OOLA Find Balance in an Unbalanced World

by Dave Braun, Troy Amdahl

Oola is not your typical self-help book. Oola is a "state of awesomeness," it's when your life is balanced and growing in the 7 key areas of life (Fitness, Finance, Family, Field, Faith, Friends, and Fun). Oola reads more like a collection of kick-butt anecdotes and sincere stories that just happen to have meaningful messages. Co-authors Dave Braun (The OolaSeeker) and Troy Amdahl (The OolaGuru) have been there and done that. Kurt Warner, NFL MVP, wrote the foreword. "What I have been seeking, and what I believe everyone is seeking ... is an OolaLife." Mark Victor Hansen (the "Chicken Soup for the Soul" co-author) says, "Oola is happy inspiration!" Oola has received glowing reviews from top authors, pro athletes, musicians, industry leaders, and Olympians.

Genres: Nonfiction, Self Help, Personal Development, Business

241 pages, ebook

First published November 1, 2012

Reviews

[Juanita · Rating 2 out of 5]

Two guys made up a word "oola" and wrote a book about it. Every time they used it I cringed a little bit. The book is basically stories and advice about how your life can be as awesome/oola as the authors' if you follow the oola steps on the oola path. Not bad advice but not a game changer for me.

[Kristen · Rating 1 out of 5]

I read this book quickly to get it over with. Tired, like many self-help type books and altogether uninspired. The anecdotes shared are pretty boring, unhelpful, and at times quite annoying. I think there is some good material here, but the way it's shared leaves much to be desired. If you're looking for achieving life balance, there are much better books out there. Leave this one on the shelf.

[Conrad Zero · Rating 4 out of 5]

Let's get this out of the way: "Oola" is a silly word which the authors made up to describe a "state of awesomeness." Get used to it, because this oolabook gives you oolatools to create the oolaplan for your oolalife. Not kidding, 'oola' appears in multiple configurations throughout the book.

The book provides 7 categories to explore in your life: Fitness, Finance, Family, Field, Faith, Friends and Fun. Most of the book outlines the 7 categories, and then 7 oolablockers and then 7 oolaaccellerators. The last third of the book gets more practical, and provides a lovely system for goal setting, and blank sheets to track your oolaprogress.

Each chapter has an intro and summation of the chapter topic, but is primarily life stories by the two authors: one is a self-proclaimed Oolaguru (whose life is awesome, thanks much) and the other is the Oolaseeker, (whose life was awesome once, but now, not so much.) I found the stories distracting for the same reasons as other reviewers. If you skip the stories, you'll end up with an oolabooklet of very useful oolainfo. There's no reason to believe this system won't work, as it's very straightforward common sense. Essentially, you rate your life in each of the seven areas, select goals to improve your score in each area, create your oolapath, and hold yourself accountable. Oolapresto! Your life will be awesome.

And of course, you can join the Oolacult at the very pro website: https://www.oolalife.com/ There is a great free test you can take (requires an email address, but not necessarily your own. oolaLOL ) and you can download the oolapath and oolaplan worksheets for free (no info required)

I encourage you to take a look at the website, and take the test. If that gets your oolajuices flowing, then check out the book.

[Travis Ogden · Rating 5 out of 5]

Awesome book. The authors do a great job at entertaining us while teaching us by drawing upon their personal experiences. I have learned that Oola is more than a book. It is a lifestyle. The Oola life is a life of balance, growth and fulfillment. After reading the book I also recommend checking out www.theoolalife.com for some cool tools the authors have provided to help us find balance.

[Samantha Werre · Rating 2 out of 5]

The principles laid out in this book are generally good, but I found the writing to be pretty uninspiring and lacking depth. Overall I just didn't relate to the authors and found many of their stories to be pretty elitist. I also couldn't get past the grammatical errors and overuse of the term "Oola".

