Customer Reviews

Wake-Up Calls: You Don't Have to Sleepwalk Through Your Life, Love, or Career!

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This is a great book to really get your mind thinking about life. You have many choices presented daily and this book helps you think about your options and do you want to try something new or keep going in the same direction and repeating the same things you have previously done in your life.

I first read this book back in 1994. It helped provide the impetus I needed to be able to make some major life changes. Since then, I have used it from time to time as a reference when I felt I started gliding through life again. I found it to be very easy to read and receive the information. He gives clear examples to back up his suggestions so you'll get his point. He explains the dynamics of several different communication styles without sounding like a textbook. He helps you to see that in every interaction or avoidance of interaction you impact not only yourself but others. You are taught, as you teach others, is a main point of his book. He teaches you how to be a positive force in other's lives by communicating in better way and becoming aware of "your stuff". I would highly recommend his book to anyone looking to work on their "stuff" and are willing to be open to being taught as they teach. He has been an excellent teacher for me and I hope that I can return the favor as he taught me to. Thanks again, Dr. Allenbaugh!

This book was recommended to me in 1995, by a friend who knew that I was struggling with a difficult marriage and a business that was going nowhere. "Read this!" he said, "it will change your life." So, having little to lose, I bought the book and read it.

"Wake-up Calls" perhaps didn't change my LIFE, but it certainly gave me some things to think about.

The fundamental idea in this book is that many of us fall into a pattern of "sleepwalking" through our lives, but life also presents us with a large number of so-called "wake-up calls." These can range from major-- divorce, bankruptcy, getting fired-- to relatively minor-- a promotion, an invitation to an important social event. Each wake-up call generally results in us facing a "choice point," and from each choice point, we have the chance to learn and grow.

The book is fairly simple and very easy to read, and guides the reader through a step-by-step process of first teaching us to recognize where we may have choice points; then goes on to teach us how to overcome old habits, change direction-- and go on to "stay awake" instead of sleepwalking through life.

Almost every chapter is laid out with bullet-point lists, simple exercises to use with your OWN situation; as well as a closing list of "Awareness Checks"-- a list of questions to make readers think about how to apply the current chapter to their own life. The writing is "light" and Allenbaugh uses personal anecdotes to help readers relate "ideas" to "reality."

Overall Rating: Highly Recommended (9 bookmarks out of a possible 10) BUT this book is probably best suited to those who are just BEGINNING a journey of self-discovery. It provides some straightforward principles for "getting on with life." Although I have certainly referred back to "Wake-up Calls" from time to time, it is a somewhat basic motivational book, and probably too simplistic for someone who has already spent some time with other self-exploration.

I happened upon the book. It was fate, something I needed to read to help me continue my path to healing and learning. I had read so many books trying to understand, but this book made it to simple to become aware of what I had been doing and to see how I could learn from the experiences. My thanks to Eric. I have bought a book for my daughter and plan on giving one to all my family and friends at Christmas. It has become my bible for living. The only thing that would be better is to participate in a seminar.

This book helped me move on!. There comes a time in life when you take a look around and say "do I stay or do I go". Wake-Up Calls help me see that the moving on wasn't as hard has I had expected it to be. A step by step guide to opening your eyes to what is going on around you is what this was for me. I was a stay at home mother, and very good at it, with great potential to be even more. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for your Wake-Up Call.

This is an excellent how-to book. Dr. Allenbaugh's principle centered approach is instantly applicable. I've not only had the pleasure of reading the book, but the fortunate opportunity to participate in numerous seminars facilitated by the author. I watched as we (the leaders who were participants)applied the principles and fundamentally changed the culture of our organization.

Organizations are run by and through people. Dr. Allenbaugh's approach is all about personal accountability and being "tough on issues and tender on people". Wake-up Calls will teach you a gentle and effective approach to holding yourself and others accountable, whether in your home or your organization. Afterall, according to Dr. Allenbaugh, "we do work the way we do life."

As an internal consultant and now as an external consultant, I find the principles in this book invaluable. Get the book, read it and apply it; you and your organization will excel.

If you are "sick and tired of being sick and tired" this book offers simplified explanations of the psychological issues that can hinder you. It will help you take a look behind your wall of excuses to find the real reason why you can't move ahead in life, and then learn what to do to push through. Dr. Eric Allenbaugh's WAKE UP CALLS, is a collection of resources which you can use to make the changes you need to make in yourself and in your most important relationships.

A nice, soft book, and really worth reading for some very powerful relationship insights and skills. Some of the book's themes and ideas i found nice on paper, but useless (for me) in practice.

"What can i do right now that will make a positive difference?". Sounds nice. Tried it. It just does not seem to do anything for me. (If you use this skill successfully and profitibly, please write me and let me know how. Maybe i just don't get it.)

Other ideas in this book- especially relating to relationship skills- are incredibly powerful, and very well, very clearly, very simply described. I find myself using, relating to, and sharing the ideas and metaphores, years after reading the book.

Ideas like "Facade-to-Facade" communication vs. heart to heart communication; "Is it safe for me to be me when I am with you?"; the story of the farmer and his horse. These wonderful gems expressed so gently but so clearly that they have stayed with me, and enriched my relationships for years.

For these gems, this relatively short book, is well worth the price, and the time to read it. I promise.

Wake-Up Calls is highly readable with "real life" examples and humor that engage the reader in the pithier stuff needed for greater effectiveness in all areas of life.

What is unique about Dr. Allenbaugh's presentation is his ability to condense his material into very usable principles. Each chapter brings forward a practical, highly effective idea in a way that can readily be understood. The author skillfully unfolds these tried and true principles in a progressive and powerful way from one chapter to the next. By the end of the book, the reader not only has an awareness of these simple, but profound principles, that when applied, create lasting changes for more effective living, but the tools necessary to gain mastery of these principles in all aspects of our life.

Dr. Allenbaugh skillfully illustrates these principles and tools with insightful anecdotes. Each chapter also provides the reader with a checklist for thoughtful inquiry into their own life. Thus, making the ideas in this book VERY available.

Much more than a self help book. Much broader than a "how to improve your company" book. Wake-Up Calls guides the reader to be able to integrate the personal and professional aspects of living from mastery.

We have been working with this material on our staff for over three years. The difference in our "culture" and our effectiveness is remarkable.

This book is a "must read" for anyone seeking to bring greater effectiveness into his or her organization.

I happened to read Wake-up Calls and then had the fortune to meet the author at a conference...the early chapters are short and pithy..."Getting Unstuck" and "Resistance" had me hooked to make behavioral changes that are an ongoing battle for us all...but as part of a "positive conspiracy" with a couple of friends, I used the book as a springboard to a more productive, refelective and enjoyable framework for a difficult phase of my life...I'm not into "self-help" or affirmation slogans...but I hope to use what I learned to continue to look for "Wake Up Calls" in life...as an individual, the author is a caring and passionate man whon you'd enjoy knowing...I'd recommend that after reading the book that you write him a note...you'll thank him for sharing his personal life with yours...and for being in better charge of your own...