Book Review

Find Your Strongest Life – Marcus Buckingham

When I heard that Marcus Buckingham had written a book about Strengths that focused on women I wondered if he was using the Chicken Soup for the Soul books as his model for selling books.  You know the model.  A book sells well so we start spinning off books that follow the same format but change the content enough to target a new market or a niche market.  When Thomas Nelson offered it for review I signed up.

I have been a big fan of Marcus Buckingham and I love his model of focusing on strengths. Find Your Strongest Life, What the Happiest and Most Successful Women Do Differently did not disappointment. I am excited about this book and how it will help me and have made notes on how I think I can use it with the women I mentor, coach and teach.

One of the things I love about this book is that the Strong Life Test is free.  Previous books by Marcus Buckingham have included a different test called the StrengthFinder Profile. Those books require you to purchase the book to access the code for the test. This book offers the test free to anyone.

This book has a lot of great information for women.  I love how Buckingham has been able to write this book with such amazing sensitivity to women. He seems to really understand and appreciate the complex choices that women face and how these changes can lead us away from the things that make us strong and into a life that drains our energy and leave us feeling weak.

So many women I know have fallen into this trap. And it often takes a crisis or a breakdown to bring this us to a place where we are able to put ourselves first.  And unless we begin living our lives with integrity we are living a lie.  Integrity means making choices that are true to ourselves.  Others may not agree or be happy with our choices but the option is that we end up weak and living our one life in reaction to everyone else.

I plan to write more about this book. I am in Germany right now. It’s my first trip to Europe and I am loving this country.  Find Your Strongest Life has been the perfect read for me as I travel and have an opportunity to reflect on my life away from my daily routines.  I strongly recommend it to any woman who is wondering if she is on the right track.