[Erin Kacer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oola is way more than a book. It’s a lifestyle and the book outlines the framework to set you on a path for your “Oola” life. If I would have just read the book and not found an Oola community to put into action the 7 F’s, I likely would have missed a lot of life changing experiences in my life. Especially the stuff I was trying to control. Be grateful, have faith, and get your Oola life 🤟🏼

[Heather Holden · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think I need to spend more time with the action steps and journaling that is recommended in the last few chapters of the book. I appreciated the reminders about balancing my life and I think the simple goal setting techniques outlined are doable and will be helpful. However, I didn't find the authors' personal stories to be all that inspiring. Their "healthy confidence" sometimes read more as cavalier and flippant to me. These are not men I can imagine inviting to our house for dinner...Certainly, their accomplishments are admirable, but I didn't quite connect to the writing in the meaningful way I had hoped to. That being said, I shared a few passages with my husband that I thought were insightful and I am taking away some ideas for refocusing my own goals and life balancing efforts. This was a quick and effortless read- worthwhile but not life-altering as advertised.

[Lyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

What an awesome book. The personal stories give you insight on the two authors and shows how everyone can be off balance in their lives. My favorite chapter was on fear, guilt, humility, integrity geesh the whole book spoke to me. There is the activity in doing the oolawheel. I recommend this book as a tool to get on track so you can live your best life, oola life. The fact that they know God is the center makes it even better for me. Uplifting.

[Janette Lopez · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book took me a little while to finish because I read it one chapter at a time to reply but I learned a new chapter into my life. You seem like a no-brainer when you actually read the book and apply each section into your life it really soaks in. This book inspired me to find balance in my life. It makes such sense. If you are looking for a book that will help refresh your life look no further.

[Aly Elizabeth · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm kind of a self-help book junkie... I'll take all the help I can get. I love that this book is really focused on balancing everything and paying attention to your weaker areas in life. The stories that are shared are completely relatable and inspiring. I would absolutely recommend this book (even though the term "Oola" got a little annoying lol).

[Darlene Hull · Rating 3 out of 5]

Decent book, fun online program, and some good ideas. Not hugely original, and felt rather long, but it has some good stories, good ideas, and fun tools for working towards your best life.

I also like the fact that you can get a kit of essential oils to go with it! :)

[Dani · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is one of those books (like "The Dip") that I will come back to and read again - as I know I will take something different away depending on my current life circumstances.

[Connie Thill · Rating 5 out of 5]

I met the authors and find them sincere and energizing. Anybody who is ready to pursue awesomeness will enjoy this book. #liveoola

[Kerry Banks · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had been putting this off because I read the Oola for Women last year, and to be honest, I didn’t love that one. Needless to say, I was pretty skeptical about this one, wondering how much would feel redundant.

I decided to go into this one with an open mind, and I’ll be honest, it made a world of difference. I almost wish I read this one first actually. You’d think I’d appreciate the “female empowerment” from the other, but I think it’s best to hear ALL perspectives. With that said, the experiences shared are from only the male perspective this time, specifically only the Oola Seeker and the Oola Guru.

It’s tough sometimes reading books like this because I think they naturally cause feelings of “yeah right, this is embellished” or … “well it’s easy to paint pictures of rainbows because clearly you are successful now and this really isn’t possible for all.”

But I think it was a good refresher to read this now, especially when we’re still semi in the mind frame of “resolutions” and “word of the year”. I laughed a bit at the life stories shared, and appreciated the dream car (Lexus LFA) plug.

Overall, I’m still not sold that what’s being preached in this book is different from any other with having a plan, starting small, then dreaming bigger, and staying focused even when plans get derailed along the way. I mean, that’s the definition of life, right? Peaks and valleys. The roller coaster. Choose your metaphor accordingly. And the whole “I write my day plan out the night before”? If that’s legit, good for them, but I still think that’s a bit far fetched.

Either way, I liked it, but it’s something to keep in mind that I don’t feel like it’s something that DEEPLY resonates with me. Maybe I’m in denial. I agreed with the recaps of each “F”, and definitely think finance is one that needs to be preached again and again when we live in a world of social media highlights of “look what I have/bought now.” (I guess that was nice of them to give Dave Ramsey a mini shout out but I’m still not sold on him either as I’ve mentioned in other reviews.)

Anyway, I’d recommend this but I’d be careful not to get sucked into it to the point where you’re questioning your entire life and it’s purpose. They talk about the Oola wheel and you don’t always need to reinvent the wheel.

