Rachel Smith

An Easy book to pick up and get some quick and practical Tips

Reviewing: Driving Your Destiny: Taking Control of Your Career and Living Goals

This book is a good read and one in which you can pick up and put down very easily. Each of the 125 sections focuses on a particular subject so the book doesn't need to be read from cover to cover in not needed. The book is a collection of thoughts, reflections, tools, and tips. It covers most things about how to get you to where you want to be.

I particularly like the reference at the beginning discussing the difference between saying "I wish I...." Vs "I'm glad that I" and the obvious difference this can make. The title comes from discussing how you as an individual are the decision-maker in your story/ your destiny and leaving it to chance or to others is simply not an option if you have goals you want to achieve.

The practical tips are really easy to understand and use with clients in coaching/ training sessions. Some of the less obvious coaching titles in the book are: How to get a salary increase, Interview prep and Online presence.

The Origins of Neuro Linguistic Programming

Reviewing: Origins of Neuro Linguistic Programming

This book brings together the recollections and thoughts of some of the main protagonists from the very early days of NLP. I feel the numerous layers of messages demand that the book be read two or three times to take away the real benefits, so as I write this review, I am reading it for a second time! This frank review of the Origins of NLP, told by Bandler and Pucelik, is honest, contradictory and at times very funny, demonstrating the humanness of the spirits involved. Each account is very personal, takes a differing perspective and gives us great insights into what was going on at Santa Cruz University! Throughout some chapters, the writers forget that 'the map is not the territory', as they complain about their colleagues' perspectives. It felt like a fight of the Ego’s! But please do not let this put you off, as with their humour, there are hugely valuable lessons for all who read this text critically and reflect on their learning.

The Miracle Question

The Miracle Question is a very practical book, written in a way for coaches to support their clients or for an individual to work through their own element of “stuck”. To aid the understanding of how this solution focused therapy works, it uses a number of different case studies throughout the chapters to showcase how the conversation takes place between professional and client when asked the miracle question: “Suppose tonight while you sleep, a miracle happens. When you awake tomorrow morning, what will you see yourself doing, thinking or believing about yourself that will tell you a miracle has happened in your life?”.
The book then continues to explain how the miracle question, once answered needs to be explored to help the client, by asking questions such as “What will [said miracle] do for you when they begin happening? It then offers methods for tapping into resources the clients already have, called ‘exceptions’. ‘Exceptions’ are the ‘good’ they’ve learned from past experiences but have perhaps forgotten about, or situations that went well for them in the past, but over time got pushed aside.
This book is very supportive to the coaching professional with each chapter giving a list of questions to use with your clients along with examples of conversations. It also focuses on solutions to some common issues such as marital challenges, parenting challenges, dealing with harmful habits and re-writing traumas, ultimately supporting the client to see their issue as the problem, rather than the person. Overall, an informative, easy read with a hands-on approach which I thoroughly enjoyed.