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7 of 7 found the following review helpful:
Reading This Book Gives You a Fantastic Adventure Jan 11, 2008
By Bill Lampton, Ph.D.
"Speech Coach for Champions"
Read Adventures of an Optimist, and you'll experience quite a fascinating adventure yourself. It's that provocative.
As you think about the title, you might wonder, "How could anyone be an optimist today?" Just view two or three TV newscasts daily, and you'll assume there's very little we can be upbeat about.
Yet with his customary conversational style--supported by solid research and data--Mitchell shifts our thoughts away from what's wrong with the world. He challenges us to see multitudes of possibilities, grasp them, then maximize them. He never doubts the validity of this formula.
A keen student of history, Mitchell uses the lessons of the past to offer guidelines for future progress.
I applaud Don Mitchell's imagination. He makes me wonder whether centuries from now he might be viewed as the Nostradamus of this era.
One more thought: This morning I seemed to accomplish four times as much as I am accustomed to accomplishing in a half day's work. I feel elated, but not boastful. Don Mitchell nudges me to accomplish twenty times as much. My life and career will be incredibly more exhilarating when I elevate to that level.
The Complete Communicator: Change Your Communication-change Your Life!
4 of 4 found the following review helpful:
Delightfuly Brilliant Jan 21, 2008
By Dr. Signe A. Dayhoff
"Social Effectiveness Guru, www.effectiveness-plus.com"
This is not only an explication of Don Mitchell's 2,000 percent solution for the world, but a carefully programmed series of lessons of awareness and innnovation application. Like his other books, this is clearly articulated with excellent examples to illustrate his points. I am especially fond of his chapter on teaching via the master-craftsman model and what needs to be the foundation of good teaching (as in, ask what they want and need to know, answer their questions, then support them with relevant, evocative, and sensory examples).
How he astutely ties together Impressionists, Jackson Pollock, the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, the Guinness Book of Records, and his law degree at Harvard to support his contentions is fascinatng. With respect to the Guinness Book of "trivial and valueless facts" - what if the book featured "valuable facts," like "the best practices of nonprofit organizations." Now wouldn't that be incredibly useful and efficient resource and solution. As a result of his law education, he discovered there can be "many different potential 2,000 percent solutions within the same opportunity." Interpretation is everything, providing an incredible array of applications, implications, and solutions.
This book is eye-opening and beautifully written, making it hard to put down. Anyone who reads it cannot hope to escape without being inspired to conjure up "what ifs" about how she/he could help locally or globally to apply a 2,000 percent solution to improve life. Bravo!! Diagonally-Parked in a Parallel Universe: Working Through Social Anxiety
2 of 2 found the following review helpful:
Rapid Growth May 08, 2009
By Belinda Meyer
Don's writing style is intellectual and eloquent. He is a smart man and he shares his profound views and wisdom. The ideas are about progress and improvement on an exponential scale. He is a great thinker about life, actions, circumstance and human development. Become a better leader, better entrepreneur and more productive.
4 of 5 found the following review helpful:
Powerful and Inspiring Jan 20, 2008
By Elijah Chingosho
"Dr Elijah Chingosho"
Don Mitchell is a renowned writer and business consultant who has transformed the lives of countless numbers of people and businesses over the years through his well researched writings, practical advice and ability to think outside the box. This time, Don Mitchell has come up with a unique project on how 400 years of improvement can be achieved in 20 years. You have to read the book to see for yourself that Don Mitchell suggests those incredible rates of improvement based on solid premises and a result of huge amount of work since 1995. "The Adventures of an Optimist" offer readers creative examples and guidance for achieving performance breakthroughs. Those that wish to get out of a mental rut, perceive unlimited possibilities, develop novel aspirations and fresh visions are urged to get a copy of this exceptional book and read it cover-to-cover.
This exciting and innovative book is for the open minded, those that are not just satisfied with the ordinary but are thrilled by the seemly impossible and those who yearn to make a huge difference, to leave an indelible positive mark in this world. If you have ever wondered if you can make a constructive difference to the lives of others and you know deep down that you are capable of achieving much more than you have done in the past, then this book may be the catalyst that will catapult your vision sky high.
I highly recommend the book as it is a brilliant, visionary and valuable read that should improve your outlook on life. The wealth of information and material it contains is carefully organized and lucidly presented. Reading it has the potential to create an upward spiral of exponential gains in your life and work.
1 of 1 found the following review helpful:
Difficult to Put Down and Very Inspiring Sep 11, 2008
By Bomb Man58
Donald Mitchell has established himself with a series of books beginning with The 2000 Percent Solution. His main message is "What if...". In this latest work he has built on the very successful 2000 percent solution and exponential success models by asking what if we were to compress four hundred years of achievements into just twenty.
I have followed Don's progress from the 2000 percent solution; taking courses for my studies based on his books and inspiration from his writings. Don writes with an easy conversational style, coupled with his keen observational skills and interest in history result in books that captivate and motivate the reader.
Don continues to challenge us with ideas in this latest book by asking: "What if and why can't we achieve better than what we achieve to day?" By stretching our imagination we can achieve greater success and contentment in all parts of our daily lives.
This latest book takes the reader on a comprehensive journey of his early years and experiences through to the 2000 percent solution idea and how his imagination was continually challenged with new projects by developing an idea and getting other people interested in those ideas...enough to make them want to think about them some more and call him back to propose more. The book illustrates how enthusiasm is infectious and I found I became involved in the story of this truly remarkable man. His experiences reviewing books have a lot to inspire others to want to do the same and these are well documented.
If there is one shortcoming of the book, it is that in some places, the book leaves the reader hanging-waiting for more to the story. I am hopeful Don will be working on a follow up volume to this work to allow readers to complete the journey with this project.
In summary, a very well written and thought provoking book; it captures the reader and leads them through an inspiring and vivid journey. I was captivated by the book and found it difficult to put down once I became involved in the story. A great story and journey. Well done, Don Mitchell!
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