Find Your Strongest Life: What the Happiest and Most Successful Women Do Differently (Hardcover)

~ Marcus Buckingham (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Read Find Your Strongest Life and discover:

• How to make the most of the role you were born to play
• How to get others to understand who you really are
• The successful strategies of other women like you

Check out what women are already saying about Find Your Strongest Life.

Brooke: When I read the "Ten Myths" that opened the book, I was completely hooked. The statistics are interesting and fresh. I also related to the problem that sets up the book: "Which parts of me should I cut out?" As I read, I could see myself in the Marcus's big-picture analysis and statistics. The early part of the book made me anticipate a breakthrough. And Marcus delivered. Overall, he explains a woman's dilemma perfectly . . . in fresh terms with a unique spin. The main ideas in each chapter were so engaging. Chapter 6 in particular is worth the price of the book. I have already started looking for strong moments in my life, and I want to tell every woman I know to do the same. It is definitely life-changing.

Rebecca: It was really good. It was awesome. And to be honest, perfect timing for my life. I'm REALLY in that place. I can't tell you how badly I've been depressed for the last several months just trying to figure out what to do differently so I'm not so miserable. On one hand, I'm grateful I have a job still. I have a mortgage and bills and all that. But on the other hand...I can't continue to work at a job that gets me nowhere, is not rewarding, not challenging, and mentally drains me. I really have started avoiding my family because I've become so rude and snippy. It's a bad cycle. BUT...God willing this year (sooner than later) I will be able to put this behind me and do what I love :) Even if it's making half as much money. Thanks for thinking of me to read this. I needed it!

Delaney: I was on a plane as I finished reading the manuscript. I was going to be with my daughter who is a law student. As I finished the pages, Marcus helped me gain a new understanding of myself that stood out like a neon sign: I am the person who helps others build infrastructure, get through situations ,and set everything right.  It goes beyond motherhood. I am an event planner by birth. I see big pictures and the components necessary to get from vision to execution.  The content helped me to reframe my own thinking. Very helpful. I'm excited to take the online test and see which role I'm born to play.
 
Jennifer: As a working mother, I found the concept of the book fascinating.  There are daily struggles of trying to balance being the perfect wife, mother, and employee, and the book helped me truly understand how to navigate all those demands.

About the Author

Marcus Buckingham is a multi-million-copy, best-selling author with over 3.6 million copies of his landmark bestsellers in print. Drawing on more than 150,000 interviews collected by Gallup over the previous 25 years, he developed the thesis for his strengths message that is changing the way the world approaches life and work. He has been the subject of in-depth profiles in the New York Times, Fortune, and Fast Company and has consulted with national and international brands, such as Toyota, Coca-Cola, Best Buy, and Wells Fargo. He is also a member of the Secretary of State's Advisory Committee on Leadership and Management.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 288 pages
• Publisher: Thomas Nelson (September 29, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1400202361
• ISBN-13: 978-1400202362
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.2 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (202 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #6,071 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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  #5 in	Books > Business & Investing > Personal Finance > Money Management for Women
  #6 in	Books > Business & Investing > Women & Business
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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

75 of 79 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Just OK, October 5, 2009

By	Betty (Chicago) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

The book is targeted at women and shares stories and examples from other women so it was a little strange since it was written by a man. He wrote the book because of an exercise he participated in with Oprah that focused on 30 "successful" women who were unsatisfied with their lives, which I thought was very interesting.

I hate to say but the advice and information that he gave did nothing to inspire or inform me. In short, the book did not help me discover anything new about my life. The book is in three parts. The first part deals with the paradox of modern life. Then book cites 10 myths about women. Part two is a guide to how to live your strongest life. Part three is pretty much an Q & A section. Overall, here were several good concepts on career and family that I'll take away from the book but I wasn't very impressed.

25 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars More strength-based snake oil, October 4, 2009

By	Bret L. Simmons - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I do not recommend this book. The title leads you to believe that Marcus Buckingham applies his "decades of research" to once again tell us how simply finding your strength will make you a happier and more successful woman. Don't fall for it - he doesn't prove anything close.

I volunteered to read and review this book as part of the Thomas Nelson Book Review Bloggers Team. In all fairness, I must reveal that I have read another one of Buckingham's books, First Break All the Rules, and I hated it also. Buckingham is extremely well known for his other books on strengths, and he is a very good writer, so I predict this book will also sell very well.

The book is divided into three parts. Part I is entitled "Something's got to give" and details the unique challenges and stressors that women face. This part is actually pretty good. He makes some very important points in this section, the most important being that "over the last few decades, women have become less happy with their lives, and as women get older, they get sadder" (p. 21). That conclusion appears to be supported by independent research.

