Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #53466 in Books
• Published on: 2007-01-04
• Binding: Paperback
• 288 pages

Synopsis
Take a good hard look at your life. Are there things you are unhappy with? Your life is your responsibility: the choices you made yesterday brought about the life you have today. If you don't like what you have, then get ready to act and move on. "Life Strategies", published to coincide with the start of Phillip McGraw's role on Oprah's "Change Your Life TV", gives powerful, straightforward advice on shaping your life and tells you how to make dramatic changes. Whether it's a bad relationship, a dead-end career, or a harmful habit, Dr. McGraw helps you wake up and get out of your rut. It is never too late to take charge of, and be responsible for, your life.

Customer Reviews

Almost Perfect
This book is excellent apart from one small detail. The strategy for a partner who refuses to communicate. It mentions that this maybe the case but then continues as if you have your partner's ear. Unforunately in my case that is not how it is. However, as for defining your own place in the relationship, providing you are able to put in the work, suffer the pain and be completely honest with yourself it works. I have discovered things about my make up that had remained hidden all my life, I'm 54 now. Has it made me think more about myself and my actions?.... You bet and I'm not so bad after all

AMAZING BOOK
Amazing book, i can't believe the difference it made to my life. The book is easy to read and understand, i would highly recommend it for anyone who wants to make changes in their life. Dr Phil has a no nonsense approach and comes across as a mentor rather than a 'pushy' doctor as some authors of books like these can appear to be. The steps are clear and there is no rush to complete the sections, you can complete it in your own time. I found this book informative and easy to absorb, i enjoyed the process of working through each step and i especially loved the 'life lessons'. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!

Great Self-Assessment Exercises and Planning Instructions
I must admit that I like to use self-assessment tools to find out what I am taking for granted, and ignoring. Complacency is a terrible foe! I found the exercises in this book to be the best that I have ever used. If you have read a lot of self-help books, you can skip right through to the exercises.

If you haven't read many personal self-help books, be sure to read his ideas first before doing the exercises. Basically, Dr. McGraw is pointing out that we become victims when we stop making conscious choices. He helps us surface those areas where we are operating on automatic pilot, and helps us to take the controls again, consciously.

I think that this book is one that everyone would benefit from, who wants to improve their own situation. If you feel particularly weighted down by failure in your own eyes, I also suggest you read Failing Forward. My review of that book will tell you how to find self-assessment exercises for that book, as well.

If you want to improve how other people perform, however, that is beyond the scope of this book. You'll have to look elsewhere. If you have read nothing on the subject, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People and The One Minute Manager will be good starting points.

I found Dr. McGraw's beliefs to match my own very closely, which is why I liked the book so much -- even the parts that paralleled things I knew already. If you skip the exercises, though, you will have made a serious error. That's probably 98% of the benefit of this book.

I first read the book four years ago, and keep the results of the exercises in a place where I can review them daily to help me stay focused on the changes I need to make.

If you like this book, be sure to also read, use and think about the questions in The Life Strategies Workbook.