September 15, 2011
Stop Thinking, Start Believing:
How to Break Through Fear and Ignite Your Brilliance
Jeffery Bow
Aviva Publishing (2011)
ISBN: 9781935586333
New Book Teaches Brilliance Through Balance—and Much More!
Jeffrey Bow has been helping people achieve their greatest levels of brilliance for many years, first in the corporate world, and since 2003 as a Certified Master Life Coach for both individuals and business executives. After three decades as a strategic change agent for organizations ranging from a magazine and book distributor to a construction material manufacturer and supplier, Jeff knows firsthand what kinds of change are necessary to achieve success in one’s career and personal life.
For Jeff, success means more than money or prestige; it must be balanced with happiness, creativity, and fulfillment; an effective company has a workplace atmosphere that allows for employees to feel a sense of ownership for their work and to feel they are valued. Outside the 9-5 world, balance includes room to follow the dreams people too often put on hold when life’s necessities get in the way. Now Jeff’s new book “Stop Thinking, Start Believing” offers his philosophies along with practical tools to coach the reader to achieving Brilliance Through Balance™ in their lives.
Jeff realizes how fear is manufactured in the workplace, and how it prevents people from fulfilling their potential. He realizes that fear seeps into all parts of employees’ lives, no matter where on the organizational chart their positions lay. In the introduction to “Stop Thinking, Start Believing,” Jeff states:
This fear prevented many talented people from being promoted, having great relationships, happiness, joy, and fulfillment. It was the fear of not being good enough, of having their vulnerability exposed, of failing, of not being skilled enough, or one of the thousands of reasons that kept them trapped in an imaginary cage wanting someday to express their desire for freedom.
In the chapters that follow, Jeff takes readers through a journey that begins with creating a vision of what they want for their lives and then carries through with practical ways to achieve that vision. Along the way, Jeff illustrates his ideas with personal stories, and he provides exercises to help the reader progress toward finding a vision and fulfilling it. Despite Jeff’s years in the corporate world, this book doesn’t read like a textbook or manual, but more like you have a friend, a personal life coach guiding you along, and teaching you to connect with the true you, the spiritual side of you that will be free to shine when you set aside the mask that society or the workplace has forced you to feel you must hide behind.
“Stop Thinking, Start Believing” is divided into five sections: Vision, Connection, Action, Acceptance, and Acknowledgment. Each section builds on the last, and the individual chapters provide activities and exercises to guide the reader along. Some of them, like Vision Boards, have been discussed in self-help books and life coaching before, but nevertheless, they are still valuable, while other new ideas help readers to gain perspectives on their lives and what is truly important. Jeff uses his Brilliance Through Balance Wheel to help us understand how we can roll along with life smoothly. He also introduces the Circle Theory to demonstrate how a company can succeed by having vision at its core, and how using the 5-P Matrix can help one be a successful leader. The concepts are easy to understand, and when applied, they can have dramatic and positive results for both a business and an individual, as is clear from the many testimonials included at the front of the book from Jeff’s clients.
Personally, I especially enjoyed the chapter on acknowledgment and the emphasis on the importance of self-acknowledgment. Part of the fear Jeff talks about is a fear of our own personal success, and that fear results, among other things, in not knowing how to take a compliment, dismissing it, and acting like we, and what we accomplish, are unimportant. Jeff points out:
I’ve come to realize that when I receive an acknowledgment or compliment, I am allowing the other person to give. When we deny recognition offered to us by saying anything other than “Thank you,” it’s as if we are taking a gift handed to us and dropping it at the other person’s feet. Receiving the gift for what it is allows the person giving it to be heard and acknowledged so he or she can feel complete.
I had never thought of it this way, but I see that Jeff is absolutely right. There’s a difference between humility and being rude by not accepting a compliment. And allowing someone else to praise you is a gift both to you and the other person.
Whether you are a business executive, an employee at the bottom of the corporate ladder, or someone seeking a change in life who is unsure how to bring it about—maybe someone with a dream to put into action, or someone who just wishes to have a dream or a goal—“Stop Thinking, Start Believing” will give you plenty of inspiration and the building blocks to ignite your brilliance and find the life you’ve always wanted. From this book’s powerful introduction that addresses fear in the workplace, through finding or reclaiming the vision for your life, and final tips to keep the momentum going after you finish reading, Jeff Bow takes you on a journey of Spirit. It truly is time to Stop Thinking and Start Believing! Let Jeff be the coach who shows you how.
For more information about Jeffery Bow and “Stop Thinking, Start Believing,” visit www.StopThinkingStartBelieving.com.
— Tyler R. Tichelaar, Ph.D. and author of the award-winning Narrow Lives