Friday, August 31, 2007

Life Moxie! Ambition on a Mission: 9 Strategies for Taking Life by the Horns

Do you feel stuck emotionally, that your dreams are unfulfilled, that you are wandering aimlessly from day to day, that your job, your personal life, your relationships are not at all what you want for yourself? The answer, according to author Ann Tardy, founder of LifeMoxie! Enterprises, is to create a life of "moxie."

Moxie is a quality we can recapture, if we follow the nine-step strategy Tardy reveals in her fine book, Life Moxie! Ambition on a Mission: 9 Strategies for Taking Life by the Horns. Using examples taken from her own life and career experiences, as well as those of associates, clients and celebrities, Tardy has developed a sensible and usable guide to identifying and realizing one's dreams, turning passions into achievable goals, and seizing the day – each day – to we make the most of our lives.

What is moxie? It's that feeling of invincibility, spontaneity and "I can do anything" that we all had as children not yet tainted by disappointment, fear and questions about our own competence. It's that feeling of passion, excitement and optimism which may have infused our lives but became lost in the quest for personal or financial security. Tardy says, "It is the determination and courage to move forward in the face of all that life throws your way. It is operating from a strength of purpose; following from your heart and soul, not your circumstances; and facing difficulty with courage and grit."

Tardy introduces readers to the nine, practical and easy to understand, strategies that, when implemented together, will help create a life filled with moxie, instill confidence, reignite our passions, and accomplish our individual "beat-the-alarm-clock" goals. Among the strategies, Tardy suggests that we celebrate our successes, whether they are large or small, oust the "naysayers" from our lives, seek out "yaysayers" who support us, asking directly for what we need, and, perhaps scariest of all, to go for what we want without first planning it to death.

This book came to me at the right time in my life. I have been struggling with some issues, not quite sure which direction to head. While I am not seeking a new career, I am stuck in a rut that I need and want to pull out of. I had forgotten that the best things in mylife were achieved with moxie, through leaping without a plan and making decisions based on my heart rather than killing them with my head.

I highly recommend Life Moxie!

Lise Hull
Sunpiper Book Review

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