Be Part of the 2014 “I Could Do Anything” Book Club!

Imagine a Barbara Sher book club at your local coffee shop. Over coffee or tea and a scone, you meet weekly to discuss what you’re reading in one of her books. You share what you’re learning through the exercises about who you really are. You get more out of the book as the others share their insights. And you’ve got the accountability that helps you make the time each week to read some more of the book and really work through the exercises.

Sounds great,” doesn’t it?

I Could Do Anything paperbackNow imagine that, for the same cost, you can attend in your yoga clothes or pajamas. At whatever time and day suits you. And the other members of your book club are not just your neighbors. They live in New York City or Taos, in London or Montreal, in Perth or Hong Kong or Frankfurt or Stockholm. They live on a farm in Idaho, in a Lake District cottage in England, or next door to Disney World.

Well, c’mon in, because that’s what we’re creating here. For sixteen weeks, we’ll share Barbara Sher’s New York Times Bestseller, I Could Do Anything If I Only Knew What It Was: How to Discover What You Really Want and How to Get It. We’ll read every word. We’ll do all but one of the exercises. (It requires applying for a job.) And we’ll share it with each other on password-protected, members-only web pages.

Your Guide: Patty Newbold, Sher Success Teams Director

Patty has been a Success Teams Leader since 2004 and director of the Sher Success Teams program for the past two years. She helped Barbara launch her WriteSpeak program and worked side-by-side with her at three WriteSpeak retreats. If you’re a member of Hanging Out, you know her as Webmaster, the MIT alum who figures out all the techie stuff Barbara hates being bothered with. She’s a full-blooded Scanner who’s had a great Scanner career and lots of hobbies, but thanks to many of her MIT pals, she really gets Divers, too.

The I Could Do Anything Book Club

We begin on Thursday, May 22, 2014. If you don’t sign up by then, it’s likely to be a year or two before your next opportunity. We’ll read part of the book and do the exercises in it every week for sixteen weeks. We’ll finish up on Wednesday, September 10, 2014.

We’ll meet here on this website, discussing each exercise and each chapter in the comments on its own web page. You will need to purchase or borrow a copy of I Could Do Anything, but they are plentiful and inexpensive. Choose the hard cover, the paperback, or the Kindle edition, whatever suits your reading style.

You will get an optional email every Thursday with a reminder of the week’s assignments, or you can find them in your Member Profile on this site. You can subscribe to be emailed each comment or you can visit the week’s pages to read them all at once.

Update: Due to the overwhelming response,” we have split the book club into two groups. Sign ups after May 15th are in group 2. There’s no way you could read weekly comments from everyone! Contact us if your friend is in the other group.


Register by May 22nd

No one admitted after midnight May 22nd (NY time)

Money back guarantee through May 28, 2014

Money back guarantee through May 28, 2014

$77 for all 16 weeks

Or make two $40.00 payments 30 days apart

Contact webmaster@barbarasclub.com if you encounter any problems with payment or if you don’t receive two emails within an hour after paying.


I Could Do Anything If I Only Knew What It Was: How to Discover What You Really Want and How to Get It

Is this the right book club for you?

  • YES if you’re a coach or want to be one. This is the book I use as the main text for my Coach Training course in Frankfurt. Many of the exercises I use in my workshops and retreats come from I Could Do Anything.
  • YES if you’re still trying to figure out what you ought to be doing with your life. Or if you have an idea but can’t seem to make much progress in that direction.
  • YES if you start projects but don’t finish them and want some helpful, friendly accountability as you do the work to discover what you really want and how to get it.
  • YES if you get more out of exercises when you do them with other people.
  • YES if you are isolated and don’t know a lot of people who have figured out what they love doing.
  • NO if you believe you can create your own reality just by thinking about it. (Try that on a busy highway!)
  • NO if you believe a positive attitude is the best way to real results. (If you ever went to school, held down a job, or raised a child for three years or more, you surely did it with whatever attitude you woke up with each day.)

