‘Stop *Effing Yourself

Maybe you were born under an unlucky star. Could that be why

your life is circling the drain? Did you do something to create bad

Karma, or did someone put a hex on you? A bad spell? An ancient

curse? It’s easy to blame the economy — certainly, that’s got a lot

to do with your lack of success — but there’s got to be more to

this spate of bad luck you’re enduring.

Maybe you were born under an unlucky star.

Could that be why your life is circling the drain? Did you do something to create bad Karma, or did someone put a hex on you? A bad spell? An ancient curse? It’s easy to blame the economy — certainly, that’s got a lot to do with your lack of success — but there’s got to be more to this spate of bad luck you’re enduring.

But before you go checking another horoscope or invest in amulets, try “Stop *Effing Yourself” by Sean Kenniff, M.D. It may make you see how to undo the bad kismet you’re under.

While it sounds distinctively crude, “*effing” means, according to Sean Kenniff, “To be in the act of self-sabotage…” Kenniff says he discovered four areas in which people *eff themselves, because he was doing it through choices he once made and past failures to act in a positive way.

“… we all have an inner voice that is discouraging, distracting, demanding, and damaging,” Kenniff says. “But you don’t have to listen to that internal enemy, and you can even change your internal enemy into an ally if you know how to do it.”

First of all, stop *effing with your health. Change your diet into a do-it and make long-term changes in your exercise and eating habits. Stop smoking, cut down on your alcohol consumption, get adequate sleep, and learn to chill out. Oh, and wash your hands — it’s an easy, effective way to help stay healthy.

Secondly, Kenniff says, take a look at your love life. Stop relationshopping and make a commitment to commit. Learn to fight fair with your partner, and check all emotional baggage. Above all, learn to communicate with the ones you love, and that skill will fall over into your work life.

Which brings us to finances and that work life.

Get educated about money, budgeting, and investing. Choose to have job satisfaction or change your career if you hate your job, have a bad boss, or work with toxic people. Stop wasting time, quit procrastinating, and pick up some good work habits to get ahead. Learn the Seven Secrets of Smart Workers. And for everyone’s sake, practice personal hygiene.

Right now, you’re probably thinking this is all pretty common-sense stuff that you learned eons ago. And you’d be exactly right.

For a seasoned businessperson, or for anyone who’s graduated from high school and held a job for more than a week, “Stop *Effing Yourself” is way too rudimentary, almost to the point of insulting. Author Sean Kenniff, M.D. is thorough and his advice is sound, but it’s not anything you haven’t heard if you’re over twenty. Most adults, in fact, are probably going to want to hand this book to the nearest teenager, who will get much more use from it.

I think, if you’re seriously flailing about in work and in life, “Stop *Effing Yourself” might help you get direction. But if you’ve been around the block and need real help, good luck finding it here.

• The Bookworm is Terri Schlichenmeyer. Terri has been reading since she was 3 and she never goes anywhere without a book.