What do you think?
Rate this book
The 5 Essentials: Using Your Inborn Resources to Create a Fulfilling Life
Deutsch Ph.D., Bob, Aronica, Lou
288 pages, Hardcover
First published September 3, 2013
12 people are currently reading
242 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
January 17, 2014
The author talks about 5 tools: curiosity, openness, sensuality, paradox, and self-story that provide us clues to who we really are. If you get these resources to work for you you begin to make a story you were meant to have. He gives many concrete examples of each of the 5 tools and how they were used by a variety of different people. I would have preferred had the author kept to the point and then gave examples afterwards if the reader would have wanted to read further.
September 26, 2018
Deutsch has a background in cognitive neuroscience and anthropology and believes that everyone has 5 basic innate gifts that, when tapped into and nurtured, can help develop a truly fulfilled life:
* Curiosity --- That knowledge-craving bit of you that is always driven to ask "What's that over there?"
* Openness --- How well you allow yourself to be surprised... do you HAVE to know the details of everything beforehand, or are you okay with surprises once in awhile? How well do you adapt to life's curveballs? Sometimes allowing for surprises leads to a better outcome to a situation than you might have imagined. Deutsch refers to this as "directed serendipity".
* Sensuality --- Not talking about sex here, or at least not solely... but more about how actively you engage your senses in general as you move through experiences. Do you note how the air smells in a moment? The particular nuances of flavor in the food you eat?
* Paradox -- basically how well you embrace the unexpected... somewhat along the lines of Openness, but also incorporating the idea of comfortably living in life's gray areas, being okay with some of life's questions being a mystery with no clear cut answer, rather than requiring everything to have a black and white explanation.
* Self-Story --- Deutsch calls this area "the driving force of your authentic self", the yin-yang compartment of your soul where light and dark, beauty and warts, all sides of your core self find balance. Deutsch explains that when one explores their self story, it "illustrates something fundamental about you."
Deutsch also describes research he garnered from hours-long focus groups he put together where he challenged people to "go beyond stereotypical or cliched talk" and really delve into who they were as individuals, instructing them to "stop and focus", "own your narrative" (Why yes, there is a healthy dose of self help buzz language in here! What'd ya expect? :-P ).
The idea of these focus groups and of this book, is to get people to work toward a more honest, real, stripped down version of themselves so that they can finally sift through the muck and excuses of daily life and get to a clear vision of the life they TRULY want to live. Deutsch describes this part of the process as "Always Be On Your Way Home".
Through this book, Deutsch gets into the idea of "decentration" (rather than concentration), the idea of forcing yourself to pause, step back, and take yourself out of an equation to properly evaluate it. Step away from the external noise so that you may listen to clues from your internal self / internal monologue. It's a concept whose origin is attributed to Jean Piaget, a 20th century developmental psychologist.
At its heart, this book basically just urges readers to live a life beyond a mere surface-level existence. It's not a bad book necessarily, but it doesn't really cover much new ground or offer any real earth-shattering revelations. For the author being someone who studies the field of neuroscience for a living, I was hoping for something a little deeper but the bulk of what he offers most will have come across before in dozens of other books. Additionally, there was something about the overall "voice" of the book in general I found irritating.
* Curiosity --- That knowledge-craving bit of you that is always driven to ask "What's that over there?"
* Openness --- How well you allow yourself to be surprised... do you HAVE to know the details of everything beforehand, or are you okay with surprises once in awhile? How well do you adapt to life's curveballs? Sometimes allowing for surprises leads to a better outcome to a situation than you might have imagined. Deutsch refers to this as "directed serendipity".
* Sensuality --- Not talking about sex here, or at least not solely... but more about how actively you engage your senses in general as you move through experiences. Do you note how the air smells in a moment? The particular nuances of flavor in the food you eat?
* Paradox -- basically how well you embrace the unexpected... somewhat along the lines of Openness, but also incorporating the idea of comfortably living in life's gray areas, being okay with some of life's questions being a mystery with no clear cut answer, rather than requiring everything to have a black and white explanation.
