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How to overcome the uncertainty to invest in yourself

In person, Frank Furness presents his ideas so that they really inspire. He is a natural story teller and his material joins up in your mind into a long list of actions. In print, the energy levels are lower and it may be that people who have not been to one of Furness's seminars will find it harder to use. However, Walking with Tigers is a book that has lots of great ideas in it.

For example, on the subject of goal setting: "Years ago I was somewhat reluctant to buy a course on the subject. At the time it cost two months' salary and I didn't even know what goal setting was. But the salesman assured me it was all I needed to accomplish my dreams. I was really excited about it when I got the books and the tapes and spent hours absorbing the information - and that's an important part of the process. Goal setting is all about repetitiveness until the message is ingrained."

I think this really captures the uncertainty that people feel about investing in themselves. Furness explains why it works and uses his personal story to encourage you to take action.

The book's premise is that successful business people have common behaviours and strengths that with effort you can adopt to reach your own goals. There are no major new theories. One strength is how Furness brings to life stuff that you know and gets you to think again. Such as on time management: "Identify when you are taking your holidays. Holidays are important to top business people, so don't miss out. Plot the dates of conventions and so forth and put a year planner on your wall to ensure it is always in sight. Now it's easy to see how much time is left available for business."

Another strength is in how Furness frames ideas. For example with 'Me' time, which is about how successful people in business invest in themselves. Tigers "don't mind investing their time and their money, as long as they can take away one or two ideas that will make them productive. They're also willing to share ideas on what makes them successful and would always see the positive aspects rather than the negatives."

Sprinkled with inspiring stories from successful people, this book will definitely give you more than two ideas to take away and it costs much less than two month's salary.

For more, see www.betterretailing.com.
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