Book Review – Be Yourself, Everyone Else is Already Taken

By dougnau on Jun 16, 2009 in Book Reviews, Consciousness, Fear, Life Coaching, Personal Growth, Spiritual Coaching, Tools

Background

Mike Robbins, author of the best seller Focus on the Good Stuff: The Power of Appreciation, just released his book Be Yourself, Everyone Else is Already Taken: Transform Your Life with the Power of Authenticity in April 2009. Mike is a former collegiate baseball standout who had the authenticity to follow his passions and become a motivational coach and speaker. Be Yourself – his second self improvement book is available in both paper and audio book formats.

Book Review & Commentary

I’d like to preface this review with a personal commentary about my experience reviewing Mike Robbin’s materials. When I work with clients, I truly believe that in order to be an effective coach and more specifically wellness coach, I must walk the talk. So I exercise consistently, eat consciously, and have made it a lifelong passion to manage stress. Mike’s new release speaks of authenticity, and I must acknowledge him for being extremely authentic in the presentation of this book. Throughout the book he lower’s his personal guard, expresses his fears and even confesses that he is not able to live the life he discusses 100% of the time. The reality is that no one can reach perfection at anything, to believe so would set one up for failure. In other words, Mike’s lowered his ego and lets the world know he too is human. Being able to write about ‘how to’ become more authentic is so much more powerful in the way this material is presented because he ‘is being’ authentic in its delivery. For this Mike deserves kudos.

Be Yourself, Everyone Else is Already Taken: Transform Your Life with the Power of Authenticity is a guide, a resource manual, a set of tools, and a self coaching process which teaches its reader (or listener), how to connect with who they truly are and how to act with authenticity in life. The book is organized in 3 sections, why its hard to be authentic, the 5 principles of authenticity, and taking action. Among other topics, Mike addresses some of the challenges we face with fear, self image, negative self talk (I call it monkey mind, he calls it our Gremlin), doubt, our persona and our core beliefs. I appreciated Mike’s examples of how specific coaching techniques that he used in a group setting helped team members get ‘below the line’ (a metaphor he uses to express a person’s true self when the ego or need for being right is set aside), and an opportunity to learn other strategies to coach within a group or individual setting.

The book offers numerous exercises to participate in which will undoubtedly leave the reader with a greater appreciation of self, and in so doing, a great set to tools which can be leveraged in progressively learning to be more authentic in life. He discusses that learning who one is is an ever evolving process, so being authentic itself is a process of change and continual growth. Mike also mentions tools like using a personal mission statement and personal vision statements as well – something you’ll find written extensively on throughout this website.

One aspect of Be Yourself that I’ve taken particular interest to is Mike’s discussion of how one should be in touch with their whole self – both the good and the bad. Its something that I have not given a lot of thought and time to. There’s power he say’s in owning the negative (or that which you believe is negative) aspects of your life, such that you can own those as well in your authentic expression of yourself. This is referred to as ‘the shadow’. I mention this because even though I read and review on the range of 25-30 personal growth and development books per year, this book has new, comprehensive, and insightful content that can be appropriate for either the beginning personal growth enthusiast, or the seasoned reader of self help materials.

In closing, I’d like to offer a couple side notes. After reading Mike’s first book Focus on the Good Stuff: The Power of Appreciation, he offered his email address to end a note to say hi & I did. Even as an incredibly busy person, going through the final stages of launching a new book, he was able to respond authentically and promptly. As I’ve listened to both of his books in audio version, I feel this adds a dynamic which is not always possible in a paper format – the voice expresses feeling and emotion – a powerful way to convey authenticity. I’d highly recommend this book and for you audio listeners out there, strongly suggest getting to know Mike through this media.

Who is this book for?

Anyone that’s struggled to express their true self in one or more situations can benefit by reading this book. Think of it as one of the few how to books on how to express who you are with the actions that you take. Its written for readers of any level of personal growth or coaching background, in simple English that anyone can understand. Other groups I’d suggest it to are; coaches looking for new ideas/tools, businesses looking at ways to enhance communications and get to a better level of connection with employees, and people looking at ways to overcome fear.