Sunday, March 4, 2012

Do One Thing Different: Bill O'Hanlon

From time to time I throw a non-fiction book into my reading queue. I like to read mystery reference books, books about World War II, and some self-help books.And books about health. I am real sucker for the "Health, Fitness, and Dieting" category of books.

I had purchased this book, Do One Thing Different, years ago. Don't remember why, other than it is an intriguing idea. The subtitle is "... And Other Uncommonly Sensible Solutions to Life's Persistent Problems." The author proposes that one can solve problems better by finding solutions, rather than looking for why they are happening or blaming others. Sounds reasonable and obvious, but it is a different approach than most therapists use.

I enjoyed reading the book because I have experienced such occurrences in my own life, where I made a change and that change caused other improvements. Now to be able to do that in the future, intentionally. The author also suggests looking for other similar situations where you have found a solution that worked, and trying to adapt that solution to the current problem.

At times I found the format of the book frustrating. Some reviews I read said the content was repetitive. I felt like the summaries for each type of problem solution to be a waste of space. Perhaps I will appreciate that more when I go back and re-read the book, looking for a way to work on a particular problem. And if I don't go back and try a few, what was the point of reading it in the first place?

Actually, starting this blog was "doing one thing different." I had thought for years about a way to share book reviews, track my reading, and have a creative outlet. Yet I never felt ready or that I would do it well enough to please myself. Just recently I got interested in reading challenges and thought it would be fun and a way to motivate and direct my reading. I just bit the bullet and said "now is the time to take a chance." And that feels good.

This counts as one of my books for the Mt. TBR Challenge and also the Read Your Own Books Challenge. Also a choice for the A-Z Challenge.

1 comment:

Gilion at Rose City Reader said...

I love books like this one. I eat them up. Although the title is bugging me because I think it should be "Do One Thing Differently"! Then I realize that he means "Do One Different Thing." Maybe. I'll have to mull it over.

Anyway, congratulations for starting your blog. I started mine for the same reason and have been going for almost 4 years now. It is a lot of fun.