THE CHARGE

Brendon Burchard is the founder of the High Performance Academy and one of the top performance trainers in the world. He gives away an enormous amount of great free material, and even sent me a copy of this book for postage only. His story is that he was involved in a serious car accident at the age of 19, as a result of which he asked himself three critical questions: Did I live? Did I love? Did I matter? These are similar questions to others undergoing a life-threatening crisis, but in his case they have become the foundation of a multi-million dollar business helping people share their message and become more authentic in their lives. I have also benefited from his book The Millionaire Messenger, which is available as an e-book and on CD. This helps people work out what is unique about their life story and what they can usefully share with others.

This inspiring and empowering book, with its accompanying Web resources, is a tremendous resource to help readers define who and what they are, and how best to move forward in their lives. Each chapter begins with an arresting coaching story illustrating the appropriate theme and showing how powerful the right question can be when posed at the right time. The structure of the book falls into two parts: first, the five baseline drives for control, competence, congruence, caring and connection; then what he calls the five forward drives of change, challenge, creative expression, contribution and consciousness. The charged life is defined as 'a consciously designed existence that feels evenly engaged, energised and enthusiastic.' The emphasis is on conscious design rather than allowing one's life to unfold by default. Once our basic needs have been satisfied, we need novelty, challenge, connection and expression in order to feel more alive. The three recognisable lives are categorised as the caged life, the comfortable life and finally the charged life as defined above. Too many of us are stuck in the first two categories, and this book shows how we can emerge into the third by making more demands on ourselves.

For instance, the first chapter on control shows how we can choose our outlook and how we react to the things that happen. We can all control the quality of person that we are an everyday basis and focus on being the greatest person we can be given our special qualities. This is a conscious process and one that thrives on novelty and challenge. Brendon suggests ways of introducing novelty into our lives on a regular basis, which just requires a bit of forward planning. Controlling our workflow is key, and for many of us this means controlling email flow; he defines the inbox as a convenient way of organising other people's agenda, and warns against being taken over by this at the expense of working more strategically. Today, I am prioritising book reviews, and will not be checking my email until much later in the day. This will help keep me on track. Brendon challenges us to undertake reflective exercises as we go along, which can then be applied in everyday situations. Competence includes stretching ourselves and setting new goals, but also reviewing past success.

Congruence is about self-image and self-definition, living into the future and maintaining a positive mood; again Brendon gives the reader tips on how to achieve this. Care includes self-care, feeling safe, worthy and loved, and also maintaining a healthy lifestyle. Connection embraces family and friends, and there is an incredibly useful section on what Brendon calls growth friends, which enables readers to review the types of friendships they already have and work more consciously to develop these and support our existing friends. I know from my own work with young people that friendship is a top priority, as it also remains throughout life.

The forward drives are about shakeup, the future and being bold; they stretch our limits, encouraging us to learn and grow. One client was able to manage change successfully in his organisation, but not in his personal life. Brendon goes to the edge with his clients, prodding them where it is most uncomfortable but also setting up a constructive relationship that takes them both forward. He encourages us to regard change in terms of gains and also to be very clear and practical about our choices, plans and intentions. Challenges stretch our efforts and abilities, and are fundamentally about the journey rather than the destination. As Jim Rohn says, the importance of goals is the person we become as a result of achieving them. He quotes a speech by Theodore Roosevelt about action and daring greatly. He himself has been setting thirty-day challenges in various areas of his life for the last 15 years. Stephen Covey writes about the importance of legacy, treated here as contribution. We can both give of ourselves and to others. Brendon's model is investing in and serving people, and he has come to find that much of his giving is what he calls fate funding, depending on the people who cross his path. He also enables people to realise more fully what contribution they are already making, and illustrates this with an inspiring story about an extraordinary bank manager. Finally, there is the drive for consciousness, the area perhaps most familiar to readers of this Review. This is about being conscious of our thoughts, energy, feelings, presence, openness to coincidence, to love, to wonder. By genuinely working through the contents of this highly engaging book, every reader can become more than they already are, enjoying the feeling of being more energised, engaged and enthusiastic; however, this does require commitment, which is the real test. It is all too easy to fall back into our existing patterns.