Living Forward: A Proven Plan to Stop Drifting and Get the Life You Want, by Michael Hyatt and Daniel Harkavy, does have a number of things in common with ROAR: Overcome Obstacles in 3 Simple Steps. Both books assume that to get the life you want, you need to have goals. Further, you will need to take action toward those goals. Finally, they both acknowledge that your plan of action will need to be regularly adjusted to meet your goals.
Do You Have Goals?
The main difference between the two books revolves around your goals. ROAR assumes that you have goals, and that they have been somehow thwarted. Living Forward assumes that you have, at best, some goals, or vague goals, and tries to get you to figure out what your goals should be. In fact, much of the book is devoted to convincing you that you need goals in all areas of your life. And starts from the point of view that you’ve given this so little thought, that you probably don’t even know what all of the important areas of your life are.
I wish I could say this was terribly insulting to the average reader. But the authors are right. Most people don’t know what areas of their life are important, or what goals they have for them. I’ve done more work than most in this area, and it was still a struggle for me. I could divide my life into categories. But how to define them so things fit in one and only one category? That was a much harder challenge.
It Takes Time
Another key distinction between the books is the amount of time required to implement their programs. Living Forward aims to create a road map to weigh the relative importance of any elements of your life. Therefore, you need at least one full day. Preferably, you’d take an entire weekend to analyze your entire life and map out goals and plans of action for yourself. ROAR, on the other hand, does not propose to tackle your entire life. Instead, it gets you quickly back on track toward one particular goal you’re in danger of not reaching. You can complete the entire process (after you’ve read the book, of course) in a few hours. For smaller goals, you could complete the entire process in under an hour.
Living Forward and ROAR
The ideal combination, as I see it, would be to combine the methodologies of Living Forward and ROAR. Use Living Forward to create a life plan. Having that life plan will help reduce stress and overwhelm in the future. You’ll have already made many of the hard decisions (do I value A or B more?). As you work your life plan and move toward your goals, use the ROAR methodology whenever obstacles crop up. That will keep you more productive, and increase your chances of successfully achieving your life plan.
