Careers Books

I am hard pressed to rate any material of Napoleon Hill's negatively as his original works are among the most profound books I have read on personal achievement. The content presented in Napoleon Hill's Positive Action Plan in undeniably worthy advice as would be expected of anything using Hill's thoughts as a basis.

Many of the books now prepared by the Napoleon Hill foundation and presented as if written by Hill himself share the same weakness, as they are mere rewritten accounts and/or summarizations of Hill's thoughts without any new or fresh substance. Unfortunately this book does not rise above this status as it merely summarized 365 pieces of advice presented in other Napoleon Hill books. The entire book is also attainable by signing up for free email quotations from the Napoleon Hill Foundation.

Napoleon Hill's principles are timeless, and thus the summary format in this book is not without value; however, if you are seeking anything more than a refresher, I recommend passing on this book and sticking to the original books actually written by Napoleon Hill himself such as Think and Grow Rich.

I love this book. I use it often for daily inspiration. I have even typed the daily thoughts, categorized by month, into Microsoft Word. I then printed & filed them in my daily planner. Reading one every morning helps focus my mind on what is important. Love the writings on personal character.

This book is organized by days of the year, but I enjoyed just opening it and discovering my "message" for the day. I opened it just now and one of the affirmations was "a negative mind only spawns negative ideas." Following is a short paragraph discussing the point. The affirmations are seemingly simple, but they lead to deeper issues and consideration of how you engage your mind and how you intereact with the world because of it. It is a good precursor to my current favorite book (recently published) on "positivity" - The One Minute Guide to Prosperity and Enlightenment - which gives actual techniques on how to use your positive energy/positive attitude to achieve financial and spiritual success. I just opened the One Minute Guide to a chapter with the title - "Take Control of Your Thoughts: Everything that happens in your life depends on how you spend your thought energy. You are your thoughts." Everything is colored my our own perceptions and these affirmations and techniques reinforce and demonstrate ways in which you can continually strive to achieve a positive state of mind. Good reading!

A very successful person once told me to make success training a priority, to work harder on myself than I do at my job. I did just that by purchasing several of Napolean Hills books and programs, this one included.

In meditations, Hill offers us a meditation a day to take mediocrity away. That's all it takes; just one meditation per day.

This book should be read along with Think and Grow rich. Keep a copy by your nite stand in your bedroom and read one meditation per day, morning and evening and watch what it does for you!

Napoleon Hill is the recognized expert on all things success. In this book, Hill reveals how you can grow rich, and keep your mental act together at the same time. Typical of Hill's writing style, the book is easy to read, and features numerous examples from his real life experience. Specifically, this book covers, among many other things:

Devloping a winning attitude.
Spotting opportunities.
Using teamwork.
Gaining peace of mind.

This book focuses on achieving success through positive relationships and a healthy mental attitude. For more information on achieving financial success, you may want to read "The 17 Principles of Creating Wealth," by Phillip Collinsworth.

The product arrived on time and was a great price! Would buy from them again.

This book was in excellent shape and it was here at my door very fast.

This is one of the books worth keeping and not selling back becuase it is so filled with helpful information that you can use for all of your future career moves.

In short, this book is based on biblical truths and presented with a Christian perspective that surpasses any other view. Its tools, assessments, reflective questions, forms, and corresponding text all work together to create a firm foundation with which to guide you toward your life's calling. It is a very easy read with a vast amount of wisdom that is organized user-friendly. I give this book my highest recommendation for its purpose and confidently say that it offers exactly what it advertises, if not more. It's worth more than what they charge; not something you'll find in any other book like it. You'll learn about the foundation of vocation, what are your primary and secondary callings, better understand who you are and where you want to go, and understand more about yourself, your career, your calling, and best of all, how it all comes together.

I find this book inspiring and uplifting! A book that will touch the hearts and minds its readers! Its abundant life renewing principles are a paragon example of a worthwhile person in more ways than a million!

Everyday People Making an Extraordinary Impact

Simeon Johnson

This book is exacty what I have been looking for. I am the director of Career Services at Azusa Pacific College and it has been difficult to find a sophisticated book that brings Gods calling together with the pragmatic aspects of finding a career. I highly recommend this remarkable book to use with individuals, classes on life planning or in small groups.

Has some great insights into growing into a new job/life and is an easy read.

