TRY TO VIEW YOUR LIFE THROUGH ANGLES
Book: 7 Tried and Tested Triangles
Author: Pearl Seigel
Reviewer: Thando Ndabezitha
I’M NOT a big fan of selfhelp books.
When a copy of 7 Tried and Tested Triangles landed on my desk, I was more than a little sceptical as I read the blurb and the promise on the front cover: “This book may change your life!”
It’s these kind of extravagant claims which self-help guides carry with them that make me steer clear of them in the bookshop.
But I decided to approach the book with an open mind anyhow, and found it to be quite interesting.
This self-published book offers, as the title suggests, seven triangles to help you navigate your way through life.
Starting with Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, it establishes the idea of triangles offering a conceptual framework for understanding where you are in life. Whether you are fulfilled where you are, as well as what can be holding you back from moving on to the ultimate goal of self-actualisation.
The rest of the six chapters in this short and easy-toread book propose triangles which challenge you to place yourself at the vertex with which you most identify.
Chapter 2, for example, is about helping you answer the question “what makes you tick?”
It proposes a triangle with the three vertices: power, achievement and affiliation. It then describes what each of these motives mean.
Some useful questions from the book to help you identify what makes you tick include:
“Are you able to inspire others?”
“Would you compromise your values or ethics to stay in power?”
“Do you need to be influential?”
Your answers to the above questions will give you some indication as to whether you have a power-driven personality. Ponder the following:
“Is the achievement more important to you than financial reward?” “Are you results-driven?” “Do you thrive on personal satisfaction?”
The above three questions relate to the achievement-driven personality.
With regard to the affiliation-driven people, Seigel asks:
“Is being liked and being an important part of a team more important to you than financial reward?”
“Do you need to communicate and share with others?”
“Are you fulfilled when working as part of a team?”
I easily grasped the gist of each of the six triangles but got lost with the last one, Maslow Modernised with Tikkun Olam.
The book offers some insights into how to honestly evaluate your character attributes and offers some advice on how to improve yourself, borrowing the good attributes from different personality types to help you reach your potential.
7 Tried and Tested Triangles may possibly help readers increase their selfawareness and equip them with the conceptual tools to enable them to think creatively about their challenges. As for whether it will change your life, that’s for you to decide – based on how far you take the advice Seigel offers.