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A review by luciaartworld
The Motivation Myth: How High Achievers Really Set Themselves Up to Win by Jeff Haden
informative
slow-paced
3.0
3,5 stars
Real motivation comes after you start... Motivation isn’t passive; motivation is active.
I started reading this book because I wanted to find a way to be more productive and stop pushing tasks until I had no other option but to do them. Did it help? Not much.
Jeff Haden wrote this book to explain the process of motivation and how to become a high achiever and, while I took some good ideas out of this book, Haden’s concept of “just push through” is something I don't agree with, as it leaves many factors off the equation, for example, diseases, disabilities or even our energy limitations. I have tried this technique before, it just left me completely drained and even more unmotivated than before. I got the work done in a day but then needed three to recover and that goes against his concept of “motivation leads to success, leads to more motivation.”
On the other hand, I found this book too long. The point could have been said in half the amount of pages. There were unnecessary chapters (I didn’t need to know how to start a business in the U.S) and, Haden gives examples for everything, and not just one but multiple examples. One example is good and appreciated, more than two is just excessive in my opinion. The repetitive nature of the book made me feel sleepy on multiple occasions. It was the same idea being told over and over again with different examples.
Overall the main idea I got out of this book is that motivation is a result, not a precondition, there were some good quotes and advice in the first chapter but I think I would have liked this book a lot more if it had been a hundred pages shorter to make it more precise.
Real motivation comes after you start... Motivation isn’t passive; motivation is active.
I started reading this book because I wanted to find a way to be more productive and stop pushing tasks until I had no other option but to do them. Did it help? Not much.
Jeff Haden wrote this book to explain the process of motivation and how to become a high achiever and, while I took some good ideas out of this book, Haden’s concept of “just push through” is something I don't agree with, as it leaves many factors off the equation, for example, diseases, disabilities or even our energy limitations. I have tried this technique before, it just left me completely drained and even more unmotivated than before. I got the work done in a day but then needed three to recover and that goes against his concept of “motivation leads to success, leads to more motivation.”
On the other hand, I found this book too long. The point could have been said in half the amount of pages. There were unnecessary chapters (I didn’t need to know how to start a business in the U.S) and, Haden gives examples for everything, and not just one but multiple examples. One example is good and appreciated, more than two is just excessive in my opinion. The repetitive nature of the book made me feel sleepy on multiple occasions. It was the same idea being told over and over again with different examples.
Overall the main idea I got out of this book is that motivation is a result, not a precondition, there were some good quotes and advice in the first chapter but I think I would have liked this book a lot more if it had been a hundred pages shorter to make it more precise.