Live Your Calling provides tremendous help in understanding your life's calling. Practical, helpful, motivational. Excellent for young adults who are trying to make significant decisions regarding career choices and direction.

Want your children to succeed in the job market? Want to upgrade your own skills? This book offers much needed data about the value of work ethics, communication both verbal and written, working with others, influencing others, internships, building relationships. It is a job research primer. It also tackles the negatives of "helicopter parents" whose well-meaning attempts are often counterproductive to the individual learning process of the young adult trying to grow up and develop skills needed in the work force. Author Bill Coplin also explores time and money management, the interview process, identifying problems and developing solutions.

A timely and well-written perspective.

The book points out that college students need to develop real-world know-how in ten crucial skill groups:
Work Ethic
Physical Performance
Speaking
Writing
Teamwork
Influencing People
Research
Number Crunching
Critical Thinking
Problem Solving
A degree might get your foot in the door, but having these skills will make you a valuable employee. I agree with the author that if a work ethic is missing, then all the other knowledge and skills are wasted.

The description of this title does not exactly make clear what the book is about.

Part I - Know How Groups
Details specific skills in 10 groups by saying 1) why they're important 2) how college-level coursework can help you develop them, and 3) how activities, jobs, and internships can help you develop them.

Part II - What you should be doing in college to help yourself get a job/internship
Explains the idea of an apprenticeship, how to make college choices, volunteering, thinking BEYOND college, and more

Part III - Planning your success
More on careers, improving your "know how" skills, and how to use show off your know how skills in your resume and cover letter

Part I I found useful for some skills and a lot of fluff for others.
The explanation of the skill itself is mostly useless and consists principally of 1) a discussion of a rather irrelevant quote put at the top of each section, 2) how you might use it in a business/management type position. Of course that helps you out if you enjoy irrelevant quotations and are heading for a career in management, but be warned - this book was written for liberal arts majors. That is the type of student this author has had the most experience with and portrays most skills that are necessary for a position in sales, management, or some other business-oriented capacity. It's not for engineering majors.

Parts II and III I found very useful and eye-opening was the discussion of internships, jobs, and other activities outside of campus that comes after Coplin's foray into "know how groups." It details how you can use your connections and campus/online resources to find a career-starting experience at a relevant company. It also sheds some light on the internship experience and why it's important to "pay your dues."

If 1) you're majoring in some liberal arts field, or 2) want to learn more about what you SHOULD be doing with your time in college, this book is for you. But don't pick it up if you want to go to med, law, or some other graduate school. There are simply better titles for guiding you to those areas.

The book is a tremendous aid to help a college student, or for that matter any young man our woman get a leg up as they prepare for the real world they face outside of formal education. It addresses things that our formal education system misses. If you plan on working in a career, like most people, then you need this book to help you be prepared to face reallity of the work world. It suggests an investment of thought, time and energy but the payoffs will be worth it. Ask the HR people in your company if it is on target. My children will be reading it as they prepare to move into the "real world". Yours should too!

The Blanchards, living in Norwich Vermont, just a stone's throw away from me in The White Mountains of New Hampshire are living the life they want. Achieving the life you really want is an eye opener for people who "say" they want to make changes and live the life they love, IF they embrace the information, steps and tools provided in this book. Many people say they want to change but don't ever take the steps to do it and spend their life sad and complaining that they just can't do it, maybe because of finances or because of their own fear.
this great little book has wonderful lists of Do's and Don'ts that can really help you take a good look at what you are doing. To take one quote from the book, "Listen to your instincts. Trust your gut. Follow your heart."
I would like to add to that, Face your Fears. You are here one time, make it a good time!

Unlike some "self-help" authors whose main qualification for helping is that they sit in an office all day long giving advice to other people for a living (which is fine, but it's one thing to give advice and another entirely to take it!) or even just that they somehow got a book contract, the Blanchards set themselves apart by practicing what they preach. These are people who are, even as I type this, out in the world living what they love. They work for themselves. They split the year between two beautiful locations that they love(Vermont and Anguilla in the Caribbean). From reading the book and their blog (www.livewhatyoulove.com) I can tell that they really are happy people - and I do believe that's why only they could have written this book: b.c they've rolled with the punches, and made and continue to make changes to their course to facilitate a happy life!So who better to help me make the changes I need to make to be happy? For my money, I'd rather take advice from someone who has done it, not someone who thinks they know how I should do it, you know?