What can you expect to gain from I Could Do Anything? Well, here are what other readers have said:

It’s an absolutely wonderful book,” which saved me from a dull and unfulfilling but high-paying career. I’m now in one that I ADORE and am great at. Well worth reading!

I read all the books with the tests, the checklists, the affirmations and the goal making,” etc… and they got me nowhere. This book finally got me somewhere.

“This book, overall, is head and shoulders above the rest,” and anyone will benefit from reading it — slowly and carefully.”

Barbara, All I can say is thank you, thank you, thank you. I am slightly overwhelmed with your book, “I Could Do Anything…” Finally, I am able to see self-respect just beginning to replace shame,” and satisfaction beginning to replace feelings of worthlessness…Thanks for this feeling of complete emotional support. It’s really remarkable what that does to a person.

There’s also a chapter for you if you’re afraid to take risks; if you’re afraid of succeeding and leaving your loved ones behind; if you want too many different things; if you’re succeeding spectacularly at something you don’t really want; if you feel that what you really want is trivial or unworthy; if you’ve just been through a big life change and don’t know what to do next; if you had a dream but it’s become unattainable; if you resist doing anything ordinary or mundane; and if you’re trying hard to love something you don’t really want.

“Stands out from the sea of self-help baloney books”

Barbara Sher’s book will help you sort it all out. She’ll help you figure out what’s at the root of these feelings and how to understand and handle them. Through a series of exercises, explanations and examples she guides you to discover just what it is that you truly want to do. And then she shows you how to get to do what you want.

Getting what you want is SCARY — you have to face that fear or all you will do is stagnate! Sher recognizes this and sets forth different introspective exercises to help the reader figure out what it is they really want and are not admitting to themself.

This book is about finding out what you want to do with your life not what job you want to do…the main point of the book is that you can find what will truly fulfill you in life.

Best Book I Ever Read! This book covered every question I could think of about life transition like: (1) What do I really love and what do I want to do with the rest of my life? (2) What’s keeping me from moving forward in my life? (3) What is resistance and where does it come from? (4) What part of me is my real-self and why has it been in hiding so long? (5) Why is action better than analysis when I’m in a low mood? (6) How to move beyond a hurtful past. (7) How to overcome narcissistic tendencies. (8) How to claim and create a new life for myself.

“Sher will pick you up off your butt and get you moving. She’s included enough self-analytical exercises in here to save you hundreds of dollars in therapy.”

Whether you’re looking to make improvements in your job or personal life, Sher will teach you how to determine what your goals are,” and how to successfully reach them–even if right now the only thing you know is that you’re vaguely to very unhappy and haven’t the foggiest idea what to do with yourself.

This is your chance. The doors close and the Book Club begins on May 22nd. Patty’s ready to introduce you to a lot of great people and take you through the entire book. And the earliest we can possibly offer this again is next spring. Sign up now and start changing your life. You owe your gifts to the rest of us. We owe you the support you need to find those gifts and do what you were born to do.


Register by May 22nd

No one admitted after midnight May 22nd (NY time)

Money back guarantee through May 28, 2014

Money back guarantee through May 28, 2014

$77 for all 16 weeks

Or make two $40.00 payments 30 days apart

Contact webmaster@barbarasclub.com if you encounter any problems with payment or if you don’t receive two emails within an hour after paying.


107 thoughts on “Be Part of the 2014 “I Could Do Anything” Book Club!

  1. Hi Patty,

    Did you get my email dated May 19th @ 303PM. If not, please see below.

    Per your suggestion in order to get a free pass, I took a photo, at my church yesterday, of the posting for the book club. The silly question I have is how to send it to you? Usually, in the past, when I send from an email, I’ll attach the photo to it. Please help. Dorothea

  2. I’d like to sign up for this, and I’ve ordered the book from Amazon, but it is due to arrive any time between May 23 and June 13th! If I don’t have the book, will I be able to follow the exercises – or can I catch up later when the book comes?

    • You are welcome to join and start reading when the book arrives. The exercises themselves will be online, so you can do those as we do. Have you checked with your local library to see if they will loan you a copy?

