips and techniques. This book states that it was written for those who have self-defeating behaviors. Within the text, topics such as overeating, gambling, smoking, and other habits that people try to abate were discussed. This book was so non-threatening and playful that it could apply to just about anybody who has a behavior that they would like to learn how to get under their control. It is through the use of humor, personal examples, and mini-case studies that this book allows and encourages its readers to learn about their "inner brat." This text also encourages the readers to understand the triggers that coax their "inner brat" to come out and play, how to take responsibility for the actions that subsequently follow their "inner brat's" appearance, and techniques to try to prevent the speedy emergence of the "brat" and the behaviors from occurring in the future.

This book has changed my life. I now realize that my "inner brat" has been in control of the way I react and think for most of my adult life instead of me. I have struggled with initimate relationships, because of this behavior. The information provided by Paulin Wallin is very useful and it can put you in control of the way you think and react to emotional triggers instead of your inner brat. Anyone who exibits self destructive behavior will want to read this book.

Pauline Wallin has hit the head on the nail. People have gotten so braty recently with air rage, road rage and even email rage! She explains why each of us has an inner brat and how to get it under control. This information can help as well when you encounter this kind of behavior in others. Also deals with entitlement issue. Excellent for the lay person or professional.

My own personal inner brat didn't like this book at first. "Baby Sally" didn't like being told that she might not be entitled to whatever she wants whenever she wants it. But the book makes a whole lot of sense. The first thing it suggests is to listen to your inner brat and take those needs into consideration. Then it shows how to make an adult decision, based on reality. I find its sensible suggestions coming back to me when I'm tempted to react like a brat. That's helped me cope much better with frustrations and feel good about myself. This is a sane, simple, and very readable book.

This is the kind of a book that temporarily makes you feel that you will change automatically, just by reading it.

I liked the "inner brat" vs. "inner child" comparison. I agree, some people who follow "inner child" psychology, really are looking for an excuse not to change, they get stuck in mourning stage forever, and absolve any kind of responsibility themselves.

As I like the books that require action and personal responsibility, I was encouraged at first.

As I read, I found the book to be too general and its advice hard to utilize in a consistent way. Too much generalization: not everyone with problems has an immature "brat" living inside of them. Some had some real hard "stuff" happen to them. They can't dismiss it, yet, they need to make peace with it, and find it to move on on their own terms.

The author scratches surfaces, without really covering anything in any depth.

If I had to summarize the problem with the book I'd say this: The advice in it is about what sounds good to people who don't want to change, yet, not something that mobilizes you into real logical action.

I'd be willing to bet that most of the people who gave it stellar reviews ("this book has changed my life!!!"), did nothing more than read the book once, and then never really applied it to achieve any kind of meaningful change