Book Review: "Positive Intelligence: Why Only 20% of Teams and Individuals Achieve Their True Potential, And How You Can Achieve Yours", by Shirzad Chamine

An old grandfather was teaching his grandson about life:

“A fight is going on inside me,” he said to the boy.

“It is a terrible fight and it is between two wolves. One is evil–he is anger, envy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego.”

He continued, “The other is good – he is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion, and faith. The same fight is going on inside you–and inside every other person, too.”

The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather: “Which wolf will win?”

The grandfather simply replied, “The one you feed.”

I picked up this book from a life coaching trial the company I currently work for booked me on. I think the dude recommended this book as a good example to practice positive thinking. I don't think I lack it, but I think I've been pushing myself to think positively without really understanding why or how. I mean, I don't want to be sad and miserable, but I think emotions are a bit more complex than that.

I think Shirzad lays it out pretty nicely in his book here. You have a number of different "saboteurs", or ways of negative thinking. The biggest among these is the Judge, who forces a different negative reaction from you based on the type of person you are. You need to practice positive thinking in order to reduce the power of those "saboteurs" and reach towards your "Sage", who practices positive thinking and turns problems and fears into gifts and opportunities.

I really like the sheer number of case studies he's put out. It showcases how

These are my saboteurs, from taking the test on Shirzad's website:

results

Looks about right to me hehe.