Living One Hundred Per Cent

Self Help Classic - "Awaken the Giant Within" by Anthony Robbins

Anthony Robbins - he's a motivational speaker who is larger than life and packed with sunny Californian optimism. Across the world, few can have missed his infomercials, seminars and firewalks.

This book is his definitive work and a must-buy for anyone who enjoys the sometimes cheese-laden self-help genre. It offers a tantalising glimpse that total life transformation is possible - epitomised in the opening story of multimillionaire Robbins, who is flying in his private helicopter to lead a sell-out seminar at a football stadium. As he swoops over Glendale in California, he spots a vaguely familiar building from the air. It's where he used to work, on the breadline, as a humble janitor.

I enjoyed this book for its optimistic spirit and its simple but eye-opening insights, such as "It is in your moments of decision that your destiny is shaped". The opening chapters are exciting, fast-paced and compulsive reading - Robbins really grips your attention by promising dramatic personal change. He demonstrates the vital power of focus, decisions and empowering beliefs, all the time using his trademark conversational style.

The central section of the book focuses on his theory of "Neuro-Associative Conditioning"; and this is where my attention wanders. I am not a devotee of NLP (Neuro Linguistic Programming) approaches, so skipped a lot of the content here. Robbins concludes with a detailed seven-day program to change your life. The closing chapters systematically apply all the concepts in the book to jump-start your emotional happiness, health and fitness, relationships, finances and time management. The tag-line of this book says it all – the aim is to “wake up and take control of your life”.

Here are seven of the insights and soundbites from "Awaken the Giant Within" that have really helped me over the years:

1.     Make a decision to never settle for less than you can be

2.     Concentration is power - a concentrated effort is like a laser beam

3.     Raise your standards and change your limiting beliefs

4.     Lots of people know what they do. Few people do what they know

5.     Ten years from now, who will you be?

6.      It is in your moments of decision that your destiny is shaped

7.     Questions are the answer. Throw enough constructive questions at a problem and you'll get a solution.

Instead of allowing uncomfortable feelings such as fear, disappointment and frustration to weigh down on us, Robbins suggests treating these as a call to action. In his words, “Determination is the wake-up call to the human will”. Much of his work focuses on controlling our mental attitude and staying resilient in the face of hardship. The most challenging portion is his “Ten Day Mental Challenge”, where he adapts Emmet Fox’s crazy but profound idea in the 1930s that we should go for over a week with a cheerful attitude and a systematic attempt to squash every negative thought and disempowering emotion! Every time you slip up, you have to start again. I’ve confess I’ve tried this and it is much more difficult than imagined!

I picked up my copy waiting for a flight at Miami airport way back in the summer of 1999 – it cost $12.00 and this investment has repaid itself many times over. The book is available in the UK today in a slimmer, green-jacketed volume for the bargain price of just £5.99 (amazon.co.uk). I recommend it unreservedly.

In summary, this book is an absorbing and enjoyable read with no preaching. It can restore your faith that purposeful action can turn any situation around.

There is a surfeit of recessionary gloom and negativity around these days. "Awaken the Giant Within" is a tremendously powerful antidote.

Great Self Help Links

1. Discover the top 10 list of success classics at

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2. Identify the finest lean production strategies at  http://poisedforgreatness.typepad.com/yamazumi/yamazumi-your-life.html

3. Discover Tony Robbins book reviews at

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Success Classic - Tales of the Philosopher King

The Wisdom of Mike Mentzer by John Little with Joanne Sharkey (McGraw Hill,2005)

Mike Mentzer (1951-2001) was not just another bodybuilder. Despite boasting one of the most perfectly developed bodies in the history of the sport, his primary contribution was as a philosopher, a sage and a public intellectual.

 He defied the lazy stereotype of the muscle-bound, uneducated bodybuilder through his eloquence and intelligence. This book showcases his legacy – in the fields of nutrition, training and building body mass. Above all, it explains the scientific and philosophical underpinnings behind his famous – and allegedly unnervingly effective – Heavy Duty Training regime. You don’t have to be a fully-fledged bodybuilder to appreciate this book. If you just enjoy free weights training at the gym, this book will capture your imagination.

