“How Full is Your Bucket” by Tom Rath
Click here to download this audiobook
Another month another book. Again, another short easy to read book. I really enjoyed this one and I think you will to. It’s not rocket science, it’s just good solid advice on improving your interactions with other people all day long. Sometimes the very best books or pieces of advice simply remind us of things we already know, or they give us a new way of looking at something we just don’t think about. This is one of those books, it’s very well written and easy to read, but will give you lot’s of new insight into dealing with people. I plan on buying several copy’s of this book and giving them as gifts. This book is available as an audio download from audible.com. If you don’t have an mp3 player you really should look into the Apple iPod shuffle, its so tiny at less than an ounce and only costs $79. I have 9 audiobooks on mine at the moment and still have some room left. I also bought one copy of the book in hardcover, because it gives you a code to go to the website and use a tool called the Clifton strengths finder. This is a really great personality profile designed to give you insight into what kind of things you are good at. My wife and I tried it and it is very accurate and useful information. I plan on having my 3 teenage sons take it soon to help them understand what kind of things they should be looking for in a career path. Now to the book review.
How did you feel after your last interaction with another person?
Did that person — your spouse, best friend, coworker, or even a stranger — “fill your bucket” by making you feel more positive? Or did that person “dip from your bucket,” leaving you more negative than before?
How Full Is Your Bucket? reveals how even the briefest interactions affect your relationships, productivity, health, and longevity.
Organized around a simple metaphor of a dipper and a bucket, and grounded in 50 years of research, this book will show you how to greatly increase the positive moments in your work and your life — while reducing the negative.
Filled with discoveries, powerful strategies, and engaging stories, How Full Is Your Bucket? is sure to inspire lasting changes and has all the makings of a timeless classic.
“In this brief but significant book, the authors, a grandfather-grandson team, explore how using positive psychology in everyday interactions can dramatically change our lives. Clifton (coauthor of Now, Discover Your Strengths) and Rath suggest that we all have a bucket within us that needs to be filled with positive experiences, such as recognition or praise. When we’re negative toward others, we use a dipper to remove from their buckets and diminish their positive outlook. When we treat others in a positive manner, we fill not only their buckets but ours as well. The authors illustrate how this principle works in the areas of business and management, marriage and other personal relationships and in parenting through studies covering a 40-year span, many in association with the Gallup Poll. While acknowledging that most lives have their share of misfortune, the authors also make clear that how misfortune affects individuals depends largely on their level of positive energy and confidence. The authors also underscore that our human interactions provide most of the joys or disappointments we receive from life. The book comes with a unique access code to www.bucketbook.com, which offers a positive impact assessment and drop-shaped note cards that can be used to give praise and recognition to others.
