Review: JAT 365 by James Arnold Taylor

James Arnold Taylor is more than just the voice of Obi-Wan Kenobi and other characters on The Clone Wars! If you’ve followed the veteran voice actor on social media, you’ve seen his tidbits of inspiration for everyday life. Now Taylor has compiled a book of his daily doses of positive attitude to help provide that extra boost of good vibes for each day of a year. In JAT 365: 365 Daily Inspirations for the Pursuit of Your Dreams, Taylor delivers a tool for daily progress in working towards one’s dreams. I take a look inside and see what JAT 365 is all about.

For a quick overview of the book, James Arnold Taylor has a video describing how the book works:

Basically, each day’s entry has the same structure: a piece of inspiration, and the challenge to accept it, and think about it with a challenging reflection (the book provides space for some journaling). While other self-help books might just provide a lot to read, JAT 365 is more of a workbook that builds a little bit of daily discipline to make the reader focus on that day’s message and respond to the question posed. The messages cycle through a variety of topics: working on goals, handling change, letting go of negativity, building up relationships, overcoming difficulty, and reinforcing positive thinking in oneself and spreading that message.

As New Year’s is a traditional time for resolutions for self-improvement, why not have a tool that is set up for the whole year, one day at a time? I’ve never dabbled in self-help books, but occasionally I have been been inspired by Taylor’s posts on Twitter (@JATactor) and like his style. The book is a little different – using more than 140 characters at a time, and pushing the reader a little farther (Check out Day 1’s message.) Sometimes we need a chance to force ourselves to think about things more than just the day-to-day, and think a little more about ourselves and who we want to be, and where we want to end up. While the daily exercises will slowly build on each other over time, there’s no set grouping to focus on particular topics – just like life, different areas are all touched on haphazardly, allowing for organic growth, and keeping the user out of too much of the same at once (kind of like the muscle confusion style of physical exercise to build strength.)

And like physical exercise, having a daily tool to build up positive thinking to keep you going for a whole year is a lot better than a book that you read once, and let fall by the wayside after a few weeks. So I’m going to try it out. And if you looked at Day 1 above, then I’ve succeeded in forwarding today’s message. Now I just need to go practice it.

Check out an excerpt of the book or learn how to buy it online (including autographed copies) from Taylor’s website: jamesarnoldtaylor.com

Note: This reviewer received a complimentary copy of JAT 365 for review purposes.