Sister Books · Book 2
That Wasn’t My Intention
What happens when the strengths that helped us succeed begin operating automatically?
- Genre
- Practical Psychology / Personal Growth
- Rights available
- World English / Translation / Film & TV
- Audience
- Adult nonfiction readers, especially high achievers, leaders, professionals, helpers, and readers interested in psychology, relationships, personal growth, and behavior change.
- Word count
- 44,000, approx
- Narrative style
- Conversational, story-led, psychologically informed, reflective, and practical.
- Narrative tone
- Warm, candid, thoughtful, occasionally self-deprecating, and hopeful.
- Timeline
- Present-day reflection interwoven with personal and professional experiences spanning much of my life.
- Setting
- Primarily the United States, although this is not a setting-driven book. The stories move through family life, professional practice, executive coaching, relationships, and ordinary daily experiences.
- Narrative Perspective
- Primarily first person, with direct engagement with the reader and occasional illustrative examples.
Synopsis
That Wasn’t My Intention grew directly out of writing Come On In. The Water Is Fine.
As I examined my own life for the memoir, I began seeing a recurring gap between what we intend and what we actually create.
The very qualities that help us succeed — determination, independence, problem-solving, responsibility, achievement — can become so familiar that they begin operating automatically.
Drawing on more than fifty years as a psychologist, twenty-five years as an executive coach, and my own sometimes uncomfortable discoveries, the book asks what happens when an old response acts before the present situation gets a vote.
Through personal stories, psychology, reflection and practical exercises, it helps readers notice the pattern, recover the pause, and choose again.
The books stand independently but grew from the same journey, with “Come On In. The Water Is Fine” telling the life and “That Wasn’t My Intention” turning what I discovered while writing that life toward the reader.
“Come On In. The Water Is Fine” tells the life.
“That Wasn’t My Intention” takes what he discovered while writing that life and turns the question toward the reader.
One book shows you the life. The other helps you find your own way in.
As I examined my own life for the memoir, I began seeing a recurring gap between what we intend and what we actually create.
The very qualities that help us succeed — determination, independence, problem-solving, responsibility, achievement — can become so familiar that they begin operating automatically.
Drawing on more than fifty years as a psychologist, twenty-five years as an executive coach, and my own sometimes uncomfortable discoveries, the book asks what happens when an old response acts before the present situation gets a vote.
Through personal stories, psychology, reflection and practical exercises, it helps readers notice the pattern, recover the pause, and choose again.
The books stand independently but grew from the same journey, with “Come On In. The Water Is Fine” telling the life and “That Wasn’t My Intention” turning what I discovered while writing that life toward the reader.
“Come On In. The Water Is Fine” tells the life.
“That Wasn’t My Intention” takes what he discovered while writing that life and turns the question toward the reader.
One book shows you the life. The other helps you find your own way in.