I’m a pretty serious, and often intense, reader.

Sometimes I think it’s almost a disease — this fascination with all things books, writing, and publishing.  I’m that guy you see who picks up a magazine (on any topic!) while standing in the checkout line . . . just to have something to read.  I’ll read the backs of laundry pick-up slips while waiting in a drop-off line or the “How To Prepare Your Package for International Shipment” poster while in the post-office queue.

I read fiction (historical fiction, mostly European-related, mysteries, espionage, and literature) and non-fiction (business, how-to, current events) alike.

So, yeah, I read a lot, but I also go in spurts.

I can read three books in three days and then not read anything for a month.

But, when I get the hunger and just gotta have a new book in front of me, I can get pretty desperate.  I’ll walk around the bookstore for an hour or two and, if nothing seems to hit me, I’ll prowl the library . . . if nothing still works, I can get pretty kick-the-dog kind of edgy.

I’d recently been going through one of these can’t-find-a-book-to-save-my-life phases, when an author’s name jumped out at me from the Borders’ bookshelf — the writer is William Boyd and he can, quite simply, write the pants off of just about anyone else.  I’d kind of forgotten about him (having not read any of his stuff for a couple of years), but I almost wet my pants when I realized he has a new book out.

So, really, if you like great fiction — I wouldn’t really classify his stuff as historical fiction, but he does do sweeping across the 20th-century-Euro-themes a lot — grab this guy’s stuff.

His newest book (great, but not my favorite) is Restless, a two-in-one story about a daughter and a mother who’s not all she appears to be.  Great writing, great story line (contemporary and pre-WWII Europe), and just a fine piece of storytelling.

And, if you’re intrigued with this writer, know that his Any Human Heart is definitely a Top5er in my book, and might even be the single best thing I’ve read in the last 10 years.

Not far behind Any Human Heart is The New Confessions, which is also on my Top5er list.

All William Boyd stuff is really worth spending some time with.

Fortunately, I’ve recently (well, what took me so long, I don’t know!) developed a system whereby I stock up with books so that I’ll always have something on the shelf in my times of need.  The shelf is bulging with a pile-o-goodies right now, so I’m a smiling-and-reading fool at the moment.

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I’ve been a fan of WordPress, the open-source free blogging tool ever since I started using it earlier in 2006.  If you’re thinking about setting up your own blog, or moving to a new one, I can’t say enough about WordPress.

What I really like most about WordPress is that, once you’ve set it up, it is just so eazy-peezy intuitive and fun to use.  It’s great for non-technical types, although there are a lot of custom tools you can use or add to a WordPress blog later on once you become more comfortable with it.  (Full confession:  I just call my techno-pal, Eldon Sarte, to give me a boost from time to time.)

Very bottom line?  WordPress is a Top5er.

I remember in the early 1980s when I moved from an IBM Selectric typewriter to my first computer (an Osborne II — great little machine in its own right, and from the company of the same name founded by Adam Osborne, one of the true luminaries in the early PC days — just loved the guy — funny, brash, innovative) and how I knew then and there that my work life had changed forever.

That same feeling came over me when I first started blogging with WordPress — I knew that my work life had changed.

Word Press has allowed me to become a very active and creative participant in the online and Web worlds without having to learn all sorts of new technologies.  (Yup, I do run technology companies, but because I’ve been managing people and operations for the last 20 years or so, my tech IQ stopped growing with the last version of DOS.  Really.)

So, check out WordPress.

And, along the way, check out a few free overview WordPress tutorials at Learnerblogs.org, a neat-o organization in its own right that supplies free WordPress blogs for teachers, students, writers, and other education-oriented souls.

Good stuff, check ‘er out.

 

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Grade:  Top5er

[Please make sure to check out my Book Review Guidelines for what I look for in a book and how I evaluate same.]

Let me start off this review like this:  If you’re even faintly interested in success books, skip this review and go buy 50 Success Classics today — or grab it from your library or steal it from a friend.

