I Could Do Anything If I Only Knew What It Was: How to Discover What You Really Want and How to Get It (Paperback)

~ (Author), Barbara Smith (Author) "WHAT are you supposed to be doing with your life?..." (more)
Key Phrases: rage against the ordinary, bear grease, unhappy divers, Moving Fast, The Sure Thing, Whole New Ball Game (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

"A life without direction is a life without passion," says motivational specialist, therapist, and career counselor Barbara Sher. In I Could Do Anything If I Only Knew What It Was, a sort of broader, less dense, and less intimidating version of What Color Is Your Parachute?, she reveals how to "recapture long lost goals, overcome the blocks that inhibit your success, decide what you want to be, and live your dreams."

This is a perfect book for new college graduates or anyone sick and tired of languishing in a dead-end job or relationship--yet reluctant to make drastic life changes due to uncertainty about what would actually inspire them. I Could Do Anything combines the I'm-not-buying your-excuses inspiration of Dr. Laura Schlessinger with the soothing, analytic encouragement of Dr. Martin Seligman in his classic Learned Optimism. In other words, Sher will pick you up off your butt and get you moving. She's included enough self-analytical exercises in here to save you hundreds of dollars in therapy.

Whether you're looking to make improvements in your job or personal life, Sher will teach you how to determine what your goals are, and how to successfully reach them--even if right now the only thing you know is that you're vaguely to very unhappy and haven't the foggiest idea what to do with yourself.

From Publishers Weekly

Therapist Sher's guide to discovering and attaining personal and career goals was a PW bestseller for five weeks.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 322 pages
• Publisher: Dell; 1 edition (August 5, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0440505003
• ISBN-13: 978-0440505006
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (104 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #15,076 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

269 of 273 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Help for the vocationally clueless, May 26, 2001

By	Kim Boykin (New York, NY) - See all my reviews

A lot of people had told Barbara Sher that her book "Wishcraft," about getting what you want, was of little use to them because they didn't know what they wanted. So she wrote this book for those of us who need help figuring out what we want. After three introductory chapters, the remaining eleven chapters discuss eleven different forms of resistance to knowing what you want. I suspect that most readers will, as I did, find a few of the chapters especially relevant and won't bother reading past the opening sentences of some other chapters.

I particularly related to the chapters about being afraid to commit to something prematurely, and about not being interested in anything at all. There's also a chapter for you if you're afraid to take risks; if you're afraid of succeeding and leaving your loved ones behind; if you want too many different things; if you're succeeding spectacularly at something you don't really want; if you feel that what you really want is trivial or unworthy; if you've just been through a big life change and don't know what to do next; if you had a dream but it's become unattainable; if you resist doing anything ordinary or mundane; and if you're trying hard to love something you don't really want.

92 of 93 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Change your life - if you're ready for it, August 14, 2006

By	Jessica Enders (Melbourne, Australia) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This book literally changed my life. I have been wondering - since about the age of 15, I'm now 31 - what I really wanted to do work-wise. I sort of bounced from one thing that I'm good at to the next variation on that theme, without ever feeling passionate or fulfilled. I painful breakup and growing discontent at work led me to try to sort this situation out once and for all and purely by luck I came across this book at the library.

I didn't start it until I felt ready, because I knew it wasn't going to be 'light on'. But one Saturday I picked it up and spent the next 8 hours pouring through it, doing the exercises and having one epiphany after another. At the end of it all I had applied to eight companies that did the sort of work I wanted to do and I ended up getting a job at my first choice, even without direct experience in that field. I'm 8 months into that job and I could not be happier.

The way I see it, the first three chapters of this book are about working out what you personally enjoy and are passionate about, while the remaining chapters are to help you overcome any barriers that prevent you from having that sort of work. This means that maybe only one of those latter chapters are for you, but it's all so practical that it's bound to have something that helps.

For me, the barriers weren't the big deal, it was knowing what on earth I wanted to do. And trust me - I had tried almost every other thing, including personality tests, seeing professional counsellors, everything. This book helped me unlock those activities that I have enjoyed since I was just a little child, and see the common thread amongst them. It was like learning more about yourself in a day than you learn in a decade.

I recommend that people buy this book but use it a) only when you really feel ready to explore yourself from a different point of view and b) with an open mind. Actually that makes it sound like it's full of really weird and challenging stuff, which it's not. That's what makes it different - the activities are quite straight forward and non-threatening, and the tone of the book makes it feel like the author is there with you, helping you all the way through.

I have emphatically recommended this book to everyone I know who is lost career-wise. Maybe it's not for everyone, but it changed my life in better ways that I ever imagined possible. Surely that's worth trying out?

84 of 86 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars If you're ready for a change, Sher shows you how, January 26, 2002

By	C. Clark (Upstate NY USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Maybe you're just out of college wondering how you ended up with a business degree when you hate business. Or you've been spending way too much time on the job/in life daydreaming about some other job or life. Or maybe, like me, all seems right with your world, but you have a nagging feeling there's something else you should be doing. Barbara Sher's book will help you sort it all out. She'll help you figure out what's at the root of these feelings and how to understand and handle them. Through a series of exercises, explanations and examples she guides you to discover just what it is that you truly want to do. And then she shows you how to get to do what you want.

You have to be ready to do a little psychological work on yourself, think hard about your past and realistically about your future. You have to be ready to put aside the excuses and fears, and Sher knows them all, and commit yourself to working towards the life you want to live. If you're looking for something easier, like tests or checklists to tell you what you should be doing, this book might not sound like it's for you. But buy it anyway. I read all the books with the tests, the checklists, the affirmations and the goal making, etc... and they got me nowhere. This book finally got me somewhere.