Next Book Up......

The Conversation: How Black Men and Women Can Build Loving, Trusting Relationships. This was a suggested read from Miss Epitome and I'm hearing good things so I'm going in on this. I'm sometimes cautious at "relationship" books but since Steve Harvey's was pretty good I'll see if I can go 2 for 2 with this.

Opinions/views/review in the not too distant future.

Book of the Month

I should have had this last week but it is what it is.
Time to start reading.

The Measure of a Man.....Impressions

This autobiography didn't come with the plans, guidelines or advice of some of the previous books of the month. But Sidney Poitier's tale of his rise from a simple Bahamian island to the heights of Hollywood was still inspiring in it's realism and honesty. His recalling of prejudice and racism double standards hit me as I remember being told many similar things from my own Anitgua born parents. Mr. Poitier quotes a line I think the vast majority of minorities has heard at one time or another. It's not one of racism but of a parent share reality of American life with their child.

"You have to be twice as good as they are to even be considered"

I know I heard that as a child coming up as I made Honor Roll after Honor roll that I always had to aim higher to be seen. In addition to this Poitier doesn't shy away from raking himself over the coals as he speaks on his marital unfaithfulness and the effect it had on his children. Again its the open honesty that I must admire.I enjoyed this book and I'm appreciative of Mz.J sending it my way.

April Closing out.........Progress Report

Ok, ok there are roughly 4 more days left in April so lets me where I am currently in respect to my monthly goals.

Physically: My "Superhero" fitness program and the 100pushup challenge is going well but I've been slow to get my ab workouts going. With my June 15th target date. I don't have time to be lazy with that.

Financially: I canceled 1 of the phone lines that I really wasn't using any more and Geico just dropped my payments by about $50.Slow but steady progress. I'm falling maybe $20-$250 over what I wanted to spend this month not horrible but still room for improvement.

Mentally: About 60 pages left to read in the Aprils Book but a May book of the Month hasn't been selected yet so I'll have to get up with Mz. J and figure that out.

Personally/Socially: Local gatherings with the fella's. Nothing major. NY hasn a habit of taxing your wallet to have some basic pleasure but hey you still gotta live life right.

April is finishing well but I see a number of improvement points for May.

April Book of the Month

Yes April in officially in swing and I'm reminded of this by the full week of RAIN in the forecast for the NY Metro area.Oh well, its that time again and for the start of the 2nd quarter of the year we will be reading Sidney Poiter's autobiography The Measure of a Man. Now truthfully this book was a gift given to me by Mz.J awhile but in my constant motion of work and promotion I never really got too far into it. But with the 2009 focus on self growth and Improvement, it is here to read at a perfect time. You already know the drill. Cop the book and read along if you like.

March Book of the Month Review

It's time to review Mr. Steve Harvey's Act like a Lady and Think like a man. Now going into this I maintain I consistent rule about "advice" books. Unless you're talking about something tangible like finances, law, anything concrete and factual you have to that the bits and pieces that work for you and disregard the parts that don't apply to you. Throughout this book Steve drops, well, he drops common sense truthfully. He says many things that I've said myself to various people but I guess the professional comedic delivery gets better results.But anyway here we go.

I'd suggest this to anyone that is looking for a glance into how men think. And when I say men I don't mean the thugs, players and generic lames, but real men. Now it's not a 100% description of all of us but Steve is pretty on point. He opens up with a solid and truthful statement:

There is no truer statement: men are simple. Get this into your head first and everything you learn about us in this book will begin to fall into place. Once you get that down, you'll have to understand a few essential truths: men are driven by who they are, what they do, and how much they make. No matter if a man is a CEO, a CON, or both, everything he does is filtered through his title (who he is), how he gets that title (what he does), and the reward he gets for the effort (how much he makes). These three things make up the basic DNA of manhood- the three accomplishments every man must achieve before he feels like he's truly fulfilled his destiny as a man. And until he's achieved his goal in those three areas, the man you're dating, committed to, or married to will be too busy to focus on you.

I'd have to agree with this in that a man that does not feel fully established or at least close enough on the path to being so will only have but so much to give a relationship if he's worth being in one with at all. We appreciate and need love just as females do but we also won't jump out the window expecting love to catch us.We have to be able to do what we were raised to do and that's provide.

That leads into the other main point of understanding that must be realized. We men can have moments of romantic, soap opera type expressions of emotions but more often then not our feelings are expressed in much less elaborate ways. The 3 P's as Steve calls it. We Provide, Protect and Profess. This too varies depending on the stage of life your in. Steve says many things that at times seem more applicable to those that are looking for marriage sooner rather then later, those that have kids or have been divorced. To younger readers you have to take some things with a grain of salt and a slight toned down degree of expectation.

Once you understand that Steve goes on to lay out things that will help a good woman get past many of the pitfalls she may have fallen into previously in past relationships. Clearly stating our objectives in life and in a relationship early on and in turn questioning a man, without GRILLING him gets things out in the open early.He refers to setting standards and it again on the money.

Honestly my favorite part of the book was his introduction to the 90 day rule. I don't know how many females have asked me my views on things and have gotten this reply from me. "Truthfully you need to start making these guys work more for the coochie" Real Talk. And Steve, in a more, tactful way goes on to explain it. Long story short, any asshole can act good if he's gonna get it in under a 30-60 days but if proper communication is occurring then you can weed out the lames by making them wait. Hell that's what girls were told for generations, "Make him wait". Some advice really isn't that complicated.

Anyway, Act like a Lady and Think Like a Man is an easy read with lots of food for thought. No science just common sense delivered in a manner that's easy to digest.You will love parts, dislike the honesty of other part and dismiss others. But I think there is quality information there for everyone.

