Asking Questions
This morning was one of those exciting ones where I received a package in the mail. At the moment, the most thrilling things I receive in the mail are DVDs from my DVD rental company, most of which don’t work. However, this morning I received a book, which is even more exciting (would you believe) than a broken rental DVD. The book is Tim Brownson’s Don’t Ask Stupid Questions, which I was asked to review. Reviewing is a wonderful way to get free books, and if you know me it’s important to know that at this juncture in my life “free” and “books” are two of my favourite words. It’s also a signed first edition.
I have to admit I don’t read a lot of personal development books. I did go through a phase last year where I read them, and they fell broadly into two categories: the ones that are all about being happy with yourself (i.e. not spending all your time being negative about yourself); and the ones that are all about having Big Dreams and Life Purposes, but avoid all that stuff about goal-setting, not procrastinating, getting up early in the morning, and generally regimenting your life to the degree that you practically sign yourself into a boot camp to get it all done. I’ve always felt I knew what I should be doing; my problem was that another part of me was convinced I shouldn’t, because it had all kinds of very restrictive and limiting ideas about me.
However, Tim Brownson’s book is quite different. There are forty-two chapters and each one is quite short. They manage to cover, in a neat way, all the features of personal development and living you might like to consider if you want to live up to your potential. It’s like a little handbook, really, a starting point that offers all the knowledge you might get from going to a hundred seminars and reading loads of other books in neat little bite-sized chunks. In one sense, it’s a bit like having a reminder or a nudge, or for people new to personal development, an introduction. I recall that in my last contract position I was asked if I was planning to write a “business book” about how to run an effective business. I replied that I wouldn’t, but if I did, it would be called “Bin the Bullshit” and would break all the big ideas of business theory down into little chunks without the need for businesses to pay thousands of pounds to go to seminars which didn’t tell them anything you couldn’t work out with a good chunk of common sense. Brownson’s book is very much a “Bin the Bullshit” of personal development. There’s all the essential material in there to remind you when you’re having a bad day or that inner critic is really yelling at you, that you’re in the right place at the right time.
There is a note at the beginning from the author almost apologising for his writing style. I can’t quite understand why because it has to be one of the best approaches in terms of voice I’ve seen for a long time. A great deal of books in this area seem to talk down to the reader from on high, which is probably why I don’t end up reading them beyond browsing in Waterstones every now and again. The style is very relaxed and humorous, with some touches of self-deprecation that tend to make one smile. It’s a very lively thing to read, almost like having a personal coaching session, I would imagine. I particularly loved quotes like “realism is for accountants”, and might actually stick it up somewhere I can see it often. The whole feel is one that’s approachable and kind, rather than daunting you with huge numbers of tasks and theories and big ideas.
One thing I will say about it is that it often doesn’t offer a “how”. In places there are some neat little tricks, but for people looking for that really intensive, get-up-at-5am, list-making and similar exercises it probably isn’t the book for you, although it would probably make a good reminder. Sometimes you find the little tricks offered work wonders, but as it’s a small book, there really isn’t space to go into detail on how one would go about knocking the really serious negative beliefs (the ones that don’t come out even if you use industrial-strength EFT).
This is one of those books, in short, that you should probably keep on your bedside table or at your desk. Somewhere nearby so you can dip into it at random and get a kick up the butt from the universe.
For more information on the book and find our where to buy, click here.
