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31 Days to a Better You: Proven Principles for Becoming a More Faithful Disciple of Christ
What do you want out of life? That is the thought-provoking question at the heart of best-selling author Ed J. Pinegar’s 31 Days to a Better You. No matter what you’re seeking—whether it be achieving happiness, overcoming obstacles, or attaining exaltation—the secret to success is the it begins with responding to the Savior’s invitation to change your life and become as He is. In this inspirational volume, readers are invited to take those first critical steps in personal improvement as they work toward their goals.
This guide is divided into two first, readers are presented with six foundational tools that can aid in successful achievement of goals. And second, the author presents a careful study of key gospel principles with specific instructions designed to help readers achieve their highest potential. With the motivational guidance found within 31 days of inspiring topic studies, readers will be more prepared to set and meet goals with diligence and determination.
This guide is divided into two first, readers are presented with six foundational tools that can aid in successful achievement of goals. And second, the author presents a careful study of key gospel principles with specific instructions designed to help readers achieve their highest potential. With the motivational guidance found within 31 days of inspiring topic studies, readers will be more prepared to set and meet goals with diligence and determination.
216 pages, Kindle Edition
Published January 1, 2017
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
June 2, 2023
*2.75
"I have been driven many times to my knees by the overwhelming conviction that I had nowhere else to go. My own wisdom, and that of all about me, seemed insufficient for the day." - Abraham Lincoln
I am really conflicted about this book. It listed a lot of good principles and it approached it in a simplistic way--which was both good and bad. The thing I love most about the gospel is its simplicity, God doesn't make it hard to understand or follow. As someone who loves to overcomplicate things this is important for me in regards to my faith. That being said I felt that in a lot of ways this book was too simplistic. For example, "choosing to be happy" is great in theory but as I've gotten older--been diagnosed with depression and other mental health conditions, this seems impossible.
I believe striving for happiness is a choice--not getting wrapped up in things within your control. However, for many of us just waking up and deciding to be happy doesn't work. On this same line of thinking this book gave off the impression that if you just pray enough, work hard enough, read your scriptures everyday. go to the temple, etc. things will go your way. While these are all good principles that enhance life and lead you to the path of happiness--life happens. Even the Savior Himself suffered pretty much his whole life despite the fact that He was perfect. I just wish this book had acknowledged that just because you may do the right things or work towards goals doesn't mean life always works out the way you want it to. Which is okay! God has a plan for you and I'm glad the book touches on that aspect a little bit. He just tells a lot of stories where things miraculously worked out--and while that isn't impossible, I find miracles in my own life to be far less dramatic and I wish more people would discuss the small miracles.
Here is a very long quote from the book below that really stuck out to me. It mirrored the thought I had throughout the whole book that life can be extraordinarily difficult but we can triumph. We might suffer lasting consequences from our own choices or others decisions but that just means we can continue to fight everyday to find happiness.
"Cripple him, and you have a Sir Walter Scott. Lock him in a prison cell, and you have a John Bunyan. Bury him in the snows of Valley Forge, and you have a George Washington. Land him in poverty, and you have an Abraham Lincoln. Subject him to bitter religious strife, and you have a Disraeli. Strike him with infantile paralysis, and you have a Franklin D. Roosevelt, the only president of the United States to be elected to four terms of office. Burn him so severely in a schoolhouse fire that the doctors say he will never walk, and you have a Glenn Cunningham, who set a world record in 1934 for running the mile in 4 minutes, 6.7 seconds.
Deafen a genius composer who continues to compose some of the world's most beautiful music, and you have a Beethoven. Drag him more dead than alive out of a rice paddy in Vietnam, and you have a Rocky Blaier, that beautiful running back for the Pittsburg Steelers. Have him or her born black in a society filled with racial discrimination, and you have a Booker T. Washington, Harriet Tubman, or Martin Luther King Jr. Have him born of parents who survived a Nazi concentration camp, paralyze him from the waist down at the age of four, and you have an Itzhak Perlman, the incomparable violinist. Call him 'retarded' and write him off as 'educatable,' and you have an Albert Einstein.
After losing both his legs in an airplane crash, let an RAF fighter pilot fly, and you have World War II ace, Douglas Bader, who was captured by the Germans three times and escaped three times on two artificial limbs. Label him too stupid to learn, and you have a Thomas Edison. Label him a hopeless alcoholic, and you have Bill Wilson, the founder of Alcoholics Anonymous.
Tell her she is too old to start painting at 80, and you have a Grandma Moses. Blind him at age 44, and you have a John Milton, who, 10 years later, wrote Paradise Lost. Call him dull and hopeless and flunk him in the 6th grade, and you have a Winston Churchill.
