SuccessMapping: Achieve What You Want...Right Now!
Arlene Johnson
Emerald Book Company (2009)
In this volume, Arlene Johnson offers an eight-step process by which to create a map for individual achievement. "In other words, SuccessMapping...the processes we can use to realize more of our personal potential." After identifying the "eight success blockers," she devotes a separate chapter to each of the eight steps. It is helpful to think of the process of personal development as a journey of discovery as well as a sequence of achievements. I agree with Johnson that many (if not most) of the most valuable lessons will be learned from mistakes and even failures. Johnson does a brilliant job of organizing her material and then presenting it within a sequence and framework that enable her to establish and then sustain a personal rapport with her reader. In certain respects, she functions as a travel agent. In other respects, she functions as a mentor. To me, she seems to be a pragmatic idealist: she combines a passion to understand and then explain what works, what doesn't, and why with an rock-solid faith in what is possible if (huge "if") an individual is willing and able to make and then sustain a commitment to her or his personal development. Johnson is to be commended for her skillful use of a number of reader-friendly devices in each chapter that include a brief list of purposes or objectives, the relevant "Success Blocker," "Important" reminders that serve as heads-up, self-audits that actively involve the reader in the process, and a "Checkpoint" at the chapter's conclusion.
This book includes four uncommonly informative appendices. My guess (only a guess) is that Appendix Three: Success Map will be of greatest interest and value but after a careful reading of the first appendix, "At a Glance - SuccessMapping® Step Checkpoints," and then completion of exercises in the second, "SuccessMapping Worksheets." I also presume to suggest that those embark upon the eight-step process keep a journal near-at-hand and record their daily initiatives, what they learned from them, their thoughts and feelings, and anything else that will expand and enrich the learning process. The process that Arlene Johnson recommends requires commitment, patience, determination, and focus. That is the challenge and, yes, that is also the opportunity. Those who read this book are urged to check out the wealth of resources at www.SuccessMapping.com.
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