Saturday, September 5, 2015

#Review: Calming the Chaos by Jackie Woodside


Far too many people in contemporary culture feel they don’t have enough time to “get it all done.” The stress of this chronic overwhelm creates a disorganized mind that leads to a chaotic life. Based on her highly acclaimed “Energy Management” workshops, and drawn from over 25 years of counseling and coaching experience, professional trainer and speaker Jackie Woodside shares her breakthrough methods that lead to becoming the least stressed, most productive person you know!

In Calming the Chaos, you will learn the step-by-step skills and thought processes that lead to increased productivity and peace of mind. Jackie’s approach stems from the new frontier of human performance called energetic consciousness. Part philosophy, part psychology, fully practical application, you will learn:

• Why there is no such thing as time management and what to do instead.
• How to manage your energy instead of your time and stress.
• The three-step formula for managing every component of your life for the rest of your life!
• Why “to-do lists” are a set up for failure and what really works.
• “The Three Strikes Rule” that will end procrastination for good!
• How to always know that you have the time for what you want and need to do!

Many books promise to change your life. Applying these principles will make this a reality!




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MY REVIEW

I agree with Ms. Woodside that in order to progress in our lives we need to look for solutions more inside of us than outside in the world.  Say we are trying to get a number of errands accomplished in as little time as possible.  Is it better to make sure our vehicle is in top condition for a smooth ride, or to try to move all the locations we must visit into one location?   Yeah, like that would happen.

I would say yes.  We will accomplish more 'have to's and 'want to's in less time with less stress.  How cool is that?

My problem with the information is how it is presented.  (At this point, I should probably stop for a moment to say that I was born into 'chaos' and I pretty much have never moved out.  Add to that a diagnosis of depression and sensitivity to people who think they are better than others are my wrapping paper and curling ribbon.)  OK.  Back to my point. 

In the first line of the acknowledgements, the author calls her book a 'work of significance or importance'; the notion that this book has 'the' (only?) approach that will work; years of experience; thousands of users; and calling the work revolutionary and life-changing.  I wanted to say to the book, "Don't tell me you are the best.  Show me!"

On the other hand, I thought a LOT while reading this book.  I know that sometimes I have knee-jerk reactions based on information that is not necessarily true, so I try to look at a situation from as many angles as possible before coming to my conclusion.  So I would like to share a quote, which came very near the beginning of the book, that helped keep me on track, so to speak:

"There is so much that we can do, see, touch, taste, learn, explore and experience, that when we move no-stop from one thing to the next, in essence we truly experience very little of it."
In this case, I look at this book like it is a medicine.  While the coating did not agree with me, the medicine has helped many people and will continue to do so.  To reiterate, I learned from this book and found many nuggets of information, but just had an issue with the presentation.  If the presentation works for you, the book will provide for a lot of personal growth.


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MEET THE AUTHOR



Jackie Woodside, CPC, LICSW is a psychotherapist, coach, speaker and author, specializing in the power of managing personal energy, rather than time or stress. An Amazon bestselling author of 'What If It’s Time for a Change?' and highly sought-after speaker on leadership and empowerment topics, Jackie conducts training programs for public, private and government sectors nationwide.

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(Disclosure:  I received a copy of this book from the author and publishers via iRead Book Tours in exchange for my honest and unbiased review.)

1 comment:

  1. I would think that more people do need to calm themselves before going about things instead of doing everything with high stress levels and panic. But it is easier said than done! It's a bit of a shame about the presentation though.

    My recent review and giveaway: http://olivia-savannah.blogspot.nl/2015/09/never-never-review-sst-giveaway.html

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