Mentzer believed that self-improvement was the most crucial human aspiration – and this applied to all areas of life; body mind and spirit. As an Objectivist in the school of Ayn Rand, he believed in the fundamental nobility of man. Bodybuilding was more than public art; it was the expression of basic human desires for HUNGER – Height, Uplift, Nobility, Grandeur, Exaltation and Reverence. The body was a form of communication and the key was to send the right message. 

And that’s all in the first chapter of this unique portrait. The second chapter draws a sharp contrast between Mentzer’s positive, inspirational ideals and the more wily approach of his great rival, Arnold Schwarzenegger. The Austrian Oak was infamous for his psychological tactics and game-playing to gain advantage over the competition. Arnold’s skills brought him tremendous success and proved powerful enough to propel him to Hollywood stardom and a successful political career as governor of California; but Mentzer fans believe he lost something in the process. Mike Mentzer, the authors argue, renounced the Machiavellian path and instead strove for the betterment of the sport above all things. His collaboration with protégé Dorian Yates in the 1980s can be seen as part of this altruistic mission.

Part II of this work covers his controversial but very popular High-Intensity Training regime. Traditionally, bodybuilders had been slaves to the gym, training relentlessly for six hours a day with the huge cost in time and energy this involved. Mentzer realised that the rate of improvement was related to the intensity of the training rather than the frequency, and preferred to train once every four or five days but at very high intensity levels. He realised the enormous demands that bodybuilding placed on the human system and that adequate downtime and rest was essential.

Mentzer summarises his philosophy thus: “You can train hard or you can train long – you just can’t do both. And it so happens that it takes hard training to build big muscles”. The High-Intensity training philosophy (brand marketed as “Heavy Duty”) was one of the most controversial and successful development in the sports in the 1980s and Dorian Yates became its most notable exponent.  The reader should however consult the disclaimer at the start of the book before trying to apply any of Mike Mentzer’s training ideas.

The book details a number of training programmes (including Mike’s most productive routine) before closing with a question and answer session on his Heavy Duty Training ideas.

“The Wisdom of Mike Mentzer” is illustrated on virtually every page with pictures of Mentzer in his prime, the living embodiment of his own beliefs on human potential. It is a time travel machine to the last years of the golden age of bodybuilding – expect to see a large number of quintessentially Seventies moustaches and retro photos.

Mike Mentzer died a sudden death from cardiac complications on the morning of June 10, 2001.This book is part testament and part inspiration. It captures a perfect moment in time, when everything seemed possible.  It is a genuine, even moving account of a bodybuilding legend from people who knew him. Through this book, his legacy lives on.

(c) WestOcean 2009

Revolution in the Head - "The 80/20 Principle" by Richard Koch

Most people have heard of the 80/20 Principle, or Pareto’s Law – the idea that 20% of the effort delivers 80% of the results. But what if we actually applied it? How could we transform our lives and turbocharge our productivity through using this simple, revolutionary concept?

Think about it. In your own home, 20% of your carpets will get 80% of the wear.  On the streets, 20% of criminals cause 80% of the crime. In the shops, more than 20% of novels account for 80% of the sales. The revelation that the universe is predictably unbalanced was discovered by Italian economist Vilfredo Pareto in 1897, when he realised that 80% of the land in England was owned by 20% of the people.

Curiously, this same pattern recurs across countries and throughout history, like a secret code across time and space.

 

Koch believes that our lives can be supercharged through judicious daily application of this principle. Basically, resources that have powerful effects should be used as much as possible. In Koch’s words, “the few things that work fantastically well should be identified, cultivated, nurtured and multiplied”. 

Richard Koch is a highly successful businessman who made a fortune with Filofax in the Eighties and has gone on to build up chains of hotels, restaurants and online enterprises.  This track record lends huge credibility to this book which cannot be dismissed as “just another” self-help book. In one amusing anecdote, Koch explains how he achieved a first class degree from Oxford purely by focusing on the essentials and developing profound knowledge about just a few key areas. 