It’s that good and it’s that vital for your path.

Tom Butler-Bowden has written a book called 50 Success Classics, and it — in and of itself — is a classic in my book.

TBB has studied the best of the best in the success literature genre.  This quest must have taken him a couple of years, at least, and it’s evident.  He knows the field, and he’s organized his book around four sub-categories within the success genre:

• Motivation
• Fulfilling your potential
• Prosperity
• Leadership

Within the Motivation category, Butler-Bowden profiles 14 classics, including:

1. Frank Bettger’s How I Raised Myself from Failure to Success in Selling.
2. Stephen Covey’s The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.
3. Anthony Robbins’ Unlimited Power.
4. Zig Ziglar’s See You at the Top.

From the Potential group, TBB includes these from among 12 covered:

1. Cheryl Richardson’s Take Time for Your Life.
2. Richard Wiseman’s The Luck Factor.

In the Prosperity category, Butler-Bowden covers the following among his 10 selections:

1. Russell Conwell’s Acres of Diamonds.
2. Napoleon Hill’s Think and Grow Rich.
3. Robert Kiyosaki’s Rich Dad, Poor Dad.

And, in the leadership group, TBB includes the following among the 14 selections:

1. Roger Lowenstein’s Buffett.
2. Michael Dell’s Direct from Dell.
3. Nelson Mandela’s Long Walk to Freedom.

What’s most impressive is that it’s clear early on that Butler-Bowdon hasn’t skimmed these books; he’s studied and reflected on them.  I checked him, you see, by reviewing his comments about the classics that I’ve studied and know rather well, and TBB has nailed ‘em.

For each selection, Butler-Bowdon includes short selections (quotes), a very brief “in a nutshell” one-two sentence summary of each book’s chief point, and a three-four page overview of the book.

I find it amazing that he’s been able to review so much in the success field and to be able to summarize his research so succinctly and well.

Butler-Bowdon is also the author of 50 Self-Help Classics and 50 Spiritual Classics, and I look forward to reviewing them both in the coming weeks.

50 Success Classics is available from the Dream Jobs Dialog Bookshop.

So, check it out . . . this jewel is top drawer.

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I’ve just come across an interesting company and site that may make it much easier for you to search for job positions online.

I haven’t personally used it (I already have a few jobs!), but it comes highly recommended by Guy Kawasaki, the original Apple Macintosh evangelist, Silicon Valley veteran, writer (get some of his stuff — he’s a Top 5er in my view), and just all-round smart guy.

[Two of my favorite Kawasaki books are Selling the Dream, about embracing your passion for your business, your work, or your career and then making it real, and Hindsights:  The Wisdom and Breakthroughs of Remarkable People.]

Rather than going one-by-one to such sites as CareerBuilder, Monster, or Hot Jobs in search of your dream job, why not try a site that covers them all, plus a whole lot more?

Simply Hired is a vertical search-engine company that claims to be building the largest online database of jobs on the planet.  Well, it certainly looks like they’re on the case, as they find job listings — dream jobs and run-of-the-mill alike — from thousands of job boards, classified newspaper section, and company job postings.

I trust Guy, and the folks at Simply Hired look like they’ve figured out how to make a good thing better.

Check ‘em out and please report back if you like what you see.

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I didn’t figure I’d ever get a chance to write an article that combined astrology, my favorite quotation about sticking it out, my home town, and how to find your dream job all in one spot, but now’s that time.

Talk about being in the zone!

One of the biggest challenges for all of us who are trying to find our life’s work are the laying-awake-at-night-3:00 a.m. moments when you’re filled with self-doubt and wondering whether you’ve got what it takes to make the changes in your life that will get you to where you need to go.

It’s during these times that I read motivational literature and review my rather vast collection of keep going quotes and stories.

My favorite quote on the “determination is everything” front is from Winston Churchill (I’m an amateur historian of World War II and the homefront in England) and it’s really quite simple.  He said:  If you’re going through hell, keep going.

