The following is a high level summary of this amazing book.
If you would like a more detailed summary please pop in your name and email address below and I will send it to you.
If you would like to purchase the book (which I highly recommend you do as it is one of those books that should be read time and time again) then click the button below.
#truthbomb – if you do purchase the book through this link I will be paid a small commission, which will help me to buy and consume more books as I continue my journey on my thriving life, so I want to say thanks in advance for helping me out.
High Level Summary
Chapter 1 – The Tropicana Orange
Big Ideas:
- “Do the best you can until you know better. Then when you know better, do better.” Maya Angelou
- Important to be reading this now because of the unprecedented events worldwide – political, social, environmental, economic and health.
- “There will be no significant change in the world unless we first have the courage to change ourselves, we must first believe we can.”
Chapter 2 – Your Roadmap To Results
Big Ideas:
- Garbage in; Garbage out. Destructive thoughts are like a computer virus.
- Trick is to catch those thoughts when they occur, which requires self-awareness and monitoring of your internal dialogue.
- Taking action is the only path to change.
- Insight without action is worthless.
- When solving a problem, you need to make a start. Identify the first part of the problem that can be solved, solve it and then move to the next part. Repeat until you have the problem solved.
Chapter 3 – Magic of Belief
Big Ideas:
- Everything in our material world is first created on the level of thought. Someone recognised a problem to solve and set about solving it.
- Nothing exists in our world that does not first exist in our minds.
- A belief is something you know with absolute certainty. It’s a thought that you decided is the truth. Beliefs are the root of our reality and our results.
- Long term your beliefs determine your destiny.
- Beliefs create behaviours that create action that creates results.
- It actually doesn’t matter what’s true; it’s what you believe to be true that matters.
- Beliefs are thoughts you believe to be true or accepted as true. Therefore, thoughts repeated most often with most emotional intensity become beliefs. Therefore, beliefs become hardwired to our brain and nervous system. Therefore, constant repetition of thoughts to replace limiting beliefs will eventually rewire the brain and nervous system. Therefore, new beliefs become a new habit resulting in better outcomes for less effort.
- You can identity core beliefs and work on those one at a time or you can install an overall meta belief.
- Everything is figureoutable is a meta belief and acts as a starting point which overrides all other beliefs.
Chapter 4 – Eliminate Excuses
Big Ideas:
- Biggest barriers to figuring stuff out is in our minds as excuses – reasons we tell ourselves to justify not doing something or taking the next step.
- Excuses = lies we tell ourselves to stay in our comfort zone.
- Can’t is “won’t” in disguise.
- Won’t is another way to say I am not willing to do it, therefore, own it and all it what it is.
- Can’t = victim and means powerless; you are not being accountable for your life and your decisions
- Won’t = ownership and means power; you are accountable for your life and your decisions.
- Aim for 100% accountability for what you believe and how you fell, behave and respond to the actions of others.
- This is the pathway to lasting happiness.
- 100% means recognising you are in charge or your responses always.
- “The best years of your life are the ones in which you decide your problems are your own. You do not blame them on your mother, the economy or the president. You realise that you control your own destiny.” Albert Ellis
- Excuses are dream killers.
- There are 2 types of people in the world; those with reasons ie excuses and those with results.
- “No problem can withstand the assault of sustained thinking.” Voltaire
- There are 3 common excuses that we all use from time to time:
- “Don’t have enough time”
- “I don’t have the money”
- I don’t know where to start”
- The art of eliminating excuses means embracing the fact that your dreams aren’t made or broken by anyone but you.
Chapter 5 – How To Deal With Your Fear Of Anything
Big Ideas:
- You never get stronger if you do the easy things.
- Doing dumb shit is human. It’s inherent in the human growth process.
- A fall is never final unless you stay on the ground.
- FEAR – Face Everything And Rise.
- 2 most common fear types:
- not being good enough,
- not being loved.
- Fear is a GPS pointing to exactly where your heart wants to go.
- Our first and biggest mistake is what turned fear into the enemy.
- Fear makes you feel (limbic brain). We get it wrong and treat it as an enemy. We think it says danger, stop, don’t move.
- Fear is supportive and directive.
- “The more scared we are of the work or the calling, the more sure we can be that we have to do it….therefore the more fear we feel about a specific enterprise, the more certain we can be that the enterprise is important to us and to the growth of our soul.” The War of Art by Steven Pressfield
- Heightened feeling = heightened need to do it.
- Fear provides opportunity to grow.