Koch goes on to apply 80/20 thinking to business, investments and even relationships. He is less convincing when he strays into the last two fields. Koch’s most counter-intuitive idea is that instead of diversifying investments, people should put all their financial eggs in the most lucrative basket – and watch it like a hawk. This may be fine for entrepreneurs and risk-takers, perhaps, but it hardly worked for the loyal shareholders of Lehman Brothers.

However these flaws should not detract from this captivating, incisive and revolutionary book. The Pareto rule is no crazy notion but a confirmed mathematical rule. I have used Pareto analysis myself in statistical analysis of business processes and it can be scarily accurate in many situations.

Koch believes in constructive laziness. He quotes the von Manstein matrix, devised by a legendary German general. There are four types of officers: 

1. Hard-working intelligent ones - These make excellent staff officers.

2. Hard-working and stupid – These people are a menace. Fire them at once!

3. Lazy and stupid – Leave them alone, for they do no harm.

4. Lazy and intelligent – These people are suited for the highest office.

Koch’s motto could well be ”intelligent laziness”. He calls us just to do the things that add the highest value, and keep on doing them. This in short, requires a time revolution. There are echoes here of that old Tony Robbins message – if we keep on doing what we’ve been doing, we’ll keep on getting the results we’ve been getting. 

The 80/20 way cuts like a knife through the irrelevant garbage that clogs up so many of our daily lives. Clarity is power, and Koch tells us to ruthlessly prune “80%” activities and just focus on the “vital few”. The final chapters provide some vital insights and strategies for living the 80/20 way.

In summary, this a challenging and exciting book, because it reveals just how much potential lies untapped in all of us. Even better, it offers practical pointers to show how we can unleash that power.

 

(c) WestOcean 2009

Your Secret Sauce - "The Luck Factor" by Dr. Richard Wiseman

What if working hard, setting goals and being talented actually didn’t work? Dr Richard Wiseman, a respected academic, has a shocking, subversive theory – success is not determined by any of the things we believe it is. In fact, success is quite often down to simple, dumb luck. 

Read the Sunday Times Rich List and you can half guess it to be true. Why have these entrepreneurs, these financiers, made it – from a talented pool of millions? Yes, luck has made kings and ruined careers.  It’s truly the ambrosia of the gods – sweet, bitter and wilfully capricious all in one. 

“The Luck Factor” is a bold attempt to grab Lady Luck and wrestle her to the ground. It’s less a book than an experience – full of interactive exercises and opportunities to participate.  Go with it. 

Dr Richard Wiseman is no fly-by-night success guru. He’s a respected academic at the University of Hertfordshire and has catapulted himself into a TV career through his intriguing and radical psychological theories.

He cites the story of U.S. President Harry Truman, a bankrupt shopkeeper whose luck turned for the better in his late thirties. He ascended to the White House when the incumbent Roosevelt suddenly died, and became the victor-hero of World War Two. Truman then beat Dewey in 1948 in a result so unexpected that the newspapers had already printed the headlines “Dewey Defeats Truman”. Luck aided and abetted Harry Truman at every step of his political career.

Dr. Wiseman has a ruthlessly bipolar view of the world. You’ve either got luck or you ain’t. His rigorous scientific training shines through, as he strips away all the mysticism and superstition about luck to distil it to a set of core principles that anyone can learn. Here they are:

1.    Maximise chance opportunities in your life. My favourite example here is of a man who keeps a jar especially for coins he finds on the street – and fills the jar to the brim regularly. Wiseman’s astonishing conclusion is that the more likely you are to choose a new dish at a restaurant, the more likely you are to succeed. 

2.    That old chestnut, intuition. I am reminded of a recent character in the U.K. version of “The Apprentice” whose intuition frequently led her miserably astray, so will not offer any further comment! 

3.    Expect good fortune. We have all heard of the “self-fulfilling prophecy”. How many times have you heard a friend say: “She’s in a relationship with X – he’s no good, but she doesn’t believe she deserves anyone better”. Without high self-esteem, luck will probably be elusive.

4.    Transform bad luck into good. Everyone has obstacles and challenges, but it’s how we respond to them that really matters.  

