Self Help & Motivation

Brief Summary While optimism can help us alleviate immediate suffering and persevere in challenging times, merely dreaming about the future actually makes people more frustrated and unhappy over the long term and less likely to achieve their goals. In fact, the pleasure we gain from positive fantasies allows us to fulfill our wishes virtually, sapping our energy to perform the hard work of meeting challenges and achieving goals in real life. Based on her groundbreaking research and large-scale scientific studies, Oettingen introduces a new way to visualize the future, called mental contrasting. It combines focusing on our dreams with visualizing the obstacles that stand in our way. By experiencing our dreams in our minds and facing reality we can address our fears, make concrete plans, and gain energy to take action. In Rethinking Positive Thinking, Oettingen applies mental contrasting to three key areas of personal change-- becoming healthier, nurturing personal and professional relationships, and performing better at work. She introduces readers to the key phases of mental contrasting using a proven four-step process called WOOP--Wish, Outcome, Obstacle, Plan--and offers advice and exercises on how to best apply this method to daily life. Through mental contrasting, people in Oettingen's studies have become significantly more motivated to quit smoking, lose weight, get better grades, sustain fulfilling relationships, and negotiate more effectively in business situations. Whether you are unhappy and struggling with serious problems or you just want to improve, discover, and explore new opportunities, this book will deepen your ideas about human motivation and help you boldly chart a new path ahead. ISBN:9781591846871 Author:Gabriele Oettingen

Brief Summary Wayne Dyer reveals how we all can prevent ourselves from being victimized by others and begin to operate from a position of power at the center of our own lives. Asserting that we alone are responsible for how much we will be controlled by others, Dyer offers his practical plan for developing new attitudes toward the most common sources of victimization and manipulation, such as family members and authority figures in the workplace. For example, families can be tremendously coercive and demanding, but they can also be an immensely rewarding part of your life. Dyer shows how to cope with the negative side and contribute to the positive. In their working life, many people stay in unfulfilling jobs because they feel constrained by their present experience or because they fear change. Dyer shows that by being enthusiastic and flexible, you can find the work to be happy. Life, Dyer says, is a beautiful thing as long as you hold the strings. Pulling Your Own Strings will give you the dynamic strategies and tools to master your own fate. ISBN:9780061092244 Author:Wayne W. Dyer

Brief Summary Our world needs courageous leaders who will recognize the need for God-motivated action and follow through with a God-led plan. Whether your vision for change is local or global, simple or complex, for your home, business, or ministry, Courageous Leaders will help you remain on a true course and reach the goal set before you. A great hands-on guide book for strategic planning. ISBN:9781576581711 Author:James Halcomb and David Hamilton

Brief Summary When You Talk, Are People Changed Whether you speak from the pulpit, podium, or the front of a classroom, you don’t need much more than blank stares and faraway looks to tell you you’re not connecting. Take heart before your audience takes leave! You can convey your message in the powerful, life-changing way it deserves to be told. An insightful, entertaining parable that’s an excellent guide for any speaker, communicating for a Change takes a simple approach to delivering effectively. Join Pastor Ray as he discovers that the secrets to successful speaking are parallel to the lessons a trucker learns on the road. By knowing your destination before you leave (identifying the one basic premise of your message), using your blinkers (making transitions obvious), and implementing five other practical points, you’ll drive your message home every time! "Long ago, in a galaxy far, far away…” "Once upon a time…” "In the beginning…” Great stories capture and hold an audience’s attention from start to finish. Why should it be any different when you stand up to speak? In Communicating for a Change, Andy Stanley and Lane Jones offer a unique strategy for communicators seeking to deliver captivating and practical messages. In this highly creative presentation, the authors unpack seven concepts that will empower you to engage and impact your audience in a way that leaves them wanting more. ISBN:9781590525142 Author:Andy Stanley and Lane Jones

Brief Summary Stormie Omartian's previous books have centered on individual prayer that lifts up spouses, children, national needs, and personal growth. In her newest book, "The Power of Praying(R) Together, "Stormie and her longtime pastor, Jack Hayford, look at the benefits and power of praying with others. Readers will discover how to find a prayer partner create a prayer group tap into the power of a praying church unite in prayer as a nation cover the world in prayer More than just a "how to" book, "The Power of Praying(R) Together "helps readers discover that when they are willing to link their hearts with others before God, they open themselves up to a wider, more interactive world of prayer. ISBN:9780736910033 Author:Stormie Omartian and Jack Hayford

Brief Summary Why do we mistrust people more in the UK than in Japan? Why do Americans have higher rates of teenage pregnancy than the French? What makes the Swedish thinner than the Australians? The answer: inequality. This groundbreaking book, based on years of research, provides hard evidence to show: • How almost everything - from life expectancy to mental illness, violence to illiteracy - is affected not by how wealthy a society is, but how equal it is • That societies with a bigger gap between rich and poor are bad for everyone in them - including the well-off • How we can find positive solutions and move towards a happier, fairer future Urgent, provocative and genuinely uplifting, The Spirit Level has been heralded as providing a new way of thinking about ourselves and our communities, and could change the way you see the world. ISBN:9780241954294 Author:Kate Pickett and Richard Wilkinson

Brief Summary Divine Time Management: The Joy of Trusting God's Loving Plans for You Time is a precious gift. When you invest it well, it's marked with meaning and unforgettable moments of joy. But if you're like so many, you feel rushed. Overwhelmed. Pressured by your daily obligations and others' expectations. The need to please, to succeed, and to make a difference wears away at your joy and leaves you feeling empty or exhausted. Elizabeth Grace Saunders, internationally recognized time management expert, has helped everyone from busy moms to small business owners to corporate clients reorder their lives for success. She knows there are endless apps, books, and useful methods for becoming self-disciplined, organized, and more successful, but these tools alone aren't enough to provide true freedom from the stress of how to best manage time. Yet when Elizabeth's longtime faith intersected with her work, it unlocked the power of DIVINE TIME MANAGEMENT. After a season of unusually high stress, where traditional time management methods fell short, she found a transformative sense of peace by surrendering her plans to God. Pursuing God's wisdom in time management, Elizabeth discovered that by trusting Him she could achieve the happy, prosperous, confident life He lovingly planned for her. Now she shares how you can find purpose, joy, and the peace that comes from letting God guide your actions. DIVINE TIME MANAGEMENT offers you: a path to deeper intimacy with God centered on trust in Him; an understanding of what God wants for your life, to inform how you set priorities; biblical and personal encouragement to embrace your God-given desires; effective ways to faithfully navigate major decisions; and proven time-saving methods. God delights in His children experiencing His best. DIVINE TIME MANAGEMENT will help you align your life with God's best for you, for lasting joy with Christ at the center of your world. ISBN:9781478974369 Author:Elizabeth Grace Saunders

Brief Summary It's no secret that there is a wide emotional gap between men and women. Couples crave love, but don't always know how to express it to their spouse. Lists to Love by for Busy Husbands presents practical insights and step-by-step advice for husbands who want to bridge that gap and improve their marriage. These thirty lists will carry husbands through an entire month of learning to love their wives more deeply--wisdom they will come back to again and again. ISBN:9781455596836 Author:Mark Merrill and Susan Merrill