University of Minnesota - UMN Executive Leadership Insights
Reinventing Yourself
Book

Reinventing Yourself

How to Become the Person You've Always Wanted to Be

Steve Chandler
Career Press, 1998
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Editorial Rating

6

Qualities

  • Concrete Examples
  • Engaging

Recommendation

Reinventing Yourself is a difficult book to review. Taken as a whole, it fails to deliver, falling into many of the comfortable platitudes (”Own the human sprit”) and meaningless generalities (”You can tap into your spirit at any time”) that plague the self-help universe. But author Steve Chandler manages to surprise you again and again with insightful passages that make you think twice about self-improvement concepts that you’ve probably glossed over hundreds of times in the past. He does this in part by weaving in compelling examples including Janis Joplin concerts and a Matt Lauer interview with Tiger Woods’ father. Quotes from figures as diverse as Thomas Jefferson and Carlos Castaneda also add some heft to what would otherwise seem flimsy assertions. In short, getAbstract recommends this book that manages to rise above its genre, and even, somehow, itself.

Summary

Cocoons

Most people live in cocoons. They feel trapped inside their dark and dusty shelter. This cocoon is known better by another name: personality. The truth is, people can tear their way out of their cocoons, if they want to. But is not uncommon for people to spend their entire lives feeling trapped inside their personalities. They become victims of their own invented "selves." They don’t bother pushing against the inner wall of their cocoons, because they can’t be sure anything exists on the other side.

But people do push through. They re-learn how to think. Once they start thinking, they can learn to fly. By reinventing who they are, they become owners of the human spirit.

Owning the Spirit

In order to learn how to take ownership of the human spirit, you need to know how it looks and feels to be an owner. An excellent example of ownership was Janis Joplin’s performance at the Monterey Pop Festival. The moment can be viewed in the film Monterey Pop. When she sang "Ball and Chain," she was on fire. She left people in the audience standing in awe. Joplin risked everything and left nothing behind. Listening to her makes goose bumps stand up and tears...

About the Author

Steve Chandler  is the author of 100 Ways to Motivate Yourself.

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