So what will you learn from this book? First - beliefs matter.  He cites the Chinese-American death rate from cardiac arrest spikes on the fourth of the month, which many consider unlucky. There is no equivalent spike among other American ethnic groups.  Wiseman cites an old German proverb: "No-one is luckier than him who believes his own luck”. Secondly, embrace the importance of the alchemy of transforming bad luck into good – of breaking the downward spiral and taking positive, concrete action to improve your life.

The Luck Factor is a revelation. You will never see the world in the same way again. If one day you start rolling dice to determine which new sport to take up, or begin chatting to complete strangers in the supermarket, just say the good Dr. Wiseman told you to do it... Time to luck out!

Self Help Book Review - "Secrets of the Millionaire Mind" by T. Harv Eker

Self help books come in two categories - the demure and the bold. This book's brash title almost stopped me from buying the book.  The words blare at you like a foghorn: “Secrets of the Millionaire Mind: Think Rich to Get Rich”. A ticker tape of dollar, pound and yen symbols duly parades in gold across the front cover in imperial purple. 

Being suspicious of over-inflated promises and get-rich-quick fables, I had to overcome my natural cynicism to make the purchase. I’m glad that I did. Inside, I discovered a lucid, intelligent and thought-provoking exploration of the psychology of wealth.

 

The rich are different from you and me. Hemingway’s famous riposte – “Yes, they have more money!” is only half the story. Eker explains the true mental blueprint that marks out successful people like a hidden ultraviolet stamp. This book is the spiritual cousin of Robert Kiyosaki’s “Rich Dad Poor Dad” series – books that do not offer specific income strategies but instead explore that mysterious question – “What makes the rich tick? How do they think?”

The book doesn’t have the literary flair of Kiyosaki’s finely drawn father figures, but what it lacks in finesse it makes up for in bite. Eker pulls no punches: “Let me put it bluntly: anyone who says money isn’t important doesn’t have any!” Money, he rationalises, is very important in the areas where it works, and extremely unimportant in the areas where it doesn’t (health, spirituality, family etc). But he echoes the ideas of Conway’s nineteenth century classic “Acres of Diamonds”: What built your churches, sent your missionaries, fed the poor? The answer, however embarrassing it may appear to some, is cold hard cash. 

Eker distils his principles into a simple set of “wealth principles”. Some border on the obvious, but others are profound and even subversive: “Money will only make you more of what you already are”.  Some are just great quotes: “Rich people collect land. Poor people collect bills”. He encourages us to mix and associate with the wealthy, and to build up a peer group of successful people. Recent scientific research shows that positive and negative emotions are socially contagious, so this could be a remarkably effective strategy.  

Eker also revives the metaphor of the “wealth thermostat” – the idea that people automatically set an acceptable, middling level of success and will always settle for this.  If they sink below their self-perceived level, they will take radical action to restore their standard of living. However they will rarely stretch themselves beyond this comfort zone. And being comfortable, he argues, is highly over-rated. 

One of Eker’s most compelling strategies is the idea of blessing that which you desire. He recounts his own experiences driving a beat-up clunker through a rough neighbourhood of San Diego. Everyone ignored him. Then he pitched up one year in a brand new Jaguar and before long, youths were throwing beer cans at his car. Wealth excites irrational envy, and Eker advises us to feel the opposite and adopt the Huna philosophy of “bless that which you want”. This may have a “law of attraction” ring to it, but it’s more likely just an exercise in adjusting our psychological comfort zone to embrace a more abundant lifestyle.

Here are three of Eker’s snappiest and most profound sound-bites. These aren’t happy-clappy, fuzzy mantras but accurate statements of what works in a market economy. And Eker, who managed a group of retail fitness scores, is soundly grounded in the commercial world. Here they are:

1. If you are willing to do only what’s easy, life will be hard. But if you are willing to do what is hard, life will be easy. 
2. No thought lives in our heads rent-free (Robert Allen)
3. The Law of Income: You will be paid in direct proportion to the value you deliver in the marketplace.

These aren’t magic bullets, but are signposts for the journey. “Secrets of the Millionaire Mind”  is a first class map for the wealth creation road. So look beyond the cheesy title, suspend your disbelief and turn on to the yellow brick road.

