TOP DRAWER BOOK REVIEW
by
HL Carpenter

 

Get Out of Your Own Way at Work
by Mark Goulston, M.D.
ISBN 0-399-15266-0
248 pages; hardcover; $24.95
G.P. Putnam’s Sons, New York, 2005

The bad news is threefold: There are plenty of ways to trip yourself up, you probably learned most of them in childhood, and it’s going to take work to get over them.

The good news? It is possible to climb out of whatever self-destructive rut you may be stuck in. At least, Dr. Mark Goulston, consultant and clinician, thinks so. He’s provided action steps for everything from performing a jerkectomy on yourself to training your inner puppy.

Comprised of forty brief chapters, punctuated by motivational quotes and lots of white space, Get Out of Your Own Way at Work offers sound-bite psychology for the patience-impaired. Pick your problem, read a quick overview about others with the same problem, then get to work on fixing yourself.

Okay, maybe it’s not so easy. That last step can be a little tough. In the appendix, Dr. Goulson points out it will take at least six months before the changes you’re trying to make become effective. And it may take longer if your problem is procrastination (Chapter 1), quitting too soon (Chapter 17) or making excuses (Chapter 29).

Of course, all of those are reasons you need to read the book and Get Out of Your Own Way at Work.

 

Review originally published April 2006.