This book came at the recommendation of a friend over coffee. This was an incredible book. Viktor Frankl is a Jewish psychiatrist that lived in concentration camps for three years. The first half of the book is a detailed account of his experiences in the concentration camps. The second half of the book is all about the psychology of man’s search for meaning.

Frankl’s conclusion is that once a man finds meaning for his life, he is able to find hope in any situation, and able to get through anything. He talks a lot about the people who survived in concentration camps in comparison with those who didn’t make it. Often, the people who didn’t make it, could not find meaning in the midst of their suffering, while the people who survived, could and did.

I’d recommend this book to everyone. It will give you hope, and allow you to recognize that regardless of what you’re going through, you can find meaning in your life and find the strength to go on!

Buy it here!

Highlights:

• “man is responsible and must actualize the potential meaning of his life.”

• At any moment,  man must decide, for better or for worse, what will be the monument of his existence.

• Man does  not simply exist but always decides what his existence will be,  what he will become in the next moment.

• freedom is in danger of degenerating   into mere arbitrariness unless it is lived in terms of responsibleness.

• There is nothing conceivable which would so condition a  man as to leave him without the slightest freedom.

• There is nothing in the world, I venture to say, that would so
  effectively help one to survive even the worst conditions as  the knowledge that there is a meaning in one’s life.

• “He who has a why  to live for can bear almost any how.”

• man’s main concern is not to gain pleasure  or to avoid pain but rather to see a meaning in his life.

• The crowning experience of all, for the homecoming man,  is the wonderful feeling that, after all he has suffered, there is  nothing he need fear any more-except his God.

• They died less from  lack of food or medicine than from lack of hope, lack of something   to live for.

• The truth-that love  is the ultimate and the highest goal to which man can aspire.

• No man should judge unless he asks himself in absolute honesty   whether in a similar situation he might not have done  the same.

John Maxwell said that when he read this book in his mid twenties, it changed the way he lead forever. Why? Because until he read this book, he led under the assumption that everybody was like him. That he could lead everybody the same way he led himself. He read this book and recognized that he would have to learn to lead people in different ways based on their personality. Needless to say, I had to read this book!

This is definitely a book I’m going to come back to time and time again. Learning the temperaments to the extent that I’ll be able to identify what all my leaders are, and learn to lead them based off their personality!

This book focuses on 4 personality temperaments:

Sanguine - The outgoing social butterfly! (I’m a Sanguine off the Charts!)

Melancholy – Perfectionists, Detail Oriented, always serious.

Choleric - Born leader. Achiever. Take Charge!

Peaceful Phlegmatic - “The Leveler” – Easy Going. Go with the flow. Indecisive.

This book will teach you a lot about yourself and the people around you. Once you read this, the things that irritate you with other personality types, won’t bother you as much. You’ll learn it’s just part of their personality and you can learn to get along with them, in spite of the things that drive you nuts about them!

I’d recommend this book to anyone!

In a matter of 3 months Mark Batterson has become one of my favorite authors. In fact, I may just go out on the limb and say he is my favorite! After reading his books I feel like I can do anything, risk anything, and be everything God called me to be.

I’d highly encourage you to read all of his books! You’ll be stretched in your faith and encouraged to go after the dreams God has put in your heart.

Some Highlights:

• God is in the business of strategically positioning us in the right place at the right time. But here’s the catch: The right place often seems like the wrong place, and the right time often seems like the wrong time.
• Sometimes God won’t intervene until something is humanly impossible. And He usually does it just in the nick of time. I think that pattern reveals one dimension of God’s personality: God loves impossible odds.
• Your best thought about God on your best day falls 12.3 billion light-years short of how great and how good God really is.
• God wants you to get where God wants you to go more than you want to get where God wants you to go.
• “Don’t accumulate possessions; accumulate experiences!”
• Don’t let what’s wrong with you keep you from worshiping what’s right with God.
• I’m convinced that the people God uses the most are often the people who have experienced the most adversity.
• God is in the business of recycling our pain and using it for someone else’s gain.
• spiritual maturity is less about figuring out the future and more about a moment-by-moment sensitivity to the Spirit of God.
• I’m convinced that the only thing between you and your destiny is one small act of courage.
• Playing it safe is risky.
• Why is it that the church is known more for what we’re against than what we’re for?
• More often than not, the only thing between you and your dream is a rational excuse.
• One dimension of spiritual growth is simply coming to terms with who we are and who we’re not.