Get Off Your But, by Sean Stephenson

Review by W. J. Rayment / ConservativeBookstore -- When I was in high-school and college, my goal was to do the least I could do to get an "A". I wanted to be good, but I never worked to be the best I could be. And that has carried out to the rest of my life. For that reason I have always done okay in life. I can look back now from the half-century mark and see a thousand what-ifs. I can also see that had I read Sean Stephenson's "Get Off Your But" then, I might have seen that if you allow yourself to be ordinary, your life will also be ordinary.

Of course, in the back of my mind, I always knew that was true. Being a conservative, I tend to believe that people are responsible for their actions. Even so, I haven't been good about finding an organized way to apply this understanding in a positive way in my own life. Sean Stephenson has found a way to do this for himself. In "Get Off Your 'But': How to End Self-Sabotage and Stand Up for Yourself", he communicates how he did it and how these lessons can be applied to anyone's life.

This is a how to book, almost a text book on how to live with happiness and confidence. It is broken out into six lessons. Each lesson deals with some aspect of life and human inter-action. A lesson begins with a story from Sean's own life and then draws general principles from that story that can be applied in the reader's own life. This is followed by assignments which should be carried out by the reader. These action items are not always easy to perform, but always to the point and geared to begin improving the reader's existence immediately. The reader is encouraged to keep a notebook that will help bring order to a messy life. The lesson ends with a case study drawn from his practice as a motivational speaker and consultant. These are poignant, sometimes humorous, but always apropos and thoughtful.

The stories Sean derives from his own life come from a man who has experienced much. Afflicted with a brittle bone disorder, Sean uses a wheel-chair to get around. I found the lesson titled, "Watch What You Say to Yourself" to have immediate application to my own life. Sean points out that we often beat ourselves up far worse than we deserve for mistakes made, especially minor mistakes. In the past, I have often referred to myself in a deprecating manner when I have committed some social faux pas. I bop myself on the head with the palm of my hand and say, "What an idiot", referring to myself in third person. In a way, this is self-destructive behavior. I have noticed, and Sean confirms this, that no one is going to remember these social errors a week later except me. By denegrating myself I am only undermining my self-confidence.

One of Sean's heroes is Bill Clinton. Sean Stephenson actually worked as an intern in the White House for a time. He calls Clinton one of the most dynamic people he has ever met. There is little doubt that he is correct on this score. Having been in close proximity with Clinton once myself (1992 in Seattle), I did find his presence commanding. (However, Clinton's charisma did not sway my vote, which was based on principle). Even so, there is little doubt that observing Bill Clinton can teach many lessons about how to live a successful life, whatever a person may think of his politics.

I found "Get of Your But", by Sean Stephenson to be intelligently written and insightful. It is interesting to me that I found every idea propounded in the book to be grounded in conservative thought, especially when Sean writes about taking personal responsibility for everything in our lives. Although he does mention physical attraction as a motivational factor a few times, this is not a book that I would be afraid to let my 13 year-old daughter read. It is positively motivational. I even found it influencing my own life. Rereading my margin notes, I find that it contained several "aha" moments when I realized something about my own life that I had never understood before. One of those moments came on the last page where Sean wrote, "Learning doesn't occur until a behavior has changed." This is an effective book because it not only teaches a person how to change his or her life for the better, it is also a motivator to do it!

Get Off Your But is available at Amazon.