You Can Become the Person You Want to Be by Robert H. Schuller

As a megachurch pastor of a previous generation, Robert H. Schuller wrote several books about what he called possibility thinking. In You Can Become the Person You Want to Be, Schuller puts for the idea their own beliefs, or “impossibility thinking,” holds that people back. People allow fear and perfectionism to hold them back. The delay to form perfect plans, they quit when they discover the slightest flaw, the turn back when things get tough. As a result, many people are missing out on the life they want.

In contrast, Schuller encourages what he calls possibility thinking. Recognize that there is no perfect plan. Look for the good and start building on it to improve your life.

He offers advice for building possibility thinking. For instance, get to the root of fear. Very often you will find that things you fear are things you can handle, or possibly the aren’t very bad at all. Instead of being insurmountable roadblock, you fears are often things you can handle (or learn to overcome, or get help with) if they even happen.

If you have a good idea, start now. Do not delay. Start small and build in stages.  If you believe you can solve the problems that you must overcome to do a worthy thing, you will. Schuller offers several problem-solving tips.

Throughout the book, Schuller encourages the use of affirmations. He even lists several. Affirmations activate your faith and build your possibility thinking.

Schuller’s book is flavored with religion, as you would expect of a pastor. He doesn’t suggest that God is a major factor in things until the later chapters of the book. Even so, the religious tone of the book are not really any stronger, and only a little more specific, than what you might find in a host of other self-help books.

Robert H. Schuller also wrote

Life's Not Fair, but God is Good

Self-Love

If you’re interested in this book, you may also be interested in

I Declare by Joel Osteen

Language and the Pursuit of Happiness by Chalmers Brothers

Positive Imaging by Norman Vincent Peale

The Power of Positive Thinking by Norman Vincent Peale

You Can if You Think You Can by Norman Vincent Peale

Schuller, Robert H. You Can Become the Person You Want to Be. New York: Hawthorn, 1973.

Creative Living for Today by Maxwell Maltz

Maltz, Maxwell.  Creative Living for Today.  1967.  New York: Pocket Books, 1973.

Maxwell Maltz is known for his self-help books, especially Psycho-Cybernetics.  He got into the field because of observations he made as a plastic surgeon.  He found that the change in appearance he created brought about a transformation in some, freeing them to be happy, engaged people.  Others were just as depressed and disappointed after the surgery as before.  The difference, he decided, was self-image.

In Creative Living for Today, Maltz encourage people to have a positive, realistic self-image.  He says life should be lively: creative, interesting, engaging, adventurous.  For too many, life is dull, disconnected, and fearful.  We can choose which kind of life we lead, and it is largely a matter of how we think about ourselves.

Maltz intends the book to be practical inspiration for living the good life.  In it, he offers advice on how to practically improve your self-image and your life.

Goals are very important to Maltz. Large and small, long-term and daily, goals give us something to move toward.  Goals and self-image have an effect on each other.  To pursue a goal, we must be able to image we can achieve it.  Achieving challenging, realistic goals strengthens our self-image as people who can succeed.  In addition, activity and productivity is pleasurable in itself.  Endeavor to enjoy what you do.

Engagement is another major issue for the author.  To withdraw from life, and especially to isolate yourself from other people, is to separate yourself from pleasure.  Relationships with people are some of the greatest things we can enjoy.  Admittedly, life and relationships can be difficult, but that is something we all face.  Maltz argues that engagement is good, even necessary, and if we see ourselves as capable of living well and having good relationships even in the face of difficulties, which he says is true, then our self-image will help us live it.

Maltz doesn’t present a world where we can have perfection if we just think right.  Everybody gets hurt; we all have emotional scars.  Maturity is learning to accept this imperfect world and living creatively in it.  We must occasionally create some mental space for ourselves to be refreshed so we can engage life with energy, learn to forgive ourselves and others, and constantly tend our self-image.

Maltz illustrates his points with many stories.  Most of these come from his own life, sometimes his dealings with patients, but often drawing on other experiences.

If you’re interested in this book, you may also be interested in

Attitude is Everything by Jeff Keller

Happier by Tal Ben-Shahar

The Velveteen Principles by Toni Raiten-D’Antonio

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How to Get Control of Your Time and Your Life by Alan Lakein

Lakein, Alan. How to Get Control of Your Time and Your Life. 1973. New York: Signet, 1974.

How to Get Control of Your Time and Your Life is a short, direct guide to practical time management. The essence of Alan Lakein’s approach is setting priorities and planning.

The early chapters of the book present techniques for identifying and setting your priorities. It addresses both big goals and manageable tasks.

I put one of these prioritizing techniques, related to my to-do list, to immediate use. This has helped me spend more time on things that are important to me. It also helped me to feel less guilty about dropping low-priority things off my to-do list. If something is unimportant, I shouldn’t waste my time on it or let it clutter my to-do list.

Lakein isn’t judgmental about priorities. He doesn’t tell you what you should be doing. The book is about helping you accomplish what is important to you.

Planning goes hand-in-hand with setting priorities. Lakein says, “Control starts with planning.” Planning is simply making decisions about what you want to do, when you want to do it, and sometimes how you want to do it. I’ve seen complicated planning systems, but Lakein keeps is simple: make a list and set priorities.



Lakein also recommends scheduling. Life is full of routine and needful things that can take over our days. Making time for the things that are important means setting aside time to do them and not doing other stuff, especially less important stuff, during that time.

The latter chapters of the book present several techniques for staying on track with your priorities. Whether you need to carve out time, get started, break down overwhelming tasks, overcome fear or get back on track when you backslide (it’s bound to happen), Lakein has helpful suggestions for overcoming these and other obstacles.

I’m surprised I hadn’t heard of Lakein earlier, especially in this time-obsessed age. Maybe it’s because his book predates fancy, leather-bound planning binders, personal digital assitants and smart phones. This may be why his methods seem simpler than some other programs. His methods are compatible with today’s popular tools for time management, though they were developed when the tools were paper lists and calendars.

Lakein’s focus is practical and he doesn’t give much attention to deep theories. His tone is often like the conversational, no-nonsense, blunt self-help books of earlier decades. This makes the book readable and useful and maybe you, like me, will find something in it you can use right away.

If you’re interested in this book, you may also be interested in
The Richest Man Who Ever Lived by Steven K. Scott