      • That’s great, thank you. I looked in the library but they haven’t got a copy – I should have mentioned I’m in the UK.

        • If they drag their feet on delivering it, download the Kindle version and read it on your computer, Karen. I love that version as a backup to my print copy because of the search feature.

  3. It sounds like there will be a huge group joining and I’m disappointed I’ll have to miss this one. I just don’t think I’ll be able to keep up this summer with too many things going on already! Wish big breakthroughs for everyone signed on! I’m with you all in spirit!

  4. Hi everyone!
    I just signed up. The timing of the club was very fortuitous,I read most of it at the end of last year and was going to do the exercises in January – but then, well, life! I just picked the book up again last night determined to get started. Excited to have a like minded group of individuals to help keep me accountable 🙂

    • So glad you’re here, Dawn. It will be great to do this together.

  5. Hello everyone!

    I will be turning the big 5-0 exactly a month from tomorrow and I’ve taken many winding roads to get to where I am now but I’m not really where I want to be. Five years ago I realized that I wanted to go back to a childhood dream of being an artist. I never thought I had much talent, but I always loved art. Of and on I’ve practiced drawing, but in 2010 I found out more about mixed media collage, and found it to be a fascinating art form that encompasses so many different art forms, and I fell in love with it. While I’ve taken a couple of online classes, I’ve mostly been self-taught. I’ve posted some of my art on Twitter and have received some positive responses from experienced artists and lovers of art, but I’m not sure if I’m really “ready for prime time” so to speak – I still feel I have a lot more to learn and so I’m not sure what to do next. I might want eventually to sell the art I create, but right now it’s a wonderful venue of self-expression for me. I really would like to do it full time – whether I made money off of it or not!

    In the meantime I’ve been in a deadly boring administrative job for the past seven years, which I’m thankful for, but I really would like to do something else. However, every time I think about doing something else, even something I think I might enjoy and make more money from, I become afraid that it will take too much time away from my art. I’ve thought about doing things such as becoming a health coach or a senior advocate (helping older people deal with Social Security, Medicare, the health system, etc.). I am interested in these areas, and I do love to help people, but I am an introvert, have low energy and get drained very easily, especially when I work with others in settings like this, even when it is pleasant work. And again, it would take time away from my art to get set up. So I’m very up in the air as to how to do what I love, and perhaps make a living from it.

    I was very excited to hear about this book club, and I know that it will help give me some direction, as well as give me a group of people to support me and be accountable to as I explore my dreams. I am really looking forward to this, to doing the exercises, getting to know you all and giving and receiving feedback!

    • Welcome, Kelly. I hope the book and this wonderful group of people who know so much and have done so much can help you find the Good Enough job that leaves lots of time for art while increasing the interest level. As you’re coming up the slope to it, the big 5-0 can look like the summit, with only downhill on the other side, but it turned out for me to reveal even more wonderful vistas to climb to.

    • Hi Kelly, i was wondering where you are from? like Patty, turning 50 proved to be an age of wonder for me and my life got better! happy birthday. cheers, Maggie in Tassie.

      • Thank you Patty and Maggie for the warm welcome! I live in Austin, TX. I am actually very excited about turning 50, even though I still feel like I’m 25 years old (I’m telling everyone I’m celebrating the 25th anniversary of my 25th birthday!). I believe I have more wisdom than I did when I was younger, but feel young enough to use it and appreciate it, and I finally feel very comfortable in my own skin. So I am celebrating the heck out of turning 50! 🙂

  6. Hi, my name is Doris. I live in Kansas City, Missouri–in the middle of the map of the USA–and I am excited to be a part of this group. I have done many things from waiting tables, which I loved, to graphic design, which I loved, and dozens of things in between in 50+ years of working. Still I feel I have not done what I am here to do, what I do best, and what I would do for nothing if I had to. I look forward to discovering and sharing together.

    • Hi, Doris! I love Kansas City. It’s one of the most pleasant to visit for work. I really look forward to watching you bloom over the next 16 weeks. It sounds like you’re a great big bud ready to open.

