Reading How to Win Friends

I like to read. It started when I studied abroad my sophomore year of college b/c it was too cold to go outside and I didn't have a computer, so I would read in my tiny room for hours. I was never a kid that always was reading. I had cousins like that, but I never liked to read when I was younger. However, I hope my children like to read. Mainly b/c my cousins are smart and they spanked me on the SAT. My scores were horrible. I took the SAT 5 times and the ACT 4 times and the LSAT twice. That's embarrassing.

Anyways, nowadays I try to read something beneficial and something fun or something secular and a non-secular book at the same time. So, right now I'm reading How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie and the title of the "fun" book is so corny I'm too embarrassed to admit it.

My point of this entire post about the How to Win Friends and Influence People book. It was given to me by someone in a leadership position and was told it was a "must read." Initially when I read the cover I thought it was going to be some book that would tell me how to sort of trick people into being my friend. I thought, I don't need a book to tell me how to make friends and do I really want to be influencing people? Well, as a follower shouldn't we all be influencing others? Or should we leave all the influencing up to people like Oprah, Michael Moore, and Angelina Jolie? I honestly never thought about influencing others. I mean, I've thought about how my life should be an example for non-believers and I suppose believers, but I never thought about actually influencing people or how my actions and words could change the course of some one's life in a positive or negative way.

I'm only in the third chapter and I already love the book. It's so making me re-evaluate how I view and treat others.

The 1st Principle is: Don't Criticise, Condemn or Complain.

Here's a little excerpt:

"Any fool can criticise, condemn and complain-and most fools do. But it takes character and self-control to be understanding and forgiving. 'A great man shows his greatness,' said Carlyle, 'by the way he treats little men." pg 14.

Uhh...if you know me, I play the fool too often. The first principle doesn't often come out naturally in my heart. I'm not sure if the author was a believer, but the principles are definitely straight out of scripture whether he intended for them to be or not.


Sorry to bore you w/ this post. I know you don't like the "preachy" post, but it's all I have.