2008-07-18 Too much of nothing in too little time...

I am on the 7th day of this book having read it every day for the last week.

Of course, on day 1 I was very excited about the week ahead and getting to grips with life and taking on a more positive attitude. Although I still feel this is my intention, I found the book overall to be disappointing.

For one, there is too much to read each day! I have not been working this week - I have been on holiday and had a few other things to do but not much and it has taken the best part of all day to read each chapter and do the exercises. I mean it takes an hour to listen to the CD alone. (Half hour in morning, half hour in evening) If I had been doing an 8 hour working day, plus travel time, plus dinner and every other thing life needs, there is no way I could have got through all this in a week!

The exercises become very repetitive after a while. I found myself feeling angry every time I read the next exercise, they all read EXACTLY the same way!

i.e. "Think of a time when you felt really..." (confident, positive, happy) Now, make the colours brighter and richer, the sounds louder, allow your feelings to intensify", "times that feeling by 10" and "step into it now, feel those great feelings" Voila! You are now programming your mind to feel... (confident, positive, happy)

Pick any day - it is the same formula. What's more, it becomes overwhelming. Each day, you have more and more exercises to do before starting the day and as they are so similar it becomes irritating to say the least, that along with the dumbed-down tone of the book.

Yes, the advice is so superficial, written in a catch all style, aimed at mass markets. Paul McKenna makes no secret about loving wealth which is fair enough but it makes the more discerning reader feel like a bit of a mug.

I have not found this CD to be as good as the Confidence CD that was recommended to me by a friend (and that wasn't great)and they are both very similar. The Confidence one seems a little bit more polished. Is Paul McKenna just a one trick pony? Also, I feel he doesn't give you enough time during the trance to get into those feelings.

I personally find it difficult to bring up great feelings on cue, especially if I am feeling down, unmotivated etc... if I didn't, I probably wouldn't be reading books like these, I would just remember a happy time and be done with it! This is true of the exercises and of the CD.

I like what I have seen of Paul McKenna on the television. He has done some miraculous things and I believe them all to be genuine. But I guess that's the power of a one-on-one session with a hypnotherapist; there is feedback.

Felt this all needed saying as the question I emailed to the Paul McKenna website was not answered by any of the team - again, just makes you feel like the sucker who bought the book and was moved on from!

I do aim to have a great life and a lot of simple advice in this book is true and may be useful to some, even a lot but 90% of the book was 'gash' and only 10% was enlightening for me.

Having said all that though, I suppose the week has been good. After a year of not being sure what to do career-wise, I have decided upon a career change and have set aside the next 6 months to learn the new skills and become qualified. Wondering how to get the £500 needed to get the materials and exam entries, I was contacted by my credit-card company saying they refunded all the money on it that was taken off fraudulently and there is an extra £1000 on there which they say I can keep as they don't know where it came from! Law Of Attraction maybe?!