Today marks the day that the book, Find Your Strongest Life: What the Happiest and Most Successful Women do Differently ($19.79 @ Amazon.com) by Marcus Buckingham, author of Now, Discover Your Strengths ($19.80 @ Amazon.com), releases.
You might wonder why I, a man, am talking about this book? Truth is, women are everywhere: I’m married to one, I have a daughter, a sister, a mom, and I work with lots of women through my business. So it seems sensible that I would take intentional steps to understand women (if that can really be done—I kid. I kid). Perhaps it would make both of our lives a tad-bit easier?
While I’m in the midst of reading and processing this book, I came across some interesting facts and information about women that counter common assumptions. The book digs into these assumptions in great detail, but for blogging purposes, I thought I’d give you a sneak peak of the potential that this book has for you—men and women.
Common, but incorrect assumptions
Assumption (A): As a result of better education, better jobs, and better pay, women today are happier and more fulfilled than they were forty years ago.
Fact (F): Not true. Women are less happy
A: At work, women are relegated to lower-level roles
F: Not true. 37% of women hold managerial or supervisory positions as compared to 31% of men
A: Having children makes women happier
F: Not necessarily. Based on studies, married mothers are always more stressed and less happy than married women with no kids.
A: If women had more free time, they would feel less stressed
F: Not true. Based on studies, each extra hour of free time doubles a man’s feelings of relaxation, but does nothing for a woman’s. Maybe that’s why men watch HOURS of sports?
A: Kids want more time with their working mothers
F: Not according to the kids. They prefer their moms to be less stressed and tired
There are many more assumptions that the book dives into, but as you can see, this book isn’t just about and for women, we all could benefit from reading it.
Finally, this wouldn’t be a Marcus Buckingham book if there wasn’t an opportunity to personalize the content. Included with the book is a “Strong Life Test” which gives the reader the opportunity to “discover the role you were born to play.” If you want to jump ahead of the content and take the test, head over to the Strong Life Test website and take the test, for free.
I’m really looking forward to reading this book and would like to recommend that men, especially, consider this book for your reading list. The progressive assumption of gender and roles needs to be re-evaluated, desperately. According to the book, women are less happy than ever. I believe that men should play a complimentary role in helping women find their strongest life.
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