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inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
fast-paced
informative
inspiring
medium-paced
this is a book about taking your animalistic impulse to overheat or binge and calling it the pig. It sounds kind of silly, but I think it works rather it works rather well.
This is written in that aggressive salesman/self-help style that I just grit my teeth through, and of course it has a gimmick, but I think the underlying message/lesson/opportunity is a good one. One of the things that Livingston does well is to provide counter-examples to common excuse thinking. He points out that there are plenty of things we choose to do and never waver on--many from social pressure (wear clothes out of the house), and many from personal conviction (few people start smoking in their 50s). So making an unbreakable vow is certainly doable by any human being. He points out that it is okay to be uncomfortable, that this doesn't mean you need to give in to a craving (and that not giving in over time makes the craving less common and less strong). He points out that when we encourage others, we don't encourage them by saying, "well, it probably won't work, but there's nothing wrong with trying," so we should treat ourselves with as much support as we would someone we are encouraging. He points out that in no other area of our lives do we say that a slip-up means we are no longer going to be accountable (running one red light). He brings up numerous examples of undermining thinking that is otherwise difficult to notice, and explains how illogical the arguments are, but he points out that it's important to simply ignore, not engage with, such undermining thinking. As I read about this, I thought about the difference between someone who obliges herself to do something out of duty/guilt, and someone for whom that act is simply part of their nature...for example, Steve, who exercises because he feels antsy when he doesn't, and myself, who exercises because I should and because the blanks in my exercise diary would bother me, etc. If I want to get to the point where the boundaries I establish are just part of me, I need to establish a model in my mind of myself as that person, not as someone who's adopting for convenience a time-limited approach, making amends for something I should have done. So I'm thinking a lot about this, and I intend to try his suggested approach.
I agree with many of the other comments that are all over the board on this book. It is interesting to see how evenly distributed the ratings for this book are. While there were some things that really resonated with me - mostly the anecdotes and quips to put things into perspective (e.g. "Do you have to decide to not rob a bank every day? No, because it's part of what you've set up for yourself as part of who you are, so you don't struggle to not rob a bank when you are feeling stressed"). Those were a good way to help think about things, but the "pig" metaphor was over the top, and seemed pretty childish. Overall, I got some things out of this book, but did spend a lot of time skimming as it was super-repetitive.
This book was incredibly toxic. I got to 30% and quit. He basically instructs you to hate a part of yourself (and claims that’s not what he is doing) and classifies even eating a “minuscule” amount of a bad food as binging. His writing is going to lead some people to an eating disorder. No food is “bad” in moderation.
Interesting book. I found it more funny than helpful. I do have to say the ideas/mind tricks presented in the book make sense and could very well work. I have not tried them so I an unable to comment on the effectiveness. I can say I had many laughs while reading it.
Some good ideas, but...
The ideas in here are pretty good, easy to follow. So much supplemental information. But the use of a pig and slop seems like an overused and unimaginative choice. It is suggested that you use some other animal or thing if pig doesn't work for you, but then pig is used so often, it isn't easy to work with a different idea. I'll take some of the ideas with me, but the pig and typos and grammatical errors throughout the book were generally bothersome.
The ideas in here are pretty good, easy to follow. So much supplemental information. But the use of a pig and slop seems like an overused and unimaginative choice. It is suggested that you use some other animal or thing if pig doesn't work for you, but then pig is used so often, it isn't easy to work with a different idea. I'll take some of the ideas with me, but the pig and typos and grammatical errors throughout the book were generally bothersome.
There are some interesting ideas in this one. I think it was somewhat helpful but I don’t know that the all or nothing thinking will be super helpful for me.