More Power to You: A Dynamic Guide to Self-Management

Linda Perry is a senior policy analyst at the Ontario Ministry of
Colleges and Universities.

This is a brief book of self-help for the well-adjusted. It comprises
nine chapters on such garden-variety topics as change, stress, jobs,
careers, memory, diet and exercise, and decision-making.

Each chapter begins with a quotation, such as the simple “Good
decisions get you from where you are to where you want to be.” The
chapters go on to discuss various aspects of the topic under study, both
in brief paragraphs and in bullet-point lists. The book includes
personal exercises, questions for thought, and step-by-step approaches
to get you “where you want to be.” Each chapter ends with an
“Inner Voice” section consisting of a few positive affirmations,
such as “I can live with my decisions.” In addition, each section
lists references for further reading for those who want to delve into
particular topics more fully.

Smith offers a positive, practical approach to what she calls
self-management. There is little, however, either very new or
inspirational—hardly the sort of stuff to trigger a conversion
experience. The essential message is one of good nature and good sense,
with a leaven of good health.

Smith seems determined to be upbeat and encouraging. For example, she
advises, “Don’t diet, but do limit sugar, do limit fat, do limit
sodium.” Such a relentlessly cheerful tone can be cloying. (And it
sounds like a diet to me.)

The cover notes describe Smith as a motivational speaker who works with
groups and organizations in their “quest for success.” Perhaps the
book may be more useful to those who have taken her workshops as
home-study notes or as a refresher. As a stand-alone, it is basically a
collection of common sense on the topic of getting through life, which
she summarizes in the concluding chapter: “I’m not perfectly O.K.
You’re not perfectly O.K. But that’s perfectly O.K.”