Review of “Setback or Stepping Stone: 'With All My Might It Shall be Done'” by Wayne Faulkner

Score: 94/100 (9.4 out of 10)

Setback or Stepping Stone is an outstanding self-help, inspirational, and motivational book by Wayne Faulkner. It carries a very strong Christian premise as well as championing things like self-affirmation, self-actualization, positive thinking, positive beliefs, dogged determination, grit, planning, and realizing God's great purpose for your life.

This book takes the premise that, as beings made in the image of God, every human life has value, importance, and purpose. Therefore, living life with complacency, laziness, or negativity is insulting to the concept of being created by the Almighty. Living life at quarter speed or stuck in first gear is also an insult. Human beings, the author proposes, were created and intended for SO MUCH MORE. We were created to succeed and achieve something. We were created to think and create. Such is the premise of this entire contest and organization, so this really jived with us!

If you've followed us for a while, you may have noticed that positive self-help books, especially with practical advice, seem to perform well, scoring between 9.3 to 9.6. This book stands out as being very idealistic and almost too optimistic at times. We hope that's not being too harsh, but it's just how we felt about it. This is far from a book about managing expectations and setting realistic goals, it's about shooting for the stars and setting your eyes on the sky. This reminds us of something we'd been told decades ago: if you aim high, even if you fail, you will still achieve a lot more than you would've if you'd aimed low.

There's a very wealth and prosperity preacher vibe to this book. Yes, it's extremely motivational and inspirational, but it can also be very heavy handed. Believe it or not, there are a lot of people in this world who are immune to this kind of gung-ho motivational talk, or they're desensitized to it and see it as fluff, bells, and whistles. The book repeats over and over and over and over again that “with all my might, it shall be done.” It's a fantastic mantra that can likely touch and inspire a lot of people, but there was a point in this book when we just became jaded from hearing/reading it. It also kinda runs contrary to fundamentalist Christian beliefs, primarily that through God all things are possible and that we can do all things by Christ Jesus. A more accurate phrase should probably be: “If God will's it and by God's might, it shall be done.” Maybe we're being petty, but we're sure some fundamentalist Christians will likely notice and point things like that out.

According to most Christians, God created man and man is nothing without God. There is somewhat of a concern that we have that people may come away from this booking thinking that they can accomplish anything by their might and will alone. No, that's not exactly what the author says, but it's very possible that's what many people will come away with, especially being bombarded by the book's subtitle/mantra over and over and over again.

Man being able to accomplish anything “with all [their] might” isn't necessarily true in a Christian context. It doesn't seem biblical, at least not in a traditional sense. In a traditional/biblical sense, GOD alone makes things possible. God alone arms us with the ability to do things and achieve things. If God doesn't will something, it isn't going to happen no matter how hard we try (yes, even with “all [our] might”).

Now, where this book excels is in encouraging people to take responsibility for their lives and their own success via structure, good habits, and planning. We love that this book encourages readers to not play the victim and blame their individual circumstances. No one has a perfect life. Everyone has problems. Half the population is from a broken or fractured family. Most of the population isn't rich or “well off.” However, accepting mediocrity like this can't be God's will because God has an exceptional, outstanding, and unique purpose for each and every human life.

That got us thinking: what about the ones who die early or before birth? Then we realized: even lives that are relatively short have some sort of impact on the lives of others and the timeline of the world/universe. They still matter and have meaning.

However, the author is right in that God created us with purpose, and we should do everything possible—with all our might—to accomplish that purpose to the best of our abilities. That could be being excellent parents, running for public office, starting a business, or opening a new institution or charity. This book encourages the reader to break free from the chains of conventional lives and employment, working for others—to make others wealthy and happy—rather than ourselves. This message really jived with us and inspired us as trailblazers in our own right.

This book encourages the reader to create, come up with new ideas or solve old problems like the Wright Brothers did in the early 20th century. This book inspires the reader to be a leader, a pioneer, and a maverick rather than someone who is a follower and/or someone who accepts the status quo. We absolutely loved that.

This book, if nothing else, is a terrific kick in the butt—a jump start for those who've become complacent or demotivated.

Check this out on Amazon!