Your Best Year Yet!: Ten Questions for Making the Next Twelve Months Your Most Successful Ever

Favorite quote: "Everyone should know the feeling of overcoming fear and mastering something. People who aren't taught that become soggy." -Katherine Hepburn Five years ago, I picked up this book on a whim for about six pounds in Mysteries bookshop near Seven Dials in London. Shortly before new year's eve, I got together with a few friends and went through the ten questions listed on the back cover of the book, creating in the process a one-page "Best Year Yet" plan. Not only was the next year my best year yet, I have repeated the process every December since, (sometimes on my own, sometimes with friends), and each passing year has once again become my "best year yet". Last year for the first time my business partner and I sat down and did the process for our then suffering enterprise; suffice it to say that despite the occasional hiccup, our bank manager is once again our friend! The author is also an executive coach, and while many of the models she uses are not original, (she borrows particularly heavily from Steven Covey's seven habits), they are universally useful and occasionally reap (for me) surprising results. Despite the interesting stories, examples, and insights, this is far more of a "doing" book than a "reading" book, and it includes a complete do it youself Best Year Yet workshop in the back. Beyond highly recommended!

In exactly the way the author claims, this book has really helped me improve my life over the last 12 months. The strength of this book is its powerful simplicity. Many of the ideas, suggestions and techniques can be found elsewhere in many other popular self-help writings, but Jinny Ditzler's approach inspires action almost effortlessly. Compared to other similar books, it is almost impossible to read this without making at least one or two of her lists which then empowers you to make positive life changes.A criticism might be that it is fairly basic stuff that we know already, but answering the various lists of questions here brings new clarity and confidence about what is going on, or not going on, in one's life. Parts one and two are preparation for "the ten best year yet questions" in part three. These are basically all about looking honestly at your life, seeing clearly what works and what doesn't, then setting clear and specific goals in different areas over the next 12 months.If, like me, you are someone who loves reading these kind of books but finds that it often seems to take rather a lot of hard work to put the ideas into practice, I recommend Your Best Year Yet! Inevitably I did not achieve some of my goals for the last 12 months, but the considerable improvements I did make (plus increased clarity about goals for the future) were partly due to getting a realistic focus from this book.

This is, thankfully, not one of those "find the light" self-help books. In fact, it is so grounded in reality, that you can feel a little annoyed with yourself after doing some of the exercises. What you discover, reading this book, are mostly things you already knew. The genius lies in the order in which the author has presented the questions, so you have serveal sequential "aha" moments throughout. The book shows you how to learn your own lessons. Occasionally there are pricelss tidbits, which, taken out of context, might seem trite. But she delivers them right in the middle of the relevant exercise, where your brain is forming that exact recognition by itself, and then BAM she hits you with a one liner which brings it all together, and you think "yeah!". It took me well over the suggested 3 hours to complete the exercises, although I did it progressively as I read each chapter. While not "ground-breaking" this book is definitely "life-changing". In hindsight, I knew this stuff already. I just couldn't seem to do anything about it, and this book offered the clarity and direction I needed. I will use this book every year.

I've used "Your Best Year Yet" since the mid-90s in its U.K. edition. Ms. Ditzler's 10-question process takes about half a day to complete, and disciplines you to create a one-year plan that balances your successes, mistakes, values, and major life roles. The process stresses reality, rather than fantasy; Ms. Ditzler is a strong believer in focus. Every time I've worked through the book, I was sure I knew where I would end up... and each time, my final goal list was quite different and much more balanced than when I began. And yes, in the four years since starting to use this book, each year has been far better than the last.

Having read many self improvement/leadership effectiveness books, this was the first book to truly enable me to make the transformation from cognitive understanding to behavioral change. The book is an easy, engaging read with many real life examples. The step by step process goes beyond traditional goal setting. The reader can immediately apply the concepts to their personal life and move themselves into action. Upon completing the work pages in the book I had a personal strategic plan for making my next 12 months my "Best Year Yet." It was a fun, energizing experience.