Dorothea Brande – författare

“Eminently sensible and practical.”– The New York Times Book ReviewA true lost classic that can take your life to its fullest potential. What if you were promised a simple, 8-word formula that could turn your life around? Would you believe it? Would you try it? Here it is: Act as if it were impossible to fail This magic key is at the heart of one of the most persuasive self-improvement books ever published – a work that, while forgotten, rivaled the popularity of contemporaneous books by Napoleon Hill and Dale Carnegie. It was called Wake Up and Live!, written by Dorothea Brande, an enterprising Chicago journalist. When Brande published Wake Up and Live! in 1936, the book soared to popularity, selling over 1,000,000 copies in years ahead. The book won so much acclaim that it became the sole work of mind-power philosophy ever to make it to the movie screen – and as a musical, no less. In 1937, 20th Century Fox released Wake Up and Live, starring Walter Winchell.Brande was a journalist and writing instructor by trade, best known for her enduring and thoughtful instructional book, Becoming a Writer (1934). That book, Brande explained, grew out of a period of bounding productivity in her career, which began with her discovery of one basic law of success. Brande’s formula was so simple and magical-seeming that it made people want to argue with her the moment she uttered it. But for many it worked.Act as if it were impossible to fail.Brande was a preternaturally sharp-eyed student of human nature. She detected among the vast majority of men and women a “will to fail.” This damning wish grew from a little-seen foible of human nature. We are, Brande insisted, more frightened of suffering humiliation than desirous of achievement. When fear and ambition clash, she argued, fear inevitably prevails. “The Unconscious dreads pain, humiliation, fatigue” Brande wrote; “it bends its efforts even more ceaselessly to the end of avoiding pain than it does to the procuring of positive pleasures.”Rather than risk rejection, people often self-sabotage: blowing deadlines, alienating allies, aimlessly procrastinating. Brande’s grasp of the psychology of failure brought her a “eureka” moment. After a lifetime of searching she had found the answer. Act as if it were impossible to fail.In Wake Up and Live! – a book that is as enjoyable as its formula is simple – Brande tells the story of her discovery and shows how her eight-word technique can be applied across different areas of life. With its observations about self-defeat, and its powerful idea for navigating around it, Wake Up and Live! is one of the most keenly argued and carefully observant works of practical psychology ever written.Praise for Wake Up and Live!“Eminently sensible and practical.” – The New York Times Book Review “A simple and usable technique of living…All I want to do is to buttonhole each and every one of my friends and say, ‘You must read Wake up and Live!’” – Jean Starr Untermeyer “Fascinating and exactly the spring tonic that most of us need.” – Chicago Tribune “She made her own test with sincerity and faith, and her entire life was changed to one of overwhelming success.” – Earl Nightingale, The Strangest Secret

Bei der Hypnose werden zwar unbewusste, aber doch abgespeicherte Fehlschläge ausgeblendet. Dies befähigt die hypnotisierte Person dazu, bisweilen Erstaunliches zu vollbringen. Dieser Erkenntnis bediente sich die Journalistin und Schriftstellerin Dorothea Brande, um eine präzise Erfolgsformel für jedermann zu entwickeln. Dieses Werk ist darüber hinaus das einzige, das je als Vorlage für ein Musical diente.

Born in Chicago, Dorothea Brande (1893-1948) was a widely respected journalist, lecturer, editor, fiction writer and writing instructor. Brande is widely known for her enduring guide to the creative process, Becoming a Writer, originally published in 1934 and still popular today. In 1936, Brande published an inspirational masterwork of practical psychology, Wake Up and Live! which she wrote during the Great Depression.Wake Up and Live! opened the eyes of thousands of people to a whole new idea of living, as it taught them how to concentrate on the things that really matter. Her most successful book, with more than 34 printings and over 1 million copies sold, it was an inspiration and lesson to all that success is within reach of everyone.For many years, Wake Up and Live!, with its simple and sound advice for personal excellence, rivaled the popularity of popular works such as Think and Grow Rich and How to Win Friends and Influence People. It is considered one of the greatest success guides ever written. Now, this beautifully designed classic of self-improvement, can help you revolutionize your existence and lead you to find the success you desire and so rightly deserve. In this remarkable work you will learn:Why Do We Fail?The Will to FailVictims of the Will to FailThe Rewards of FailureRighting the DirectionThe System in OperationWarnings and QualificationsOn Saving BreathThe Task of the Imagination

Nachdem Dorothea Brande einer Hypnosesitzung beigewohnt hatte, war ihr Interesse geweckt. Kurze Zeit darauf war es ein einziger Satz des Psychologen F.M.H. Myers, dem sie eine völlige Veränderung ihres Lebens zuschrieb.Myers erklärte, dass sich die bei der Hypnose zum Vorschein kommenden Talente und Fähigkeiten deshalb zeigen würden, weil die Erinnerung an bisherige Fehler "ausgeblendet" würde.Dorothea Brande überlegte daraufhin, ob eine solche Läuterung nicht auch im Wachzustand möglich wäre. Falls ganz normale Leute Talente, Fähigkeiten und Möglichkeiten in sich trügen, die aber aufgrund von Fehlschlägen in der Vergangenheit nicht genutzt würden, müsse es ihnen doch möglich sein, sich so zu verhalten, als ob ein Scheitern umöglich wäre.Genau das probierte sie aus.Sie ging von der Prämisse aus, dass diese Fähigkeiten und Talente vorhanden sind, und dass sie sie nutzen könne, wenn sie sich so verhalten würde "als ob dies der Fall sei".Innerhalb eines einzigen Jahres konnte sie als Schriftstellerin ein Vielfaches ihrer bisherigen Leistungen vorweisen!Sie entdeckte auch ihr Talent als Vortragsrednerin, und wurde eine äußerst gefragte Rednerin, obwohl sie immer gelaubt hatte, dass dies überhaupt nichts für sie sei.

Un texto escepcional para los que se sientan escritores, o aspiren a serlo.Libro imprescindible que sigue publicándose año tras año y sirviendo de guía para varias generaciones de escritores. Una obra delicada, de prosa elegante y magníficamente bien escrita, que mantiene toda su actualidad.