This book is a modern day guide to enlightenment. Don't however get put off by the spiritual overtone.This book addresses the modern day dilemma of wishing away one's life.We are so bound by the future (goals, ambitions, expectations, hopes and plans) and the past (emotional pain, embarrassment, negative experience) that we are neglecting what is real for us right NOW - the present.

The author argues that it is our mind or ego that benefits most from operating in the past or the future and that only by being truly present are we then able to free ourselves from the constraints of [insert sort of] time.By doing so we become calmer, happier, more productive human beings. True 'presence' shares several characteristics of Emotional Intelligence theory in that one hallmark of people who are truly present is that they are far less likely to respond emotionally to stressors or triggers.By observing their internal (emotional) response to any given situation (fear, pain, offence, embarrassment, loss, attack etc) and not regressing to previous (past) emotional hurts or patterns they are much more likely to deal with the situation in a calm, controlled and ultimately more effective manner.

The Power of Now also provides insights to readers in how to become more effective right now.The book talks about how presence can help you to avoid or reduce procrastination and how to more fully engage your brain in the activities you need to do right now.While this book considers the past and the future as having some pretty serious questions to answer in terms of our individual and collective human psyche and this drive towards a time and place that doesn't actually exist (the future), it certainly allows that we are not all ascetic, spiritual beings hell-bent on enlightenment and its solutions really do apply to the everyday reader.I personally found the concept 'that it is only in the right here and right now that we can actually achieve anything' as refreshing and beneficial.

The book is a challenging read in terms of the concepts being surfaced and I found myself having to read sections several times and still struggle to clearly communicate the concepts within. I have however explored presence with several coaching clients and once grasped find it resonates with most of us. At it's core is the concept of lets be happy with where we're at right now and not feel burdened by the past or pressured by the future.

Richard Nelson Bolles presents an updated version of one of the most widely acclaimed exercises from PARACHUTE, the Flower. This highly effective tool, reproduced here in handy workbook form, helps readers target their ideal work situation. Simple step-by-step worksheets focus on translating personal interests into marketable job skills as well as often-ignored issues such as spiritual or emotional fulfillment in the workplace. These exercises are easy to do yet thought provoking. When completed, the workbook will present you with a full picture of your ideal job.

Effectively managing personnel--as well as one's own behavior--is an extraordinarily complex task that, not surprisingly, has been the subject of countless books touting what each claims is the true path to success. That said, Marcus Buckingham and Donald O. Clifton's Now, Discover Your Strengths does indeed propose a unique approach: focusing on enhancing people's strengths rather than eliminating their weaknesses. Following up on the coauthors' popular previous book, First, Break All the Rules, it fully describes 34 positive personality themes the two have formulated (such as Achiever, Developer, Learner, and Maximizer) and explains how to build a "strengths-based organization" by capitalizing on the fact that such traits are already present among those within it.

Most original and potentially most revealing, however, is a Web-based interactive component that allows readers to complete a questionnaire developed by the Gallup Organization and instantly discover their own top-five inborn talents. This device provides a personalized window into the authors' management philosophy which, coupled with subsequent advice, places their suggestions into the kind of practical context that's missing from most similar tomes. "You can't lead a strengths revolution if you don't know how to find, name and develop your own," write Buckingham and Clifton. Their book encourages such introspection while providing knowledgeable guidance for applying its lessons. --Howard Rothman