How Full Is Your Bucket: Book Review

by Tom Rath and Donald Clifton

If you have 30 minutes to spare and are looking for a light refresher into human motivation, then this book is worth picking up. The concept is simple. We all have a bucket inside of us. Some people take out water through their interactions, dipper by dipper, while others put water into our bucket.

Do you know people who are draining you? Making your cup floweth over? The concept is not new. Steven Covey's 7 Habits introduced readers to the idea of an "emotional bank account," and that making withdrawals without making deposits will result in hefty overdraft fees, so to speak.

How Full Is Your Bucket? reveals how even brief interactions affect relationships, productivity, health and longevity. For example, during performance evaluations, it recommends you focus more on individual strengths, and less on areas of weakness. The "magic ratio" is 5 to 1, or five positive comments or interactions for every negative one.

At the back of the book, there's a packet of notecards in the shape of water drops. The authors recommend you write positive comments on them and "drop them into your co-workers buckets." And for you survey-junkies, there's a 15-question Positive Impact Test.