The 3-Minute Difference

Title: THE 3-MINUTE DIFFERENCE
Author: Wayne E. Nance
Publisher: Mission Books
June 2012
ISBN: 978-1-61843-118-9
Genre: Self-help

Wayne Nance (AKA The Real Life Attitude Guy) was obese, a jerk, and greatly in debt. It took three big things to make him face facts. And then Wayne took steps to get his weight and spending under control. But his wife still said he was a jerk, and his marriage was in jeopardy.
So then he began to study personality types and attitudes and found certain underlying things identifying each attitude.

According to Wayne, each of us have these inborn, underlying attitudes, and they affect everything we do and our decisions. Then he teaches us how to regain our life. He stresses that we don’t need to change who we are, but come to terms with who we are. He uses the term ALTER: meaning Awareness, Learn, Tactical plan, Execute the plan, and Re-evaluate.

There is a survey included in the book that only takes 3 minutes. It shows how we’re wired differently. Everyone is a combination of four categories:

T for tactical (planners, goal setters)
R for rational (logical thinkers, attending to facts)
I for impulsive (playful, spur of the moment, generous)
M for mellow (laid back, harmonious, trustful)

Wayne covers each combination, their traits, and what they need to know, pitfalls and pros. He has practical plans for physical, financial, and relational fitness for each personality.

My personal 3-minute survey is as follows:

Your 3-Minute Survey score resulted in the pattern TMRI (N28).

Your decisions will tend be fairly balanced between your purposeful, logical, and pragmatic "head side" and your impulsive, idealistic and relational "heart side." You appreciate well-planned activity, paying particular attention to detail, and expect consistent, positive results. You will tend to navigate the waters of life like a sailboat: focused on maintaining balance and staying out of the way of barges and tugboats.

You are a very organized person who wants to work with facts and information in a stable and secure setting. Although you appreciate structure, too many details can be overwhelming. You are logical and focused, expecting everything to be done in a timely manner and with a smile. You like to know that the things you work on will benefit society.

You genuinely care about people, and you enjoy being involved in projects that are good for the people in your life. However, insensitive and illogical people are a turnoff for you. When you encounter people like this, you tend to set boundaries and take control of the situation. Indeed, negative people cause you to hold off on developing any long-term relationship with them. The greatest sources of stress in your life are rejection by others and unstructured, insensitive people.

You feel pressure when people try to manipulate you, and when you encounter such people, you will quickly shut them down - in a nice way, of course. If someone wants to get you involved in something, they need to answer all your questions and convince you that it will benefit others.

Managing your finances is something you are very capable of doing, although not something you necessarily enjoy. You tend to be balanced in your spending, and if you get carried away occasionally it's only because you're spending on others.

As for your lifestyle choices, you strike a good balance between your head and your heart. You are usually good about your eating and health habits, even if you do "fall off the wagon" occasionally with an unhealthy meal.

Some of this is pretty general – it could fit anyone. But reading over this, I can see that he’s pretty right-on with who I am. I do recommend this book. $9.99. 260 pages.