Awaken the Giant Within
Awaken
the Giant Within
explores a wide area of issues that are pertinent and crucial to human life,
including goal setting, relationships, physical being, emotions, time
management, and personal finance. It provides a number of self help tips and
inspirational techniques for readers to use to develop themselves. It
examines the Neuro-linguistic programming (NLP) technique, which is a
pseudoscientific approach to human behavior change and psychotherapy.
The book
is a long text of more than 300 pages. It is divided into four parts that cover
specific objectives: the proposed strategies and principles are discussed in
section one and two, while a plan for incorporating the teachings into ones
daily life is covered in the third section. The fourth section provides a
mental challenge for its readers to be proactive and take charge of their life.
I
choose the book for a number of reasons, including its powerful inspirational
contents, appeal, positivity, organization, and readability. While some of the
techniques proposed by Robbins are disputed as non-scientific (Hartley, 1999;
McCracken, 2008), they have been applied widely by both individuals and
organizations. Furthermore, positive results in organizations have been linked
with the use of NLP techniques (McCracken, 2008). Tosey and Mathison (2009)
agree that NLP has been instrumental in the development of organizations. The
book includes a number of materials that insist on positive changes and self
initiative. These aspects have been widely promoted as useful in achieving
success (Combs & Canfield, 2007; Shapiro, 2009). Besides, it promotes
positivity and encourages persons to pursue their dreams. It has consistently
advised readers to shape their own destiny rather than wait for someone else to
do so (Robbins, 1992). The availability of numerous techniques, including NLP
and the “scrambling” technique (Robbins, 1992) in the book favors a wide range
of readers seeking solutions to their problems.
The
book is appealing, engaging, and easy to read and understand. Its organization
into four sections allows a reader to quickly access its information. It has
simple language for comprehensibility. Its content is engaging such that the
long text does not tire easily. For instance, the book constantly offers real
life examples of ways that readers can handle particular problems. These
examples are thought provoking making the reading more interesting. The author
also gives sufficient explanations to the proposed concepts and techniques such
that the reader can read statements after statements without getting stuck.
After
reading the book, I have made a number of connections to the class discussions,
readings, and presentations. The book’s emphasis that people ought to change
their behavior for the better is in line with general teachings on self
betterment. Robbins has echoed the class teachings and readings arguing that
pleasure, pain and beliefs affect our behavior and actions. Just as the book
highlights, making decisions is an important part of change and bettering life.
The book talks about breaking undesired patterns, which is an important
approach to imposing change. Belker and Topchik (2005) explain that people are
naturally resistant to change. In addition, the author’s approval of NLP as an
appropriate approach to behavior change has been supported by several
literatures. Bandler and Grinder (1975) have claimed that this technique is
useful in enriching the lives of people. Clair and Grinder (2001), Shapiro
(2009), and Tosey and Mathison (2009) all concur that it is a creative and
effective technique for developing persons.
The
book has allowed me to reveal my areas of weaknesses that ought to be enhanced.
These include certain habits that do not promote positive thinking in my life,
including procrastination. Setting goals and planning, being decisive, breaking
barriers, and change of attitudes are some of the aspects mentioned in the book
that I believe would alter my life positively. The seven day exercise is a
valuable challenge. It would allow one to focus on the aspects of life to
enhance. Robbins has outlined these aspects as physical, emotions,
relationships, behaviors, finances, time, recreation and rest. They are all
applicable to me and enhancing them would be a milestone in my life.
From the perspective of a qualitative
researcher, the book has its strengths and weaknesses. Its strength is shown by
the practicability and acceptability of the proposed concepts. Many of the
approaches explained in the text are practical and have been applied in real
life by both individuals and organizations. The NLP-derived behavior change and
psychotherapy approaches in the book have been accepted as workable (Bandler
and Grinder, 1975). However, the book’s weaknesses are inherent in the lack of
empirical evidence to support the proposed concepts. Empirical evidence gives
research work credibility. Schwab (2005) acknowledges the importance of
empirical support in qualitative research. The book approves NLP as an optional
technique for people development yet this approach is not empirically
supported. Furthermore, the approach has attracted a lot of criticism and has
not been accepted in the academic circles. A number of methods used in the book
are derived from or inspired by the NLP principles. It is well known that the
technique is widely criticized. Hartley (1999) points out that NLP lacks
professional authority. Some literature also views Awaken the Giant Within negatively.
Renton (2009) has claimed that Robbins’ teachings presented in the book are
impractical and overstretched. In addition, McCracken (2008) has viewed him as
arrogant and unable to appreciate the challenges that surround human life
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