Never Go Back Book Review by Jeff Bush

by Dr Henry Cloud 

• Never go back to what didn’t work. You can’t expect different results from doing the same thing. 

• Never go back if you have to be someone else.

• Never believe you can change a person.
  • • • We can, and should help others, but they must choose to change. 
      • When you realize you cannot change others, it frees both you and them to do what they think is best. 

• Never go back to believing you can please everyone.
  • • • Choices divide, that’s just a part of life.
      • When we quit trying to please everyone, we can move forward and make the right decisions.

• Never again avoid short term pain for long-term benefits.
  • • • If you avoid the pain, the payoff will never come. 
      • The sluggard in the Bible is not necessarily the lazy one, but is more likely the one that avoids pain.
      • Successful people will go through the pain to get what they want whereas unsuccessful people will avoid it.
      • Those that avoid pain do not get what they want.
      • What step of pain are you avoiding to get to the place you want to be?

• Never again accept something that seems perfect.
  • • • If a person is too amazing to see his own weaknesses, it is probably not real.
      • Not all that glitters is gold. 
      • When a person, business, or situation seems too good to be true, it might just be that. 
      • We should be honest and own it.
      • It is not possible to get better if we will not realize we have a problem.
      • Look for good and real not perfect and ideal.

• Never again take your eyes off of the big picture.
  • • • The big picture will change how you learn, act, and feel. 
      • The brain is made to manage the everyday obstacles on its way to the big picture.

• Never go back to taking the easy path and doing due diligence.
  • • • Due diligence is the time to find out you’re really getting what you think you are getting. 
      • Sometimes our needs will paint the situation to be what we want it to be. 
      • Due diligence would save many relationships. People go from a dream boat of falling in love to needing a life boat. 
      • Sometimes the walls can look perfect when an honest inspection will prove there are termites.
      • Sometimes we get so eager, and instead of saying, ready, aim, fire, we say, fire, aim, ready.
      • When we are hasty, we many times make bad decisions. 

• Never stop realizing you play a role where you are. 
  • • • If you change, your life situation will change as well. 
      • People want to say that they are a victim of something when there’s always a part they played in the situation.
      • Instead of feeling sorry for yourself, find the area in which you can improve.
      • Trials create maturity. If you bail out before time, you will not learn what you could learn.
      • When we blame others, you miss out on what we need to learn.
      • Strive for progress, not perfection.

• Never forget, that life is living it inside out.
  • • • What you have came from God, not from others. 
      • You might lose a job, but you still possess the qualities and abilities that gave you that job.
      • He that is faithful with little will be faithful with more. 
      • The invisible life (that which is on the inside) creates the visible life (that which is on the outside). 
      • Outside circumstances do not change a person on the inside. A happy single person will make an unhappy, married person. 
      • Much of your happiness comes from a decision on the inside.
      • People that are happy, know that their happiness comes from the internal, not the external circumstances.