2 out of 4 stars
Share This Review
From Drift to Shift: How Change Brings True Meaning and Happiness to Your Work and Life, by Jody B. Miller, is a fun and inspiring read. The author does a great job selecting inspirational mini-biographies that show how specific people went from being hurt, depressed, or unfulfilled to living life to its fullest, even under sometimes difficult circumstances.
Unfortunately, this book is not as “useful” as I had hoped it would be. I started reading From Drift to Shift hoping it would give me a concrete way to recognize “drift” in my own life and then give me a set of skills or a process to facilitate a “shift” to something better. What I found instead was an almost “stream-of-consciousness” telling of stories with a series of coaching affirmations and observations thrown in for good measure. Reflection questions might have been more useful.
The book was divided into four main sections: Why to Shift; When to Shift; How to Shift; and After the Shift. In each section, the author started by introducing the theme and then launching into one or more of these inspirational mini-biographies. I could not deduce a substantive reason why a given story would be in one section instead of another. However, each of the stories did portray a significant shift.
Some of the stories showed big, sudden shifts because of a traumatic (or other life-changing) event. Other shifts were small and more gradual. At times, such as with Sloan Walsh, the shifts were so constant and unresolved that they seemed less like a shift and more like a life in constant turmoil. The author’s personal shift stories, including a drug-induced hallucinogenic ritual, seemed more like the efforts of a personal improvement junkie who is still searching for a fix.
I rate this book 2 out of 4 stars, mostly due to copy-editing concerns. There were a couple of chapters with several misused words, such as “lied” instead of “lay,” “road” instead of “rode,” or “impede” where the author meant to use the word “embed.” Other concerns include the “stream-of-consciousness” writing style that would make confusing jumps back and forth in the chronology of a story to fit things together thematically or wander down rabbit trails and pursue side-illustrations.
This book is great for pastors or life coaches or anybody who needs to tell (or likes to hear) stories of life-transformation. This book would also be good for anyone going through a “mid-life crisis,” as it could help to normalize it. The mini-biographies are interesting and inspiring. The Appendix contains a lot of useful information, including self-assessment questions. But the overall format and structure of the book, as well as the author’s self-insertions, left a lot to be desired.
******
From Drift to SHIFT
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
Like jaylperry's review? Post a comment saying so!