I found Changing Your Course to be a very motivating book - it's a rare combination of practical and inspirational. Using a simple 5 step program (D.R.E.A.M.) they walk you through all the real world details of how to make the changes you've been wanting to make in your life (whether big or small) so that every day you're doing something that you love.

I'm a happier person for having read this book!

This book lays out *everything* you must do in order to become as successful as possible. The thing I like most is, it is not a get rich quick type of book. The Real Estate field has enough of those books already.

As the market changes drastically (March '08), the plans and guidelines found within this book are even more critical than ever.

The only reason I rated this book as a four is your success is still your responsibility. But this book will definitely help you along your way. Carefully consider getting a copy today!

I am pleased that I purchased this book. The first two chapters have already benefited me tremendously. I used Dirk's techniques to interview with three companies before making my decision as to who to place my license with. I hope everyone finds this book as beneficial as I did as a new agent. I also enjoy that it is a very easy to read and understand text. I will buy the remainder of Dirk's books in the future.

As a Real Estate Marketing Consultant, I have find this book very useful in assisting my first and second year real estate agent clients. It is basic, but realistic. A good place to start!

Contains great insight on finding the right company and focusing on improving yourself. Good information about avoiding common pitfalls. Some decent tips on financial independence. Overall mostly a motivational book.

I'm a real real estate agent and mortgage broker in Florida. I found this book great for beginners; it helped me find the right agency and gave me an introduction to the profession. The book is full of simple principles to send you in the right direction and help you build good work habits. It guided me organize my efforts and gave me an interesting perspective on the industry; the book contains a great overview. I highly recommend this book for anyone starting the field, like new associates or pre-licensed people interested in becoming agents.

Agents or brokers that have been in the field for a while may want to seek a more advanced book.

I have a number of Voice over books, and this one is hands down my favorite. Even though I've worked in the voice industry for years, there are so many proven voice techniques in this book that I keep it handy in my studio. I strongly recommend it to beginning students as well as veterans.

My favorite aspects of this book are:

- outstanding presentation of the fundamentals of voice over. When you read each technique, it's absolutely clear how to use it AND how it improves the result.
- great advice for revising my demos (or creating them if you don't have one)
- interviews with copy writers and agents, to give a real-world view of the industry

I've seen proven results in my own work, and I highly recommend this book to anyone serious about a career in voice over.

I'm at the beginning of my career in voice-over and I've read a good handful of books on the topic and taken tons of classes...but rarely has anyone "broken down" the essentials of technique quite as clearly and succinctly as Elaine Clark does in this book. For the first time, I felt like I had some practical tools I could refer to when approaching copy, which not only gave me a promising ground to start from, but also helped build my confidence and desire to "stick-to-it." Rather than give you hollow, abstract phrases about the need to connect emotionally to the copy, she shows you "how" to make it "yours." Obviously she's a great teacher with a lot of experience, as she leaves no stone unturned in this book with regards to what to expect in every aspect of this career and how to be best prepared so that you can succeed.

Elaine Clark is my guru. I have read this book a number of times since purchasing it in 2001, and I return to a number of specific passages when I need a refresher. Having worked steadily in this business for 20+ years, and having purchased many books on voice acting, I 've found "There's Money Where Your Mouth Is" to be my absolute favorite. The reader is taken from the basics to the multitude of details involved in running your own successful voice-over business.
Thanks to Elaine Clark, I have grown professionally as a voice actor, and enhanced my voice acting and copy interpretation skills.

If you are at all interested in VO, get this book. I read it cover to cover a year ago, and I've been cherry picking those areas that I've needed to focus on ever since. Now that I've marked up my copy at least three times and pages are starting to break loose of their binding, I'm ready to get an agent and start working. If your an actor or improvisor this book will help all areas of your artistic endeavors. The nuances & subtleties of speech are examined in great detail. The bottom line throughout this book is how to stop "acting" and be real. The market is hungry for every day real people. There's a pot of gold at the end of this rainbow, pick it up.

This book is very helpful for those new to the industry. It contains information about putting your demo together, about getting an agent, and has sample copy to practice with, and tips for exercising your voice. I definitely reccomend this for anyone who is interested in trying this line of work for the first time.