Of course, it's easy to think all these thoughts during the holidays, at least for me. The constant round of social activities, such as parties, shopping, and holiday movies keeps me moving. I feel as though life is pretty good, even as I slowly go broke buying holiday gifts. I don't even feel bad when the stress from trying to figure out how to have a party in my own tiny apartment threatens to give me a heart attack. I usually also successfully avoid my family during the holidays, which contributes greatly to a sense of good humor and cheer at this time of year. Some of you may know what I mean.

Nibble on a little free agility training
It's in this spirit of self-improvement and possibilities for the future, I think, that Peanut Press is giving away free copies of Walter J. Wadsworth's The Agile Manager's Guide to Goal-Setting & Achievement. You can check it out at http://www.peanutpress.com/book.cgi/0740800817/089849-6337-44125. (I give you permission to chortle at the author's name.) The copyright is 1997, but the tone of the book is unmistakably eighties. Those of you who actually remember the eighties know what I'm talking about -- the sort of general encouragement that "everyone can be a rich yuppie if they just wear the right power ties and comb their hair correctly."

This nineties' version has the same sort of underlying philosophy: "If you do everything right, you'll come out on top." However, the nineties' version of the story has a sort of seventies' twist, in that "doing everything right" primarily means having the right attitude and thinking good thoughts. This gives the book a sort of touchy-feely flavor that the yuppies of the eighties would've disdained. (I'm not sure if this is some sort of indication of evolution or not.)

The other primary problem with Wadsworth's book is that if you're at all successful in what you do now, you probably already know a lot of the things he's telling you. Do you really need Mr. Wadsworth to inform you that "most people need to identify their goals, and then create a timetable, or action plan, for reaching them?"

Mr. Wadsworth does give examples from "real life" -- his own or his friends' -- as to how to figure out what you want and go about getting it. But in my own limited experience with handing out advice as clear and simple as this, I think I can safely report that no one believes it -- or at least tunes in.