Doing the Right Things for the Right Reasons

by Richard L. Bednar, Scott R. Peterson

In many ways, this book is a continuation of our previous one "Spirituality and Developing the Inner Self." In that book we looked at the relationship between psychological well-being and spiritual strength and talked about the need to cope with adversity and opposition as a way to improve the inner self. In this book we develop that theme further and introduce a concept that offers a way to cultivate the ability to do the right things for the right reasons, particularly in moments of difficulty and opposition.

Genres: Religion

138 pages, Hardcover

First published June 1, 1995

Reviews

[Anja · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic book. Thought provoking. I loved this

[Bryany · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this book because it opens your eyes alot!!! Do we do things just for appearance and because it is socially acceptable?? Or do we do them because we truly want to and because we have our own convictions and faith. I find myself questioning my intentions all the time now. I am developing a better sense of worth and a whole new attitude change.

[Nicole · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have to admit, I didn't use this book to its full potential. There are these thinking/writing/self-examining/talking exercises at the end of each chapter that I only did in my head rather than really doing it. Still, I found it very insightful. It's hard to rate a book like this because it's not a page-turner and you don't read it for fun. It's about working on yourself and you have to take that slowly.

To me this book is Human Psychology 101 with LDS applications. It talks about generally used physco-theories like locus of control or identity, explains them, and the applies them to a moral lifestyle based on LDS standards and beliefs.

The concept that struck me the most is that of personal congruence: being the same person on the outside that you are on the inside. The authors argue that you can never really improve unless you first live outwardly as you really are inwardly, and thus know and accept who you really are, then set goals to improve. Too often we "fake it til we make it." I think that works a little bit here and there, but done too much and we never make it, we just fake it, a lot. And the gospel teaches that our hearts have to be behind our actions if they are to work for our good.

[Christin · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thought that this book was ok and had a little bit of good information in it but it was not really great. It did make me think about my motivations for doing the things that I do so that was good to have a little bit of personal introspection.

[Rachellestgelais · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great self-help book. Love this one!