Synopses & Reviews
Some people spend their lives reacting to what life hands them, while others craft life to fit their goals. Author Phillip C. McGraw, who is a psychologist but describes himself as a strategist, is determined to make sure that his readers are the creators of their lives, not created by their lives.
By accepting that you are personally accountable for every element of your life, McGraw says, you can erase the negative "epidemic behaviors" (found in all of American society: denial, false assumptions, inertia, deceptive masking) in your life and reach your goals.Written in a tough-love, sometimes cantankerous tone, this self-help book is not for those looking to explore their inner child or visualize away negative energy. No, this is pull-yourself-up-by-the-bootstraps advice from someone who's done just that. McGraw opens with a scene describing how he helped Oprah Winfrey survive--and win--the 1998 "Mad Cow" lawsuit in Texas, when she was having difficulty coping with the reality of what was happening to her. He helped her face the facts about the lawsuit, after which she was better able to participate in crafting a strategy to win it.
McGraw first forces you to take a good hard look at who you are by dissecting your personality. It may be painful to realize that you fall into the "Porcupine" or "Perfecto" or any of the other personality types McGraw delineates, but here it's true that there's no gain without pain, because (Life Law No. 4) "You Can't Change What You Don't Acknowledge." He then describes in depth all 10 "Life Laws"--the rules by which the world plays--that he learned the hard way. Laws such as "You Either Get It, or You Don't," "Life Is Managed; It Is Not Cured," and "You Have to Name It to Claim It" make up the bulk of the book and McGraw's realist philosophy.
If you learn and abide by the Life Laws and go on to create a Life Strategy, McGraw claims you will not only know yourself better and eliminate negative behaviors, you will also know how to reach any goal you set for yourself. --Stefanie Durbin
Synopsis
Whether its a bad relationship, a dead-end career, or a harmful habit, Dr. McGraw's 10 Life Laws will empower you to take responsibility for your own actions and break free from self-destructive patterns.
Drawing upon more than fifteen years of experience, Dr. McGraw explores each of the 10 Life Laws necessary to succeed, including:
- People do what works
- Life rewards action
- Life is managed, not cured
- There is freedom in forgiveness
Filled with case studies, checklists, and strategies that will work for you,
Life Strategies will provide you with the skills you need.
Synopsis
If you are:
- capable of more than you are accomplishing;
- frustrated that you are not making more money;
- stuck in a rut and not getting what you want;
- bored with yourself;
- silently enduring an emotionally barren life or marriage;
- trudging, zombie-like, through an unchallenging career;
- just "going through the motions" of your life;
- living in a comfort zone that yields too little challenge;
- living a lonely existence with little hope for change;
then hold on as Dr. Phillip McGraw takes you on a guided tour of your life to honestly label the problems and causes that control your destiny.
Life Strategies will give you the most honest explanation of your life and how you got where you are that has ever been published. Dr. McGraw is results-based and measures success in terms of changed lives, not rhetoric. This book is a plain-talk, entertaining way to learn to take control of your life, right now. Dr. Phil introduces you to the ten Laws of Life that every person needs to know. Learn them, use them, and improve virtually every aspect of your life, from work to home to spiritual to physical. Ignore them and you'll continue to pay the price.
With
Life Strategies, Dr. McGraw tells you how to strategically control your life, rather than continue as a frustrated passenger.
About the Author
Dr. Phil McGraw is the author of five #1 New York Times bestsellers: Life Strategies: Doing What Works, Doing What Matters; Relationship Rescue: A Seven-Step Strategy for Reconnecting with Your Partner; Self Matters: Creating Your Life From the Inside Out; The Ultimate Weight Solution: The Seven Keys to Weight Loss Freedom, and his most recent book, Family First: Your Step-by-Step Plan for Creating a Phenomenal Family. He is also the author of the New York Times bestseller The Ultimate Weight Solution Coookbook: Recipes For Weight Loss Freedom as well as The Ultimate Weight Solution Food Guide. His books have been published in 37 languages with over 22 million copies in print. Dr. Phil has a B.S, M.A. and Ph.D. in clinical psychology from North Texas State University with a dual area of emphasis in clinical and behavioral medicine. He has been a board-certified and licensed clinical psychologist since 1978, and appears on his nationally syndicated daily one-hour series, Dr. Phil. He lives in Los Angeles with Robin, his wife of 28 years, and their two sons, Jay and Jordan.
Table of Contents
ch. 1.Get real --ch. 2.Your either get it, or you don't --ch. 3.You create your own experience --ch. 4.People do what works --ch. 5.You can't change what you don't acknowledge --ch. 6.Life rewards action --ch. 7.There is no reality; only perception --ch. 8.Life is managed; it is not cured --ch. 9.We teach people how to treat us --ch. 10.There is power in forgiveness --ch. 12.Guided tour of your life --ch. 13.Seven-step strategy --ch. 14.Finding your formula.