You might recognize one of the authors – Phil Stutz is THAT Stutz, subject of the popular documentary “Stutz”. He’s a psychotherapist as is the co-author. He and the other author, Barry Michels have practices in the Los Angeles, CA area.
They subtitled the book 5 tools to help you find courage, creativity and willpower – and inspire you to live a life in forward motion which gives us an really accurate teaser of what is in the book.
I’ve just finished reading it for the first time, and honestly will go right back to the start of it to really get deep with it.
These tools are similar to what I’ve found in other self development books, yet the way Stutz and Michels define and clarify these approaches has me seeing these ideas in a whole new way.
I’ll list the tools here, with a brief high level description, but honestly these high-level descriptions will not do them justice. Even if you are mildly curious about these tools, please read the book. It’s very engaging and approachable so even though there’s a lot that can be read into these tools, you don’t have to do a lot of reading.
1. The Reversal of Desire
This one is all about our natural tendencies to live in our comfort zones, avoiding pain. Yet, pain and discomfort are inevitable. When we learn to embrace them our lives become richer and more meaningful.
2. Active Love
This tool is exactly what is says – actively loving – but doing so even when, especially when, we feel unfairly treated.
3. Inner Authority
This tool gives us tactics for dealing with our negative self-talk and perceptions.
4. Grateful Flow
This tool helps us deal with our negativity in general – worry, anxiety as well as self-hatred.
5. Jeopardy
This tool is the one which makes all of the others more powerful. It’s very closely related to willpower.
And again, while you might feel like you have a handle on some of these aspects, like gratitude and willpower, the way Stutz and Michels define them and then showcase how & when to use them is completely next-level.
For instance, in the past few years, I’ve really leaned into shifting my definition of success from external markers (big house, fancy vacations, shiny cars) to more purpose-driven markers. Yet, these guys took some gritty sandpaper to that idea and honed it to an even finer point with this passage that starts on page 47:
In general, human beings want to succeed in the outer world – build a successful business, say or find a life partner. In contrast, the universe doesn’t care about our external success; its goal is to develop our inner strength. We care about what we achieve on the outside, the universe is interested in who we are on the inside.
And they make this point as they invite us to embrace adversity, to not be afraid of going outside of our comfort zone. A life of ease is not the path to living in our potential. A life of ease ends up being shallow, frustrating and full of regret.
It’s this shifting of success from external markers to internal markers that drives so much of my work… and why I selected shiftingsuccess for my website. I’ve seen it make a huge difference in my own life and in the lives and careers of my clients. If you’re intrigued about how to go about it, please let me know.
So I absolutely recommend The Tools and look forward to hearing what your takeaways are!
