Book and Product Reviews

Author: Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hansen
Publisher: Berkley Trade
Year Published: 1995
Rating:
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In The Aladdin Factor, Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hansen of Chicken Soup for the Soul fame lay out a framework for asking for and receiving what you want. You may know Jack Canfield as one of the teachers of The Secret or the Law of Attraction. Unlike with The Secret, The Aladdin Factor isn’t concerned with the metaphysical (for instance, all you have to do is ask the Universe for what you want and wait for it to happen.) Rather, it takes the much more direct approach: become clear about what you want then ask people who have the means to help you to guide you towards your goals. continue

by Brian Tracy
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Financial independence is the American dream, yet for most people it remains elusive. In this 60-minute audio, Brian Tracy provides 21 laws of money that helped him and many of his students go from rags to riches.

Twenty-one laws are a lot to cover in an hour, so no one law is covered in depth. Tracy spends at most two to three minutes per law, gives brief examples of the law in action, and gives you a few tips on how to put these laws to work in your life. Here were my top six takeaways:

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By Anthony Robbins
Rating:
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Get the Edge, one of Tony Robbins’ most popular self-help programs, claims to be a seven-day course on how to achieve the life you desire. (Personally, the program took me about 2 weeks to complete.) It is broken into seven daily lectures plus the first week of Robbins’ Personal Power program. You are supposed to listen to Day 1 first, followed by all seven Personal Power lectures, and then continue with Days 2-7. Most lectures run under an hour, but Days 2 and 3 are designed as longer workshops, so Robbins recommends you split them into two sessions each if you can’t spare longer than an hour per day. continue

Directed By Jon Dixon
Rating:
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Buy Through PassItOnToday.com

Pass It On is a motivational video, in the same vein as The Secret, about manifesting what you want in life. Like The Secret, Pass It On delivers its message through sound bytes with “experts” in the life coaching and motivational speaking industry including Michael Beckwith and John Assaraf from The Secret as well as a host of others like Mark Victor Hansen, Brian Tracy, Lou Ferrigno (The Incredible Hulk), Howard Putnam (former CEO of Southwest Airlines), Denis Waitley, former Congressman Ed Foreman and many others.

When the video begins, we’re taken into the bank of “sustainable abundance” where the dvd’s host, David Corbin, gives us the tour of four vaults which hold the keys to fulfill our dreams. Those four areas are wealth, inspiration, success, and happiness (which cleverly make up the acronym “wish”). However, the experts make it quite clear we can’t “wish” our way to success – it takes hard work. Fortunately for us, they’re here to mentor us to get to where we want to be. continue

by Anthony Robbins and Cloe Madanes
Rating:
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Back from the Edge is part of the Tony Robbins Inner Strength Films with psychotherapist Cloe Madanes in which Tony coaches members of the audience to break free of their fears and take control of their lives. This particular film is also included in Tony Robbins’ Ultimate Relationship Program (which I have not seen).

During a conference of about 4000 participants, Paul stands up and reveals he’s thinking of leaving his wife, Jennifer, who is also an audience member. For the last two years, Paul has been threatening to leave Jennifer, a stay-at-home mom with a biting sense of humor and strong extended family support. Tony learns that Jen’s sister and brother-in-law, Janet and Brian, are also in the audience and asks them for insight into the couple’s problems. continue

by Anthony Robbins and Cloe Madanes
Rating:
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Negotiating Conflict is part of the Tony Robbins Inner Strength Films with psychotherapist Cloe Madanes in which Tony coaches members of the audience to break free of their fears and take control of their lives.

This particular film was especially powerful because it took place during a 2 day leadership conference in Hawaii on 9/11/2001. The conference brought together 2000 individuals from about 40 different countries (including 100 New Yorkers) and everyone had different reactions to what had happened around 3am Hawaii time. Some were crying. Some had lost loved ones or businesses in the attack. Some saw it as no big deal – as this type of thing happens in their country all the time. Some were celebrating, calling the attack “retribution”. Others were fighting amongst themselves. continue

by Anthony Robbins and Cloe Madanes
Rating:
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One of Tony Robbins’ lesser known projects is his powerful series of Inner Strength Films with psychotherapist Cloe Madanes. Each video was filmed during one of Tony Robbins’ conferences where a member of the audience stood up and revealed a major problem they were having. During the intervention, Tony uncovers the heart of the audience member’s problem and works with them to break free from their fears and limiting behaviors. Throughout the videos, Cloe provides voiceovers explaining why Tony uses the words and actions he does and offers advice to viewers about how they can put Tony’s suggestions into action in their own lives.

In Conquering Overwhelming Loss, Jim stands up and admits he’s thinking of suicide. Jim was a successful business man who lost everything in a matter of a few days because of a bad investment. To make things worse, he not only lost his own money, he lost a large amount of a dear friend’s life savings as well. Unable to live with his guilt, he set up his friend as the beneficiary of his life insurance policy and has been contemplating ways to kill himself so she will get her money back. continue

Author: Joe Vitale
Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
Year Published: 2005
Rating:
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Joe Vitale is known as a pretty heavy hitter in copywriting and personal development circles. He’s written 17 books, including some on marketing for the American Management Association and the American Marketing Association, as well as a ton of ebooks. With those kind of credentials, you may be a bit surprised to hear that The Attractor Factor is not about direct response or marketing ROI or blogging or any other buzzword you’ve heard recently but on ’spiritual marketing.’ continue

by Jon Gordon
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Jon Gordon may not be one of the gurus in The Secret, but that hasn’t stopped him from writing this business parable about how one guy used the law of attraction to turn his life around.

George is downright miserable. His home life is in shambles. He’s got a major product launch in two weeks that must go well or he will lose his job. And to top it off, his car’s in the shop for the next two weeks, leaving George no other option but to take the bus to work each day. Could things get worse? continue

by Jack Canfield
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Best known for his Chicken Soup for the Soul franchise of books, Jack Canfield is a well known motivational speaker and success coach. Most recently, he’s one of the official teachers of The Secret home study course.

In The Success Principles, Jack Canfield shifts from his “ask… believe… achieve” philosophy of The Secret to focus on taking action. continue