7 Ways You Screw Up Your Life

Who are the other contributors? 

Chris Brogan

Chris Brogan wrote the Foreword for 7 Ways You Screw Up Your Life (and how to unscrew it).

He is a ten-year veteran of using social media and technology to build digital relationships for businesses, organizations, and individuals. Chris speaks, blogs, writes articles, and makes media of all kinds at http://www.chrisbrogan.com, a blog in the top 20 of the Advertising Age Power150, and in the top 100 on Technorati.

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Becky McCray

Becky is a small town entrepreneur, liquor store owner, cattle rancher, and blogger. As a consultant, she helps people translate their thoughts into the right words to sell themselves and their organization through websites, grant applications, and marketing materials.

One of the areas discussed in the book is failure, and fear of failure. Becky wrote a great chapter called, "Failing Well".

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Jeremiah Owyang

Part of unscrewing your life is learning to overcome fear. For many people, their greatest fear (right behind death!) is speaking in public. Since Jeremiah is a professional speaker, I interviewed him for the book.

Jeremiah is a well known web strategy and media expert and is sought out by both Fortune 1000 and startup companies. He is currently Director of Corporate Media Strategy at PodTech.net. In this role, he consults with PodTech's Fortune 1000. He also writes a daily blog Web Strategy by Jeremiah and speaks at Technology, PR, and Marketing conferences about web and media strategy.

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Susan Reynolds

Susan Reynolds is currently going through treatment for breast cancer, and has shared her journey on her website and Twitter. She has my deepest respect for her courage and honesty.

Susan has worked in public relations, design and marketing in the government and corporate world, and taught studio art while juggling children and corporate wifedom.

Susan contributed a wonderful chapter called, "Living Well Despite Chronic Pain".

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Terry Starbucker

Terry wrote a terrific chapter called, "The Roller Coaster Theory" about the ups and downs that life throws at us.

Terry is a native Midwesterner now living on the East Coast, spreading "realistic optimism" through a philosophy he calls "Half-Fullism". He's been in the business world for over 26 years in various leadership positions, most recently as a senior operations executive for a service business based in the Rocky Mountain west.

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Liz Strauss

Every time I think of Liz, I smile. She's just that kind of person. She is a dear friend and the kindest person you'd ever want to know. She has known me longer than any of the contributors, and didn't hesitate to offer to help with the book, despite her extremely busy schedule. Her "Open Mike Tuesday Night Chats" are legendary for the dozens of bloggers who gather for fun and conversation.

Liz works with individuals and businesses to find the passion and strategy that makes meaning, and moves clients forward almost immediately. A founder of SOBCon, Liz has worked in print, software, and online publishing. Her writing is known for its warm, authentic voice that shows sincere appreciation of others.

Liz wrote a fabulous chapter called, "Cherishing Failure".

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Media Mentions 

People are talking!

A Tribute to Perserverance

Marti Lawrence is one of those people who make you smile every time you hear from her. Her online demeanor is nothing but sunshine.

And I find that absolutely inspiring, for reasons that go well beneath the surface.

Marti, you see, has not had an easy life. She has gone through a lot of hardship and pain, setbacks and losses. While that in and of itself is not entirely unusual, how she's handled all of that, and lived to tell about it with a sparkle in her eye, is the real inspiring story.

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Small Biz Survival

7 Ways You Screw Up Your Life
Monday, December 01, 2008

Marti Lawrence has pulled together an all star cast (including a small contribution from me) for her third book, 7 Ways You Screw Up Your Life.

All the principles apply to straightening out your business, as well as your personal life, and Marti presents them in a clear and amusing way.

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10 Great Books For the Holidays (and Help Preserve our National Parks)

One of the things I've really enjoyed doing on this blog is reviewing books - all kinds of books. The list is now up to 29, and they are all listed in "Starbucker's Amazon Store".

In the spirit of the holiday season, if you visit my Amazon page and buy one of these books, (or any of the other 19 on the page) all of my commissions will be donated to one of my favorite charities, the National Park Foundation.

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Freedom Writing - Book Review

Throughout the book, Marti interjects her charm and wit, while teaching you how to bypass all these barriers to your happiness. She really makes it look easy! Her humor is off the wall and had me laughing so hard I thought I would fall right out of my chair.

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R.J. Medak - Freelance Writer

Professional book review

Ms. Lawrence has written a book of down to earth common sense ways to improve your life, with a bit of humor. It is our mindset, which holds us back from achieving what we want in life. Ms. Lawrence gives you, with the help of guest contributors, some common sense ways to help change your mindset to reach your goals.

With some personal information from Ms. Lawrence, you can see where you might have set up some roadblocks to moving you life forward instead of being stuck in the same old rut. It does come down to the individual to improve their lot in life by playing the cards you were dealt, we all have to.

By reading this book and analyzing where you are in life, you have some tools and a different perspective that you can view your cards and improve your hand by dealing with the ones in your hand by looking at the hand differently. Turn what you think is a band hand into a great hand.

This book will help, but only if you are willing to do the work. I recommend this book to all for a look at how to improve your life.

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Unscrewing your life - the tools in a book version

By Todd R. Jordan

Marti has assembled an unconventional self help book. It's not a play nice kind of book. There are no kids gloves here. Marti and her coauthors talk about failure, success, and taking the road in between.

Marti wrote this book because she's lived it. Not just her either, but the other authors in the book. You'll hear what it takes to walk the 'unscrewed' path from business owners, folks that have been fired, and another with a debilitating disease.

Each contributor shares their thoughts in a personable and approachable way. Marti does this the best of all.

Here's an especially good excerpt:
"Even before the little voice in your head forms a sentence, there is a deeper place, way down in your subconscious, (where emotions and dragons live) and this is where thoughts and pre-thoughts, are born. In this deep, dark, primordial place, you can
control the formation of what will become your thinking. Become aware of it. Tomorrow morning, when you start your day by emptying your bladder, pay attention to what your little voice is saying. Is it complaining? Making a list of negatives? Or is it upbeat, happy, and eager to face a new day. Make your pee positive. Force yourself to say, "I don't want to have a crappy day. I want to be happy. I deserve good
things. I am going to be more positive".

Throughout the day, if you slip up and let negativity intrude, don't be discouraged that you failed, and stop trying. Take a deep breath and start again. Change doesn't happen in an instant. It is a lifelong task, broken down to days, minutes, even
seconds, of choosing positive or negative."

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Ted Demopoulos Read the Book by Candlelight!

I don't read self help books much. Maybe one every few years. It not that I can't use help, perhaps I'm just too stubborn or beyond help . . . :)

Marti Lawrence's 7 Ways You Screw Up Your Life: (and how to unscrew it) was tough to put down.

I literally read it by CANDLELIGHT as we were in the midst of a massive power outage!

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My Shelf Book Review

Is there anyone here who doesn't know that humor is healing? Having said that, we've all heard of comedians who were plenty messed up. So maybe we've figured out that we need something else, especially if we've already screwed a few things up for ourselves-or someone else has done it for us.

To the rescue, Marti Lawrence. She says, "I realize I don't know everything," so-on our behalves-she has done considerable research, interviewed Jeremiah Owyang and enlisted guest authors. And, of course, she uses humor which makes this book not only a good little self-help book but also very easy to read.

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