Review by CinWin -- If life stinks get your head outta y...

This forum is for volunteer reviews by members of our review team. These reviews are done voluntarily by the reviewers and are published in this forum, separate from the official professional reviews. These reviews are kept separate primarily because the same book may be reviewed by many different reviewers.
Forum rules
Authors and publishers are not able to post replies in the review topics.
Post Reply
User avatar
CinWin
Posts: 565
Joined: 29 Apr 2018, 18:42
Currently Reading:
Bookshelf Size: 311
Reviewer Page: onlinebookclub.org/reviews/by-cinwin.html
Latest Review: The Crystilleries of Echoland by Dew Pellucid

Review by CinWin -- If life stinks get your head outta y...

Post by CinWin »

[Following is a volunteer review of "If life stinks get your head outta your buts" by Mark L. Wdowiak.]
Book Cover
4 out of 4 stars
Share This Review


While seemingly short in the number of pages, If Life Stinks, Get Your Head Outta Your But's: A No-Nonsense Guide to Happiness and Success by Mark L. Wdowiak is long in the amount of wisdom provided. It is written in the method of tough love. There will be no coddling or hand-holding in Mark's guide to success. He firmly believes that the only person responsible for both success and failure is you. One cannot blame anyone or anything else and no excuses are allowed. This self-help book is comprised of thirty-two chapters with discussion in three specific areas.

Area One is Crawling. It concentrates on taking responsibility for yourself and your actions. He says that what one focuses on will manifest in your life. Take the focus off your weaknesses and concentrate on your strengths.

Area Two deals with Walking. It is where you take control over your thinking, feelings and emotions. Mark states, "You will be successful if you are willing, able, committed and prepared".

Area Three is Running. Here we learn how to take action on our behalf. The author believes that "all you need to do is to increase your current knowledge and sense of awareness, improve your thinking, behaving, decision making and then take action".

I have read a lot of self-help books on how to be successful and happy, from Tony Robbins to Wayne Dyer, but this book takes a new twist to the standard philosophy they all claim. Mark is very adamant in his belief that you are responsible for everything. You create your life and everything that is happening - good and bad. Only you can change your life into what you want it to be. He is also very "no-nonsense", as the title states, in his teaching approach. Like they used to say in the '80's, "He spits the real". The number one fundamental philosophy is not to ever make excuses. In other words, no "buts" are allowed in Mark's worldview. I found all of these aspects in If Life Stinks, Get Your Head Outta Your But's very refreshing. Also, there were no grammatical errors so I believe it was professionally edited.

The only strange part was at the end of each chapter. He had a place where you were to initial. I thought it a bit counterintuitive since it is an e-book and you really cannot write in it as you could a paper book. Also, instead of the occasional "interesting facts" he inserts at random places, I would have liked to have seen a summation of each of the three areas. This could be in the form of activities to do, or just thoughts to ponder. Except for these two items, the book was a plethora of wisdom and basic common sense. I rate it 4 out of 4 stars. Anyone, at any age, with the desire to improve themselves would enjoy and benefit from reading this thought-provoking book.

As Mark Wdowiak says, "Success is not a destination, it is a continuous journey".

******
If life stinks get your head outta your buts
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon

Like CinWin's review? Post a comment saying so!
User avatar
Espie
Previous Member of the Month
Posts: 4125
Joined: 05 May 2018, 06:36
Favorite Book: Behind the Barbed Wire Fence
Currently Reading: Noah's Quest
Bookshelf Size: 118
Reviewer Page: onlinebookclub.org/reviews/by-espie.html
Latest Review: Why Me: Trash Collector, Mental Issues by Nikolay N Bey

Post by Espie »

Mark is very adamant in his belief that you are responsible for everything.
His words are wise indeed, and yet it's easier to forget the essence behind them. It's more convenient others, the traffic, inflation, the "world order," the stars or just about anyone or anything except ourselves or what we do. That would be fine in a way if the thought could help us be and do better; it isn't, though, if such causes undue disadvantage to others as a result.

Thank you for your insightful review.
"Life has many different chapters for us. One bad chapter doesn't mean it's the end of the book."-Unknown
"To err is human; to forgive, divine."-Alexander Pope
"Put GOD first; He'll bless your efforts with success."-Proverbs
User avatar
shereads shereads
Posts: 52
Joined: 19 Feb 2019, 10:23
Currently Reading:
Bookshelf Size: 0

Post by shereads shereads »

Nice review! I would be interested to read this and see if I agree with the premise. I can’t help but assume that the author has come from a background of privilege.
User avatar
María Andrea Fernández Sepúlveda
Previous Member of the Month
Posts: 5205
Joined: 27 Apr 2018, 16:22
Favorite Author: Kristin Hannah
Favorite Book: The Nightingale
Currently Reading: Killing Shore
Bookshelf Size: 2389
Reviewer Page: onlinebookclub.org/reviews/by-mar-a-andrea-fern-ndez-sep-lveda.html
Latest Review: You Say Goodbye by Keith Steinbaum
fav_author_id: 5604

Post by María Andrea Fernández Sepúlveda »

This approach can be refreshing and tough love is sometimes necessary. I'm not sure it would work for everybody, let's say, for example, a person with depression and a tendency to self-blame, or an abuse victim would probably not be benefited by this approach. But, in general, I think it can work. I'm not much of a self-help reader but I found your review interesting. Thank you.
User avatar
BelleReadsNietzsche
Posts: 472
Joined: 28 Jan 2019, 19:07
Currently Reading: The Handmaid's Tale
Bookshelf Size: 300
Reviewer Page: onlinebookclub.org/reviews/by-bellereadsnietzsche.html
Latest Review: I Can See Peace by Julie Penshorn
Reading Device: B00JG8GOWU

Post by BelleReadsNietzsche »

Lunastella wrote: 19 Feb 2019, 18:31 This approach can be refreshing and tough love is sometimes necessary. I'm not sure it would work for everybody, let's say, for example, a person with depression and a tendency to self-blame, or an abuse victim would probably not be benefited by this approach. But, in general, I think it can work. I'm not much of a self-help reader but I found your review interesting. Thank you.

I think this is well-said. (I am a self-help reader though. :) ) I especially like that the author tells his audience to focus on their strengths more than their weaknesses, however; I've found that when we focus too much on weaknesses, we aren't able to harness are strengths or work around those weaknesses as well. I kinda like that his different sections are "crawling," then "walking," then "running." Thanks for the balanced and thoughtful review!
"The bitter truth we critics must face is that, in the grand scheme of things, the average piece of junk is probably more meaningful than our criticism designating it so." -Ratatouille (2007)
User avatar
skindrukas
Posts: 581
Joined: 01 Oct 2018, 14:05
Currently Reading:
Bookshelf Size: 284
Reviewer Page: onlinebookclub.org/reviews/by-skindrukas.html
Latest Review: Sigfried’s Smelly Socks! by Len Foley
Reading Device: B004DLPXAO

Post by skindrukas »

I've read few other reviews on this book a while ago and none of them truly touched me. I must admit I don't believe in self-help books. I enjoy reading them sometimes, but for some reason it seems I forget it all as soon as I close the back cover. Your review, on the other hand, made me realize I'm trying to run while in the crawling stage and made me curious about the book. Thank you for the unexpected lesson!
The temple bell stops but I still hear the sound coming out of the flowers. --- Matsuo Basho
Post Reply

Return to “Volunteer Reviews”