I’d rate this book a 7/10. I’m not usually a fan of self-help books since they tend to be repetitive and often distill down to a few core principles. However, I still read them because I usually walk away with at least one or two practical ideas I can apply right away.
What I Liked: The author interweaved God throughout the book by including various scriptures and stories of faith. He also reinforced principles with stories to drive home the point and would often repeat the same idea multiple times to crystallize it in the reader’s mind. For example, he probably mentioned this quote four different times: “Almost anybody can accomplish anything if they work at it long enough, hard enough and smart enough.”
What I Disliked: The second half of the book became redundant and some ideas were too rushed. To elaborate, there were times when he briefly covered key topics in just a paragraph but then spent pages on ideas that didn’t interest me.
Here are some of my favorite ideas:
- Show me the size of your dream and I’ll show you the size of your God.
- Can you do it for one day? Any goal becomes achievable when you focus entirely on today – without looking back or stressing about what’s ahead. The odds of success get greater as the time compartments get smaller.
- Potential is God’s gift to us, and what we do with it is our gift to God.
- How you interpret life is more important than what happens to you
- Live your life in a way that’s worth telling stories about.
- Everything in your past is preparation for something in your future!
- Almost anybody can accomplish anything if they work at it long enough, hard enough and smart enough.
- The bigger the goal, the better the story you need to tell yourself.
- We need God to sanctify our memories as much as our imaginations.
- We don’t see the world as it is. We see the world as we are.
- When we win, we help future generations to think and dream more
- David was tending sheep on the sideline while his brothers were fighting on the front line – that had to be frustrating. But God was cultivating skill sets in David during this time.
- Some people would argue you succeed despite your challenges, but I would argue you succeed because of your challenges. Facing adversity builds the skills needed to overcome it.
- An important indicator of a child’s emotional well-being is knowing their family history.
- You are the only bible some people may read. People see God through you.
- “The secret to intimacy with another person is discovering the sufficiency of God’s love without that person” – Craig Barnes
- Your morning routine doesn’t begin in the morning, it starts the night before
- “The cult of genius” – The idea that a select few have seeming superpowers while the rest of us schlep our way through life
“Mythologizing talent lets us all off the hook.” – Angela Duckworth
Don’t envy other people’s success (output), rather imitate their inputs.
- Kaizen – Japanese word that means “uncompromising commitment to continuous improvement”
- Kobe Bryant – “Why do you think I’m the greatest of all time? I don’t get bored with the basics.”
- Companies often perform SWOT Analysis to stay competitive. Do one for yourself. SWOT: Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats.
- The greatest risk is taking no risks
- Don’t call it quits unless you are released by God
- Do more things that live on after you die.