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Drop In: Lead with Deeper Presence and Courage
In a society that deeply values productivity, speed, and external rewards, we often find ourselves with less of what we really long space, clarity, connection with others, and a sense of well-being. Our attempts to improve our lives and bottom lines by adding more to our calendars, expanding our to-do lists, and constantly being plugged in to technology is backfiring. Instead of getting more done, our minds are spinning, leaving us stressed, disconnected, and unable to focus. Drop In challenges our assumptions about the effectiveness of our busy lives and offers a compelling alternative approach to living and leading by inviting people to “drop in” to the present moment. Deepening our awareness of the present moment, asserts Sara Harvey Yao, is the most efficient and sustainable way to navigate the complexities of work and life and to access our clarity, connection, and courage so we can lead your life more powerfully. Full of practical tools, Drop In will help busy professionals get out of the spin cycle of their minds―and tune in to their already-existing wisdom and clarity that resides within all of us.
208 pages, Paperback
Published October 4, 2016
2 people are currently reading
142 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
December 7, 2016
Do you feel stressed? Is everything on your to-do list done? Well, this month you can expect to feel as if you're running on a thread mill to nowhere - and not for exercise! It's a perfect time for us to check out DROP IN: Lead With Clarity, Connection, and Courage (She Writes Press) by Sara Harvey Yao.
DROP IN challenges our assumptions about the "what's working" in our busy lives and offers alternatives to living and leading by inviting people to “drop in” to the present moment."Deepening our awareness of the present moment," says Sara Harvey Yao, "is the most efficient and sustainable way to navigate the complexities of work and life and to access our clarity, connection, and courage so we can lead your life more powerfully."
DROP IN is full of practical tools you can use, and its written in non-mumbo-pyscho-jumbo. There are exercises to help you develop deeper awareness and clarity about your unconscious behaviors, ego tactics and communication styles that hold you back in your life.
Well, I decided to "drop in" on DROP IN, and while reading it, I found several tips that were so obvious, but brilliant, which I could incorporate into my life immediately. We'll see how long that lasts! DROP IN may be just the book to help welcome in 2017!
Sara Harvey Yao is the founder of Yao Consulting Group and has personally developed more than 4,000 leaders across the globe and specializes in the area of executive leadership and presence. Sara is the author of two books: Drop In: Lead with Deeper Presence and Courage and Get Present: Simple Strategies to Get Out of Your Head and Lead More Powerfully. She also hosts "The Whole Leader” podcast show where thought leaders from around the world come together and explore how to lead and live with stronger presence and impact. Her work has been seen on multiple national media outlets including CNBC, MSN, NPR, Elle and SELF magazine. She's married and has two sons.
You can check Sara out on Facebook, Twitter @SaraHarveyYao or you can visit her website www.yaoconsulting.com If you want even more information about Sara and her work, you can call Sara at: 206-686-3670.
DROP IN challenges our assumptions about the "what's working" in our busy lives and offers alternatives to living and leading by inviting people to “drop in” to the present moment."Deepening our awareness of the present moment," says Sara Harvey Yao, "is the most efficient and sustainable way to navigate the complexities of work and life and to access our clarity, connection, and courage so we can lead your life more powerfully."
DROP IN is full of practical tools you can use, and its written in non-mumbo-pyscho-jumbo. There are exercises to help you develop deeper awareness and clarity about your unconscious behaviors, ego tactics and communication styles that hold you back in your life.
Well, I decided to "drop in" on DROP IN, and while reading it, I found several tips that were so obvious, but brilliant, which I could incorporate into my life immediately. We'll see how long that lasts! DROP IN may be just the book to help welcome in 2017!
Sara Harvey Yao is the founder of Yao Consulting Group and has personally developed more than 4,000 leaders across the globe and specializes in the area of executive leadership and presence. Sara is the author of two books: Drop In: Lead with Deeper Presence and Courage and Get Present: Simple Strategies to Get Out of Your Head and Lead More Powerfully. She also hosts "The Whole Leader” podcast show where thought leaders from around the world come together and explore how to lead and live with stronger presence and impact. Her work has been seen on multiple national media outlets including CNBC, MSN, NPR, Elle and SELF magazine. She's married and has two sons.
You can check Sara out on Facebook, Twitter @SaraHarveyYao or you can visit her website www.yaoconsulting.com If you want even more information about Sara and her work, you can call Sara at: 206-686-3670.
March 5, 2017
When it comes to the self-help field, one of my favorite types of books to read is about present moment awareness. I came to truly love this topic when I read one of my favorite books of all time, The Power of Nowby Eckhart Tolle. Please keep your eye out for a review on that one in the near future. At the brink of a new year, so many people often make comments like, “Whelp, that year flew by!” Sadly, when you live in auto-pilot mode, it will. In that mode, you often lose track of what’s most important in life. Due to deep routes of social conditioning, many people are often lost and seeking a solution that Sara Harvey Yao attempts to teach in her book Drop In: Lead with Deep Presence and Courage: presence.
In 2017, much of presence is muddled and lost in between working, exercising, dinner, hanging out with friends, meetings; the everyday actions of life. In her book, she clearly puts forth that humans have become accustomed to living their life in the eyes of content. Driven by their emotions and thoughts, people have not taken the time to reflect and realize there is something greater, deeper and more powerful than ever imagined.
The first part of her story is geared towards understanding life where the reader is at. There are reasons that have prevented the reader from dropping into presence and present moment awareness. In my opinion, this is clearly the moment that Yao stomps her feet into the tier of greatness in the industry. With thousands of authors attempting to create a self-help break through, this book has done it. With genuine stories and advice from her clients, every single reader will be able to relate to their stories. As her book progresses, she discusses several different exercises to ground and guide the reader towards a sense of presence. These exercises are constantly reinforced and encouraged through the story. Now, I would like to pinpoint, this is not a work book. However, if you plan to make a difference in your life, you need to utilize her tips, exercises and suggestions to make a difference. She will give you opportunities to write, reflect and grow.
To finish her book, she moves into teaching the reader how to utilize presence to lead their life with courage. Each sentence, chapter and story was poetry that touched my heart and soul. Her beautiful construction of the notions of context and content completely resonated – and will with many others. With that being said, this is the portion of the book where the reader will be encouraged to make a difference in their life. One aspect of this that I took away was the idea of deep-listening. This is long-lost trait that has become masked by the millions of thoughts driven by the ego.
Once you realize that time is simply an illusion of the ego, so much of life begins to change. There is a sense of power arises within your heart and soul. As Yao puts forth in her book, if you can realize the “low-mind” within, you are already one step towards presence in life. Once you begin invoking presence in your everyday life, you can begin leading your life with a deeper sense of presence and courage.
In 2017, much of presence is muddled and lost in between working, exercising, dinner, hanging out with friends, meetings; the everyday actions of life. In her book, she clearly puts forth that humans have become accustomed to living their life in the eyes of content. Driven by their emotions and thoughts, people have not taken the time to reflect and realize there is something greater, deeper and more powerful than ever imagined.
The first part of her story is geared towards understanding life where the reader is at. There are reasons that have prevented the reader from dropping into presence and present moment awareness. In my opinion, this is clearly the moment that Yao stomps her feet into the tier of greatness in the industry. With thousands of authors attempting to create a self-help break through, this book has done it. With genuine stories and advice from her clients, every single reader will be able to relate to their stories. As her book progresses, she discusses several different exercises to ground and guide the reader towards a sense of presence. These exercises are constantly reinforced and encouraged through the story. Now, I would like to pinpoint, this is not a work book. However, if you plan to make a difference in your life, you need to utilize her tips, exercises and suggestions to make a difference. She will give you opportunities to write, reflect and grow.
To finish her book, she moves into teaching the reader how to utilize presence to lead their life with courage. Each sentence, chapter and story was poetry that touched my heart and soul. Her beautiful construction of the notions of context and content completely resonated – and will with many others. With that being said, this is the portion of the book where the reader will be encouraged to make a difference in their life. One aspect of this that I took away was the idea of deep-listening. This is long-lost trait that has become masked by the millions of thoughts driven by the ego.
