Book Review: microShifts by Gary Jansen

microShifts: Transforming Your Life One Step at a Time by Gary Jansen

This light and quick book is all about making small changes in your life to make it a better life, or more importantly, make you a better person. The challenge is to find a spare fifteen minutes, or five minutes, or one minute, or thirty seconds, or five seconds, to do something new and develop it into a habit by doing it every day. The shift can be something as small as saying "hello" to someone, even a stranger, with eye contact and sincerity. It's a very small thing but can be impactful for the stranger and for you. Another shift might be to foster an attitude of having no opinion. Rather than judging others or yourself, just note the fact that you find problematic and move on--maybe your clothes fit tighter than usual or someone espouses a ridiculous (to you) opinion. The instinct to criticize does not have the concept of constructive criticism built in. Maybe you don't have to correct every wrong person on the internet (which, let's be honest, might sometimes be yourself)? The book is full of a lot of good, actionable advice (over forty examples) that can make a difference in your own life. Jansen ends with a call to make one small change for twenty-eight days and see how it sticks. 

Highly recommended--this is a self-help book that is upbeat and practical and easy to put into action.