Customer Reviews

Unleash the Power of Personal Advantage: 7 Keys to Unlock Your Potential for Success

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Ellen Junious's compact self-help book, "Unleash the Power of Personal Advantage," packs a powerful punch to help readers get down to the basics of how to improve their lives. She provides simple tools to help conquer barriers in reaching for success. The author breaks the book into two parts: The first part addresses the mental toughness required to forge ahead, and the second lays out the seven fundamental principles for unlocking an individual's potential.

Although Junious shares with readers her own trials and tribulations along her own path to happiness and the job of her dreams (as well as some of those she has taught), it is the no-nonsense advice on using tools such as "practice, patience, and sacrifice" to attain goals. Here, there is no magic formula, no certain path to success without a lot of hard work. And this hard work is not merely getting to know oneself, but real, practical steps to be taken in the everyday world. Her advice on setting and achieving goals is some of the most powerful in this book.

Readers will come to this book with a variety of needs, and Junious's fundamental underpinnings--such as her formula for attaining personal advantage--are sound principles that anyone in any circumstance can follow. Although her method is goal-driven, she also takes care to point up the need for balance in life among the areas of family, social relationships, career, health, growth, finances, and spirituality. Junious's own spiritual leanings are those of Christianity, and there is some mention of God as a guiding force in her book; however, these points do not overwhelm the discussion and, as a result, should not preclude those of other religious faiths or even nonbelievers from learning something here.

"Unleashing the Power of Personal Advantage" is most helpful when it comes to matters of practicality. Helping readers to overcome barriers, creating effective plans, learning to set "smart" goals, and recognizing the constant challenge that life presents along the way to success are all things that the author deals with effectively. Unlike many self-help books, Junious offers no "pie in the sky" one-size-fits-all solution, just a lot of practical steps to help her readers make real changes in their lives. In short, this small book can be a great kick-start for anyone who thinks his or her own life could be better.

Review for BookPleasures.

Fellow Houstonian Ellen Junious has found her voice in authoring "The Power of Personal Advantage." We all know change can be a great help or a tremendous obstacle, depending on your attitude. Some changes come from within, such as when we want to grow and prosper, or from without. Whether we emerge as victors or victims is entirely up to us. "Unleash the Power of Personal Advantage" is a good read, written in a style that is deeply personal and authentic.

"Acquiring mental toughness . . ." is something she urges, and something I'd not seen mentioned in books of this genre. "Unleash" evokes imagery of a power that had been subdued. Overall, her tone is one of strength and urgent coaching, despite revelations of her personal weakness and uncertainty early on.

When you are ready to really take a hard look at who you are, and what you want to become, this is a fine book to use as a tool to work out the details, with Ellen acting as your mentor.

I recommend this book, and hope you will not only enjoy reading it, but in applying the principles to your everyday life.

Louis Hemmi - www.HoustonBookClub.com

First of all, let me begin by saying that I was very impressed that Ellen was so honest in sharing her very own life experiences in this book. This within itself was one of the best books that I have ever read. It gives you step by step guidance to unlocking the potential that is already within you! If you are not ready to search deep within yourself then this book is not for you! I read this book in one night,because once you start reading it... you are challenged to see how you can become a better person.

I highly reccomend this book for anyone that is at an impass in their life and needs a "life coach" to steer them back in the right direction!

In Texas, they spin a yarn about a small but feisty wrangler. He'd tell anyone who asked, and some who didn't, "I'm not small, I'm just wound tight." This book by Texas author Ellen Denise Junious shares lots with that scrappy fellow. Unleash the Power of Personal Advantage is not a thick tome; it is a slender volume that is wound tight and full of potent information.

The author is not shy. She tells us right out that she is a success and luck has nothing to do with it. "By my definition, I have achieved my personal success. All of my childhood dreams have come to fruition." She shares her powerfully honest stories to show her readers how they can follow her example. Junious had a long successful career in Information Technology and management. She now shares her business skills and personal experience to show others the way to personal empowerment in their business and professions and in their personal lives. The strategic plan model of having a mission statement and then setting goals has long worked for businesses , large and small. Ellen uses the same model to help people reach personal success. It works.

This is not about excuses, the author tells us. It's about action. She starts out with what I'd call basic training. The book's first section considers the tools and skills that the individual who adopts this model will need. The second section cuts to the chase. Seven keys (authenticity, trust, love, affirmation, forgiveness, imagination and confidence) hold the power to unlock personal advantage, which Ellen defines as the way to "differentiate yourself from the crowd and achieve personal success." (You get to define your own success--just as Ellen has hers.)

More than a book, this is a workbook. There are questions and exercises that provoke serious thought and self-exploration. I suggest you take a quick read-through to get the lay of the land, but then settle in. It's going to take more than an evening. Follow Ellen's instructions, and read, as Dennis S. Brown suggests in the foreword, with a pen and highlighter. I'd add a notebook to that list.

I do recommend Unleash the Power of Personal Advantage to anyone serious about seeking a new level of success in either her business or personal life, or both. It'll take time and effort, but Ellen's own life is proof that it can be done. It will also be a useful tool to those who are themselves in the field of personal development and coaching.

Ellen D. Junious has put together a great book for self-improvement! In a warm, candid, and conversational tone, she discusses with the reader how to regain or maintain focus and determination to claim the power within to succeed. Junious offers very helpful and understandable questions, diagrams, and encouraging quotes to aide the reader in applying the seven keys for success. In comparison with other self-help/personal growth books I have read, this book ranks high with very little to no unnecessary fluff. The seven principals are practical and hone right in on the ideals that every reader, beginner or advanced, who is serious about improving or refreshing their life, will find valuable.

Readers are guided and inspired with nuggets of wisdom which are good to hang on to throughout the day. Collectively, every principal and nugget contained in the book will aide the reader to avoid letting setbacks or negative personal experiences impede personal growth and success. Without being preachy or boastful, Junious shares her own and other's short story experiences to show how obstacles can be re-shaped into stepping stones leaving readers mentally, physically, spiritually, and emotionally strong(er) to succeed.

Of course, the best way to see if a self-help book will really help to improve the readers personal advantage, is to put it in practice. After reading this book, I particularly liked the Life Balance Wheel exercise. Taking advantage of this exercise will definitely enable any reader to see specific areas of his or her life that can use some improvement. It will enable any reader to set a realistic goal to thrive in that specific area. That is just one of the several ways UNLEASH THE POWER OF PERSONAL ADVANTAGE: 7 Keys to Unlock Your Potential for Success will help you improve and succeed!

Reviewed by Swaggie Coleman
for The RAWSISTAZ Reviewers