Book Review and Giveaway: The Hope Quotient

~~ This Giveaway is now closed ~~

Today, I have the privilege of reviewing for you a book by Ray Johnston titled, "The Hope Quotient." I don't know if I've mentioned it on the blog before, but I know I've talked with close friends about how I feel like hope is often cruel. Sometimes, it seems like when we are given hope, it become crushed and we end up with shattered hopes and so when I was given the opportunity to read and review this book, I decided to take it because a more positive spin on hope might not be such a bad thing. 

The book is a little over 200 pages long and an easy read. Mr. Johnston tells personal stories and uses a lot of humor to communicate his points making the book flow very easily. The books begins with an introduction of IQ (Intelligence Quotient) and EQ (Emotional Intelligence Quotient) and then asks a series of questions ending with "Why are some people just personally, emotionally, and relationally in better shape?" Mr. Johnston, after seven years of research and study of people, has come to the conclusion that it has to do with your HQ, or Hope Quotient.

The book is divided into three parts - Part One - The Single Most Important Thing to Do, Part Two - Seven Factors That Raise Your Hope Quotient, and Part Three - Unleashing a Culture of Hope. Every Section of the book brings out brilliant applications for life that can help us to have a better and more positive outlook and change the way we think and approach various circumstances. In part two, the seven factors that are discussed are as follows: 1) Recharge Your Batteries, 2) Raise Your Expectations, 3) Refocus on the Future, 4) Play to Your Strengths, 5) Refuse to Go It Alone, 6) Replace Burnout With Balance, and 7) Play Great Defense. Within each section are more detailed points such as (for point six) divert daily, withdraw weekly and abandon annually - in other words, take some time for yourself. 

In part three, Mr. Johnston discusses unleashing hope in the following places: marriage, kids, career, church, community, and world and discusses how hope can make all these areas of your life much better and work more smoothly than the do today. 

Overall, I feel like "The Hope Quotient" was a very good book with lots of great points and theories that when put to use will probably make an impact for the positive in your life. Obviously, there will still be bumps along the way; this is, after all, life. However, when using the applications learned from "The Hope Quotient" maybe the bumps won't seem as difficult to traverse as they might have been had you not read this book. 

The nice folks at Shelton Interactive have provided me a copy to giveaway to one lucky reader. If you are interested in winning a copy of "The Hope Quotient" then just leave a comment in this post. The comments will be open until 11:59 p.m. on Thursday, August 21 and the winner will be announced Friday, August 22. Thanks for reading and good luck!