Product Description

Do you ever feel you are too busy focussing on certain areas of life that the truly important things pass you by? The paradox of modern life is that the more we chase the 'bigger and better' things we think will bring contentment and happiness, the more difficult true happiness becomes to find. If we really want to discover what is truly important to us, we need to take a more fundamental approach. We need to go 'unplugged'. Think going back to basics, going back to the 'acoustic' version of life without all the rush and hustle.Taking a step back from what we think we want can often show us what it is we truly want, and only by becoming 'unplugged' from what we have been chasing can we reconnect with what truly matters. "Unplugged" is the book that will help readers do just this and enable them to re-identify what it is that truly matters to them. Unplugged doesn't require complex techniques, classes or down-sizing. Unplugged simply requires a subtle shift of thinking and a fresh approach to life. It is an opportunity to step off the whirlwind ride through the calendar and re-engage with life.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #440459 in Books
• Published on: 2008-01-21
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 190 pages

About the Author
Nicolas Bate runs Strategic Edge Ltd, a consultancy that has a simple vision: to 'enable individuals to realise and release their potential.' He works extensively with individuals and teams in organisations as similar and different as Microsoft, Marks & Spencer, Philips Electronics, Hudson Global, Intel - as well as many non-corporate organisations, even primary schools. Nicolas is the author of JFDI: The definitive guide to realising your dreams (978 1 845 280 21 5) and Being the best: The A-Z of Personal Success (978 1 841125 21 3).

Customer Reviews

A handbook for a new philosophy.
Inspiring!
Like Nicholas Bate's other books, `Unplugged' is a very practical handbook, this time on how to simplify your life.
Nicholas outlines seven areas of focus to return us to the core principles that motivated us in the first place, before the complexities of day to day living made us forget what we were living for. The busy reader who finds life a little overwhelming doesn't need to read and digest the whole book in one go; they can tackle it a bit at a time. Each of these chapters can be read and tackled separately. The ideas are simple and easy to follow, but each one can bring about powerful changes. Apply them together, however, and you will transform your life forever.
Unplugged is more than a handbook though. It is a philosophical look at some of the reasons behind our dissatisfaction with our lives; how we have, in our striving for success, confused the acquisition of `stuff' for happiness. But, having poignantly pinpointed the paradox that the more we chase wealth, power and success the less we achieve our innermost desires, Nicholas does not just leave us mournfully nodding our heads in agreement. He gives us hope, and practical suggestions and advice that will allow us to realise where our true contentment may lie. The seven principles, of Simplicity, of Wisdom, Passion, Direction, Possibility, Love and of Being don't just sound nice: apply them as `Unplugged' suggests, and they work!
Nicholas is not suggesting that we give all our wealth away, knit our own wellies and go and live on a smallholding. The strategies that he suggests can, and must, be fitted into our busy lives. This is not a book about how to escape from our lives, but how to get the most out of them by paying attention to the fundamental forces that drive and shape us as humans. As Nicholas himself says on the sleeve of `Unplugged', `........the sad reality is that the more we chase `bigger and better' the more difficult it becomes to find. The more we chase externally, the less we realise internally. It simply doesn't work. We have confused happiness with stuff, success with more and love with control. It's time to get Unplugged.'