The Fire Starter Sessions – Burn Baby Burn!

It’s not the imbalances of life that will get you down – it’s doing meaningless things that aren’t taking you where you want to go. – Danielle LaPorte

It’s the irony of chasing stillness – or trying to get ahead so we can get out of the the game. Or of improving ourselves so we can finally accept who we are. It’s exhausting. – Danielle LaPorte

It’s bright orange. It’s big! It has a GREAT name: The Fire Starter Sessions. And, it’s crammed to the rafters with good stuff. What’s not to love?

The author’s name sounded so familiar to me: Danielle LaPorte. So, I plugged her name into my blog’s search engine… and… whaddya know? See here! LaPorte is not a stranger to this blog! And… bonus… I loved both of the other books I reviewed! Yay and YAY!! No wonder I loved this one!!

Let’s begin at the beginning… and by that I mean… the front inside cover. That’s where it says that … and I quote… Life Balance Is A Myth. Well now, thank you for that Ms. LaPorte! I couldn’t agree more!

The next golden nugget comes in what LaPorte calls the “Disclaimer + Admissions” section of the book. Here goes: There is nothing I can give you that you don’t already have. Dang lady, two for two!! I concur!! We have ALL that we need already. It’s just knowing it – accessing it – and believing it.

This book is a “Guide to creating success on your own terms,” which sounds like it might be one of those genre-crossing business books that I love so much! Actually, it is a self-help book that will help you with all facets of your life, including business. I might add, if I may be so bold… it would seem especially helpful for entrepreneurs. You’ll need some inner-fire for running your own biz! That’s what this book aims to deliver!

If I had to distill the description of this book into one phrase, I’d say it’s IN YOUR FACE. One of the reviews calls it, “The New BadAss Artist’s Way.” So, that gives you an idea!

One of the first things this book talks about – that I completely agree with and appreciate – is the word integrity, which is a part of the “heat source” – can’t have a fire without a heat source.

“If you try to keep your most sacred ambitions off of your weekly calendar and your most genuine traits off of your resume, then you’re missing out on the power of real integrity.“

What a great place to begin! NOTHING ELSE MATTERS IF YOU DON’T HAVE INTEGRITY. <<< Just saying’.

Now is a good time to show you some interesting and different things about how this book is put together.

This book is filled with all sizes of font (<<< see photo) on a higher-grade newspaper type paper, with black and orange print. With very wide margins, It INVITES you to write inside.

Within its pages, you’ll be asked through many worksheets (exercises) to define your strengths and passions, priorities, feelings and goals…

You’ll learn about money and what it means to you…

Power… dreams and wishes…

And then there’s fear… that a$$hole you didn’t invite to the party. But dang, it can defeat you. How well I understand. You, too?

A book like this wouldn’t be complete without talking about failure. It is here that a question is asked that I’ve used so many times myself…

Do you want to be right, or do you want to be free?

Oh yes, I’ve heard it a million different ways but none got to me more than when I first heard it, as it pertains to marriage:

Do you want to be right, or do you want to be married?

I was asked this question as I was complaining about my first husband. I have no idea what he was doing but whatever it was… he was WRONG WRONG WRONG.

That would make me, of course, the RIGHT one. (Yes, you may roll your eyes!)

I was asked…

Do you want to be right, or do you want to be married?

Uh, can’t I be both? Hahahahahaha! I’m hilarious. Point is… well… you get the point, I’m sure.

With further thought, I guess you can plug it in anywhere…

Do you want to be right, or do you want to be…

• Married
• Employed
• Angry
• At Peace???

Uh, yeah… so there was an important lesson for us in the middle.

Without giving the entire book away, I will touch on one last thing I found super interesting… and that is… a Suggested Stop-Its list. It’s a great list with stuff like “Stop checking email obsessively”… mostly stuff we know but it’s a great reminder. However, number 9 gave me a full-on chuckle: Stop forcing yourself to finish every book you pick up because you think the ghost of your English teacher is watching.

Hahaha! Yeah. Nailed it.

Anywho, as you can tell, I think this is a darned good book. Plan to take some time to do the worksheets… they are not simple fill-in-the-blank or jot a note or two. You’re gonna work it. Totally worth it!