Once you realize that time is simply an illusion of the ego, so much of life begins to change. There is a sense of power arises within your heart and soul. As Yao puts forth in her book, if you can realize the “low-mind” within, you are already one step towards presence in life. Once you begin invoking presence in your everyday life, you can begin leading your life with a deeper sense of presence and courage.
November 6, 2017
This is a thoughtful read, so has been on my “to read” list for several months. After my first read-through, I appreciated having time to reflect, re-visit and connect with my own work on presence. This was a great read for me and highly recommend it!
October 20, 2023
The best section for me was that of Deep Listening and tools to do so. Something very valuable to practice!
The inspirational part was Take the next step where Sarah describes it with her own journey of how she finished the three day walk for the cause!
The inspirational part was Take the next step where Sarah describes it with her own journey of how she finished the three day walk for the cause!
July 2, 2025
This book is a book that has fallen into my hands because I needed to read it! And I have no recollection of how of I found it. Beautifully weaves professional and personal life with who you already are and how you show up! Encouraged me to continue to examine my life and be me!
May 10, 2017
Drop In has some really great content. This is definitely something outside of my comfort zone of reading and mostly because it struck the cord that I too realize I'm living in autopilot. I'm aware of it. It made me reevaluate a lot of situations and daily activities. Society's increase of go go go and multitasking is exhausting. After being diagnosed with chronic lyme disease I can relate to the author and her eye opening experience. I was happy to have the tips to teach ourselves how to pull back into a more present life. Breathing tips and being more aware are happening more often. Pulling back from social media has happened. All good things! I love that it's given insight and hope to move forward with being more present. I highly recommend this one!
Just a heads up though... it is a bit content heavy! I ended up spreading the chapters out over a few weeks and allowed me the time to think and process each section before I ever felt overwhelmed.
Just a heads up though... it is a bit content heavy! I ended up spreading the chapters out over a few weeks and allowed me the time to think and process each section before I ever felt overwhelmed.
March 7, 2017
Yao has written a simple, yet effective, method for becoming present. Classified as a business book, it reads more as a life plan for navigating the complexities of life and work. Her chapter "Accessing Your Connected Heart," discusses the power of listening and the four levels of listening. This chapter alone makes the purchase worthwhile. To fully listen and accept that the person speaking "was already whole, capable, and resourceful," is a lesson for all aspects of life. Read my review at http://pennyformythoughts-nona.blogsp...
November 19, 2016
As part of the 2016 BookSparks Holiday Madness Blog Tour (#GetCentered), the next book up for review is Drop In: Lead with Deeper Presence by Sara Yao. I knew that this wasn't Sara's first book, but I have never read any of her other writings. When I looked into Ms. Yao a little further, I see that she has an a
I loved what I learned about "auto-pilot" and how I live my life that way. I'm going through the motions, I'm checking things off my list, but am I really living? Some of the symptoms Sara discusses are the some of the same symptoms that I actually have such as being irritated or cranky and not knowing why, I don't get enough sleep or exercise, I have a hard time going to sleep because my mind is spinning about yesterday or tomorrow. The symptom speaking the loudest to me was when I think about making a change, it feels overwhelming, so I keep doing what I'm doing.
I definitely recommend Drop In to any of you who might be trying to get out of "auto-pilot" mode themselves so they can be more aware Highly recommend 'Drop In' for those looking to move from having lives that seem to run on 'autopilot' to being aware of their emotional responses, learning the triggers of those, and becoming conscious enough of them to break those patterns. Sara does an outstanding job giving real world examples of her clients, who both in their home and work lives, have realized thru their work with her that they have emotional patterns that create stress or hold them back personally or professionally. Sara is able to, in an approachable and easily readable format, explain the practices, tools and techniques used to break through those patterns and unlock a more stable, present and "in control" you.
I received a complimentary paperback copy of this book by BookSparks and the publisher in exchange for this post as part of the 2016 BookSparks Holiday Madness Blog Tour.
