Peaks and Valleys: Making Good and Bad Times Work for You--At Work and in Life

Page 44 is a perfect visual representation for understanding the tools this education brings. Using the benefits of this material won't be as easy as reading it...but all great books should be read more than once. Read, reread, apply, and repeat.

PEAKS AND VALLEYS by Spencer Johnson Spencer Johnson, billed as "The king of parables" by USA TODAY, has long been one of my favorite authors . . . his ONE MINUTE MANAGER, co-authored with Ken Blanchard, helped revolutionize my thinking about management, and his ONE MINUTE FATHER helped me become a better parent. His latest, PEAKS AND VALLEYS, is the story of a young man who lives unhappily in a valley until he meets an old man who lives on a peak . . . this encounter changes the former's life, and it will change yours too as you encounter both good and bad times. I particularly appreciated being reminded that during bad times, I need to: * Relax, knowing the valleys end. Do the opposite of what put you in the Valley. Get outside of yourself: Be of more service at work and more loving in life. Uncover the good that is hidden in a bad time and use it to your advantage. By the same token, when times are good, I need to: * Be humble and grateful. Do more of what got you there. Keep making things better. Do more for others. Save resources for your upcoming Valleys. You may think you are reading nothing new here, but the material catches up on you . . . it's something that we all need to reminded about and Johnson does an excellent job of doing this in PEAKS AND VALLEYS. I was fortunate to have heard a CD copy of this book, and am glad that I did because it contained a bonus audio interview with the author that shared some of his unique insights on putting the principles to work.

This book is a must reading, and as the book cover says, a real GEM. One of the positive points of this book is that it is right straight to the point in just 100 pages. We all know how sometimes these kind of books go around and around in circles, beating around the bush, repeating the same point over and over, to fill out 300 pages. This book is not. This book is to be highlighted every page, every single line. We are living tough times now. The question is: what do you do when you are down, so when things recover, you are on the top of the game again? I can't praise this book enough, which has helped ME reconsider my whole professional situation and that is already giving me great results. Read it!

The first Spencer Johnson book I read was Who Moved My Cheese. This book follows the same formula. The reader is told a story. At points in the story the author stops and explains a self-help message, learned by one or more characters, which is relevant to the reader. A series of self-help messages (which are relevant individually or as a group) lead to a conclusion about how to make life better. This story focuses on a man who is troubled by life. A friend tells him a story about a man, also troubled by life, who lives in a valley and makes a trek up a peak to see a wise man. The man also makes other treks up and down other peaks and valleys. In this story the man learns that peaks and valleys are part of life. The key to living a richer life is how you perceive and address the peaks and valleys and what you learn while you are traversing the peaks and valleys. I have found the information in Spencer Johnson's books often times to be intuitive. For instance one message in this book is "You can have fewer bad times when you appreciate and manage your good times wisely." Yet Spencer Johnson also addresses truths that I often want to forget. One message is "The pain in a valley can wake you up to a truth you have been ignoring." Finally Spencer Johnson always manages to come up with a couple of things I had not really thought about. For instance one message is "The path out of a valley appears when you choose to see things differently." As mentioned these messages correspond to events in the story. Spencer Johnson is most effective when the events in the story lead the reader to the message. In fact, when he is at this best the author does not even need to state the message because the reader will get the message without having to read it. If you liked Spencer Johnson's works before you will be pleased with Peaks and Valleys. If you have never read anything by him and you are looking for a story which leads you to key truths about life, without a bunch of analysis, then you will enjoy this work.

I've read and applied dozens of management and self-help books over the years. This book is a great message wrapped up in a very easy to implement fable. You can read it in a couple hours, and even reading it to your kids would greatly benifit their lives. The print is large and clear, so those struggling with vision issues can use the book. My analytical side keeps trying to find holes in the whole concept - like if your job is 'in the valley' why would you even want to go back to it, but then when I realize I'm over-anyalizing and just stick to the basic concepts I realize it doesn't matter - it's the message that counts. I'd recommend this book to everyone. The bookmark included is a great reminder tool you can slip into your wallet when you're done with the book.

If you are looking for a self-help book to get you out of your rut in your career, your relationships, and in the day-to-day of living your life, then PEAKS AND VALLEYS may just do the trick. This book gives you simple, common sense tools for surviving the low times (valleys) in your life when things may seem to be the worst while giving you the proper perspective for the good times (peaks) so you don't get too caught up in the moment. This balance and stability will serve you well in EVERY area of your life and we owe a great debt of gratitude to Dr. Spencer Johnson for imparting his life-coaching skills in such an easy-to-read, but highly profound book.