A SEAL Story - "Unleash the Warrior Within" by Richard Machowicz

Anyone can rustle up a sales pitch, spout a few motivational platitudes and talk of winning battles in the boardroom or on a golf course. And we pay them well for their mantras and their war stories. For them teambuilding is a daring afternoon building Lego models, or for the more testosterone-inclined, a bout of paintballing at the local activity centre.

Mack is different. The "teams” he worked in were elite U.S. Navy SEAL units, engaged in life-or-death missions of amphibious, alpine and special operations warfare.  In the "teams", ordinary people achieved greatness – achieving endurance, heroism and self-sacrifice even as their counterparts wallowed in ordinary, suburban lives.

Look past the cheesy title, “Unleash the Warrior Within”, which sounds like the literary hybrid progeny of Conan the Barbarian and Anthony Robbins. You'll be more impressed by the immensely lucid and powerful insights that Richard Machowicz draws on from his military career. It is no exaggeration to say that this single book is devastatingly powerful in its insights and has genuine potential to revolutionize the shape of the reader's thinking. In fact, it has provided me with more practical tools for personal achievement than a dozen other more famous books in the genre.

Mack’s genius is to focus on the psychology that elite special forces teams deploy. The “Warrior” he speaks of in the title is nothing to do with fighting others, but rather the path of self-mastery, of personal achievement.  The book opens explosively. Mack pitches us straight into Hell Week, the infamous and arduous endurance test that all new recruits to the SEALS must pass.  As he is kept awake for days, dragged through rocks and surf and ripped by stones, carrying canoes so heavy they can break necks, he survives by repeating a simple mantra – “I can only be defeated if I give up or die”. He distills this into his core philosophy – “Not Dead, Can’t Quit” (TM). 

Mack's book is as exciting and gripping as a novel. The action never fails - from his sniper training to his HALO (high altitude low opening) jumps, from his beach landings to his days as a Hollywood celebrity bodyguard. It’s no self-indulgent memoir though. The book is jam-packed not just with wise words but actual, practical techniques such as the CARVER matrix to assess priorities, and the phase diagrams to plan goals.  The section on responding to physical threats – hint, always look at the mugger’s hands to see if they have a weapon - is worth its weight in gold.

As one of the world’s elite military forces, the Navy SEALs have no time for soundbites, or ideas that just sound good but don’t deliver.  Richard Machowicz, who is now a noted TV personality in America in his own right, delivers some fascinating and highly practical ideas. He has further developed this into “Bukido”, a holistic martial arts and improvement philosophy.

Of course, you could dismiss all this as a “Full Metal Jacket”-style fantasy and instead take your self-development ideas from perma-tanned “road warriors” whose idea of struggle is a traffic jam on the M1 and an awkward sales meeting. Take that approach if you will. But you might just be missing out on one of the most compelling, exceptional and inspirational personal development books in print today.

Fear kills. Kill Fear. "Feel the Fear and Do It Anyway" by Susan B. Jeffers

Fear kills. Kill fear.

Nowadays hyperbole is everywhere, so we are inoculated against grand claims that a book is “life changing”. Yet thousands of people appear to credit this book for genuinely changing their lives. Feel the Fear succeeds because it has its roots in both the author’s bitter experience and her professional psychological training.  Indeed, this book contains some great raw material that can help improve the quality of people’s lives. However, this book is potential dynamite, so handle with care.

Fear is natural. In some cases, fear is a logical response.  Without the fear reflex, we would have short life expectancies indeed. The kind of fear that keeps us from walking in front of fast moving cars is clearly a good thing. In other cases, such as fear of public speaking or being more assertive in our social relationships, fear is a purely social construct, a learned response, an excuse. It is this latter category of fear that Jeffers helps demolish.

This lesson cost £6.99 to discover, in my case as a bookstore impulse buy at a pivotal time in my life, but I would recommend you acquire this book on Amazon for as little as £4.99. Its central message is that the root cause of fear is simply a lack of confidence that you could handle the events that would proceed from a decision. In other words, if you did X, and the worst case scenario happened, could you cope?  Jeffers argues that the way to beat fear is to develop an inner self-belief in your capacity to handle whatever life throws at you.