- Failure as a concept is short-sighted because you have no idea where the story will end unless you keep going.
- FAIL = faithful attempt in learning.
Chapter 6 – Define Your Dream
Big Ideas:
- “Everything’s in the mind. That’s where it all starts. Knowing what you want is the first step towards getting it.” Mae West
- Fuck it moments – those moments when you stop trying to look good, stop trying to fit in and finally follow your heart. Usually huge +ve turning point.
- Clarity comes from engagement, not thoughts.
- Action is the fastest and most direct route to clarity.
- Indecision – stop thinking and start doing. Find a way to do a real world experiment to test your thinking. For example; if you are thinking of breaking up – go sleep somewhere else and get time apart to see if that is actually what you want.
- You wouldn’t have a dream if you didn’t already have what it takes to make it happen.
- Study by Dr Gail Matthews shows you’re 42% more likely to achieve your goals if you write them down.
- Ambiguity is the enemy of accomplishment.
- “The secret of getting ahead is getting started.
- The secret of getting started is breaking your complex, overwhelming tasks into manageable tasks and then starting on the first one.” Mark Twain
Chapter 7 – Start Before You’re Ready
Big Ideas:
- “There are 2 types of pain you will go through in life:
- The pain of discipline, and
- The pain of regret.
- “Future tripping” refers to the common human tendency to worry about the future at the expense of living fully in the present.
- But when future tripping is strategic (like the 10 year test), stressing over future pain can be a powerful catalyst for change.
- Start before you’re ready is a strategy to fast track your learning and growth.
- Action spawns courage because it generates motivation instead of waiting for inspiration, action means keep going, not the other was round.
- Start before you are ready philosophy:
- Beware of procrastination disguised as research and planning
- Get skin in the game
- Value growth over learning.
Chapter 8 – Progress Not Perfection
Big Ideas:
- Hold yourself to high standards, not perfection.
- High standards = healthy
- Perfection = dysfunctional
- Perfection is about fear.
- Every pro starts as an amateur.
- Progress not perfection:
- Cultivate patience as it is needed.
- Everything you want to create or achieve will take longer then you thought.
- Mind the gap between your ambition and your capability
- Progress not perfection is the only way to bridge the gap between your ability and your ambition.
- “You are in charge of your mind. You can help it grow by using it right.” Carol Dweck
- Mindset changes behaviours, which changes action, which changes results.
- You can choose between your mindsets whenever you want to.
- When you operate through a fixed mindset; you suffer.
- When you operate through a growth mindset; you develop resilience and a love of learning that leads to fulfilment.
Chapter 9 – Refuse To Be Refused
Big Ideas:
- When told you can’t do that, take it as you can’t do it that way.
- “If you don’t risk everything you risk even more.” Erica Jong
- Stress log – written list of recurring stressors.
- Work through the list of your stressors and design systems and solutions to eliminate or transform the sources of stress as best as you can.
- Regardless of your inner voice, go for what you want.
- As long as, there is creativity, there will be criticism.
- Criticism and judgement are a fact of life.
- Everything you love is despised by someone else.
- Criticism is opinion. Therefore, it is not worthwhile because it is not based in fact.
- A person’s opinion is not “the truth”, it is just “their truth”.
- The more you care about what others think, the more they own you.
- When your dreams are connected to a sense of contribution beyond yourself you will unlock a wellspring of strength, stamina and courage.
Chapter 10 – The Whole Needs Your Special Gift
Big Ideas:
- One of the biggest obstacles to figuring out your dream is that you incorrectly assume that it’s all been done before and you don’t believe you have anything original valuable or worthwhile to contribute.
- However, it doesn’t matter how many times it has been expressed, it hasn’t been expressed from your unique set of experiences or circumstances.
- Imposter syndrome affects 70% of us.
- That’s when you feel like a fraud – like your accomplishment was a fluke or a mistaken – worried someone will find out you’re not that great.
- Make everything you think say and do from this moment on a declaration of your commitment to your dream.
- “In the long run, we shape our lives and we shape ourselves. The process never ends until we die and the choices we make are ultimately our own responsibility.” Eleanor Roosevelt
Epilogue – The Real Secret To Lasting Success
Big Ideas:
- “Alone we can do so little. Together we can do much.” Helen Keller
- How to build your figureoutable force field:
- Invest in figureoutable friends
- Be a figureoutable force at work
- Whatever you long for, give to others
Hope you found this summary useful. If you would like to know more about my business, click here.
Take care and talk soon
Thrive; don’t just Survive with Janette