I loved what I learned about "auto-pilot" and how I live my life that way. I'm going through the motions, I'm checking things off my list, but am I really living? Some of the symptoms Sara discusses are the some of the same symptoms that I actually have such as being irritated or cranky and not knowing why, I don't get enough sleep or exercise, I have a hard time going to sleep because my mind is spinning about yesterday or tomorrow. The symptom speaking the loudest to me was when I think about making a change, it feels overwhelming, so I keep doing what I'm doing.
I definitely recommend Drop In to any of you who might be trying to get out of "auto-pilot" mode themselves so they can be more aware Highly recommend 'Drop In' for those looking to move from having lives that seem to run on 'autopilot' to being aware of their emotional responses, learning the triggers of those, and becoming conscious enough of them to break those patterns. Sara does an outstanding job giving real world examples of her clients, who both in their home and work lives, have realized thru their work with her that they have emotional patterns that create stress or hold them back personally or professionally. Sara is able to, in an approachable and easily readable format, explain the practices, tools and techniques used to break through those patterns and unlock a more stable, present and "in control" you.
I received a complimentary paperback copy of this book by BookSparks and the publisher in exchange for this post as part of the 2016 BookSparks Holiday Madness Blog Tour.
September 25, 2016
-Practical Tips For Being Present-
I like this book for the simple fact that it emphasizes practical wisdom over self-help. Really, it's up to an individual how they use the reminders and insights in Drop-In to improve well-being. Within the pages I read about how to be more present. Some suggestions were common-sense and many were reminders. For those who long to find a reprieve for their mind and spirit, Drop-In is a great inspirational guide to enable self-care and awareness. For those who are already practicing well-being, you'll appreciate the reminders in how to continue effectively "dropping-in" to life. (Drop-In by Sarah Harvey Yao was provided to me in exchange for a review via NetGalley.) - Laurie - bookescapereviews.wordpress.com
I like this book for the simple fact that it emphasizes practical wisdom over self-help. Really, it's up to an individual how they use the reminders and insights in Drop-In to improve well-being. Within the pages I read about how to be more present. Some suggestions were common-sense and many were reminders. For those who long to find a reprieve for their mind and spirit, Drop-In is a great inspirational guide to enable self-care and awareness. For those who are already practicing well-being, you'll appreciate the reminders in how to continue effectively "dropping-in" to life. (Drop-In by Sarah Harvey Yao was provided to me in exchange for a review via NetGalley.) - Laurie - bookescapereviews.wordpress.com
October 7, 2016
I'm only a few chapters in but I could swear the author knows my challenges and has written this book for me. I'm having many a-ha moments about how I walk through life and how well (or not) that's truly working for me.
Her writing is clear, straightforward and practical, which I really appreciate. This book is giving me a lot to ponder.
Her writing is clear, straightforward and practical, which I really appreciate. This book is giving me a lot to ponder.
October 28, 2016
A wonderfully accessible, yet deceptively profound guide to leading a more aware and meaningful life especially in work and family context where so many of us spend more of our time!
March 25, 2017
Drop In is not Sara Harvey Yao’s first book, but it is the first of her books that I have read. Let me just say that it did not disappoint! It is not a book that I would likely have picked up on my own, so I am grateful that BookSparks sent me a copy to review as part of the Winter Reading Challenge.
I found so many of the topics in this book relevant to my own life. The basic premise of Drop In is that we currently live in a society that praises being busy and constant productivity to achieve success. While Yao does not disregard the need for hard work, in Drop In, she challenges these cultural ideas by suggesting that people “drop in” to be more present and in-the-moment in our daily lives.
http://windycitybookworm.tumblr.com/p...
I found so many of the topics in this book relevant to my own life. The basic premise of Drop In is that we currently live in a society that praises being busy and constant productivity to achieve success. While Yao does not disregard the need for hard work, in Drop In, she challenges these cultural ideas by suggesting that people “drop in” to be more present and in-the-moment in our daily lives.
http://windycitybookworm.tumblr.com/p...
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews