Lasa grijile, incepe sa traiesti - (Dale Carnegie)

Problema nu este ignoranta, ci lipsa de actiune. Scopul acestei carti este sa reafirme, sa ilustreze, sa scoata la lumina si sa glorifice o multime de adevaruri vechi si fundamentale, sa va imboldeasca si sa va determine sa faceti ceva pentru a le aplica. Pe Dale Carnegie il regasim in topul celor mai bine vanduti autori din toate timpurile. La jumatate de veac de la moartea lui, atat scrierile, cat si cursurile sale sunt la fel de solicitate ca si in primii ani dupa lansare.

„Odata cu trecerea timpului, mi-am dat seama ca una dintre cele mai mari probleme ale adultilor era ingrijorarea. Era limpede, aveam nevoie de un manual despre invingerea grijilor!“
Dale Carnegie


Titlu original: How to Stop Worrying and Start Living
Numar pagini: 336 / Format: 15, 5 x 22 cm
Traducator: Adriana Ciorbaru
Coperta: Griffon and Swans
Anul aparitiei: 2011

Born in 1888 in Maryville, Missouri, Carnegie was a poor farmer's boy, the second son of James William Carnagey (b. Indiana, February 15, 1852 – May 18, 1941) and wife Amanda Elizabeth Harbison (b. Missouri, February 21, 1858 – December 4, 1939). His family moved to Belton, Missouri when he was a small child. In his teens, though still having to get up at 4 a. m. every day to milk his parents' cows, he managed to obtain an education at the State Teacher's College in Warrensburg. His first job after college was selling correspondence courses to ranchers. He moved on to selling bacon, soap, and lard for Armour & Company. He was successful to the point of making his sales territory of South Omaha, Nebraska, the national leader for the firm.^[2]

After saving $500 (about $12700 today), Dale Carnegie quit sales in 1911 in order to pursue a lifelong dream of becoming a Chautauqua lecturer. He ended up instead attending the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York, but found little success as an actor, though it is written that he played the role of Dr. Hartley in a road show of Polly of the Circus.^[3] When the production ended, he returned to New York, unemployed, nearly broke, and living at the YMCA on 125th Street. There he got the idea to teach public speaking, and he persuaded the "Y" manager to allow him to instruct a class in return for 80% of the net proceeds. In his first session, he had run out of material. Improvising, he suggested that students speak about "something that made them angry", and discovered that the technique made speakers unafraid to address a public audience.^[4] From this 1912 début, the Dale Carnegie Course evolved. Carnegie had tapped into the average American's desire to have more self-confidence, and by 1914, he was earning $500 (about $11800 today) every week.