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You can learn to be Getting the Right Things Right, says Hedges, a management consultant and popular speaker. You can reinvent your life, even if you're caught in the black hole of a too-demanding schedule or you're stuck in a deep rut, or you feel that your situation is beyond hope.
Since you already do many things right, you can also learn to do the right things -- the things that will help you create the life you yearn for. But you'll have to make a conscious choice to change, and you'll have to be willing to practice "unreasonable thinking" -- the kind of thinking that is willing to go against prevailing cultural standards, that looks at life "backwards and inside out."
Hedges presents his guidelines for self-reinvention in 12 chapters, each followed by a summary, questions, and a list of steps to take. This makes the book convenient to use in a group, perhaps by coworkers over a weekly brown-bag lunch or by an adult Sunday-morning discussion group. One chapter a week is a good pace for the individual reader as well, since Hedges packs so many ideas into just a few pages.
Basic to every chapter in Getting the Right Things Right are the Four Ps: Passion (who we are), Purpose (what we want to do), People (whom we will touch), and Praise (the way we worship). A reinvented life is built on getting things right in all four areas, and then interweaving the four together into a harmonious whole as we become the person God created us to be.
Most people want to plunge right into their reinvented life, says Hedges, but it is important to do some serious thinking before beginning to act. For one thing, many of us are playing by the wrong rules. We don't know who we were created to be, and so we let others set our agenda. We attempt to please them, we work to meet their needs, and sometimes we even try to be them. We may never have asked ourselves who we are -- our strengths and weaknesses, our beliefs and interests, and our supreme value as greatly loved children of God. We must come to understand ourselves before we can reinvent our lives.
In addition, we must recognize and verbalize our dreams and longings, especially as they relate to the Four Ps. Always ready with a practical example, Hedges offers two "personal vision packages," his own and that of a woman who attended one of his one-day workshops. Each sample outlines vision, values, and one year's personal goals, ending with a tracking system to make sure the vision gets translated into reality. Only when we know ourselves and have looked at our dreams are we are ready to take the risks necessary for change.
A concern for God's will is present throughout this book. Hedges, a former pastor, goes well beyond the usual motivational book or seminar as he quotes Scripture, advocates personal integrity and spiritual renewal, and defines success in terms of service to others. Change, he says, is best managed by those who practice spiritual disciplines. Self-esteem comes as we reach out to others in sacrificial love.
The back cover of Getting the Right Things Right suggests that this is a book for men. That is perhaps the book's only serious flaw. With its combination of good sense, sound self-management principles, and biblical spirituality, this book is a treasure trove of wisdom for all those, male or female, who seek significance.
LaVonne Neff of Wheaton, Illinois, is a frequent reviewer of books for Christian readers.
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