      • Thank you, Patty. I am glad to hear you like KC! I hope you are right. I would love to bloom! I am a big flower lover too. I am trying to remember if anyone thought I ought to be something. I am thinking through that right now. Right off, I don’t think anyone had expectations but… I’m thinking.
        Doris

        • Doris, don’t think only of occupational expectations. How did the people in your life define success? Who did they admire? What did they want you to avoid? How did they want you to dress or behave or think? When did they cheer for you, and when did they raise their eyebrows?

  7. Hi Patty. Per your suggestion in order to get a free pass, I took a photo, at my church yesterday, of the posting for the book club. The silly question I have is how to send it to you? Usually, in the past, when I send from an email, I’ll attach the photo to it. Please help. Dorothea

  8. hi patty,
    i´m from austria, love to travel as much as possible, loved working with the book bymyself and sharing it with friends and colleagues, so far. now, the idea of exchangement with people from all over is as much charming as it is to be forced in the best way in improving my english (as living in new york and in california, both for a while, is one of my dreams).
    so,i´d like to join and see how that´s works. what i´m still curious about is the size of the group.
    thank you for answering!
    dani

    • Dani, it’s a big group. It’s so big that if we met in person, we’d need a large ballroom full of those 10-seater round tables. Isolation is the dream killer. You won’t be isolated in this book club. But I don’t want anyone getting lost in the crowd, so I split the group in two, effectively drawing a room divider through the ballroom. If we find we need more dividers, we’ll add them, but we’ll still leave you with a bunch of tables in your section of the ballroom at which to discuss this powerful book with people from all over the world.

  9. I’m new to this and confused. I don’t understand how it works. Is there a time that we would meet, similar to a webinar? It says weekly? Please explain further.

    Thank you,
    Amy

    • Everything will be done online and written, Amy, very much like these comments. You’ll be able to show up whenever you like, and we’ll send you by email what everyone else writes after you post your experiences — or you can come online and read them when you like. I am hoping lots of people will finish the exercises over the weekend, share what they learned with us, read what others learned or asked and offer replies, then return sometime before the next Thursday to reply to spend some time with fellow book club members who showed up after their first visit of the week.

      The weekly emails (every Thursday) will remind you of which pages we’ll be reading and which exercises we’ll be doing. They will also provide links to several pages for posting your comments — one for each exercise and one for reflections on each chapter. We can each do the reading and exercises at our own pace and share what we got from them as soon as we finish. We are an international group spanning many time zones and a group with eclectic careers that would make it impossible to find a good time to meet by phone or webinar.

      • Patty,

        I don’t want a paypal account. Other companies have allowed me to pay without starting an account, why do you require it?

        Amy

        • Amy, you will only need a PayPal account if you are using the 2-payment plan. They handle billing for us. If you are paying the full amount, you can choose their “pay with a credit or debit card” option, and you won’t need an account.

    • Hi Amy! It’s an online group of like minded folks. We’ll get an email assignment each week related to the agenda, which shows the chapters we’ll work on. You’ll do the assignment on your own time, then share via internet with progress, questions, suggestions, etc. at least, that’s my understanding. 🙂

  10. Hi, Patty: I’m looking forward to working with you again – and with one of my favorite books. For the past 4 years I’ve (finally) taken up the family heritage and I’m a realtor. I love it, but the field is wide and changing every month – I need a vision and a focus. Dare I call it a “niche”? I want to find an area that challenging and rewarding, to carry me into the future and beyond! I turn 60 in a couple of months, so this is a natural time for me to reflect, refresh, and revitalize. I’m looking forward to your mentorship and the guidance of our group to help me formulate the coming chapters – in our book and in my life! Warmly, Heather

    • I’ll bet we have a bunch of realtors in this group, Heather. Maybe some will share their trade secrets. Or maybe someone who knows nothing about real estate will tell you about a realtor in their area with a great niche or approach. I turned 62 today, and I have been loving my 60s so far.

        • Thanks, Heather. I could not wish for a better birthday surprise than the marvelous group of people coming together here.

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