Buckingham's explanation for this is that women are not focusing their attention "the challenge of all the different roles you play is not that you don't have enough hours in the day. The challenge of all these roles is that during the hours you choose to work you have too many different things going on at any one time to focus properly no each of them. Your time isn't stretched; your attention is." (pp. 41-42). He supports this conclusion based on the work of Barry Schwartz The Paradox of Choice: Why More is Less (2005).

Chapters one through three are pretty well supported with notes with references that can be found in the back of the book. The next five chapters, where he presents his strength based solution to the problem he identified in Part I, have no notes - none. We don't get another note until chapter nine and the last six chapters have very few notes to support his claims and advice. So much for a book "packed with research."

Buckingham tells women that they need to be strong, and he defines this as 1) successful, 2) instinctively looking forward to tomorrow, 3) growing and learning, 4) needs fulfilled. He never tells us how he developed and verified this construct definition. He also measures this with only five questions:
* How often do you feel an emotional high in your life?
* How often do you find yourself positively anticipating your day?
* How often do you become so involved in what you are doing that you lose track of time?
* How often do you feel invigorated at the end of each day?
* How often do you get to do things you really like to do?

I won't bore you with psychometric theory, but I seriously doubt these five items hang together in a measure that is both reliable and valid. And we will never know how reliable and valid this measure is because Buckingham does not point us to the citation that shows where this measure has been subject to a peer-reviewed evaluation. That is a HUGE problem, and makes everything else he says from this point forward (p. 55) unsupportable.

If only women knew how to find their strengths and focus their attention on them, they would be happier. Sorry, I don't buy it - it is way too simplistic. Let me give you an example:

"To solve the problems in your life - whether a hostile work environment, a sister-in-law who passively-aggressively criticizes your mothering technique, or a husband who doesn't help our at home - you must do the same: focus your attention on what "working" would look like, organize your life to create a few more of these "working" moments, and then celebrate them." (p. 178)

Buckingham tell us to try to see any behavior, whether good or bad, as a thread of strength. Benevolent distortion and positive illusion are other terms he uses to label this technique.

So if you work for a bully boss, the pathway to the positive is to find the strength in what they are doing, focus on that, and celebrate it? Give me a break. If you have a bully boss at work, your misery is NOT YOU. It is a dysfunctional corporate culture that is allowing people to behave badly. The way out is not to change your perspective on the abuse, but to change your situation - work with your company and its leaders to help change the culture or get the hell out of there!

The final sixty-three pages of the book are suggestions for tactics to lead a strong life. There is some appealing advice in this final section, but you should take it for exactly what it is - anecdotal advice.

I strongly recommend you do not waste your time with this book.

If you want a good book on happiness written by a real scientist, read The How of Happiness: A New Approach to Getting the Life You Want by Sonja Lyobomirsky

19 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Want to know why women have more but enjoy it less?, August 3, 2009

By	John Chancellor "Mentor coach, www.teachtheso... (New Orleans) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)    (VINE VOICE)

(What's this?)

Today women are better educated, have better jobs, better pay, more choices about mates, careers ... just about everything. But that has not translated into women being happier. Actually with more choices the opposite is true. Womens overall happiness has been on a steady decline since 1972. This decline in happiness occurs across the board, regardless of whether women have children, how many they have, or how much they earn.

Marcus Buckingham is a well known researcher. He has written five previous books which centered around the concept that each person will be happiest when they are working from their greatest strength. Find Your Strongest Life got its start from a three hour workshop with Oprah. The workshop was conducted with 30 talented but unfulfilled women.

In his mission statement Marcus says, "My mission is to help each person identify her strengths, take them seriously and offer them to the world."

The book starts off by citing 10 myths about women. Here are just a few: As women get older they become more engaged and fulfilled. (False) If women had more free time they would feel less stressed. (False) Having children makes women happier. (children create more stress) At work, women are relegated to the lower level roles. (False) There are ten that Marcus addresses and it is the starting point for the book.

The book is in three parts. The first part deals with the paradox of modern life. Women have more but it is not bringing the happiness they thought/hoped it would.

Part two is a guide to how to live your strongest life. Here the book goes into great detail in how to identify and live your strongest life. Part three is basically a Q & A section.

Most women I know feel over stressed, under-appreciated and unfulfilled. They are trying to juggle too many things. This book is the manual they have been hoping for. It will dispel a lot of false beliefs. There are some very valuable lessons about how to identify your strengths and then start living them.

Marcus cites specific examples of women and how they found their strongest life.

If you are a woman struggling with: "What's life all about? Do I have to settle for or stay in a job I don't like? Do I have to give up my career for my family?" then this is a must read. If you know of a woman going through trying to find her way in life, get a copy and give it to her.

Most people have been taught that to be successful you have to work on your weaknesses. Marcus advocates the totally opposite approach. Identify your strengths and build your life around them. You will only be fulfilled when you work on your strengths. This is your natural state.

This is a well written, easy to read book. It is full of great information that any woman should be able to gain insight into their lives and put the advice to work right away.

Highly recommended.