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Book review – Your Extra-Ordinary Life: Simple steps to a life of fulfilment

Author: Thomas D Poland

Reviewed by: Fiona Powell

I’m a course junkie. Over the years I’ve been to many, many workshops, courses, seminars and conferences. I left school at a very tender age (I’d scored a brilliant job as a trainee draughtsperson) so I was keenly aware that my continued learning and development was squarely my responsibility; not the governments or even my employers’. And I love to learn new stuff, different ways of thinking, of looking at the world and broadening my horizons - I’m an open and eager student.

A few years ago I came across the ESP programme – the entrepreneur success programme – through an introductory seminar. The concepts of this programme resonated with me so much that I signed up straight away for the three year programme. And I loved, loved it. Every 90 days Tom Poland would lead a one day session packed with practical ways to make ourselves, our relationships and our businesses extraordinary. We’d take away notes, calendars and tapes and for the next 90 days we’d meet up with our course buddies, chew over what we’d learnt, and put it into practice.

Tom Poland was the coach, presenter, facilitator and author of the material. Although I was a wary and jaded course junkie, Tom’s material was fresh, enlightening and really balanced; not only did he cover strategies to build our business but also ways to look after our health and our relationships – a holistic approach that pushed all my buttons.

And Tom walked the talk; he’d done a ton of research, he’d put it into practice himself, lived it and coached successful business people and listened to their feedback – so he wasn’t spouting from theory. I admired Tom’s integrity and his passion for developing others. He led by example and went on to climb Mt Cook, complete an Ironman triathlon, and race superbikes - all extraordinary dreams of his own.

I was such an advocate of the programme that when we held our Her Business Conferences we invited some of Tom’s colleagues to present some of the course material.

Even now, I still believe the ESP programme was one of the best things I have done in terms of developing myself personally and my business and just looking at life and business from a different perspective.

So Tom finally wrote a book in 2006 – and I (of course) loved it. ”Your Extra-Ordinary Life – simple steps to a life of fulfilment,” is written in Tom’s typical direct style. The book is all around creating an extra-ordinary life (and although you may well think what other kind of life would I want – it is really easy to get caught up on the day to day treadmill of just existing). Tom writes about understanding your purpose, identifying your values, creating your personal vision and your goals. And this isn’t ‘just another’ shallow goal setting book; there are 334 pages of stories, practical strategies and exercises.

The final chapter is about the Extra-Ordinary Personal Goal; the one goal that takes you way out of your comfort zone, isn’t business related, makes people say ‘wow’ and will be talked about at your funeral. Now that’s living a ‘life less ordinary’!

The ESP programme itself is no longer available – so reading this book could be as close to the course material as you can get!

Available from www.tompoland.com ($29.95 Au) or from Amazon