Whatever You Think, Think the Opposite

Pushing sixty and laid off from my last job of a decade made me put things into perspective. I started out at my last company (over a decade ago) able to be creative and resolve tense situations and technical snafus with total carte blanche. But due to several company merges, the last five years found my creativity shut down in lieu of taking direction (with no input allowed) for day to day operations. I turned my brain off and just waited as the layoffs got closer and closer to me. Now that I am free again, I found this book a great help in kick starting my brain. After reading it I decided I would take a "Roman Holiday" - just spend the summer doing what I want to do before I choose a "job" or "career" to go back to. I am taking all sorts of classes - music, writing, painting, investing (so I do not waste any money and do not stress out about having the summer off), meditation, tai chi. I read through this book once. Now I am taking a page a day, and journaling my own thoughts to what I have read. What I am finding out is that I am birthing a different person from a month ago, a year ago, a decade ago. And that new person will have something fun and wonderful to offer in the new work I choose that brings me joy. I highly recommend this book if you feel your creativity has abandoned you. Your mojo has not left you - it is just waiting for you to awaken it from a long nap and for you to start playing together again.

Flip the pages of this book and let yourself get surprised with the amazing ideas, stories and evoking images that are going to put your brain to work. Inspirational and the kind of book that you should have in your work desk to let your imagination fly.

I have given this book to so many people that I know who our artists and creative thinkers, and even some business people who could use a little jumpstart to get them “out of the box” so to speak. This is a great little reference book to keep by your bedside or somewhere you might pick up and just read a page at a time on any given day. It is full of useful and often hilarious anecdotes which will help you see things from different perspectives and build confidence in your own creativity, business acumen, and even your social skills. I also recommend that you purchased Paul Arden’s other book—“It’s not how good you are, it’s how good you want to be”. I consider that book to be the sibling of this one and having both of them will just double your happiness!

Arden's second book, like his first, is a zen take on your life in business. He does not tell you what to think as much as he tells you want he thinks and then challenges you to react, to think, to imagine. Great story on steady eddie v. reckless erica and how playing it safe is the least safe thing to do. Forces you to wonder which you are. His advice is anything but typical. To creative types he says don't worry about the medium you want , focus on the money you'll make---"it's honest." The juxtaposing of ideas with art and photos is well done---I liked the ask for a slap in the face advice(ask others to tell you what you did wrong, not what you did right) with the photo of a woman wincing at the slap to come. Why not 5 stars? If I read him right, it'd be an insult.

I love Paul Arden and this book was my first "Arden experience". Witty, full of good humor and some serious "food for thought". It doesn't matter what your position in life or what your goals are, this book will help you look at things from different angles, and challenge your own ideas about the way it is. A fun and short, casual read good for a quick travel or time-killer.

You really can't go wrong with this book. It's one of those books that you pick it up, read it, and you are done. but not just done, but inspired. It's a nice way of looking at something in a new point of view. I'm sure there is something to be learned from this book. It's a quick read. and it's just plain good.

Kinda eh, like a senior design student's final project if said student read some Nietzsche and though that haphazardly flipping common sense on its head is inherently valuable. There wasn't one single redeeming insight or piece of advice that stuck or made it worth my time, something you should not assume applies to you. The redeeming quality, worth two of the stars I'm giving, was that the book wasted very little of my time, I read it in one sitting, less than an hour. I've read much longer books with no payoff and no recourse.

This was a great book written by a creative industry veteran. The words are though provoking and fun to look at (if that's even possible for a book). Loved the contents, not only what it said, but how it was laid out. If you're in creative in any way I recommend this book. If you're not in creative, buy it anyway... makes a great bathroom reader or book for your office desk. Enjoy!

Full of interesting stories and examples on how thinking differently made a huge difference.

Compré este libro por recomendación de una persona que admiro. Es un libro ilustrativo y fácil de leer, en dos horas lo terminé y hasta hice un resumen del mismo. Es muy económico, vale totalmente la pena tenerlo en tu colección.

C'est un livre simple à lire (même pour une personne qui aurait un niveau moyen en Anglais) que je conseille vraiment à toutes les personnes ayant une activité artistique ou entrepreneuriale qui aimerait apprendre à penser en dehors des sentiers battus. Une écriture simple, quelques lignes et une image pour illustrer les propos, on comprend pourquoi l'auteur est considéré comme un génie de la publicité et le fameux adage "une image vaut mieux que mille mots" prend tout son sens.

Me encantó este libro. Aporta muchísimas ideas de márketing/publicidad e incluso de la misma vida donde gente que pensaba de determinada manera acabó consiguiendo objetivos simplemente pensando lo contrario a lo establecido. Es un libro muy ameno de leer, con ilustraciones y pequeñas historias en cada página, por lo que recomiendo su compra y lectura.

This book is very good, gives good suggestions/ guidelines, with simple and small statements. This book is more pictorial, and we can easily read it in an hour, I recommend to repeatedly read this book, to think better, and take better decisions in life. Might not be relevant, I saw a person reading this book interestingly, and just went for it. I am very much satisfied with Amazon Packing and especially very quick delivery.