Not a Life Coach: Push Your Boundaries. Unlock Your Potential. Redefine Your Life.

Had this for Christmas, after requesting it myself, and couldn't be more disappointed.I followed James on social media, and he is entertaining (in a watching your drunk mate way) and encouraging in a 'positive vibes' kinda way, but I thought the book would have a little more substance than just his usual 'don't worry, be happy' advice. But sadly, that's pretty much it.He says on his SM over and over again, that this book will "change your life" but all it changed for me was I was down 11 quid in my joint account.Literally, there was nothing in it that hadn't already been said before. To reiterate other people's reviews; he's basically just taken various different 'advice' from other authors, mashed them up a bit and tried to make them his own. There's a word for that, and it begins with the letter P #awkward.There's nothing original in this book, nothing he hasn't already said on his IG account.It's such a shame, as I was really looking forward to reading it and hoping it would give me a bit more direction in life. But alas, it failed in a big, big way.I think James has got a little bit too big for his boots with this one, as by saying he's not a life coach, it's basically insinuating that he seems to think he is. He should stick to fitness, and maybe lose the arrogance and realise the majority of his followers probably aren't in a position to just jump on a plane and leave everything behind.I've stopped following him, because I'm now bored of watching a man behave like a child whilst slating the fitness industry, diet industry... basically anything that doesn't involve him.He's done very well for himself, there's no denying that and he clearly knows his stuff when it comes to fitness, but that doesn't mean everybody else is wrong.Learn to be humble, stop being so patronising, and lose the ego... because it appears to be out of control.If anyone still wants to buy this book after reading these dire reviews, then hit me up as I have a pristine copy that will otherwise be in the firepit this weekend!

I love James and I loved 'Not a Diet Book' but I"m afraid I"m completely the wrong demographic for this book being 50 years old. This is aimed at a much younger audience who are still figuring out who they are and what they want to do with their lives. If this had been written 25 years ago it would have been a great help but I'm not unhappy with my job etc and only wanted a few pointers on how to stop procrastinating and build healthier habits, I'll reread his first book instead.

Not a diet book was good because it was based on his background and learning, life lessons of being a PT.But this is a stretch out his 'lane' with an odd tone running throughout, stolen lines and ideas from a collection of books and a general 'don't worry' message.It was just a bit basic without any real substance or ideas.I've read quite a few psychology/mind books so of course in comparison this is poor HOWEVER I could see a part of the population who this type of talk would be 'game changing' for them.But for me it was a repetition of old news and I couldn't wait to finish it to start a new book.Should have done Not A Diet Book 2.0

A book talking about failure and success, values, perception, ‘A brief introduction to Physics’ (?!), written by...a PT? Don’t get me wrong, I was James’ fan and I did love the first book, I have listened to his podcast, still follow him on Instagram. I even briefly joined the JS Academy, which I do not recommend by the way, but that’s another topic.There’s one thing I took on board from this book and it’s the ‘sunk cost fallacy’ - when I decided to close this book after spending my money on it, investing my time reading 100 pages and I’m not planning on going back to it.I do believe James to be a good personal trainer and his success is supporting this fact. His first book was quite good - simple, easy to understand guidelines on how to reach your goals when it comes to weight management, diet, training. All the things a good PT would know and would want for his clients to know. Disregarding a few things I found to be poor-quality knowledge, I would still recommend ‘Not A Diet Book’.This one, however, is another level. And I don’t mean that in a good way. I don’t think I ever rolled my eyes reading a book until I started ‘Not A Life Coach’. Patronizing, condescending and to be fair, even insulting. Our James here thinks that his readers are not educated enough to know what a ‘futon’ is. Or what ‘linear’ and ‘exponential’ growth are. He’s even giving us lessons in physics saying, and I quote: “I need you to understand that some things exist and some things don’t. We have matter and non-matter, which is a simple classification.” Wow.Anyone with a common sense and basic education is going to feel, and should feel, offended by James’ dictionary definitions, use of language and arrogant and condescending tone that flows throughout each chapter.James obviously feels competent enough to talk about philosophy, physics, psychology and business, although it feels like there’s been a lot of google searching behind all this “knowledge”. And some of it is still untrue or not properly sourced. It’s hard to make sense of the whole thing and I’m not really sure what the motive was for writing this book.To conclude, this book has definitely made me question my respect for him. Stick to what you know best and where your expertise lies - nutrition, fat-loss and muscle growth. Don’t pretend to be more than that, there’s no need. After all, you didn’t get your following by teaching scientific law and quoting Aristotle.

James is an impressive man when it comes to disrupting the toxic fitness industry but this book was disappointing.... He is definitely one of the leading lights in this area and for ramming the message home about calories. Yet, this book is lacking substance, depth of experience and feels 'preachy' based on his beliefs as a young man living it up in Oz. If you like that -you'll like this. The whole book (to me) lacks any real cohesion or dare I say 'point' and feels 'rushed' out to publication to capitalise on his recent found fame. A poor sister to his other book which was excellent.