Jeffers’ fundamental message is that in the long run living in a constricted, crushed comfort zone is a worse outcome that intelligently embracing the right kind of risk. In her words, “Pushing through fear is less frightening than living with the underlying fear that comes from a feeling of helplessness”.

A compelling argument, but I would describe myself as only partially convinced. I wished there was more guidance on what kind and level of risks were acceptable. I can only surmise this depends on context, values and results.  Quitting one’s job to start a business could mean exhilaration, freedom and fortune to one person, or exhilaration, freedom and personal ruin to another. The fact that the risk-taker might have developed the mental resources to “handle” the second outcome hardly validates their choice. Outcomes do matter.

That said, the book did have some powerful insights and it really makes you revisit your assumptions about what is possible, and strip away some of the more comfortable 'softeners' we all use to justify our (in)actions. Here are some of Susan J’s most lucid points:

1. '"I hope" is a victim's phrase. Using "I know" has more power'.

2. Take 100% responsibility for your own life

3. Avoid casting blame on external factors - the recession, the weather, the government, your partner, boss, friends, family, dog, upbringing, childhood, luck etc etc.

4. The idea of diagrammatically mapping your choice points in life with - crucially - two "no lose" outcomes, both of which you can live with, is a good one.

5. "The knowledge that you can handle anything that comes your way is the key to allowing yourself to take healthy, life-affirming risks".

6. "Security is not having things; it's handling things".

7. Create a life grid showing all aspects of your life. Jeffers defines these as work, family, contribution, relationship, hobby, alone time, personal growth, leisure and friends. In my view this is an effective technique as it encourages a "balanced scorecard" approach.  

8. "Your life is abundant and you count". Sweet, pithy and true. One feels sorry for readers who don't already believe this.

9. Silence the inner "Chatterbox" or negative critical voice (if you have one).

10. Focus on the spiritual side of your life.

Feel the Fear: The verdict

Despite recognising this as a classic of the genre, I am largely but not entirely convinced by its message. I have nothing against the self-talk and positive affirmations that Susan Jeffers recommends, provided they do not result in over-exuberant or over-confident actions. Cold logical analysis rather than feelings should surely govern decisions. The main problem to human decision-making is not that fear exists and needs to be overcome in some kind of existential struggle, but just that people are notoriously bad at assessing risk. 

In summary, this is a heartfelt, groundbreaking and fascinating book. Used correctly, it could transform your life. "Feel the fear and do it anyway" is a seductive, alluring mantra - but potential dynamite. Handle with care...

.

Self Help Classic - "The Magic of Thinking Big" by David J. Schwartz

"Life is too short to be little" - Disraeli

David Schwartz opens this self-help classic with the charming story of his young son who blurts out that when he grows up, he wants to be a Professor of Happiness. This optimism sets the tone for a very warm and uplifting book.

It's worth mentioning up front that the book is very dated, even anachronistic. To me, that is part of its charm, evoking a picture-perfect post-war Americana of chrome, consumerism and optimistic salesmen (think of ABC's "Mad Men"). There are tales of World War II veterans, men in $100 silk suits and grand industrial corporations.

Don't let the period setting fool you. The book is far ahead of its time in recognising the power of self-talk, verbal conditioning and visualisation to deliver concrete results. He proclaims a philosophy of continuous improvement that might still seem radical coming from a lean production or quality guru thirty years later.

As the title suggests, this book is about daring to believe and think big in a world of pettiness, mediocrity and sniping comments that strive to cut the tall poppy down to size.

Here are ten key lessons and soundbites from the book -

1. Life is too short to be little
2. Belief triggers the power to do 
3. Others see in us what we see in ourselves
4. Your mind is a thought factory. Take control of the production line!
5. Stickability is 95% of ability.
6. Action cures fear
7. Practice adding value to things (well, I'm trying with this review..;-)
8. In the face of inertia, apply the attitude of "I'm activated" 
9. Defeat is a state of mind, nothing more
10. Set goals to get things done

I have applied some of his simplest insights, which have proved to be remarkably beneficial:

(1) Deliberately circulate in new groups and keep growing your circle of friends. This is one recipe for a happier life.
(2) Never complain about the weather, since it only spreads negative thoughts and after all it you can't change it! 
(3) Give genuine compliments to people. The law of reciprocity will reward you...eventually.

