I Could Do Anything If I Only Knew What It Was: How to Discover What You Really Want and How to Get It Paperback – 5 August 1995

不景気の中、夢や目標を失っている人が多いはず。本書は自分のあるべき姿を導いてくれる一冊でした。「次に日が始まるのが楽しみで待ちきれない」そんな人生を送りたいものだ。

Um einiges besser als klassische Berufsratgeber. Barbara Sher gibt einem das Gefühl, verstanden zu werden und nicht allein zu sein. Die Tipps sind abwechslungsreich und gehen über das "Schreibe eine Liste mit deinen Stärken" hinaus. Die Ideen sind toll und neu und funktionieren. Wer auf der Suche nach seiner Bestimmung ist, sollte aber zuerst ihr Buch Live the Life ou Love lesen, da es in der Hinsicht sogar noch besser ist.

First of all, I’d like to point out that no self-help or Psychology book replaces a good therapist.Having said that, if you have never been in therapy, reading this book will equip you with some good knowledge that can potentially speed up treatment, if you ever feel like getting it.Second, if you by any chance has to live with or interact with (as in your workplace, for example) with a toxic person and are able to realize this, do whatever you can to cut any contact with or stay away as much as you can from this individual.In case you don’t see any of the people in your life being able to sabotage you self-confidence and enthusiasm for life, but in actuality there are such individuals doing just that, this book may help you find out who they are.This is one of the best Psychology/self-help books I’ve ever read, and I’ve read many. There’s simply a lot of valuable information, tips and strategies designed to help you get in touch with your inner self and start realizing what exactly keeps you from knowing what you want to do in your life.In a nutshell, what the book does is this:1. Discusses many reasons (psychological or not) why one doesn’t know what one wants do in life;2. Encourages the reader to get into action, choosing any random activity in order to exercise the “muscles” he/she will need when he/she finally discovers his/her calling;3. Explains the core psychological issues (resistance) that keep one from knowing what he/she wants to do with his/her life;4. Describes several different kinds of ways those psychological issues may manifest, causing (among other things) the indecisiveness about what one really wants to do in life - and how to tackle them with tips and strategies designed for each.Those different resistance profiles comprise the bulk of the book, but by the time you finish chapter 3, the last introductory one, you will already gained some invaluable insight about your own psyche. It is like a crash course in cognitive-behavioral therapy, although it’s not a quick read: there’s tons of exercises and self-inventories to be made here. The author suggests that the reader read all the profiles, even those he/she may feel don’t apply to himself/herself. I found it was worth doing, as I could relate to bits and pieces of many of them.The author seldom labels specific behaviors or mental disorders that might be present in caregivers and/or other key people in our lives when discussing the ways their attitudes might harm us as we grow up, but the descriptions of emotional abuse, negligence, indifference, et cetera, and how those attitudes (or lack thereof) work to shape the manner with which we come to see ourselves and relate to the world is all there.I would recommend this book as an excellent kickstart in the journey of self-discovery.Summing it up, I would say that this book’s main goal is to help the reader get to know himself/herself and, at the same time, encourage him/her to start exposing himself/herself to new situations and activities, professional or not, because knowing oneself well is only part of discovering a passion. Most great discoveries made by humanity, be it in the fields of science or in the arts, happened by accident, by experimentation. I think Barbara Sher did a good job trying to help her readers understand this simple truth.

I got this book along with a few other "find yourself" type books, and this one was head and shoulders above the rest (with one notable exception that I will get to later).First, the book contains immediate, actionable advice such as: get into action to get lucky. (translation: don't sit on your butt if you don't know what to do: just do something!) And the vast majority of this advice is spot on and wise.Secondly, the book has chapters that categorize different issues that individuals find themselves in which could stop them from pursuing what they want and desire. For example, the chapter entitled: I Want Something I Shouldn't Want was very relevant to me and helped me to clarify some of the issues I had with pursuing certain types of work. Again, the vast majority of the content here is very insightful and well written.However, there is one aspect of the book that I don't entirely agree with, and that has to do with Sher tracing almost all of the issues she raises in the book back to some childhood trauma or hurt.Sure, undoubtedly our childhoods have influenced who we are today - for better or for worse. And I agree with Sher that examining the past may be very beneficial for most. However, I do think she takes it a bit far in some instances. For example, in the Rage Against the Ordinary chapter, she effectively argues that a certain individual named Patrick was the way he was (unwilling to take certain lower-level jobs, bitter and manipulative) because he observed his dad being screwed over as a kid.This, to me, is a bit simplistic - I'm sure that certain episodes in our lives stand out in our memories, or have stronger sway over our subconscious than others. But that does not mean that there aren't other factors which are just as, if not more important.And this is my only real criticism of the book - in order to solve our issues of the present, we can look to the past for clues and problems to resolve, but we also need to step forward into an inherently uncertain future to continually develop and grow ourselves.Get a copy if you feel something is holding you back and you aren't sure what...it's a great book.

its very easy to read and the content is really amazing!