Book Review: The Charge – Activating the 10 Human Drives that make you feel Alive
Do you have any great books on your summer reading list this year? Well last summer, I wrote this review of an insightful little book written by online marketing guru, Brendon Burchard. Thought I would reprint it in my blog here.
Author: Brendon Burchard
ISBN: 978-1-4516-6753-0
Publisher: Free Press
Are you in need of a little boost of motivation and inspiration this summer? Then you should grab a copy of Brendon Burchard’s new book: The Charge. Utilizing a great mix of research from neuroscience, case studies from his work with high performers, as well as personal stories, this book is an engaging read from start to finish.
There are so many of us living uninspired lives. Even when we achieve the results we think we want, we often still feel unfulfilled. Depression, stress and anxiety related illnesses are on the rise. This seems so strange in an era where so much is possible and so many opportunities exist for each of us. We live in a world where creativity and uniqueness are celebrated and yet, we still crave being endorsed or validated by others.
We want the steps to follow which will guarantee success.
Enter Brendan Burchard, High Performance Speaker and trainer. He believes that we all have the capacity to live extraordinary lives. We don’t have to settle for complacency and ordinary. Transformation can happen really fast. Everyone has the chance to redefine themselves no matter what obstacles may show up in the path. As you turn the pages, you begin to appreciate that this author believes that the success you want in your life aren’t going to simply show up one day, you need to take responsibility for generating them. Brendon reminds readers that the power plant doesn’t have energy, it generates it! Be the power plant!
OK, so you want the process. Brendon has broke it down for you. He talks about 10 human drives for self regulation and social belonging: Control, Competence, Congruence, Caring, Connection, Change, Challenge, Creative Expression, Contribution and Consciousness. By activating these internal drives, we can begin to live a super charged life.
Only two things will change your life. Either something new comes into it or something new comes out of you. Finding something new is nice but creating something new is better . Self awareness needs self direction. If you want to live a fully charged life, you have to show up consistently and crush it every day In spite of everything. When you are living in fear you are not present. You can’t hear or notice or participate. We have to change that!
Here is a brief excerpt from the end of the book that doesn’t give away his ideas throughout the book, but gives you a taste for his strategies:
The Charged Life urges us to transcend our normal ways of thinking and shift to a higher gear by better controlling the dashboard of our own consciousness. It also challenges us to find a higher purpose and meaning in our own human experience and to rise above our own circumstance and connect with something greater than ourselves, to stretch beyond the mundane to the magical.
It’s a different kind of life, to be sure – a much more consciously designed existence. But what else is there? Shall we let our impulses alone control us, or shall we direct our attention and activities to a higher state of motivation, meaning, and morality? Shall we let the world go spinning past us, or shall we use our presence to slow it down, take it in, appreciate the magic of it all? And through each day and up to the very end, when we sense those last moments of life, shall we simply and casually wonder about the force of something beyond us, or shall we slip the bonds of our limited senses and choose to connect with and live through divine love? The choice, as it has always been, is yours.
By the end of this book, I understood that by activating these drivers, life will feel different and the world will become more wonderful. Carry the charge for everyone and for yourself – every day!