In summary, this is a self-help gem. I admit I have an affectionate regard for the genre and this book may not be your cup of tea. Yet many of the core ideas that motivational speakers like Tony Robbins and Jack Canfield have developed have their roots in this rich heritage of positive thinking literature.

Yes "The Magic of Thinking Big" is dated. It's also timeless. 

Grab That Diamond! - "How to Get Rich" by Felix Dennis

Felix Dennis – poet, bon vivant and flamboyant multimillionaire. The libertarian and creative Dennis made his name during the Oz magazine trial of the late Sixties and made his fortune in personal computing magazines during the early 80s PC revolution.  Now ranked the 65^th richest man in the UK according to the Sunday Times Rich List, he has nothing left to prove. Hence the frankness, honesty and good humour which characterises this book.

He has ample time to cultivate his poetic leanings while sipping fine wines in his Mustique villa, and is not ashamed to admit it. In fact his witty, often insightful poetry is peppered liberally through the text.  Felix, as the Latin translation of his name suggests, is one lucky man.

Don’t be fooled by the title. This book is as far away from cheesy, Californian self-help fluff as it is possible to get. In fact, Dennis defines this work as an “anti-self improvement book”. This is a mile away from the stuff of airport gurus or get-rich-quick merchants. As he cuttingly notes, “This book is written for amusement... I did not become rich by writing manuals telling other people how to become rich”. Nor is “How to Get Rich” the dour corporate monotone of some grey-suited businessman. Rather, it’s the story of someone who has practised what he preaches with flair, honesty and humour.

The astonishing message is that wealth is no panacea. In fact, it may even destroy the quality of your life. We learn how close Dennis came to personal tragedy through addictions and rampant spending in the Eighties decade of excess. Possibly the most genuinely touching and heartfelt section begins in Chapter 17, when he speaks of the terrible sacrifice of giving away your youth and health in pursuit of the almighty dollar, and the paranoia, jealousies and broken friendships that wealth can apparently lead to. He believes time is the most valuable commodity of all, because it can never be replaced. Mortality catches up with us all.

Dennis starts the book with a brief survey of wealth and the many tiers of affluence.  I was naturally pleased to find my own wealth rating was “comfortably poor”. The author makes some good points – there is no point in being a shining star in a dying industry. Go to where the money and the action is. Start young and you have an inestimable advantage over people a decade older. (I personally think he overplays this – age and guile can usually overcome youth and talent). He litters his text with famous quotes. My favourite – “A committee is a cul-de-sac down which ideas are lured and quietly strangled”.

Moving on, Dennis offers a wealth of ideas from his decades in the publishing industry. Some of the ideas could be found in any good management book and there is nothing here than is truly groundbreaking, but the fun is found is reading the anecdotes and stories and seeing how Dennis has applied these skills during his own rise to the top. His section on the art of negotiating and the importance of ownership (e.g. of intellectual property rights) is particularly enlightening.

Dennis has an eye for visual images – he compares chasing wealth to hunting a gazelle with diamonds in its belly. His closing chapter (“A Recap for Idlers”) is extremely well written, placing the quest for wealth amid his own musings on mortality and the meaning of life. Amazingly, it’s neither pretentious nor preachy, but a very human and very absorbing read. The same could be said for the whole of this gripping book.

Felix Dennis – The Upside-Down Pyramid for Getting Rich

 Commit or don’t commit. No half-measures.

          Cut loose from all negative influences

       Choose the right mountain
         Fear nothing
          Start now
            Go! 
 

Design & Value for Money

The front cover of the paperback is a parody of a get-rich-quick style self-help book, with “Rich” printed in big red letters and an image of cheque for £38 million made out to “The Bearer”. The final “S” of the author’s name is a dollar sign. In fact this deliberately cheesy front cover was so ridiculous it almost put me off buying the witty and intelligent product beneath. I splashed out a cool £7.99 at WH Smith for this production (clearly I haven’t got the eagle eye when it comes to cost efficiencies) but it is available new on Amazon for a mere £5.99. The hardback version (new from £11.89 on Amazon) features a picture of the flamboyant author himself on a chair flanked by bronze Chinese dragons.

