Phil Cooke

I read One Big Thing, in exchange for review from BookSneeze.com. The book was written by Phil Cooke. The book was published by Thomas Nelson. The book discusses finding your purpose in life. The book was also written from a Christian perspective.

One thing, which stood out was this passage:

"How about you? Do you know yourself and your purpose well enough to be ready when your moment of destiny arrives".... "When a great challenge arrives, that's no time to figure out your strengths, weaknesses, and purpose. By then it's too late to find out what you're made of. That's why discovering your One Big Thing right now is the key to preparing you for whatever awaits in your future"

I struggle with knowing what my purpose is. I do not know what my purpose is for the kingdom, which is one of the reasons I chose this book. I love to write. I love to listen to people. I love to find free things online, especially Special Needs resources. But is this what God wants me to do? I am also in graduate school for psychology, but is that my purpose. Is that why I am so unmotivated right now? I have questions, but only God has the answers. The book discussed how plenty of people graduate from college, yet they are still unfulfilled in life. People still struggle for their purpose, while taking on degrees and jobs to pay bills and to live life. All this does is lead to frustration.

The book also gave tips on living a fulfilled life. Some tips included how finding fulfillment will not be easy. Next, we need to be open and honest with ourselves. We also need to dedicate time and commitment to our purpose. Commitment: my church discussed commitment on Sunday. Joel Osteen and Steve Harvey discussed commitment last nite on TBN. We also need focus and passion to fulfill our purpose. Following arbitrary passions only leads to more frustration. For example, I can't sing. I love music though. But loving music is not going to make me sing any better. Giving up writing (which I am good at) for singing is following a dumb, random passion.

I definitely recommend this book. I planned on reading 20 pages the first day, I got this book, but ended up reading more.

Last passage: Plenty of people want to change the world, but not enough want to change themselves… (meer)

Phil Cooke is founding partner in the commercial production company TWC Films, which produces national advertising for some of the largest companies in the country including two super bowl commercials. He is also a producer, media guru, public speaker and author.

Aside from being the terrible tasting soda I drank as a teen, JOLT is also the latest book by Phil Cooke. Cooke describes his title as a disruption in our lives. It seems technology is changing almost daily – so how does one keep up while at the same time adjusting how we live? How do we adept to world change? The world convinces you that you need to change, makes you feel like you want to change, but it never tells you “how” to change.

Cooke offers his key principles he gives to mega companies in a self-help book for overwhelmed Christians.

From the look of him… Cooke is an old guy trying to tap into a younger audience. So I don’t know exactly who this book is for. I don’t know that anyone under 30 is going to have a “tough time” adapting to the faster and faster technology boom. On that same note, if you are content with where your life is… this certainly is a self-help book you don’t need to pick up.

The book is much of what you would expect from the title, how to make achievable goals, how to prioritize your day, asking the right questions, setting aside imagined fear – all the while filled with inspirational quotes and life-stories; most of which are very good.

But I think this book might only be beneficial for a largely older audience that is having trouble with adapting, or a youth just entering their teenage years. All in all, I didn’t find this book helpful or inspirational to me.

I’d have to pass on recommending this.… (meer)

I’m not a real big self~help book reader but this book truly resonated with me. You’ll find out exactly why in the next few weeks… Anyway, in my younger days, I craved change. I thrived on waking up and not knowing what I was going to do from one minute to the next. I know, not exactly conducive to my life in the Army but, believe it or not, I was able to make it work. In the last 13 years or so, I’ve become complacent ~ I go to the same grocery store, shop at the same clothing stores, speak to the same people, very little in my life changes. And I’ve become used to it. I find a great deal of comfort in the routine of it all. In fact, going to new places scares me.

This fear is a new emotion for me…

I miss the fearlessness. I miss that desire to experience new ~ new people, new surroundings, etc. And Jolt! has given me just the er, um,” jolt” I needed to reclaim the dreams that I once had. Cooke offers tips on how to make changes or adapt to changes that confront us by going back to our childhoods and recalling the dreams that we had when nothing was impossible. He asks us to think big and imagine there are no limits, then focus those dreams within the realm of the possible.

Cooke also stresses the need for us to stop looking backward and reliving past failures. Moving forward and changing one’s life requires forgiveness (of ourselves as well as others). My favorite quote from the book is “Some think it’s holding on that makes one strong; sometimes it’s letting go” by Sylvia Robinson, a vocalist. This book is chock full of inspirational quotes by everyone from Ronald Reagan to Fyodor Dostoevsky.

I would recommend this book to anyone who’s experiencing change in their lives or anyone who’s desiring to make significant life changes.… (meer)