Discussion Of Two Books By Carol Tuttle

I received two books many months ago that I mentioned that I would review and never got around to. I thought I’d point out some good items from each of the books as I normally do. These two books are by Carol Tuttle, and they are called It’s Just My Nature and Remembering Wholeness.  The latter is reported to be a best-selling book.

Think X Instead Of Y

One section in Remembering Wholeness that is useful is one that talks about what to think instead of thinking something else we normally do.  One example is that, instead of thinking “Other people use me”, you would want to think “I am attracting people who are thoughtful and considerate of me.”  I can attest to the value of this type of thinking.  It is not about positive thinking, in my view, as it is more about setting yourself up for some good actions.  When you feel like everyone is using you, you have very little motivation to want to team up with others, and so that damages your conversational ability, or interest in working with others, or so on.

Thoughts Don’t Get Enough Credit

If one person has thoughts that lead them to feel that others are to be avoided, then their actions will then be about avoiding others.  If I feel like others are thoughtful and considerate of me, I am more likely to treat them the same way, leading to real opportunities showing up.  These opportunities don’t show up when you are closed off, which occurs when your thoughts logically tell you to be closed off.

I once had an article about realistic optimism, and had to stress the word “realistic”, because optimism tends to get associated with “blind optimism”, and I’m pretty sure no one would recommend that.  Being optimistic against the odds doesn’t help.  Being optimistic where the odds are not so well-known, and where success could have a large impact, can be very useful.

Two Person Example

Let’s take two people for an example.  Let’s say there are two businesspersons who are almost finished creating their own product.  One of them thinks more things like “I will do everything I choose to do well enough” and “Things always work out for me”(both taken from the book), and the other thinks things like “I can never do anything right” and “If something bad is going to happen it is probably going to happen to me.”  Which one is more likely to not finish their product and get it through the launch cycle?  If there is an obvious answer here, then it is valuable to focus a bit on the thoughts you have as you go through the day.

If you wake up and think that others are going to use you to your detriment, and then check your e-mail, and see a message from someone who wants something from you, which is not that rare, you might end up with a complete morning of enjoyment where you feel like everyone you interact with will want to use something you have.  As you can see, the thoughts you have can lead to huge changes in how much motivation you have and effort you are willing to put out.

What Is Natural To You?

The other book I was able to look at was It’s Just My Nature.  A big part of this book is about the types of people who are out there.  They are categorized into four types here, labeled from one to four.  For example, the type 3 person in this book is described as being about action and being reactive, and saying things like “Let’s get to work and get it done!”  There are certainly people who I can see who fit into this category.  I am not saying that people are easily able to be separated, but if you think about people you know, there are some you are more likely to see as the type that go straight to action to solve an issue.

Since we do seem to categorize and label almost everything in our environment, putting people into categories seems just about as logical, and so this nomenclature makes some sense.  One of the other types described in the book is a type which is more about fun and bringing a jovial nature to a setting, and this type of person brings more ideas to a setting.

Personalities Are Fairly Stationary

What I would say in relation to these type categorizations is that I have noticed that certain people are way more likely to behave in certain ways than others, so it is worth getting a sense of this.  If there is someone who has always been your person-of-action to go to, it is likely they will continue to be that way, and so it is worth continuing to deal with them.  On the other hand, if there is someone who is of a much more casual demeanor, who you are hoping will turn into a person-of-action, this is not so likely, and your time would be better spent in action with others who have already shown themselves to fit well with that.

This is where the title of the book comes in a bit more handy.  You can benefit from imagining that you ask each person why they are a certain way, and then imagine them saying back “it’s just my nature”.  You want to stick with the people where that answer from them would make you say something like “you are lucky”, and you want to spend less time with those who would disappoint you with such an answer, making you feel like it isn’t so good that they aren’t changing.

People don’t change that much, from what I have seen.  The sooner you team up with those who fit with you, the sooner you will forge ahead.

Tagged as: carol tuttle, it's just my nature, person types, remembering wholeness, thoughts