Book Review - Stop Trying!: The Life-Transforming Power of Trying Less and Doing More

About the Book
If you’re struggling to get things done or meet your goals, the problem isn’t that you’re not trying hard enough, it’s that you’re trying in the first place.

When it comes to getting stuff done, we fall short more often than we like to admit. This can leave us feeling frustrated and ashamed, because despite trying our very best we can’t seem to meet our goals. Why? The surprising answer is ingeniously outlined in Stop Trying!: The Life-Transforming Power of Trying Less and Doing More—an evolutionary guide that evokes the revelatory force of The Five-Second Rule and the sublime practicality of The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up. Put simply, it turns out that trying is just an illusion for doing.

Stop Trying! illuminates the deception in a mindset built on trying, which can lead to anxiety, procrastination, perceived loss of control, fatigue, fear of failure, lack of follow-through, and overall life dissatisfaction. Importantly, this book offers a way out of the rut and into practical, progressive action. Stop Trying! reveals the compelling science behind our brain, behaviors, and beliefs when it comes to the notion of trying. Pulling from positive psychology, the science of habit formation, clinical studies, and more, motivational speaker Carla Ondrasik guides us to proven-effective strategies for better doing—and ultimately to goal achievement and a more fulfilling life.

Readers will learn techniques and tips, build skills through interactive activities, and hear sincere stories from everyday people who’ve made the transformative switch from trying to doing. Achievement is just one “do or do not” decision away, and it starts with eliminating “try” from our vocabulary. Stop Trying! shows us how to do that.


My Take on the Book

As a dad, I often catch myself telling my kids to “try harder” when they get stuck—whether it’s homework, sports, or even chores. Reading Stop Trying! made me rethink that completely. Carla Ondrasik lays out a simple but powerful truth: effort without action is just spinning your wheels. What really matters is doing. That hit home for me because I realized how often I fall into the same trap—overthinking, planning, and telling myself I’ll “try” tomorrow.

This book doesn’t just inspire, it gives you practical ways to shift from hesitation to forward movement. The blend of science, real stories, and easy-to-follow activities made it feel less like a lecture and more like a guide I could put into practice immediately. I’ve already started using the lessons with my kids, and honestly, with myself too. If you’re ready to stop circling and actually move forward, this is a must-read.

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Book Review - The Oneness Guide for Today: The Oneness Guide for Today: A Book of Insight for Young Women

About the Book
Discover Your Connection to the World from Within...

There are countless paths that a young person can take to adulthood. Between family, friends, and school, there are many influences affecting every step of that path. Yet, the teenage and young adult years are when one’s independent voice blossoms alongside feelings of doubt and disconnection. It may help to know that others have painfully wandered through adolescence searching for happiness, only to find that their inherent beauty and peace was inside their own heart all along. Perhaps the words of Rumi speak clearest in today’s world:

“There is a life force within your soul, seek that life.
There is a gem in the mountain of your body, seek that mine.
O traveler, if you are in search of That
Don’t look outside, look inside yourself and seek That.”

How can this message be heard and understood in a world of social media and cell phones, common tools meant to enhance communication that instead have become ways to critique, discredit, and even hurt others? Especially during the teenage years?

The Oneness Guide for Today now provides a down-to-earth roadmap that offers compassionate guidance and self-empowerment tools in straightforward language without preaching. This is where Faith Spencer, an expert who teaches young women how to embrace and accept themselves, has developed effective ways for girls to identify, express, and respect their true selves despite the ups and downs of peer pressure and negative energy from others. Throughout the book, Spencer points readers toward a source of comfort and guidance that is always available to them, which is an inner connection with a greater source of life.

The journey of adolescence is challenging, filled with unnecessary pressures at this critical and formative age. The Oneness Guide for Today offers guidance to help young women connect to an inner sense of peace and harmony and learn to navigate life on their own terms.


My Take on the Book
As a dad raising daughters in today’s complicated world, I found The Oneness Guide for Today to be both grounding and hopeful. Faith Spencer’s words reminded me of how important it is to help my girls see beyond the noise of social media and peer pressure, and instead tune into their own inner strength and self-worth. What struck me most was how the book balances gentle wisdom with practical exercises, making it feel approachable without losing depth. The themes of self-acceptance, forgiveness, and trusting your intuition aren’t just good lessons for young women—they’re reminders we could all use. I especially appreciated how the author frames oneness in a way that’s both spiritual and practical, offering young readers a lens through which to see themselves with more compassion and confidence. As a father, this is exactly the kind of resource I want to share with my daughters.

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