2.5* stars would be more accurate.

Yay I finally finished it! Phew! What a struggle.

While I think there were some “tricks” that were interesting or helpful, even those seemed to be very derivative and repetitive of other (better) self help books. One thing that instantly got me off on the wrong foot was the introduction is basically like I’m going to write a better book than How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie and I’m like are you? Now, I’m not saying that Carnegie’s book is the best self help book out there, i don’t personally think that but I think it is one of the most helpful and well researched self help books. It also manages to mostly be timeless (excluding a few areas, especially towards the end) while this book, instantly and constantly feels stuck in a time capsule. I wouldn’t have compared this book to Carnegie’s book but because the author made the comparison I couldn’t help but constantly compare it to that book, as well as other books. Overall the book just felt very derivative and repetitive of many other better self help books, and I couldn’t help but cringe the whole way through the book with some of the terminology, examples and suggestions. It also kind of felt like listening to grandparents who would have belonged in Gossip Girl’s upper east side and I mean that as a negative. I’m so glad I listened to this on audiobook rather than read it physically because if I read it physically I would have never finished it and I’m trying to finish books I start these days. Both the author and the narrator irritated me constantly and around the point I realised I still had 6+ hours to go, I realised I would be dragging myself over the finish line, making myself finish this. Anyway, my advice is rather than read this book, read pretty much any other self help book because it would be more informative, helpful and enjoyable to read than this one is.