The Joy of Strategy: A Business Plan for Life

At 61 ¾ years old, I feel like one of Allison’s examples in this Joy book(short for ‘The Joy Of Strategy). I am like the musician who went into Accounting. As a child I was told that Music is a good avocation, but not a good career. I can still feel the deflating effect that had on me, at the time. Well, now I've been doing the 'Accounting' thing for 30 years. It paid the bills as we raised 2 boys, but it might not pay the future medical bills if I stay on this path.I have spent so much time studying and working to 'Corporate Strategy' in my (too)many years as a bean counter and I have made several attempts to apply these 'strategic' theories for my own, personal life planning, but it always felt like being on the job, just doing the same s@!#! that I do at work. My oldest son strongly suggested Allison’s book to me. It turns out that he really knew, and cared, more about me than I realized. Her book is a 'spot on' fit. Allison, has an integrity of concern and a spirituality to her advice. She has taken Strategic thinking out of the boardroom, and brought it into my personal life.Now, my Wife and I are both working to apply the Joy Process in finding our intended path into the future. Allison’s process is certainly serious and proper, and requires significant effort, but its an effort that my Wife and I look forward to each day. It has been a strategic planning process that revealed its promise from the start. For us, it generates its own enthusiasm. And just FYI, Allison has given us some good, specific advice for our ‘Joy For Two’ adventure. I believe this advice can be found on her website. For people in our situation, its worth reading.In my subject title I said that this is Life Planning, not Retirement Planning. My point is that my Wife and I want to live the rest of our lives, really engaged in our lives; not just planning for how we can afford to sit in rocking chairs for the remaining summers that we have left. I do think that going through this Joy process is a must-do foundation for good Retirement planning.Okay, so this is my first ‘book review’. I’ve read many good books, but haven’t been motivated to give feedback, until now. So I guess to confirm my feelings, I Really Recommend this book, or Highly Recommend, whatever sounds best.P.S. – I certainly don’t want to cast any dispersions on the field of Accountancy or make any judgments about people who want to retire on rocking chairs and TV trays. I’m just saying, you don’t have to, if you don’t want to.Enjoy,JPM

A Business Plan for your life. That pretty much sums it up. Do you have one? You will after you read this amazing book.

Ms. Rimm's book strikes a very practical balance between hands-on advice and big-picture ideas about how to get done what you want to get done - and how to feel good about it, and maybe more importantly, how to feel good about having to say no in order to prioritize and develop a positive and productive focus.Using a diverse set of personal examples from the course she teaches, Ms. Rimm shows that her tactics can work for people with a wide variety of experiences and backgrounds. I highly recommend this book for anyone, like myself, who struggles to figure out how to prioritize and stay happy while getting things done, and I look forward to using her highly accessible advice.

A friend recommended that I read "The Joy of Strategy" and I am so grateful that he did. Presently, I am in the mist of many changes in my life and I have many decisions to make. Allison Rimm's book gave me the tools and knowledge to go forth knowing that I will make the best choices which will help me reach my goals and benefit my family life, career, and happiness. I have passed this book onto my children who are in college and about to embark on the real world. I wish I had this information when I was their age. The benefit of self knowledge and a plan based on that knowledge is priceless.

This book is very well written that I can understand and I am enjoying what I am learning to strategize with out feeling pressured to do it rightThis book has helped me reminisce my past enjoyable experiences and a bit hard experiences; reminding me how I dealt with them.I am very thankful I found a book that I can hear the heart of the author that matched my heart; a heart wanting people who don't know how to strategize too succeed and what it takes.

I have a desk stacked high with half-formed ideas and rarely completed projects. I wake up excited in the morning but the excitement turns to frustration by the time I go to bed. The Joy of Strategy is helping me sort through the stack, keep focused on the ideas that excite me most and importantly, it is helping me to develop and stick to a plan that will turn half-formed ideas in to fully realized successes. Well-written with tools that are easy to apply, Allison Rimm's The Joy of Strategy is a tool for anyone whose desk looks like mine.

I'd heard some "buzz" about this book around MGH circles (where I think Rimm developed many of the approaches) and I was looking forward to hearing about her approach to improving health care delivery. I was happily surprised to find that the book is about something quite different--how to use the tools of strategic planning garnered from the world of serious business to improve life...in whatever aspect and for whatever goals the reader can supply. This is a self-help book with heart, seriousness, and real data--which I recommend very highly.

As an octogenarian, I look back on what might have been, had I made reference to Allison Rimm's JOY OF STRATEGY at an earlier age. I find her soul-filled approach to managing life's challenging choices both refreshingly new and powerful. Ms. Rimm's insightful methods offer a deeply personal GPS to those seeking guidance. Her inspiring approach through "knowing thyself" prepares one for those loving choices that ultimately define the life fulfilled-the one we all seek. What could be a better gift to yourself, or to those you love?