The book contains 10 chapters, with the first four about attitude.  Chapters 5 through nine contain the big five attitude obstacles.  These include discouragement, change, problems, fear, and failure.  Chapter 10 is about how this book can help you make a difference in the lives of others.

What I like about this book is its small size.  It is easy to take with you in the car or on a plane.  The wisdom contained in this book is easy to follow with stories and examples along the way.  Since the book is small, It’s easy to make notes of the points in this book using a pocket highlighter.  The book will teach you to…

1.  Win over discouragement by getting the right perspective
2.  Embrace change by determining that without change improvement won’t come
3.  Overcome problems by defining, anticipating, evaluating, and embracing the problem as a potential opportunity
4.  Defeat fear by admitting to fear; realizing fears limiting power; and converting fear into desire.
5.  Move beyond failure by holding on to your sense of humor.

You can use this book as your personal coach.  Its small size lets you keep it in your desk drawer or in your car for quick reference.  Overall I enjoyed this book and recommend it highly.

Here are seven that really sound interesting…

1. Kinesthetic learning – The Alexander Technique:

2. Best Practices: The Daily 5 Minutes framed by 9 Questions

3. The Ferrari Analogy for Organized Writing

4. Increase Your Linked-In Connections by 167% in 48 Hours

5. Writing Upside Down…

6. Unplanned Work – The Silent Killer

7. Eat ( And Present) Only Until 80% Full

Be sure to leave your comments over at JJL!

The only real problem I have with the format is making notes while listening. If I’m driving, or out walking it’s hard to write down notes. Since I usually don’t have a written copy for reference it’s hard to go back and find an exact section to capture notes at a later date. This also makes it harder to review the book since I don’t have access to the written copy for pullouts and quotes.

With over 30 great books to review, I’ve struggled to find a way to bring them to you in a review format. I’ve resorted to buying the hard copy in some instances or relying on an author’s website for additional information. In preparing for a seminar that I’m doing this week on podcasting, I’ve run into a little device that may really help to capture notes along the way.

The device is called the I-talk Pro from Griffen technologies. It’s a small microphone that plugs into the bottom of newer iPods and allows you to record hi quality stereo audio to your iPod in Wav format. When you sync your iPod with your computer, this audio is automatically moved from your iPod to your computer and the disk space is reclaimed.

I ordered one of these from Amazon last week and have been amazed how well it works. You plug the device into your sync port at the bottom of the iPod and it automatically pulls up a recording screen. It gives you a choice of high quality (stereo) or low quality (mono) audio recording and has a recording button. It’s as simple as that.

I usually choose high quality on my video iPod since I have a lot of disk space. The recording quality of this unit is superb. When I want to make notes about an audio book I’m listening to, I just plug it in and record. It’s really as simple as that. To go back to listening to my Audio book, I just remove the unit. It’s fast and simple.

This is an ideal unit for recording podcasts. It is especially useful for recording group conversations as it can be placed on a desk or table where everyone can talk into it. The pickup range is good and the stereo separation really adds a spacial effect.

After recording some podcast material I have realized how useful this will be for Audio book reviews. When I’m done listening to an Audio book, I can listen to my notes at home and put together an informative outline. Then it is just a matter of putting together a book review podcast. This unit makes it fast and easy to record the podcast almost anywhere, with great sound.

I plan to use this unit to create reviews of many of the great books I have listened to over the past year and bring them to you with a written outline, three major points, and a podcast that you can subscribe to. I hope to be able to make this site a resource for audio book reviews that you can take with you.

Technorati Tags: ipod, italk, audio book

I have recently found a book that should be a precursor to GTD. A book that should be read before undertaking any time management or personal productivity program. A simple but profound read that can make all the difference in your personal development success.

Entitled, “It’s All Too Much,” by Peter Walsh, this book will give you the understanding to overcome a major problem that our modern world has thrust upon us… clutter. Peter is the organizational guru from TLC’s hit show Clean Sweep. He understands how easy it is for clutter to creep into your life and how hard it is to get rid of it.

Peter will help you climb out from that pile of junk mail on your desk, throw away the 200 old magazines that are bowing your bookshelf and finally uncover a workable horizontal surface that you can work on. This book is far from the usual, “buy more storage boxes” solution. Peter gets to the root of the problem by asking a couple of questions.

What do you want your life to look like?

How do you want to organize your house so you can live the life you want?

It’s All Too Much shows you how to reexamine your priorities and let go of the things that are weighing you down. Simply and clearly, Peter gives you the tools you need to go through your home, room by room — even possession by possession — and honestly evaluate what adds to your quality of life and what’s keeping you from living the life of your dreams.

This book has given me new insights into clutter control and some great tips for overcoming all the “stuff” that seems to find its way into my life. I used to think that clutter was just my problem, but I now realize that we all suffer from “Stuff” overload.

From junk mail, endless magazine subscriptions, to the latest kitchen gadget, this stuff accumulates and causes stress. Soon we just throw our hands in the air and say… It’s all Too Much!

The bottom line… read this book, de-clutter your life, and then pick up David Allen’s, Getting Things Done

Technorati Tags: GTD, organization