Makes sense to me.  Who’d want to be in hell any longer than necessary?  Don’t languish and feel sorry for yourself, just keep moving forward. 

So, it was with a bit of surprise that I came across the following in a recent issue of the Santa Fe Reporter, Santa Fe, New Mexico’s alternative weekly paper.  I live and work in Santa Fe, one of my favorite spots on the planet, and what I enjoy the most about the place is the sheer and incredible variety of people that live here.  Not only is Santa Fe filled with an incredibly diverse population of Native American, Hispanic, and Anglo peoples, it’s one of the country’s most artsy-fartsy places so there’s always something interesting to see, do, and taste.

Reading the Reporter each week is one of my favorite see-what’s-going-on-about-town pastimes.  And, it’s through the Reporter that I first came across Rob Brezsney and his really fun-to-read Free Will Astrology column.

I’m not sure I’d admit in public to being an astrology believer, but I read horoscopes any way (don’t most people?) and am probably like the atheist who prays . . . just in case.

I’m a Virgo, so the column that Brezsny wrote today really hit home, and I’ll copy it here:

“If you are going through hell, keep going,” said Winston Churchill.  Let that advice be your inspiration in the coming week, Virgo.  But wait:  Before you jump to conclusions about what I’m saying, know this:  Your tests and trials will be far, far less hellish than the ordeals Churchill faced as he led England through World War II.  It’s true that you may feel a bit tortured in the heat of the moment, though.  So don’t you dare slow down to feel sorry for yourself or scream at the chaos-makers.  Keep plodding forward, secure in my assurance that you’ll cross the border and exit out of the infernal regions well before you’re exhausted.

God, I just love this guy — he’s a sure Top5er, as anyone who can weave in one of my favorite historical figures and his quote into my own horoscope has my attention.

Stay the course, Dream Jobbers, and don’t give up, never give up (okay, another tip-o-the-hat to old Winnie).

And, check out Brezsney whenever you can — the guy’s a hoot.

And, let me know what quotes get you through your own 3:00 a.m. willies.

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Perhaps we can use this forum as a kind of online study group surrounding Canfield’s book, The Success Principles.

As this blog develops, I’ll be introducing you to hundreds of sources of dream job information and motivational sources.  I’ll start with Canfield.

And, I can tell you this right now:  You’ll not find a better book — this jewel is at the top of the Top5er pile – on what it takes to become succesful, whether it’s at work or in your personal life, and however you define it.

Over the next few weeks, I’ll be referring occasionally to passages from this book, and hope you’ll want to probe what I present.  At the very least, I hope you’ll go out — no, make that run out — and get a copy for yourself.  Better yet, get a few extra copies and give them away to your friends and co-workers.

Success literature simply gets no better than this.

Also, in case you missed it, you might want to drop in on one of Jack’s free tele-seminars which I’ve written about before.

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Whether you do or you don’t is all up to you, when it comes right down to it. I’ve often found that motivational CDs and books help me get in the right spirit, whether it’s prepping for the public speech ahead or a meeting with a group of troubled employees.

There are simply a ton of great books to choose from, and one of my Top5ers is a new one, from Jack Canfield, called The Success Principles. Canfield is one of the brains behind the phenomenally successful Chicken Soup for the Soul series, and his new book is chockblocked full of no-nonsense advice about getting what you want out of life.

Check it out.

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Begin here:

A few years back, at DreamJobsToGo.com, we conducted a survey and had several thousand responses. We were startled to learn that nearly 70 percent of the people who responded didn’t think they were in the right job.

Yikes.

Discover what you want (Google Barbara Sher or Richard Bolles — my two favorite “find out who you are people” on the face of the planet).

Then, go do it. Start small. Be yourself.

I’ll be writing a lot about Bolles and Sher over the next few weeks; they know their stuff and are definitely Top5ers.

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