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65th out of 298 books
—
401 voters
Wishcraft: How to Get What You Really Want
Cindy Fox was a waitress. Now she’s a pilot. Peter Johnson was a truck driver. Now he’s a dairy farmer. Tina Forbes was a struggling artist. Now she’s a successful one. Alan Rizzo was an editor. Now he’s a bookstore owner.
What they have in common—and what you can share—are Barbara Sher’s effective strategies for making real changes in your life. This human, practical progr...more
What they have in common—and what you can share—are Barbara Sher’s effective strategies for making real changes in your life. This human, practical progr...more
Paperback, 272 pages
Published
December 30th 2003
by Ballantine Books
(first published 1979)
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This little gem has been around for almost thirty years now and I've worked through it a number of times, both personally and sharing it with friends, particularly those making life choices.
The central principles of the book - daring to say what you really want, and then finding the support to help you broaden the idea and make it a reality -- were freeing to me intellectually when I first read this. I had just come out of a graduate program in which I studied vocational choice theory, among oth...more
The central principles of the book - daring to say what you really want, and then finding the support to help you broaden the idea and make it a reality -- were freeing to me intellectually when I first read this. I had just come out of a graduate program in which I studied vocational choice theory, among oth...more
This book is easily the best and most important book I've read this year!
What makes this book so important is the metaskill that Barbara Cher teaches the reader - how to go out and get what you want.
The essence of this book can be pulled from the title itself - Wishcraft. Or rather Wish-Craft. The first part is the "wishing" part, and Barbara walks the reader through several exercises that removes their inhibitions and allows them to reveal what they truly want out of life.
The "craft" part is wh...more
What makes this book so important is the metaskill that Barbara Cher teaches the reader - how to go out and get what you want.
The essence of this book can be pulled from the title itself - Wishcraft. Or rather Wish-Craft. The first part is the "wishing" part, and Barbara walks the reader through several exercises that removes their inhibitions and allows them to reveal what they truly want out of life.
The "craft" part is wh...more
I give up. This book was recommended to me ages ago and I tried to read it then. For some reason I couldn't get into it and never finished it. I assumed it was just a matter of timing. Later I tried to read it again but had the same experience. Started but stopped. I think this was my third time, or maybe even my fourth attempt, to read this book. In chapter 2 Sher asks a series of questions to help identify those experiences that may have disconnected the reader from their essential self and th...more
Apr 26, 2008
Tracy
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
everyone who has a dream
I read this book MANY years ago, so I am commenting on that edition - don't know if she has changed it much in the years since. I hope not - it was excellent then.
I am NOT a sucker for a good self-help book, but this takes a very practical approach to figuring out what is important to YOU and then figuring out how to make it happen.
There's no navel-contemplating, no existential psycho-babble - just clear cut, real life ways to make things happen in your life.
I am NOT a sucker for a good self-help book, but this takes a very practical approach to figuring out what is important to YOU and then figuring out how to make it happen.
There's no navel-contemplating, no existential psycho-babble - just clear cut, real life ways to make things happen in your life.
There must be some mistake. I mean, the fact that I read a self-help book is weird enough, but the fact that I enjoyed a self-help book--well, I think we must have stumbled into some kind of parallel universe. Pretty sure doing so threw those universes out of whack.
Anyway...
I actually picked this book up for research purposes. It was referenced in a writing book about archetypes, and the title called to me. It proved a fantastic book for both character sketches, especially in terms of motivatio...more
Anyway...
I actually picked this book up for research purposes. It was referenced in a writing book about archetypes, and the title called to me. It proved a fantastic book for both character sketches, especially in terms of motivatio...more
This is a type of self-help book that not only gives one the confidence to pursue what they really want, but also gives one a solid plan for how to achieve it. This book isn't about pumping you up to pursue your goals, but tells you how to get them by giving you realistic expectations about what you can get and how you can get it. Part of the book helps you figure out what you want (if you're not sure) with exercises geared toward your creative side. The second part is called "Goalcraft", and it...more
The strength of this book is the way the author is so in touch with human nature. Her approach is not to get you to become a different person but rather to get on with the business of finding what you love and making a living out of it while still being the person you are now, without a personality transplant. And along the way she offers little pieces of wisdom.
I particularly appreciated the section on The Power of Negative Thinking. "…it just isn't human nature to feel good all the time. And...more
I particularly appreciated the section on The Power of Negative Thinking. "…it just isn't human nature to feel good all the time. And...more
Great book recommended by a very successful friend, years ago. It helped him map out his future, which led to Harvard MBA school and a great job at a private financial institution. He specifically named this book as a great tool and inspiration to him. I bought it one year for all of my girlfriends at Christmas.
It stresses that in order to reach your goals, you need to map backwards down to what you even need to do TOMORROW to accomplish them. This book really helps you identify and break down...more
It stresses that in order to reach your goals, you need to map backwards down to what you even need to do TOMORROW to accomplish them. This book really helps you identify and break down...more
Currently in its 30th anniversary edition, Wishcraft: How To Get What You Really Want by Barbara Sher is a time-honored treasure of established goal-setting strategies aimed at helping individuals find their meaning and purpose in life. While reading this book, expect to feel motivated, relevant, and capable of achieving almost anything.
Wishcraft opens with an entire section devoted to dispelling age-old myths of worthlessness and selfishness to which we are all conditioned. We see our fathers a...more
Wishcraft opens with an entire section devoted to dispelling age-old myths of worthlessness and selfishness to which we are all conditioned. We see our fathers a...more
Though written and published in the late 1970s--as reflected by some of the "winner" language--Wishcraft: How to Get What You Really Want is still relevant and full of helpful techniques for all people who dream of a life more satisfying, and want to bring more of what they love into their currently lives rather than waiting for happiness to arrive sometimes in the distant, uncertain future.
