Book Review: "PreMeditated Success in Life" by Scott Jackson

Title: Premeditated Success in Life: The Power of Personal Vision
Author: Scott Jackson
Publisher: Morgan James Publishing (New York)
Pages: 148

Review:

Over the years I have become a great believer in having a personal vision, so every once and a while I pick up a book on the subject.

Scott Jackson in this book takes the reader along from simply understanding vision to actually formulating a personal vision. This is not simply one of those books you read, but one you participate in through identifying your goals and values to redefining your rules for life, Scott takes you on this journey and then gives you the tools to help you get there.

Strengths:
1. More than teaching this book engages you in exercises to further your sense of vision. From discovering what it is that would really make you happy, to defining your values to setting rules and goals, This book gives guidance but then lets you work your way though each issue with exercises.
2. Scott identifies the pitfalls and misconceptions that will hold you back from your vision and gives much food for thought in regards as to how to overcome them.
3. The greatest idea for me was letting your values guide your goals so that your values ultimately define your vision. It was also good that Scott took on the notion of long term goals being discouraging. The idea is to take steps each day, week and month toward fulfilling goals based on values and not to get too far ahead.

Weaknesses:
1. Sadly the one tool that I think was great -- Scott's Integrity Day Planner which has some great concepts and is far superior than any I have seen -- is not available. The book says it is available on PreMeditatedSuccess.com but the site says it is under construction. In short, if you like it as much as I do you have to reproduce some of the tools yourself.
2. There in the end is not a lot of depth to some parts of the book. At times I found myself asking some questions and expecting more but was disappointed. The style is simple and straightforward but not deep.

Rating: 3 and one half stars. I can recommend this book to anyone who is looking for a non-traditional way of looking at personal vision. I plan on using many of the concepts outlined in this book myself for 2011.

The Rabyd Theologian Gets Paid

I received my check today for my $50 from Musclemag International so it is official -- I am no longer a wannabe writer. I am a writer. I will save the professional part for later yet. I will give myself the 'professional' title when writing is my chief means of making money.

All in all though, it took me 30 minutes to type and edit the letter I sent to them via e-mail. That means $100 and hour. The letter was about 250 words so that comes out to about 20 cents a word. You know this writing thing is pretty good money when it pays off.

Blessings and thanks for all the prayers over the years to everyone who has supported me. Keep Reading -- I appreciate it.

My First Published Letter in Musclemag January 2011

Sometimes things happen in odd ways. In the case of my first published article this is very true. I have been lifting steady now for 16 months. Bodybuilding style because it involves lifestyle change and a long term commitment. In the process I became a fan of bodybuilding.

My article to Musclemag International was spurred on by a current debate in the world of Bodybuilding. Robert Kennedy wrote an editorial commenting about that issue which is basically size vs. form. His concern was that individuality of the human form was being lost because everybody was trying to be huge instead of develop their natural shape to the fullest extent.

On September 1st I sent a response called "The Bodybuilding Crisis". In the January 2011 issue it was published and was declared by the Musclemag editors to be worthy of the $50 prize for the month. I am not going to reprint it here because the point of getting something published is that the publisher thinks it adds to his magazine so you will buy it. On newsstands now; look for the cover above.

The fact that I got something published somewhere kind of inspired me to get back to writing. Blogging and my book, so thus Rabyd Theologian 2.0.