The Power of Impossible Thinking
The Power of Impossible Thinking
Authors: Jerry Wind, Colin Crook and Robert Gunther
Hardcover: 336 pages
Wharton School Publishing July 2004
Paperback: 352 pages
Wharton School Publishing February 2006
If ever there was a knockout book about changing your life in a positive, measurable way, The Power of Impossible Thinking is it – or at least at the top of the heap of self-help tomes. This book is filled with examples of society’s collective thought patterns and expectations, and ways to change them in your own life. If you are a businessperson trying to find original ways to grow your business, you’ll know that almost everything’s already been tried at least once. If you want to circle around the herd and forge your own path, read this book. Don’t just look at all the angles, look for the angles that don’t show. If you want to change the way your life is going, this book is for you-because it’s all in the way you think; afterall, the way you think about your reality is your reality, and only you can change it-with a little help from Mr. Wind and Mr. Crook.
The first page of this book lists a few simple questions followed by a simple statement that maybe changing the way you think will give you the answers to the preceding questions. This is followed by a promise from the authors that this book will show you how, and true to their word-they do. The authors delve into the world of neuroscience in a detailed manner, but they do it without causing you to reach for the nearest dictionary or making you fall asleep. Their approach is quite the contrary-they make you want to keep reading; simply because what they are saying makes so much sense.
The Power of Impossible Thinking is one of those books that is constantly sparking new ideas in the reader’s mind, as if the “light” doesn’t just turn on, it keeps getting brighter. By the end of this book, the reader can’t help but want to start putting these new ideas into practice. Throughout the text, the authors pose questions to the reader, making him or her take a look at the way they think about things and how they can be changed. The brief point by point chapter reviews help to nurture those ideas as you move onto the next chapter, and the next.
As you progress through this book, you will come to a quick realization that this is not just another stuffy life management book which promises to fix all of your problems. It is, however a handbook you can read and re-read many times. This isn’t a book you read once and then put on a shelf; it’s one you will want to read often-to keep the dust from settling back on all of those old mindsets you are working on changing.
The audio CD which is included with the book offers a quick review of the book’s main points (note, I am not sure if a CD is still included). Condensed into approximately twenty minutes, it can fill that drive time to the office. The author interview section of the CD offers more insight into the author’s points of view and gives the listener further understanding of how these men have implemented the power of impossible thinking in their own lives. For those who want to further reading into the subject, the book contains many bibliographical footnotes and references for the reader to investigate.
Needless to say, I am a fan of the Power of Impossible Thinking. I’ve put some of these practice to work in my own life with successful results, and for anyone else wanting to make some radical changes in their lives, this book is one of the best places to start.
