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How to Excel in Times of Change
256 pages, Paperback
First published November 5, 1992
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February 11, 2018
Shad Helmstetter: How to Excel in Times of Change: Turning Challenges into Opportunities.
Thorsons, 1991.
258 pages.
Self-help books come and go, and I didn't expect much from How to Excel in Times of Change by Shad Helmstetter, either. The copy of the book I had was a cheap pulp print from the Nineties with the kind of rough, almost hairy pages which make your skin crawl if you slide them between your fingers trying to separate one leaf from the other.
The first dozen or so pages didn't do much to assuage the feeling of cheapness the book emanated both as a physical object and in terms of its thin content. The author tried to convince me that change is a given and will happen whether we want it to or not. He then went on to list important changes that had happened in the society and technology up to the point when the book was published.
Yeah, yeah. I know all that.
Lucky for me that I kept reading, however. The strategies for facing the changes in our lives, and the breaking down of different approaches to change were eye-opening and helpful. Helmstetter divides life changes into seven categories:
1. Loss
2. Separation
3. Relocation
4. A relationship change
5. A change in direction
6. A change in health
7. Personal growth.
These seven are changes that happen to everyone, and each of them brings more change with it. Often the biggest problem with any major change is the anxiety and fear with which we expect them. The change is experienced emotionally "before, during, and after the change takes place." This means that the upheaval we experience as a result of the change is actually not caused by the change itself but by our attitude related to it.
Much of the book is dedicated to analysing each of the seven kinds of changes. There is a personal exercise section at the end of the chapters with questions related to the topic. I found the questions useful and filled in many of them, which I normally never do when reading motivational books.
The rest of the book deals with personal change, and with finding strategies for facing the changes that come to us from outside. Towards the end of the book, there is also a chapter on the importance of words and repeated sentences in creating a healthy character.
The author lists six steps for dealing with any change. This list of perceptions, attitudes and actions is so important that it deserves to be repeated here in its entirety:
1. Recognise and understand the change
2. Accept or reject the change
3. Choose your attitude
4. Choose your style
5. Choose your action
6. Review, evaluate, and adjust
All of the steps for facing a change are allocated their own chapters. Step number four, Choose your style, was a revelation to me, personally. The styles, listed, are the following:
a. Acquiescence (or giving in) to the change
b. Partnership
c. Passive resistance
d. Active resistance
e. Full retreat
f. Active acceptance
g. Positive acceleration
As can be seen from these lists, the approach of the writer to his topic is analytical. This is not a bad viewpoint when talking about change which, after all, is the same as one thing happening after another.
Thorsons, 1991.
258 pages.
Self-help books come and go, and I didn't expect much from How to Excel in Times of Change by Shad Helmstetter, either. The copy of the book I had was a cheap pulp print from the Nineties with the kind of rough, almost hairy pages which make your skin crawl if you slide them between your fingers trying to separate one leaf from the other.
The first dozen or so pages didn't do much to assuage the feeling of cheapness the book emanated both as a physical object and in terms of its thin content. The author tried to convince me that change is a given and will happen whether we want it to or not. He then went on to list important changes that had happened in the society and technology up to the point when the book was published.
Yeah, yeah. I know all that.
Lucky for me that I kept reading, however. The strategies for facing the changes in our lives, and the breaking down of different approaches to change were eye-opening and helpful. Helmstetter divides life changes into seven categories:
1. Loss
2. Separation
3. Relocation
4. A relationship change
5. A change in direction
6. A change in health
7. Personal growth.
These seven are changes that happen to everyone, and each of them brings more change with it. Often the biggest problem with any major change is the anxiety and fear with which we expect them. The change is experienced emotionally "before, during, and after the change takes place." This means that the upheaval we experience as a result of the change is actually not caused by the change itself but by our attitude related to it.
Much of the book is dedicated to analysing each of the seven kinds of changes. There is a personal exercise section at the end of the chapters with questions related to the topic. I found the questions useful and filled in many of them, which I normally never do when reading motivational books.
The rest of the book deals with personal change, and with finding strategies for facing the changes that come to us from outside. Towards the end of the book, there is also a chapter on the importance of words and repeated sentences in creating a healthy character.
The author lists six steps for dealing with any change. This list of perceptions, attitudes and actions is so important that it deserves to be repeated here in its entirety:
1. Recognise and understand the change
2. Accept or reject the change
3. Choose your attitude
4. Choose your style
5. Choose your action
6. Review, evaluate, and adjust
All of the steps for facing a change are allocated their own chapters. Step number four, Choose your style, was a revelation to me, personally. The styles, listed, are the following:
a. Acquiescence (or giving in) to the change
b. Partnership
c. Passive resistance
d. Active resistance
e. Full retreat
f. Active acceptance
g. Positive acceleration
As can be seen from these lists, the approach of the writer to his topic is analytical. This is not a bad viewpoint when talking about change which, after all, is the same as one thing happening after another.
Displaying 1 of 1 review