Admittedly, being a "Scanner" (see: Refuse to Choose!: Use All of Your Interests, Passions, and Hobbies to...more
Admittedly, being a "Scanner" (see: Refuse to Choose!: Use All of Your Interests, Passions, and Hobbies to...more
This book just changed my life. In fact, it has changed me from the very start of reading it.
I'm still speechless, amazed, in awe. But I'll tell you one thing -- the title speaks for it self. With this book you do get what you really want. No more self-help books needed.
This book takes all your fears, doubts and trauma and crashes them to the ground. No 'buts'. If you wanted to get something out of life and be happy but don't know what or how -- this is your book.
I'm still speechless, amazed, in awe. But I'll tell you one thing -- the title speaks for it self. With this book you do get what you really want. No more self-help books needed.
This book takes all your fears, doubts and trauma and crashes them to the ground. No 'buts'. If you wanted to get something out of life and be happy but don't know what or how -- this is your book.
I really like the get a clean white sheet of paper and make lists and go back to childhood to see what you forgot you loved deally.
I read all Sher's books and recommend them highly.
I also like that she admits what doesn't work that we've all been doing and thinking we are moving into getting our wishes.
Mentors are a must. Go to her seminars sound like a good thing but expensive. Who cares expensive things are usally what bring fruits.
I read all Sher's books and recommend them highly.
I also like that she admits what doesn't work that we've all been doing and thinking we are moving into getting our wishes.
Mentors are a must. Go to her seminars sound like a good thing but expensive. Who cares expensive things are usally what bring fruits.
This is my kind of book with lots of dreaming, exercises, and quizzes to help me define what I want to do, have, be in my life in the next year.
The author has very concrete formulas to follow as well but I'll probably skip those (too much work!), thus defeating the whole purpose of reading this book.
Very fun and seriously helped me look at the status quo and set some goals.
The author has very concrete formulas to follow as well but I'll probably skip those (too much work!), thus defeating the whole purpose of reading this book.
Very fun and seriously helped me look at the status quo and set some goals.
A classic for creative types who want to craft their vision into something tangible. One of the best "life planning" books I know of combining the imaginative and the practical. This is NOT a book to read and then put on a shelf. This is a book to DO and then LIVE. Must read for anyone who wants to be more effective at crafting their personal vision.
If you need new direction in life or just want to get more of what makes you happy into your life, this book has a plan to get you there. But I don't think you can get much from the book skimming it through. This is a book you read a few times and maybe even as a group with some friends to get the full benefits of what the book has to offer.
This book is a classic in its genre. It is potentially of great value to anyone. The ideas in here, the system that Sher offers, are just that good. If there's something in life that you want and it's not quite working out, or you aren't even sure what you want but you know you haven't got it, this book offers you process by which, step by step, you clarify the situation and progress more easily to your goal.
However, it is written in a self-helpy style. There are different self-helpy styles; Sh...more
However, it is written in a self-helpy style. There are different self-helpy styles; Sh...more
This may be ok for some but not for me. I'm ok w/ where I am in life, I just want to make things a little better. This teaches you how to get "touchy, feely" & move in a different direction. Like I said, I like what I do, I just have to make it better. This book may have helped but I didn't have the patience to finish it.
I honestly think this book helped me make decisions that set me on the path to where I want to go. My mom suggested it and my sister and I both bought used copies at Powell's Books in Portland. Be prepared, if you truly follow the suggestions in this book, for your life to be turned upside down.
This was the first of the many of Barbara Sher's books I read. Wishcraft gives you tangible steps and exercises to figure out what it is you'd like to do, but ways to achieve your goals. If you actually do the exercises, as opposed to thinking about them, it's a valuable book.
Sher is not a bad writer. The problem was the book was long, rambly, and not practical enough for someone like me. Far too many New Age-y notions. And I was put off by her attitude towards formal education. The strategies around networking were the best part.
this is a self-help book to help you find out what you want to do with your life. i'll say that this is one of the most important book's i've read and worked through in my life because it worked. i found out that i want to be an editor!!!!!
I have had this book for years. Any time I felt like giving up, I'd take it off the shelf and read it. Barbara Sher's voice is the voice of hope for me and I am seriously grateful for her!
This is simply the best book I have ever read (so far) about goal-setting. It doesn't exactly deliver what it promises in title but this is the only true downside of it.
Aug 09, 2010
Chanux
marked it as to-read
I found this on a hacker news thread. I saw very good comments on the book their.
The book is available for free online reading. Apparently the book is 30 years old.
The book is available for free online reading. Apparently the book is 30 years old.
Aug 27, 2010
Grace Samis
added it
Bar none - this book is the BEST book on teaching you how to not only 'get what you really want', but how to figure out what it is that you really want!
I enjoyed her approach. "Can you persevere? I can't. Self discipline - I jogged once. ... I'm an ace procrastinator." She had my attention.
This book dares you to dream your dream (big or small), then plots out how to achieve. Perfect for my list-making, calendar-scheeduling self.
Really almost the same book as her "I Could Do Anything If I Only Knew What It Was", but the advice in both books is worth reinforcing.
Read the 1979 version so a lot of the advice dated (due to lack of internet) but still great ideas. Love this author and now I know my career path!
Absolutely fabulous book! I would recommend it to anyone who is "SEARCHING". Very different from any "self-help" genre book I've read!
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Barbara Sher is a speaker, career/lifestyle coach, and best-selling author of seven books on goal achievement. Her books have sold millions of copies and been translated into many languages. She has appeared on Oprah, The Today Show, 60 Minutes, CNN, and Good Morning America and her public television specials air regularly in the United States. Sher lectures at universities, Fortune 100 companies...more
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