To his credit, Dennis includes Amazon customer reviews at the front from ordinary readers with as much prominence as the newspaper reviews of the great and the good. His website (www.felixdennis.com) is also worth a look and features further samples of his poetic offerings. 

That frog tastes delicious! - "Eat That Frog" by Brian Tracy

Advantages:	Radically simple way to get things done
Disadvantages:	Slimline at 113 pages with some repetition

Have you ever struggled with a "to do" list and a million urgent tasks? Have you ever worked hard all day stumbling to bed exhausted, and still only accomplished a quarter of what you wanted? This kind of experience - allied to the intriguing, quirky title, which is a natural draw - led me to purchase "Eat That Frog", by Brian Tracy.

This book is brutal in its simplicity, challenging in its message and sparse in its content. Brian Tracy offers a definitive technique to get things done, compressing his message into just 113 pages. He openly states he lives by the Pareto rule where 80% of the value is contained in just 20% of the content. In "Eat That Frog - Get More of the Important Things Done Today" he has stripped out all the inessentials to focus on what really matters - getting things done.

Why the Frog?

The title is a great selling point because it grabs your attention. The Frog represents your biggest, ugliest and most important job for the day. It's the awkward, demanding task you really don't want to do - the kind of thing you would put off and procrastinate about for as long as possible. We all know what our daily frog is, Tracy argues. Instead of writing endless and unachievable "to-do" lists, Tracy advises us to focus on just one thing - eating the frog. After that, everything is easy riding. Yes folks, it's that simple. There is no rocket science in this book, just simple, unassailable logic.

There are 21 chapters in the book, and here are the best ideas from each one.

1. Think on paper - write down your goals.
2. Plan each day in advance to become unstoppable
3. Apply the 80/20 rule to everything - go for the "vital few" versus the "trivial many"
4. Ask - which one project or activity, if I completed it, would have the biggest positive impact on my life?
5. Ruthlessly rank all tasks from A through to E. Get the tasks graded A finished first.
6. Your weakest key result area holds you back. Focus on these bottlenecks.
7. You'll never have time to do everything. Focus on the single most important thing.
8. Prepare your working environment
9. Learn continuously
10. Leverage your talents
11. Identify and eliminate your bottlenecks
12. Journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step (enormous cliché, but true)
13. Set artificial deadlines to keep you moving
14. Take one full day off a week (I rarely do this)
15. Be positive
16. Ruthlessly weed out lower value activities
17. Do the most difficult task first
18. Slice and dice the task - chunk it down
19. Set aside blocks of time
20. Develop a sense of urgency
21. Do every task once and once only

I noticed two things as I was drawing up this summary. First, I noticed that most of these chapters were variations on a single theme - namely, the power of focusing on what really matters, and then doing it. Focus and execution - that boils down 113 pages to three words!

The second thing I realised is that most of these ideas are key principles in modern "lean production" systems in factories. Elimination of bottlenecks, continuous improvement and even Pareto (80/20) diagrams are at the heart of total quality management systems. This book is just taking business concepts and applying them to your own life.

Does it work?

I enjoyed this work. I liked the short chapters, the helpful summary boxes at the end of each and (yes) even the little pictures of frogs at the start of every chapter. The book is eye-catching in its red and yellow cover. But did it deliver the goods?

Yes, if applied consistently and methodically. Brian Tracy has developed an excellent system that should deliver quantum leap improvements in efficiency and results. However you can be efficient without being effective - similar to climbing a ladder and only realising too late that's it propped up against the wrong wall. The book offers some great insights and a valuable way of looking at the world. However in real life there is always the unexpected crisis, the sudden and urgent problem which can throw everything off course. External events can derail the best laid plans of mice and men.

About the author - Brian Tracy

The author, the Canadian Brian Tracy, is a big hitter in the personal development world. He left school without graduating and became a drop-out, travelling the world on a freighter. After eight nomadic years, he took up a career as a door-to-door salesman and rocketed up the career ladder. Today he manages a multinational personal development and training organisation from his base in Solana Beach, California. I highly recommend his much larger work "Maximum Achievement", which offers a comprehensive success philosophy.