The Practicing Mind: Developing Focus and Discipline in Your Life Master Any Skill or Challenge by Learning to Love the Process Paperback – April 10, 2012

What a wonderful book. Whether you stay at home, work a routine job, or have a professional "practice" this is a book that can help you get more out of life, calmly and effectively.---My favorite passage is where he talks about having so many urgent and consequential deadlines that he can't possibly do them all in time, and his income and career will suffer - he does a 180 and s-l-o-w-s down however instead of hyperventilating and speeding up. And gets done sooner! With less stress and so much more peace of mind.Reading this you would have every right to be skeptical; all i can say is i've tried it. I found myself in a similar situation - everything on the line, big consequences to several things at once, not enough time - and suddenly remembered this firsthand example shared by the author.... and i slowed down.And like the author, i also got the several things done all at once, just inside all deadlines. So you might try this yourself if you're super jammed.If this works - and i'm suggesting along with the author that it does - it doesn't necessarily mean go super slow all the time and in all circumstances. Or to try to be absolutely frictionless - a certain level of stress keeps us alert and alive and can even be fun. But this is about circumstances in which there is so much stress it becomes clear that the stress itself has reached levels that are - counterproductive. And it helps smooth out the ride in general overall to follow this practice.Again, why would it work to slow down when all indications and pressures are that it's time to speed up?1. The energy burned up in stress is maintained to get the work completed. Slowing down in such a situation allows you to be completely immersed in the project or assignment and all of its details and how they piece together.2. Plus you're not wasting time and energy making mistakes and then making up for the mistakes like when allowing yourself to feel pressured and rushed. You move with the assurance that some one won't also say, oh well, you got it done on time but the work was crap.3. When there's a lot of extra adrenalin and cortisol it can actually be corrosive to your body. Not being caught up in that kind of negative cycle allows you to do your best work.So all of your resources get engaged in doing your best work in good time.---A great firsthand account woven with delightful perspectives. Easily readable. You can learn a lot in one read-through but you may want to read at least once again. Could be one of those books to review every year or two.This is a life changer without telling you what to do or how to do it. Got another book with all kinds of incremental goals and cartoon images designed to motivate, but read this first, and the quality of this one was so much greater.Doesn't preach, doesn't pump you up, doesn't yell, kind of an antidote for all the rushing and pushing in our society today, and best of all just speaks from experience.The title is very fitting - it's about a mind that understands that all effort and learning is a practice in the moment - and it's about engaging the mind itself also as a practice.---Would give it 6 stars if i could.

Updated: September 2010Originally, I left a one star review of this book, and a review that didn't have much character or content other than a tone of "I'm mad at the world." A couple of fellow "Amazon-er's" called me out on it. At first, it didn't really make much of a difference to me, other than bring about an antagonistic feeling that I had to defend my position. Maybe it was their approach, or maybe I was still too far down and out? Nonetheless, I am grateful. I suppose it was their "encouragement," that stuck somewhere in my mind and led me to give this book another chance.Now, I'm looking at things from a completely different perspective, and I've revisited this book in a new light, from this new perspective. I've struggled for so long to make some fundamental changes within myself, and I finally feel that I've got my feet on the ground and am making progress. I've dug up all sorts of old books to help inspire me in my pursuit, and this was one of them.The second time around, I've found a new appreciation for this book because I feel it highlights pretty well most of the turning points or conundrums I've encountered in my quest for self-improvement, granted the author often draws from and relates everything to his own life experience, which, I admit, didn't quite resonate so well with me the first time around; i.e., I know nothing about music. However, I have noticed some radical shifts and changes that I've made in my own life, "the wake left behind the boat," if you will, quite similar to the author's experience in college when he became again frustrated with his musical progression, and happened to come across his "5-year plan" to perfection which he had written for himself just 3 years prior. This is where he realized that the real rewards were in the struggle, in a sense, and that, at least in music, the battle could never truly be won. At first he was devastated, briefly, but then found an inner peace when he realized that he could ALWAYS continue to grow. The truth is, you get out what you put in. I had a similar "epiphany" of sorts when I recognized that I had consciously created real, lasting, and significant change in myself, and I used that as proof that I could muster up the strength to do it again if I followed the same basic steps; it was also quite inspirational to have such a realization. And now, I no longer focus solely on the "horizon."Finally, I'd add that this is a quick and easy read... but don't let that fool you! Don't over look the words of wisdom and the ideas reiterated throughout this book. It might not come to you at first glance, first read, over night, or within a year, but it's there hiding in plain sight. I guess that's why many of us struggle to find and incorporate them because they are so fundamental that they can so easily be overlooked, and taken for granted! My guess is that I bought this book over two years ago, and it's only now that I'm finally realizing it's potential. Albeit, the journey is more important than the end or the start. And I honestly can't devote any changes I've made to this book in particular, because I've read so many along the way, before and after, which also have inspired and guided me to manifest the changes that I have, and continue working on those that I desire. But I will certainly keep this book nearby in case I should slip or need a simple yet potent reminder of how to stay or where to get back on course.By the way, the only reason I gave this book 4 stars as opposed to 5 stars is because while I think it's a good book, I think it can be better. However, paradoxically, I think that is part of why I think this book is, in a way, great. Writing is an art, and there is no real perfection in art, there is only freedom. While I feel this book lacks some finer details or technical information that would appeal to someone like me, who likes to think that there is only logic and reason, and little room for faith, I have grown to recognize the dire importance of having at least a little faith, at least to have faith in oneself, and in this case, to have faith in the process. I think that writing a book is certainly hard work. I'm sure there's lots of writing and rewriting and rewriting... till you finally just give in and say, "that's it, I'm beating a dead horse and this will just have to do, or I will go mad!" And that's where faith comes in, it's the first step, and it can be daunting, especially if you shy away from it. So, while I give the content 4 stars, I say "Bravo!" for putting pen to paper, and even going the (several) steps further to getting this book to the press because that, I am sure, certainly required great discipline as well as "The Practicing Mind."