Book Reviews: Getting COMFY by Jordan Gross

There’s no rest for the weary. I have multiple deadlines coming up, including one for grad school. It all makes me stressed and, frankly, I don’t really want to get up each morning. For that reason, it seems only appropriate to share another review today, this time for a self-help book which is all about making that morning routine less miserable and get yourself looking forward to the day. This book is called Getting COMFY: Your Morning Guide to Daily Happiness by Jordan Gross.

I am NOT a morning person. My loved ones know to give me at least an hour before trying to interact with me (if you’re a stranger, I’m more likely to force politeness, but you should still proceed with caution). Even when I go to bed before midnight and get a good night’s sleep, I hate mornings. Sometimes I even stay up late because I dread going to bed, knowing I have to wake up in the morning. (I know, I have problems, I’m working on them.) The problem is that most people aren’t morning people, and all those grumpy people have to interact during the day. It doesn’t make for a very productive or happy society. That’s where Getting COMFY comes in.

In Getting COMFY, restaurateur Jordan Gross breaks down a rough morning routine—Getting COMFY—which he believes will help his readers to have a more pleasant morning and, as a result, a better day. COMFY stands for ‘Calmness, Openness, Movement, Funny, You,’ the five components of the Getting COMFY morning routine. Gross guides readers through each of these components, makes suggestions for how to implement them, and even provides examples from his life, his friends’ lives, and even the lives of well-known, highly-successful innovators.

CAUTION: ROAD WORK AHEAD. Gross warns that he is still tweaking and adapting the Getting COMFY morning routine through his own trial-and-error process, but he reaps the benefits of the current form and you can, too.

If nothing else, I’m relieved that this book isn’t exactly like all the other self-help books I’ve read. The only time Gross uses numbers and statistics is in the introduction, during which he explains general attitudes towards waking up and how many Americans now suffer from mental illness. (That should be good news for those who find statistics to be dry.) Honestly, I don’t mind when self-help books incorporate statistics. What’s more important to me is that Gross’s writing isn’t dry. In fact, it is very conversational and easy to read. I even found myself cracking a smile at points, such as when he says “sorry, I will not write YOLO in a serious sentence, I will not do it”. (And THANK YOU for that, Mr. Gross; I am not a fan of that term.)

Of course, conversational tones run the risk of rambling. (Some of my own posts turn out that way.) Unfortunately, I felt that this book falls into that trap at points, namely before Gross starts to discuss the individual components of COMFY. I thought he was a little repetitive, sometimes overemphasizing why he’s written this book and the fact that he’s just basing this off of his own experiences and not with any proven scientific backing. Still, I appreciate his candor and humor, which make up for the rambling most of the time.

Gross thoroughly and clearly explains each component, and, as he explains, much of this routine is actually an “IDUH” (read about it in the book) and something that you probably already do at least irregularly. A couple of the components are pretty well-worn in the self-help circle, namely “Calmness” and “Movement”. He explains that his advice is an amalgamation of that which he has figured out himself and read elsewhere, so this lack of originality with those two components doesn’t bother me. After all, if ain’t broke, why fix it?

My favorite parts of the book are the “Openness” and “Funny” components of the routine. Every component is important for implementing Gross’s morning routine. Nevertheless, I felt that the “Openness” and “Funny” sections were both the best-explained and, from my perspective, the most rewarding/fun components. While Openness is something that I really need to work on, I practice the Funny component almost every morning already, and I’m glad to have an excuse to keep doing it.

Gross certainly comes up with things I wouldn’t have ever thought of doing, such as sending out e-mails to thank people for the influence they’ve had on your life. Others, such as stretching and moving around in the morning or avoiding the snooze button, are ones that you’ve probably heard about a thousand times before. As I indicated before, they wouldn’t still be circulating if someone didn’t benefit from them. I’m not sure if I will try out all of Gross’s advice, but I will at least implement one idea from each section.

That’s probably what I like most about this book; it’s not an end-all guide. Gross states that he knows everyone is different and that what works for one person might not work for someone else. He encourages readers to personalize the routine, to approach the trial-and-error process as a positive which will help you learn what does not work for you. So many self-help books act as though their way is the only right way (unless they worry that people will sue if they get different results) and so, like with some other indie self-help books I’ve read lately, I’m relieved that Gross emphasizes people’s individuality.

Overall, I think that Getting COMFY by Jordan Gross is wonderful for a self-help book. At only 130 pages and written in a conversational tone, you could probably read it within a day or two and starting using its advice right away. I didn’t notice any major proofreading errors, and whatever minor errors I did notice, I don’t remember now. Gross’s positive, up-beat attitude is contagious, especially his belief that everything is a matter of perspective. I now have a lot of ideas for how I can improve my wake-up call, so we’ll see what it takes to make me a morning person!

You can buy Getting COMFY by Jordan Gross as an eBook on Amazon. Also make sure to check out Getting COMFY’s Instagram account, Twitter account, and blog for more information.

Do you know of a book I should read? Want your work reviewed on this blog? E-mail me at thewritersscrapbin@gmail.com or message me on Fiverr and we can arrange something.