I feel I am successful, I feel successful. And I choose my own definition of success. Part of my success is here in my Smith’s School of English in Ikoma, and part is with my family and personal life. But I am not one to rest on my laurels. I want more success. That’s why I thought I would pick up a copy of a book that I hear a good review about. Its called ‘The Winner’s Bible‘ and I want to share some part of this book here. I am not sure that this book is the be-all and the end-all but so far, it seems pretty good, and there is a lot less hype and a lot more work invovled in it than many other books that promise you the world. I liked the first chapter right from the start. Dr. Kerry Spackman talks about why his book will be good for me. His ideas are plain and almost common sense, yet they are not too common, it seems. First, he tells us that many other books tell what to do but not how to do it. I have to agree with this in many cases. It is easy to know what to do but the how is much more difficult. The how part is where the real teaching begins. Then, he explains that he will instruct us in making our own book that will help us and it has to be that way so it is tailor made for us alone. This makes sense and it also leaves a lot of other self help books behind. They often want to give quick fixes that work for everyone. Well, quick fixes are just that: quick. There is no promise of how long they last. Next, the author explains that a lot of books treat the brain like a computer, but it really isn’t. Our brain has many modules and they operate in different ways. Each module needs a different approach, so the book that we will make for ourselves must have lots of parts to it. Indeed it does. It has at least twenty pages, each on a different theme. He has a few other ideas that I liked but one in particular that I remember strongly was to say that Nature isn’t best. Leaving things to nature will not always produce the optimal results for us. It may leave optimal results for nature but not necessarily for us. He illustrates this ideas with a few examples that left me agreeing with him. I have yet to read the whole book but so far, it seems quite interesting. I will give it a good effort, and let you know any interesting experiences I have with it. In the meantime, pick up a copy yourself if you are interested. I personally want to share some aspects of this book with my students here at Smith’s School of English in Ikoma (スミス英会話 生駒)
, because it might help with their goal setting and visualizing. That could help them become even better language learners!
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