Destined to become a classic epidemiological study, EXPECTA- TIONS OF LIFE surveys world mortality, describing and ex- plaining the declines of mortality which have become especi- ally evident in this century.

Destined to become a classic epidemiological study, EXPECTA- TIONS OF LIFE surveys world mortality, describing and ex- plaining the declines of mortality which have become especi- ally evident in this century.

After the publication of his wildly successful memoir, Blue Like Jazz, Donald Miller's life began to stall. During what should have been the height of his success, he found himself avoiding responsibility and even questioning the meaning of life. But when two producers proposed turning his memoir into a movie, Miller found himself launched into a new story filled with risk, possibility, beauty, and meaning. A Million Miles in a Thousand Years chronicles Miller's rare opportunity to edit his life into a great story and to reinvent himself so nobody shrugs their shoulders when the credits roll. When his producers begin fictionalizing Don's life for the film--changing a meandering memoir into a structured narrative--the real-life Don starts a journey to make his actual life into a better story. In this book, we have a front-row seat to Miller's journey--from sleeping all day to riding his bike across America, from living in romantic daydreams to facing love head-on, from wasting his money to founding a life-changing nonprofit. Guided by a host of outlandish but very real characters, Miller teaches us: Why God hasn't fixed us yet The power of speaking something into nothing The redemptive beauty that can come from tragic circumstances How to get a second chance at life the first time around Through heart-wrenching honesty and hilarious self-inspection, Miller takes readers through the life that emerges when it turns from boring reality into a meaningful narrative.

The creator of the Unmistakable Creative podcast makes a counterintuitive argument: By focusing your creative work on pleasing yourself, you can increase your productivity, happiness, and (eventually, paradoxically) the size of your audience. Creating for your own pleasure--whether you're writing a novel, composing songs, or painting a landscape--can seem pointless. It's tempting to focus on pursuing money and fame, rather than the process itself. But as Srini Rao warns, creating then turns into a chore that can harm your self-esteem and suck the pleasure out of life, rather than being a source of joy. Rao, host of the podcast The Unmistakable Creative, argues that we should counter this thinking by intentionally creating art for ourselves alone--an audience of one. In this book he shares the fascinating true stories of creatives who took this path, along with actionable tips and the research of creativity experts. You'll learn, for example: How Oprah's intentional focus on her own work rather than the opinions of everyone else catapulted her into one of the most popular talk shows of all time. How being process-driven can not only help you produce more work, but can make you happier outside of your creative time. How to put together a creative "team of rivals" whose feedback can help you hone your craft and filter out useless feedback. By playing to an audience of one, we can find more happiness, increased productivity, and a greater sense of community.

The bestselling author returns with his biggest book yet in which he teaches us the secret to living a happier life: get rid of as many expectations as possible—of ourselves, our future, our relationships, our career and our family. Expectations are the secret software, running on the hardware of our minds, controlling our emotions, decisions, and actions. How? Think about your life. How much of the sadness you feel derives from what you think should have happened—than with what actually happened? Think about your career. How much of the discontent you feel comes from your belief about where you’d be at this point—than with the progress you’ve actually made? Think about your relationships. How much of your dissatisfaction with friends, family, significant others, or spouses has to do with your unspoken presumptions—than with the people themselves? Having so many expectations is distorting your perspective, decreasing your happiness and disrupting your joy. You can live a life of true freedom, greater peace and less stress: release as many expectations as possible. This, DeVon Franklin argues, is the secret to a better life now. In a culture obsessed with more, Live Free is a bold counterintuitive book that can start a cultural revolution, Franklin contends. Everyone struggles with unnecessary expectations. But once you learn to let go of them, you can set the stage for the life you’ve always wanted.

What if you could revolutionize your life from top to bottom by altering your mindset in just one way? Art costello has the answer and it's quite simple: mastering your expectations. Through improved understanding of expectations and their bearing on every facte of life, you can expect: -increased creativity and productivity -boosted confidence -improved human interaction -the ability to steer the course of your future! Costello speaks conversationally and candidly about his own experiences and how they inspired him to pioneer the original concepts in this book. He explains that expectations are not just a word, but a framework for living. When you operate through faith and not fear, you create higher expectations and create self-fulfilling prophesies for the life you have always wanted. It's simple but life changing!

Ah, the American Dream. How's that working out for ya? At a time when the middle class is violently under attack from all sides comes Lower Your Expectations -- Randy Treu's wicked take on the fantasy that was once our reality. Whether it's your job ("our grandfathers did not seek employment that thrilled their souls, they went to work because letting their families starve would have looked bad to the neighbors"), your relationship ("It may indeed be a proven fact that love is blind, but for it to last, love must be delusional as well"), or even worse, your heightened sense of the dreaded "a" word ("As we have seen, awareness doesn't change anything, blame does") Lower your Expectations takes it all down with a witty and irreverent vengeance. As America learns to lower her expectations, her citizens will have far less reason to seek out professional help. Therapists will become the steelworkers of the 21st century - unneeded and unemployable with few transferable skills to help them make their way in a post-therapeutic America. It could be that in a few years, we will find this overeducated underclass of former self-help guru's populating America's street corners holding up signs saying, 'Will trade therapy for food.' It's time to make this dream come true. Does Lower Your Expectations work? Hell, look around; you're getting old, your spouse bores the hell out of you and your career, which seemed like a dumb idea back then, is now life threatening. What have you got to lose?