The Daily Six: Six Simple Steps to Find the Perfect Balance of Prosperity and Purpose by John Chappelear Review by C.S. Clarke, Ph.D. Are you are a Type A, stressed out, work, work, work achievement junkie who is not really satisfied with the half-life you're living, but doesn't really respect the "touchy-feely" pseudo-psychologist self-improvement gurus? I've got a great book recommendation for you. The Daily Six is written by a hard-driving, Type A, no-nonsense businessman who ran headlong into a kind of brick wall of enlightenment that helped him change his focus and his life. He learned how to make a whole, balanced life for himself and teaches you to adopt the perspectives and actions that will produce the same balance without the brick wall. You'll find John Chappelear is someone you can respect and believe, because he's had the experience and he makes very good sense. Like the good businessman he is, he gets right to his points when he outlines and explains six practices you need to incorporate into your daily life to be successful, prosperous and personally fulfilled. Yet, he includes exactly enough instructive detail and plenty of apt anecdotes to keep a smooth flow of interest in this easy, fast read. He is both succinct and persuasive. Best of all, he doesn't ask you to add time and tasks to your already hectic life. He asks you to change your focus to be able to select the most important things to do to live well and happily. And to drop the unnecessary busyness and worry that you never needed in the first place. Take the short time needed to read this book. You'll be glad.
More books about spiritual renewal have hit the shelves of business and management literature in recent years, as a generation of kinder, gentler leaders comes of age. Compared to earlier practitioners of the proverbial stiff upper lip, this new group of leaders grapples more openly with issues of burnout and emotions generally, and finds solace in books such as
Resonant Leadership and
The One Minute Manager Balances Work and Life. Following in this tradition comes
The Daily Six, which offers its own recipe for business leaders seeking to preserve their mental health amid stressful environments.
Author John Chappelear writes from personal experience. A classically driven, Type A personality, he opens his book by telling readers about his own entrepreneurial adventures, first in building a 50-person company, then his subsequent fall from the grace of a "multi-million dollar business, a beautiful home on the Potomac River, luxury cars, and more." Chappealear lost his way, he explains, due to a lack of perspective on his own situation, which in turn rearranged his values and left him making poor, ill-considered decisions. Without the ability to balance prosperity with purpose, he quickly felt the strain of a difficult and unsustainable life, not to mention business situation.
Fortunately for readers, from the crucible of his experience, Chappelear has forged recommendations on how they can avoid fates similar to his. They come in the form of 6 values, or strategies, which he counsels business leaders to practice on a daily basis. The values are: willingness, quiet time for reflection or meditation, love and forgiveness, service to others, gratitude, and action.
How individuals will practice the book's "Daily Six" recommendations may differ. What Chappelears offers is commentary on why they should adopt these six values or practices over others. Not every reader will enjoy the emotionally open, psychologically candid nature of this book. However, those who want a tonic from the everyday humdrum of business, and who want practical suggestions on how they can turn toxic situations into tolerable ones, could do worse than to consult Chappelear's manual for self-improvement. The small steps it recommends can lead to big changes. --Peter Han
