Book Review of Success Acceleration by Tony Jeary

I have read many so-called self help books over the years, but none have impacted me as much as Success Acceleration by Tony Jeary. Even though it was written nine years ago, I find myself referencing it more now than ever due to the economy, unemployment, and life in general. Everyone wants to be successful in all areas or their lives; business, financial, marriage and family. But how does one define success? Some define it by their bank account balance, some by all the stuff they have, some by the position they hold at their job. It can get rather confusing.

Mr Jeary is a student of the great experts on success such as Brian Tracy, Og Mandino, Earle Nightingale, Napoleon Hill, and Zig Ziglar. He has studied their teachings and put them in to practice. Then he began to form his own theories about success. Jeary says, "I realized that certain foundational principles actually drive and support other success factors, and that the learning curve for acquiring and utilizing success principles could be quickened." Success Acceleration all boils down to one thing-our willingness to change.

Jeary says that from the moment of our birth we start sifting and processing information and begin forming the principles that will determine how we live and make decisions. He calls principles our belief windows . He shows us how important what we allow into our belief window is. It is vital that we only allow what is true to become a part of what we believe. Mr Jeary feels that the only absolute and real truth can be found only in the Bible and refers to John 14:6 and John 8:31-32. He goes on to to state that unless we are checking every principle and belief by the Word of God, our whole lives on untruths.

All of our life we are told things that may, or may not, be true about ourselves, others, etc., and they are accepted into our belief window. These beliefs can have a profound effect on our lives, both good and bad. We need to continually review what is in our belief window and if we find something there that is not true, we need to get rid of it and replace it with the truth.

Jeary states that, "Every choice we make is controlled and processed through our belief window."

Other topics covered in this section are:

A Well-Managed Life - To experience continued success, it is necessary to be disciplined and possess life-management skills.

A winning Attitude - This is what drives achievement. The ingredients needed are persistence, enthusiasm and confidence.

"The dictionary is the only place where success comes before work." Mark Twain

Jeary's definition for success is, " We are successful when we are able to consistently accomplish predetermined, written goals and motivate positive actions in other people that support, complement, or enhance our goals. If we can repeatedly accomplish this, we will usually attain the tangible and intangible rewards we desire."

Mr. Jeary is letting us know that success requires not only planning, but action as well. He also states that we need to get off the hamster wheel of doing the same thing and expecting different results-our modern-day definition of insanity. But we also need to be aware that mere action is not enough, our actions need to be the correct ones.

Other topics covered in this section:

Maximizing Personal Effectiveness - The five characteristics successful people incorporate into their daily lives.

Planning, Goal Setting, and Speed - Explains the necessity of setting goals and objectives to have a successful plan.

Remember the Streisand song, People ? "People, people who need people, are the luckiest people in the world... " Jeary shows us how true and important that phrase really is. He gives a vivid example:

Marooned On An Island

"To illustrate the point of how people think, create, and accomplish things, let's imagine the following scenario. For the sake of this discussion, imagine that you were marooned on an uninhabited island as an infant and somehow survived and grew up without the help of other humans. Imagine the island as being rather small, with only a beach, several varieties of trees, a pool of fresh water, and a cave. There is no animal life on the island. You have never seen a book, a television, telephone, or another human being. As far as you know, the entire world consists of just you, the beach, the trees, the pool, and the cave. There is nothing more.

After a few years on the island, you have observed and assimilated all you can about the island. There is little else to learn, and your creative potential is limited to what you know about those few things on the island. You are the most unconsciously incompetent human on the planet! You don't have a clue about what you don't know, yet you probably believe you know everything there is to know. Without new things or other people to stimulate your mind and your thinking, you are doomed to a life of non-change and repetitious behavior-doing the same things over and over again, every day."

Jeary wants us to realize that we will never experience success if we adopt an isolationist attitude. We need to connect with other people if we are to grow and change. He considers his database of contacts his most valuable business asset.

Other topics covered in this section:

Learn from the Winners - Discusses the art of "bench-marking" and how to employ the know-how of others to achieve your goals.

The Power of Your Presentation - The importance of developing excellent presentation skills in the business world.

Practice Production Before Perfection - Get moving. In order to get results, you have to do something . Start and worry about perfecting your skills later.

The Productive Power of Lists - You've heard it before, but Tony Jeary puts a different spin on list making.

Tony Jeary is many things, a teacher, a speaker and an author. He has not just idly read a multitude of books by the best life coaches, he has put everything he has learned into practice. Jeary gives a fresh approach to achieving the success that seems to evade the majority of us.

His accolades are numerous. He has advised Fortune 500 companies, as well as presidents. He speaks all over the world, touching lives with what he has learned throughout his life. Tony Jeary has truly 'walked his talk'.