It's Fundamental

I've noticed recently with my friends daughter and my lil cousin, their 11 and 12 years old respectively, and they LOVE to read. In speaking to the 2 of them they run down ALL the books they read and the books they read with their friends. It just reminds me that in spite of all the negative images presented of our kids. We have some real diamonds in the making if we support and work with them. It really is the parents that play the major role in their growth. The environment does play a part but a determined parent(ideally 2) can make the world of difference.It's real refreshing to see the potential in them and I always try my best to be there and give something to them they can utilize. I little attention goes a long way with them.

Minor Monthly Book Mistake

For those that are paying attention (i.e Jillz, lol) the monthly reading material I had to make an edit for March. The original material was going to be Hill Harper's Letters to a Young Brother . That was before it was brought to mt attention that that book was/is intended for high school reading. I want to maintain my youth but not like that. LOL, so anyway the March book will be Steve Harvey's latest release.

BacC to regularly scheduled blogging.....

New reading material

Just got this passed on to me.I been hearing good things about it and I'm just curious what others my say about the male mind frame in relation to females. I don't listen to Steve's radio show so I don't know how you addresses this subject matter. So I'll dive into this and will be picCin' my march book of the month this week.

Book 2 Review, thoughts........

This is the full follow up to my Book 2 done entry and Jillz Month 2 book review. Russell Simmons' Do You! 12 Laws to Access the Power in You to Achieve Happiness and Success, is really in my opinion, a great book for one reason, honesty. For those that don't know Russell's history, you get a taste of who he was how and why he changed and what that evolution has done for him personally and professionally. He doesn't beat you in the head with "You have to do this MY WAY!!!" rules or orders but rather honest suggestions on paths that have proven themselves to be successful for him and others. He doesn't attempt to be perfect and candidly admits to not always staying on course himself which I find very refreshing.

Russell is Hip Hop and as such he's someone that A LOT of people speak on, speak about, judge and critique, unfairly so at times. But this whole book this whole story goes right in line with a tip from last months book. Reading the story's and words of other successful people puts you in an improved mindset to better bring out your own personal success, so to that end I finish this personal review with my favorite quote, law, rule, whatever from this excellent book.

"Empower yourself through empowering others"

This is a good read that I'd recommend to others.

Month Ending Agenda.......

Final week of Feb and I'm feeling pretty good. Not amazing but blessed to see another sun rise and ready to continuing progressing in my personal productivity. I have a few goals for this week submit my paperwork to funnel money directly into my new savings account, start laying out my march budget to make sure I don't go crazy during bday celebration time. DON'T USE THE NEW CREDIT CARD!!! I know my credit is improving as I got approved for my first new credit card is yrs. I'm keeping it as an emergency credit line. I allow $50 of monthly spending on it just to keep it active. Hmmmmm what else, finish up this last class for the HR certificate. I wanted to jump right into the next course but apparently I have to wait until June to do so. No problem I'll just use that as review time. Um I have a few books to get my hands on Steve Harvey's recent release and possibly Hill Harper's letters to a Young Brother as next months reading, pending Jillz approval.

We'll see what else I come up with today.

Ladies read this and let it sink in......seriously

There is no truer statement: men are simple. Get this into your head first and everything you learn about us in this book will begin to fall into place. Once you get that down, you'll have to understand a few essential truths: men are driven by who they are, what they do, and how much they make. No matter if a man is a CEO, a CON, or both, everything he does is filtered through his title (who he is), how he gets that title (what he does), and the reward he gets for the effort (how much he makes). These three things make up the basic DNA of manhood- the three accomplishments every man must achieve before he feels like he's truly fulfilled his destiny as a man. And until he's achieved his goal in those three areas, the man you're dating, committed to, or married to will be too busy to focus on you.

- Steve Harvey
Opening of his new book Act like a Lady but think like a Man.

Week outlook....Operation Improve U

Ok, ok.....the previous week was interesting yet very informative.I will extract positives from ALL situations. As this week begins I have a few goals. Start running to start the day. I'll push to get up earlier to be some trend mill work to get that early morning sweat up and burn sum extra calories. The inverse of this is that it'll force me to go sleep at a more decent time. I've been a night owl since like 2001 so it'll be a change but I need to to properly support my working out. I'm also going to add an additional day of Ab Ripper to my schedule. It's only 16 mins so that should not be hard.I want to have my Online HR/Compensation class finished early, ideally before the weekend.Continue my progress reading Do You. I may just finish it this week.
I did my taxes so that's straight. And overall just keep progressing forward.Hope you all have big thing and great growth this week.

Jan. Book Review: The Greatness Guide

As Jan. finishes off it's time to drop a few words on my monthly reading. I accepted the challenge from Mz. J and here we go. This month's book was The Greatness Guide by Robin Sharma. It is really a collection of 101 lessons/points that can be applied to life for improvement, success and overall positivity. The author really keeps the vibe casual as he creates this guide during his day to day business. He lets you know if he just dropped his kids off, is heading to lunch, in an international hotel or just on the side of the road because he had a thought. The reading is easily laid out in 2-3pg per lesson format so before you know it your done. Spilling over with quotes this book is one that you can reflect on and return to for consistent motivation. There are too many quotes to list them all but I'll reference I few that are on my mind currently.

1)"Every time you say yes to something that's unimportant, you say no to something that is important."

2)"Too many among us are afraid to be ourselves. So we give up our dreams to follow the crowd."

3)"Do good and leave behind a virtue that the storm of time can never destroy."

4)"Person who catches 2 rabbits catches neither."

5)"The people or circumstances that take you out of your power have extraordinary value: They reveal your limiting beliefs, fears and false assumptions."

This is an excellent book and starting point for a year devoted to personal improvement.