[The Bibliovert · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’ve just started reading my way through some personal development books that I have picked up along the way, and I have to say, this one started out a bit slow for me. I wasn’t interested in reading all of the personal stories about these two authors that was in every single chapter. I understand that they were just expanding on the 7 F’s of Oola and how it applied to their lives. But, I was like, I get it, your life is great now because you followed this plan. The reading started to pick up a bit more once I got to the Oola Accelerators and Blockers. But, that came half way through the book and the personal stories continued. However, I appreciated that they didn’t try to sell you a separate workbook, they INCLUDED it in the book. They gave you all the tools that they thought you would need in order to personally find the Oola balance in your life.
If you’re a person that loves to read about other people’s experiences, how the choices they make impacted their lives, and then can relate that back to your own life and experiences, this is a perfect book for you. For me personally, a brief overview of the contents would have been sufficient, and then spending the time to dive into the workbook pages and work through your plan, as that is where I think the value, for me personally, is in this book.

[Gaaron · Rating 4 out of 5]

Oola Find Balance in an Unbalanced World, is a great book if you are interested in reading a self-help book. This book focuses on 7 main focuses which are supposed to bring your life to a great OOLA state, which is a balanced and growing state at the same time. The book is very optimistic and forward-looking which is good for a self-help book. One thing that I did not enjoy about this book was the authors talked about his own life/ life stories way too much, in every chapter you will get to know the authors more and more which was not my style. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who is struggling with having a healthy balance of life and is having trouble getting off your butt and getting motivated. Self-help/ motivating books are great but it's not really something I'm looking for as a 17-year-old kid still in high school, but other than that it was a good read and I suggest this book to others!

[Jill Miller · Rating 3 out of 5]

If I never hear or read the word “Oola” again, it will still be too much. Oola this, Oola that...Oola, Oola, Oola. While this book has many excellent ideas, suggestions and exercises in it, all of that good was squashed for me with the never ending use of the word Oola. I would have given the book five stars if it hadn’t been for the excessive use of that word. It was so incredibly distracting for me, that it was hard for me to absorb the actual value that the book does have. I’m glad I finally finished this Oolabook.

[Dominique · Rating 5 out of 5]

I could not put this down and I ended up reading it in one day...Oops. I love Oola and everything it stands for. My family and I are becoming minimalists and this book was definitely the push we needed. I'm definitely going to start mapping out my goals. Thank you Dave Braun and Troy Amdahl for sharing your experiences and writing this amazing book. It definitely helped a little family in Austin, Tx.

[Stacey Clark · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a 100% life changer! Since I’ve read this book I’ve felt the earth shift under my feet and something stirring in myself that I’ve not felt in 50 years! This is a great framework for making real life changes. Dr. Dave and Dr. Troy share their own life experiences in an honest way, and I have the tools that I need to go get my Oola life!!

[Jaxon · Rating 2 out of 5]

Another self-help book with a bunch of not too helpful, and sometimes contradictory advice.

One of the only redeeming qualities of this book is that they have written about the importance of following a higher spiritual power, which all too often gets overlooked in this genre.

There’s a few good nuggets of advice in the book, but I wouldn’t necessarily recommend it over other self-help books.

[Sarah · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was OK. It gave me good things to think about, but my main complaint was that the chapters on the 7 areas of a balanced life were too basic and short for my liking. I would have like to dive into more detail with each section. The writing style wasn't my favorite either.

[Angie Skarsen · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book changed my life in so many amazing ways!!

[Katey · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was an interesting read, with some great advice. It made me look at my life in a different perspective, and think about what goals I might want to accomplish in my life.

[Heathers Lit Voyage · Rating 4 out of 5]

The principles are fantastic and the story is inspirational. Definitely worth the read.

[Lacey Pilgrim · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great stories with a great meaning. Nice workbook pages at the end if you wish to use them.

[Diana · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found this to be a very inspirational read. It really made me look at different areas of my life and how it is all connected.

[Tiffany Dixon · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book helped change my life!

[Ivory · Rating 2 out of 5]

Nope.

[Mario Russo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nothing new here that you haven't seen on other self help book, but wrapped up with a new Oola word. Good advice tho.

[Dena St.]

Love this book