What do you think of the "Try This" sections of the book?

Use this forum to discuss the May 2021 Book of the month, "Fear Not, Dream Big, & Execute: Tools To Spark Your Dream And Ignite Your Follow-Through" by Jeff Meyer.
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What do you think of the "Try This" sections of the book?

Post by smolbird »

I was excited to know that there were exercises after each lesson, but I was a little disappointed when I saw that the exercises weren't entirely focused on the "spark your dream" aspect of the book. A lot of the exercises had something to do with strengthening your bond with God or how you and others can pursue Him. I couldn't do many of these exercises as I didn't agree with the author's statements. What's your opinion on these sections? Did you complete the exercises? If you did, have you noticed any changes in your life?
"It does not do well to dwell on dreams and forget to live." - Albus Dumbledore
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Post by Marcel Cantu »

smolbird wrote: 01 May 2021, 00:21 I was excited to know that there were exercises after each lesson, but I was a little disappointed when I saw that the exercises weren't entirely focused on the "spark your dream" aspect of the book. A lot of the exercises had something to do with strengthening your bond with God or how you and others can pursue Him. I couldn't do many of these exercises as I didn't agree with the author's statements. What's your opinion on these sections? Did you complete the exercises? If you did, have you noticed any changes in your life?
I love when self help style books have an application section that allows you to implement ideas into your life. I do wish that they had been focused a little more on the dreaming aspect, but I understand where the author was coming from based on his spiritual beliefs. I think someone who shared the same faith would definitely find this section helpful
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Post by Alice Heritage »

The ones that referred to, say, reading the Bible weren't a good fit for me. I don't have a Bible - though I suppose I could read it on the Internet.

But I found most of them generally applicable. I loved the Venn diagram at the end of chapter 6, enabling me to find where my special talents intersect with what the world needs. I also loved the advice at the end of chapter 21 about setting quarterly and daily objectives. It's so important to use the present to build the future.
This post was brought to you by the word "specifically".
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Post by Kristy Khem »

This book was written from a religious perspective, so people who resonate with the religious themes will really enjoy completing the little activities in the "Try This" sections. I always enjoy reading interactive books. I think it shows that the author cares about his readers and wants them to understand the concepts he presents in his book. Doing activities while reading is also fun because it breaks the monotony of reading. and makes the book less boring.
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Post by Bertha Jackson »

I have not read the whole book yet but the exercises at the end of Chapter 5 made me think about the fears I had during my career. There were many times I bypassed opportunities because I was afraid of failure. If I failed I would not have been able to support my family.
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Post by Michael Jerry_ »

Honestly the “try this” sections were in my opinion, underwhelming.
They reminded me of my father who is a pastor and would always tell us to dream big but would still insist we only dream through and writing the confines of God's will. So while he wanted us to dream big he was more concerned about how, the religious aspects, and if we depended on God for our dreams.
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Post by smolbird »

Marcel Cantu wrote: 01 May 2021, 07:52
smolbird wrote: 01 May 2021, 00:21 I was excited to know that there were exercises after each lesson, but I was a little disappointed when I saw that the exercises weren't entirely focused on the "spark your dream" aspect of the book. A lot of the exercises had something to do with strengthening your bond with God or how you and others can pursue Him. I couldn't do many of these exercises as I didn't agree with the author's statements. What's your opinion on these sections? Did you complete the exercises? If you did, have you noticed any changes in your life?
I love when self help style books have an application section that allows you to implement ideas into your life. I do wish that they had been focused a little more on the dreaming aspect, but I understand where the author was coming from based on his spiritual beliefs. I think someone who shared the same faith would definitely find this section helpful
As a Christian, I could relate to the exercises, but there were some statements that I disagreed with. However, I did find a lot of the exercises to be helpful, especially the ones that makes you look back at the things that you've wanted to do but probably forgot about.
"It does not do well to dwell on dreams and forget to live." - Albus Dumbledore
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Post by WADonnelly »

I think the inclusion of a Try This section was a great idea and for many, it is very useful to work through the book with. However, readers who are not religious may find some of the suggestions harder to apply to their life.
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Post by Gabrielle Sigaki »

Indeed, there were some aspects that I couldn't use because I'm not a religious person, but I really liked the ones that I could use. I still didn't complete all the exercises, but the ones I completed, I really liked.
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Post by B Sheila Holt »

I am enjoying these little fun exercises just as they are. Having them focus on a more religious and Godly theme is fine with me. But even if I didn’t like that part of the book, I would see those questions as mini challenges to see how to go around the religious views and do them in a secular way instead.

Doing these tasks help engage our minds as we read and we in turn gain more insight from the book, which is the authors’ intention all along. By taking notes and finding ways to get these mini tasks done, we also help ourselves to grow and become better in a very short period of time.
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Post by Raluca_Mihaila »

I am on the same side as you on this aspect. I feel the religion is something you feel or not, and making exercises in this direction seem pointless.
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Post by SamaylaM »

I really enjoy when authors of self-help books have exercise sections to help readers use the ideas of the books in their real lives. While I liked some of the "Try This", I was unable to do a few due to the religious aspect such as exercises to do with the Bible since I don't have access to it.
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Post by Parahiyo »

The '' Try this'' section should be adopted by all self-help writers. The simple exercise sections at the end of each chapter engage the reader to gain more understanding.
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Post by Sakura5 »

I think some of the exercises were applicable even for non-religious people, but the fact that the book was mainly religious made me lose interest in trying to implement the "Try this" exercises because I saw them as finalized towards a goal I was not interested in anyway.
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Post by Hogwarts03 »

I didn't agree with the entirety of the section which was a little disappointing but I did find some of the exercises at the end 9f some chapters quite helpful which I appreciate at the same time because you don't find a lot of books in this format.
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