The Flinch [Kindle Edition]

Julien Smith (Author)

Book Description

A book so important we refuse to charge for it.

Julien Smith has delivered a surprise, a confrontation, a book that will push you, scare you and possibly stick with you for years to come.

The idea is simple: your flinch mechanism can save your life. It shortcircuits the conscious mind and allows you to pull back and avoid danger faster than you can even imagine it’s there.

But what if danger is exactly what you need?

What if facing the flinch is the one best way to get what you want?

Here’s a chance to read the book everyone will be talking about, before they do.

What are you afraid of? Here's how to find out.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Julien Smith is a New York Times bestselling author and speaker who has been involved in organizing online communities for over 15 years, from early BBSes and flashmobs to the social web as we know it today.

Along with being the co-author of Trust Agents, one of the social web’s most recognized books, he is a contributor to GQ, Sirius Satellite Radio, Cosmopolitan, the CBC, and more.

Julien's work is often about leaning into discomfort and pain, into self-examination and discipline, intending both to provoke and unbalance. The lessons from The Flinch came from self-defense professionals, security experts, weightlifters, parkour practitioners, and more.

From AudioFile

Product Details

• File Size: 863 KB
• Print Length: 133 pages
• Publisher: The Domino Project (December 7, 2011)
• Sold by: Amazon Digital Services, Inc.
• Language: English
• ASIN: B0062Q7S3S
• Text-to-Speech: Enabled
• X-Ray: Enabled
• Lending: Enabled
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,818 Free in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Free in Kindle Store)
  • #80 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Health, Fitness & Dieting

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

61 of 63 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Face your fears December 7, 2011

By John Gibbs TOP 500 REVIEWER

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

Take a cold shower. Even the thought of taking a cold shower is enough to make most people experience "the flinch", according to Julien Smith in this book. The flinch is the instinct which tells you to run, the reaction which causes you to refuse a challenge and prevents you from moving forward. It urges you to avoid risk and hard work, and it pushes you to choose the safe and easy options.

Some of the author's thoughts on the flinch:

* The flinch is why you don't do the work that matters, and why you won't make the hard decisions.
* Over a lifetime, those who listen too much build a habit of trust and conformity.
* Avoiding the flinch withers you, like an old tree that breaks instead of bending in a storm.
* The anxiety of the flinch is almost always worse than the pain itself.
* Flinch avoidance means your everyday world becomes a corridor.
* Train yourself to flinch forward, and your world becomes a series of obstacles to overcome, instead of attacks you have to defend yourself from.
* If you aren't willing to sacrifice your comfort, you don't have what it takes to make a difference.

It is hard to argue with the author's arguments. Many of our failures to act which we explain away as being part of our personality or wise choices designed to minimise risk are in fact little more than an ingrained lack of courage, a persistent failure to face up to our fears. The book provides a number of homework assignments designed to train the reader to avoid flinching, but it seems to me that the battle against flinching is one which lasts a lifetime.

93 of 108 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars It's Likely You Won't Actually DO The Work December 7, 2011

By ChrisBrogan

Format:Kindle Edition

Please know that I am biased. Julien and I wrote Trust Agents together, and we are writing another book due in 2012 together. But if you are willing to accept that I'll write this review for you, the reader, and not on behalf of Julien, my friend, then we can get along. Otherwise, skip and read what others will say.

The Flinch is a book of action. As such, I'm skeptical that you, the reader, will actually do the actions that Julien recommends, even though that's the big reason to read a book like this. But, let's say for a moment that you DO step into the icy cold shower or throw your coffee mug to the ground. Let's say that you DO learn what it means to take on the difficult work of reprogramming some behaviors that have been with you since you were a child. The rewards are phenomenal.

This book is brief. It is also free. But neither detail means that it's an "easy" read. Julien Smith is essentially challenging you to change your perceptions, alter your habits and reflexes, and then reap the rewards of doing this. It's a book that will push you to be brave. It's a book that challenges you to be more honest. It's a book that, if executed, will give you a chance at pushing ahead of those around you because you'll be facing everything with a much more open stance.

Please prove me wrong. Please do the work. Please dare to attack your behaviors and embrace the flinch.

25 of 28 people found the following review helpful

1.0 out of 5 stars Reads like a timeshare presentation June 16, 2012

By Ian Kent

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

This book in five sentences: If you want to do something with your life you have to learn not to flinch. Non-flinchers accomplish things in their lives. If you flinch, you are the scum of the earth. Don't flinch. Take cold showers everyday and destroy your own property.

This book is roughly what I imagine the father from Little Miss Sunshine to have written. It is insulting to anyone's intelligence, repetitive past the point of belief, and extraordinarily condescending. Has some okay points lost among the bs, but in general reads like a high school homework assignment padded with filler to reach a minimum required length.

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