Behold the Stars

Although he benefits of a positive mindset seem self-evident, the process by which one develops a positive mindset isn’t. For years the self-help industry has gotten away with admonishing us to have a “positive attitude” and “think like a winner” without giving us any useful tools to help us do that. The recent academic inerest in positive psychology, blossoming in places like Dr. Martin Seligman’s Positive Psychology Center at the University of Pennsylvania, has changed all that by focusing on what could loosly be called the “happiness process.” One example of that change is Jeffrey Gitomer’s book The Little Golden Book of Yes! Attitude: How to Find, Build, and Keep a Yes! Attitude for a Lifetime of Success.

Jeffrey Gitomer is a successful author of the syndicated column,”Sales Moves,” and of best-selling sales process books The Sales Bible, The Little Black Book Of Connections, The Little Green Book of Getting Your Way, The Little Red Book of Selling, and The Little Platinum Book of Cha-Ching. This series of books is branded with bright colors, smaller-than-average cloth bindings, stylish use of font colors and sizes (like Tom Peters’ recent books), and use of the “.5″ list (“Take these 2.5 immediate actions” and “7.5 on-the-job things you can do to keep the focus”). It is filled with frenetic bursts of ideas and lists.  The books are a bit tough to read at times, especially when trying to find passages you’ve read, but they are perfect for web-trained readers accustomed to scannable, list-driven information.

In The Little Gold Book, Gitomer aims to create “a total awareness and game plan for you to understand, apply, become proficient at, and finally, master and maintain your attitude.”  “It took you years to screw up your attitude,” he writes. “Give yourself a few hours to read and discover why and how to fix it forever.”

Gitomer begins by saying, “You can’t gain a positive attitude by reading a book,” and then spends fifty or so pages explaining what being positive means and why it’s good for us followed by a 150-point attitude self-test — all “book” stuff. Given that a reader of this book is probably well aware of the value of optimism – she wouldn’t have bought it otherwise — the opening section seems to be filler intended to increase his concept to book length.  This may not concern all readers, however.  To be fair, I have read so many books like this on that when I read a new one, I’m much much more interested in the meat than the potatoes, and prefer to dive right into the main ideas.  When he does get to the main dish, however, he provides a filling, if not completely nutrituous, meal.

By and large, we’ve seen the information in The Little Gold Book before, but it isn’t totally unoriginal. Among his list are common approaches — “Decide you’re willing to go for it,” “Read books that will get you going at the start of the day,” and “Start each morning with some positive exposure, wisdom, or expressions” —- mixed with the unusual —- “Get rid of negative people in your life,”Ignore idiots and zealots,” “Turn off the TV,” and “Avoid the violence on TV and in the movies.” It’s these unusual suggestions that lift this book from the pile of all the other books.

Gitomer sees himself as “straight talker” and brings a tough-minded pragmatism to self-help, and this is the freshest part of The Little Yellow Book. While offering support, he’s very clear about just who is responsible for our problems: “It ain’t the rain, the snow, the boss, the competition, the spouse, the money, the car, job, or the kids – it’s you!” He doesn’t mince words with advice, either. His 10.5 Attitude Busters read like a slap in the face: “6. I don’t like where I live. Move” “7. I don’t like my spouse. Make peace. Remember why you got married in the first place. Renew vows. Or if all else fails, get a new one.” “2. I need more money than I have. Make more sales.” He refers to  those who make you feel stupid, inadequate as pukers who “puke on you” when they “share examples of failure, make fun of your dreams, or tear you down.” For them he shows no mercy: “The main reason people rain on my parade,” he says, “is because they have no parade of their own.” He’s clearly not touchy-feely.

Something unusual for this type of book is Gitomer’s attitude toward attitude. This is the first self-help book I’ve read that recognizes that half the world thinks that these ideas are hokey. Those of us have purchased a self-help book hoping not to run into anyone we know before getting it home can appreciate that. It’s hokey, he says, but so what?  It’s important and it works.  Let other people be hip; we’ll be succesful and happy. Gitomer also sees the process of maintaing an attitude as a life-long, daily exercise: “Decide it will take a year to set a new thought pattern. A year of positive isn’t too long, considering that you have had 30(more or less) negative ones.” He even suggests that it will take 25 years to finish the job.  We can’t just read a book or attend a seminar and expect to make significant changes. It is done day by day.

It has become common for selp-help authors to attract viewers to their web sites by promising additional web resources, and Gitomer is no different. Throughout his books are GitBits, bonus information available at hist web site. Here is a GitBit from The Little Gold Book: “Want to create an incredible atmosphere in your company?  To find out what a client of mine who employed one hundred people did, go to www.gitomer.com, register if you are a first-time user, and enter the word FRANCE in the GitBit box.”  Of course, you’ll have to register to get access to them, but it is worth it.  The rest of the site is a bit of a mixed bag.  He offers Sales Caffiene, a weekly e-mail newsletter, for free, but charges $1.50 each to read the articles on the site.  I’m not a supporter of pay-for-content when there’s so much available for free, but you can check it out and make your own choice.

So is The Little Gold Book of Yes! Attitude worth your time? Yes it is.  Gitomer’s “straight talk” is refreshing, and his belief that keeping our attitude up is a long term, every-day thing is good advice. Pick up a copy.

Make a great day.