GPS your Best LIFE : My review

GPS Your Best Life

Charmaine Hammond and Debra Kasowski

You are sitting in your car and about to put the key in the ignition. Take it out! You are about to decide where you are and where you want to go. Programming your location and then your final destination will hopefully bring you to the place you need to be at a specific time. But, what if that location is not the right place for you to be? What if the choices that you are making need to be revamped? What if you need to rethink where your life is now and where you really want it to go? Take the key out of the ignition. Think about what you really want for you life before you take that next turn and move in a direction that might lead you down the wrong path. What if you could have your own built in GPS that will help you decide where you want to go in life and allow you to learn the steps to getting there? After reading this book and following what these authors impart in each chapter you might find that your entire life will take a huge U turn in a direction that will lead you to a GPS with a better final destination.

Take the first step and answer the questions in your diagnostic assessment. The GPS (Painless no shots required or meds needed) questionnaire and decide where You are right now! Then read Keesa’s results and hear her words and her voice and find out what she learned about where she is and where she needs to be. Decide for yourself: Where am I now? How am I going to get from there to here? Where am I coming from? Which direction am I heading? Next, read pages 11-12 and learn the Road Rules to a GPS Best Life and then Mapping your Way.

Pretend the weather is foggy or your windshield is covered with ice and snow. What do you do? You deice it or you wipe away the foggy water or dew on your windshield or scrape off the snow. But, the kind of debris on your windshield is different. You need to clean it, clear it and realize that our windshields are often dirty and need clearing. On page 13 you need to answer these three simple yet important questions to get started:

What bugs do you have on your windshield that need that needs to be cleaned off? (In your life?)

What is blocking your vision?

What are the things (or who are the people) that are cluttering your life?

Find out how Julie changed her perspective and created a closet that would be Julie friendly and have her clothes hanging in an orderly fashion and when dressed she became a more confidant Julie. Pages 15-16 will outline the things you need to address and explain how to change them. Next learn how to go from Park to Drive followed by Traffic patterns. Check out the traffic patterns in your life. First learn how to go from Park (standing still) to drive is the first step in realizing you need to work harder toward change. Traffic patterns will alert you to where you’ve been successful and how to use those successes to your advantage. As you think about these successes determine what actions you took to get there. How did you know you were on the right track and if you experienced resistance how did you work it out? Everyone needs someone to talk things out with and support him or her. Who is that person? The authors also sate you need to assess these things in order to make sure that your traffic pattern will bring you success. Using these patterns will help you clear your windshield of the unwanted debris. Pages 20-21 outline the five steps to a GPS Clear: Crystal Clear Focus, Logical Plan with Timelines, Evaluate regularly, attainable and realistic and recorded all of which are defined in detail on these two pages. Next you need to choose a positive mindset followed by Keeping your eyes on the Road. Question: What am I thinking right now? If you thoughts are not positive you need to change your mindset. Negative thoughts need to be changed: So stop thinking negative thoughts and work on only the positive. Page 23 starts with what every good driver young and older needs: Road Rules to Live By and Mapping Your Way. Now, isn’t this great. So far you have assesses where you are and decided how to clear your windshield. You even answered and recorded your responses to the questions. Here we go! Decide your priorities next. People whose priorities are clear make the decisions that are important to them. Decide what you’ve accepted. What are your strengths and how do you view yourself? Pages 29-39 explain ways to help you get what you want. Wait: Stop: Don’t make a move because you are not ready to put that car in drive yet. Put the key in the ignition. Do you feel the excitement welling up inside of you? Let the car idle for about 15-30 minutes while you answer some simple questions and then you can get that motor revved up and that car moving. The questions are within these pages and the journal you need to keep will help you evaluate your progress.

Now, let’s get down to creating your vision board and what is your true calling. The questions on page 34 will jump start your car and help you decide what motivates you, what makes you want to put your foot on that pedal and much more. Your GPS dashboard has everything in front of you. Once you have decided on your true calling the next step is to create your GPS Dashboard. The authors state that this board can be used fro specific, short-term or one-time goals. You can even use it for more long-term goals. Images that you might place on this board might include, cars, family, vacations, your dreams, career thoughts and aspirations and even relationships. This is almost like taking a camera and taking a picture of your life. This will help you visualize your future as it is as we say Mapped out in front of you on your GPS dashboard. More about how to create this board and what you need to get it together and the materials you need to learn for yourself or better yet do it as you read the book (more hands on). Pages 46- 63 will explain, outline and illustrate everything you need to do in order to create your GPS vision board.

Next, the authors explain the tools you need in order to avoid hitting your brakes while driving. This chapter and the next one explain what happens when there are factors that are often self-imposed that hinder us from moving ahead and often cause us to go in reverse. Fear, excuses, self-limitations and more to provide roadblocks then our progress is slowed and our destination seems further away. Taking an honest look at yourself while driving that car to your destination (but keeping your eyes on the road and focused) you need to decide if you are pulling the hand brake or if you are not pushing gas pedal enough because you are afraid or moving or getting their too fast. Explanations are clear on how to avoid using excuses, learning how to hear and deal with your internal chatter, blame and accepting your responsibility are all discussed in the chapter titled: Release the Brakes. You might even learn how to fix a flat but in a new way!

Of course what road has no roadblocks, detours or potholes. To be able to have your best GPS in life you need to learn how to get around these bumps in the road. Every journey to success has some slowdowns due to roadblocks, detours and even the dreaded potholes. So, slow down. Life will definitely send you challenges and obstacles blocking your way. Handling these roadblocks is explained in pages 87-89. Learn what Christine did. Sometimes when something you think is not good happens something better takes its place. She is laid off from her job and realized that she had talents in other areas and cultivated them. Changing her thinking, her lifestyle came with adjustments and money worries. But, in the long run she did the right thing. Read the chapter Roadblocks, detours and Potholes to learn more. Not only will you learn how to avoid or understand how to handle these obstacles but also you might learn a new definition of Backseat Drivers and how they drain your energy and how to deal with them. These are people that you really do not want to spend a lot of time with. Learning how to safeguard yourself is explained in detail on page 91.

Finally, the Roadmap to Resolution and the steps for paving the way to your success are outlined in the rest of this chapter. Chapter 7 focuses on staying on track and recalculating your GPS. Don’t you love it when you make a wrong turn or do not follow the instructions and you hear those words: Recalculating. Read Chapter 7 and learn how to recalculate before you hear those words. The final chapter talks about You are There and now What? The authors concluded with ten ways to help each of us honor our strengths and successes. Celebrate your journey, share the road, know when you have arrived. Now: start that car and take all of the precautions that you learn and begin your journey to success. Remember: Watch out for the roadblocks, detours and potholes. Watch out for anyone that wants to slow you down. Rid yourself of backseat drivers and focus on what’s ahead. This is one book that adults, teens, college students and parents can share with each other to decide where life will take each one. Students can create their own GPS to decide what college and where they might want to go and goals for the future. As Christine learned when she lost her job this book can help other adults in the same position. Great book and great resource.

Fran Lewis: reviewer: Let’s give this book: FIVE GPS’s for Success