Tell a young boy who loved to draw and sketch that he had no talent, and you have a Walt Disney. Rate him mediocre in chemistry, and you have a Louis Pasteur. Take a crippled child whose only home was an orphanage, and you have a Louis E. West, the first chief executive of the Boy Scouts of America. Spit on him, humiliate him, betray his trust, say one thing and do another. Mistrust those whom he loves. Mock him. Make him carry a heavy wooden cross, and then crucify him--and he forgives you and calls you a friend."- Anonymous
"I have been driven many times to my knees by the overwhelming conviction that I had nowhere else to go. My own wisdom, and that of all about me, seemed insufficient for the day." - Abraham Lincoln
I am really conflicted about this book. It listed a lot of good principles and it approached it in a simplistic way--which was both good and bad. The thing I love most about the gospel is its simplicity, God doesn't make it hard to understand or follow. As someone who loves to overcomplicate things this is important for me in regards to my faith. That being said I felt that in a lot of ways this book was too simplistic. For example, "choosing to be happy" is great in theory but as I've gotten older--been diagnosed with depression and other mental health conditions, this seems impossible.
I believe striving for happiness is a choice--not getting wrapped up in things within your control. However, for many of us just waking up and deciding to be happy doesn't work. On this same line of thinking this book gave off the impression that if you just pray enough, work hard enough, read your scriptures everyday. go to the temple, etc. things will go your way. While these are all good principles that enhance life and lead you to the path of happiness--life happens. Even the Savior Himself suffered pretty much his whole life despite the fact that He was perfect. I just wish this book had acknowledged that just because you may do the right things or work towards goals doesn't mean life always works out the way you want it to. Which is okay! God has a plan for you and I'm glad the book touches on that aspect a little bit. He just tells a lot of stories where things miraculously worked out--and while that isn't impossible, I find miracles in my own life to be far less dramatic and I wish more people would discuss the small miracles.
Here is a very long quote from the book below that really stuck out to me. It mirrored the thought I had throughout the whole book that life can be extraordinarily difficult but we can triumph. We might suffer lasting consequences from our own choices or others decisions but that just means we can continue to fight everyday to find happiness.
"Cripple him, and you have a Sir Walter Scott. Lock him in a prison cell, and you have a John Bunyan. Bury him in the snows of Valley Forge, and you have a George Washington. Land him in poverty, and you have an Abraham Lincoln. Subject him to bitter religious strife, and you have a Disraeli. Strike him with infantile paralysis, and you have a Franklin D. Roosevelt, the only president of the United States to be elected to four terms of office. Burn him so severely in a schoolhouse fire that the doctors say he will never walk, and you have a Glenn Cunningham, who set a world record in 1934 for running the mile in 4 minutes, 6.7 seconds.
Deafen a genius composer who continues to compose some of the world's most beautiful music, and you have a Beethoven. Drag him more dead than alive out of a rice paddy in Vietnam, and you have a Rocky Blaier, that beautiful running back for the Pittsburg Steelers. Have him or her born black in a society filled with racial discrimination, and you have a Booker T. Washington, Harriet Tubman, or Martin Luther King Jr. Have him born of parents who survived a Nazi concentration camp, paralyze him from the waist down at the age of four, and you have an Itzhak Perlman, the incomparable violinist. Call him 'retarded' and write him off as 'educatable,' and you have an Albert Einstein.
After losing both his legs in an airplane crash, let an RAF fighter pilot fly, and you have World War II ace, Douglas Bader, who was captured by the Germans three times and escaped three times on two artificial limbs. Label him too stupid to learn, and you have a Thomas Edison. Label him a hopeless alcoholic, and you have Bill Wilson, the founder of Alcoholics Anonymous.
Tell her she is too old to start painting at 80, and you have a Grandma Moses. Blind him at age 44, and you have a John Milton, who, 10 years later, wrote Paradise Lost. Call him dull and hopeless and flunk him in the 6th grade, and you have a Winston Churchill.
Tell a young boy who loved to draw and sketch that he had no talent, and you have a Walt Disney. Rate him mediocre in chemistry, and you have a Louis Pasteur. Take a crippled child whose only home was an orphanage, and you have a Louis E. West, the first chief executive of the Boy Scouts of America. Spit on him, humiliate him, betray his trust, say one thing and do another. Mistrust those whom he loves. Mock him. Make him carry a heavy wooden cross, and then crucify him--and he forgives you and calls you a friend."- Anonymous
July 17, 2023
Received this for my 31st birthday! Good quick self help book!
July 27, 2023
Many great ideas to consider for improvement
January 3, 2024
Ed Pinegar is a jewel. Just a wonderful book that I want to get in paper so I can highlight so much cool stuff. A very good guide to use for a month.
July 22, 2020
Uplifting
Such an uplifting book that one goes away from, only wanting to read it again!!!! If one applies the goals in the book, you and I WILL live with Heavenly Father, Jesus Christ and our loved ones AGAIN. Let each of us press forward in faith!
Such an uplifting book that one goes away from, only wanting to read it again!!!! If one applies the goals in the book, you and I WILL live with Heavenly Father, Jesus Christ and our loved ones AGAIN. Let each of us press forward in faith!
December 27, 2017
You can't go wrong with Ed J Pinegar. I found this book a little simplistic. Then again living the gospel is simplistic. I have to admit I didn't read the book one day at a time but I read it more as a novel. I found some good quotes and ideas and some insights but nothing life changing. it did make me think of some other things to change in my life. some of the chapters I breezed through because I found them to maybe be a little unrealistic. For example there was a chapter on being cheerful and positive which I thought was a little too simplistic again. I think for those who really struggle with depression those ideas just aren't helpful. I'm glad I got the book on a discount.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews