Slim but still helpful behavioral guide.
In this debut self-help guide, an executive coach explains how to shed bad habits in personal and professional life.
For Kaplan, who holds a doctorate in psychology, having willpower is not the answer, as it won’t lead to sustainable habit change. Instead, he says, one must undergo what he calls a “waking-up process,” consisting of mindfulness exercises that include taking a “habit inventory” to become more fully aware of subconscious behaviors, such as grimacing whenever a problematic colleague appears. He then outlines various steps to prepare for successful habit change, including setting what he terms “R.E.A.L” goals—realistic, evaluative (measured results), action-oriented, and time-limited. He discusses common barriers to change—e.g., value conflicts, such as how a family tradition of bonding over food may compete with a desire to maintain a healthy weight—and offers tips to overcome such obstacles: for instance, after overeating at a family dinner, take a walk to burn extra calories. Kaplan also recommends daily meditation and, crucially, developing a “three-question mantra,” by which to consider—and thus become more accountable to—one’s ongoing choices and actions. Kaplan wraps up by noting that his book touches on the same “inside secrets” featured in a 126-hour coach training program he co-developed; he also provides a link to his coaching website. While one aim of Kaplan’s brief book is surely to serve as promotional material for his consulting services, there are also some useful and practical exercises. More client examples would have been welcome, but Kaplan nevertheless offers down-to-earth suggestions for the professional and personal realms, including reducing your nighttime TV viewing if your habit goal is to get to bed earlier. His guide could be a solid quick-start manual to helping readers start to recognize and ultimately change some fundamentally self-defeating behaviors.
Slim but still helpful behavioral guide.Pub Date: April 23, 2015
ISBN: 978-0990652915
Page Count: 76
Publisher: IGW
Review Posted Online: June 18, 2015
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis...
Privately published by Strunk of Cornell in 1918 and revised by his student E. B. White in 1959, that "little book" is back again with more White updatings.
Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis (whoops — "A bankrupt expression") a unique guide (which means "without like or equal").Pub Date: May 15, 1972
ISBN: 0205632645
Page Count: 105
Publisher: Macmillan
Review Posted Online: Oct. 28, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1972
This is not the Nutcracker sweet, as passed on by Tchaikovsky and Marius Petipa. No, this is the original Hoffmann tale of 1816, in which the froth of Christmas revelry occasionally parts to let the dark underside of childhood fantasies and fears peek through. The boundaries between dream and reality fade, just as Godfather Drosselmeier, the Nutcracker's creator, is seen as alternately sinister and jolly. And Italian artist Roberto Innocenti gives an errily realistic air to Marie's dreams, in richly detailed illustrations touched by a mysterious light. A beautiful version of this classic tale, which will captivate adults and children alike. (Nutcracker; $35.00; Oct. 28, 1996; 136 pp.; 0-15-100227-4)
Pub Date: Oct. 28, 1996
ISBN: 0-15-100227-4
Page Count: 136
Publisher: Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1996
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