I read Section 2. It’s all about believing in yourself, and your power to be successful. Some of it was iffy for me, but part of it made me think.

I have written about karma before, and about how most of us don’t really understand the philosophy behind it. It’s a hard thing, watching known “bad guys” run around all happy and successful while there are really good people struggling and suffering. Jillian Michaels says that bad people who succeed are probably unhappy, then she emphasizes this by adding, “”don’t we all know that bullies are the most scared and insecure people?” Uh oh – red flag. Some of this book smacks of typical self help boilerplate (snarked up Jillian Michael’s style – yikes, I might be too grumpy to be blogging right now – oh well), and now we get this.

Her assertion that bullies have low self esteem has largely been refuted, even in the relatively mainstream press. I almost expect to hear next that we only use a small percentage of our brains (also untrue – yeah, I’m pretty grumpy alright). It seems to me, and this is untested, that “bad people who succeed” are pretty happy – some of them clearly use their success as evidence that they are above the rules the rest of us are supposed to follow (insert reference to any powerful lying, cheating politician here).

She spends a great deal of time focusing on helping us face past demons that might be keeping us from maximizing our success. Who wronged us? Who made us feel low enough that we don’t think we deserve success? The implication is that everyone who is not currently maximizing their potential must have some past hurt that needs to be healed. I don’t really buy this (although of course it applies to some).

Okay, so some of us DO need an attitude adjustment (maybe even me sometimes), and I appreciate some of her tips on getting past anxiety and fear. Here is a quote: “Maybe you’re the kind of person who, when anxious, obsesses and reacts impulsively in ways that only add fuel to the fire. If so, then think of something you can do in response to anxiety so you don’t make matters worse.”

For anxiety: One of her tips is to stay “rooted in the present” instead of wasting our time imagining the horrible things that have not happened. She also advises to use our energy to stand back and find a solution instead of “freaking out.” Have you ever been up all night worrying about a problem? All of that adrenaline wasted on worry, instead of using it to find a solution.

For fear: I like the part where she suggests we run through best and worst case scenarios in our heads in order to push past the fear. It kind of reminds me of something I read when I was pregnant and studying pain management techniques to prepare for natural childbirth – a couple of books said to be curious about the pain, to focus all of our concentration on the discomfort, and that doing this will somehow diminish what we are feeling. For the best case visualization, she gives an example of a friend who was afraid to ask out a woman – Michaels advised him to imagine the best that could happen – he imagined himself falling in love with and marrying the woman – then, armed with new confidence, he asked for a date. Today they are engaged.

I also really like the part about failure helping us learn how to succeed. Instead of just slinking away when we fail, it’s better to analyze what happened, even to the point of asking the people involved. (Why wasn’t I hired? etc.) This effort might not affect our current situation, but it can help us do things differently the next time opportunity presents itself.

Scroll down for other posts about Unlimited:

Review
Part 1: Unlimited: How to Build an Exceptional Life, by Jillian Michaels
Part 2: Anxiety and Fear
Part 3: Target Practice
Part 4: You Didn’t Mean Not To