* Self-Story --- Deutsch calls this area "the driving force of your authentic self", the yin-yang compartment of your soul where light and dark, beauty and warts, all sides of your core self find balance. Deutsch explains that when one explores their self story, it "illustrates something fundamental about you."
Deutsch also describes research he garnered from hours-long focus groups he put together where he challenged people to "go beyond stereotypical or cliched talk" and really delve into who they were as individuals, instructing them to "stop and focus", "own your narrative" (Why yes, there is a healthy dose of self help buzz language in here! What'd ya expect? :-P ).
The idea of these focus groups and of this book, is to get people to work toward a more honest, real, stripped down version of themselves so that they can finally sift through the muck and excuses of daily life and get to a clear vision of the life they TRULY want to live. Deutsch describes this part of the process as "Always Be On Your Way Home".
Through this book, Deutsch gets into the idea of "decentration" (rather than concentration), the idea of forcing yourself to pause, step back, and take yourself out of an equation to properly evaluate it. Step away from the external noise so that you may listen to clues from your internal self / internal monologue. It's a concept whose origin is attributed to Jean Piaget, a 20th century developmental psychologist.
At its heart, this book basically just urges readers to live a life beyond a mere surface-level existence. It's not a bad book necessarily, but it doesn't really cover much new ground or offer any real earth-shattering revelations. For the author being someone who studies the field of neuroscience for a living, I was hoping for something a little deeper but the bulk of what he offers most will have come across before in dozens of other books. Additionally, there was something about the overall "voice" of the book in general I found irritating.
March 5, 2017
"Great information," for managers and business leaders; or any student ready for life...
July 4, 2017
Good book for soul searching
December 4, 2016
Memorable quotes for me:
"One of the greatest ways to live a richer life is to go into any pursuit unburdened by the need to know the ending at the beginning."
"Innovation, I have found, does not come from what you know. Innovation comes from passing what you know through the sieve of who you are."
"The notion of directed serendipity is that you set out with some sort of plan, yet you have a complete willingness to allow outside input to take you someplace that aligns with your plan but that you could not have imagined ahead of time."
"This is precisely what finding home is about. What are you doing when you feel the most right? When have you felt the most connected to your life? What variations to your recipe make your experience most delicious? If you haven't been noticing this, start doing it now. This recipe is your recipe for home."
"Being in the mode of perpetual reaction might prevent you from falling behind, but it will never move you forward. To move forward, you need to have at least a momentary stop, a time when you can scan where you are and take account."
"Being able to step out of the normal flow of life to focus allows you to see certain details that are not necessarily apparent otherwise. It gives you just enough perspective on what you're doing to let you see patterns and trends that can lead to breakthroughs. Otherwise, it would be extremely easy for potentially transformative moments to pass you by without transforming you in any way."
"Riffing on the world is about considering the things that you're good at and imagining ways in which you can extend that expertise to make your experience more fulfilling."
"One of the greatest ways to live a richer life is to go into any pursuit unburdened by the need to know the ending at the beginning."
"Innovation, I have found, does not come from what you know. Innovation comes from passing what you know through the sieve of who you are."
"The notion of directed serendipity is that you set out with some sort of plan, yet you have a complete willingness to allow outside input to take you someplace that aligns with your plan but that you could not have imagined ahead of time."
"This is precisely what finding home is about. What are you doing when you feel the most right? When have you felt the most connected to your life? What variations to your recipe make your experience most delicious? If you haven't been noticing this, start doing it now. This recipe is your recipe for home."
"Being in the mode of perpetual reaction might prevent you from falling behind, but it will never move you forward. To move forward, you need to have at least a momentary stop, a time when you can scan where you are and take account."
"Being able to step out of the normal flow of life to focus allows you to see certain details that are not necessarily apparent otherwise. It gives you just enough perspective on what you're doing to let you see patterns and trends that can lead to breakthroughs. Otherwise, it would be extremely easy for potentially transformative moments to pass you by without transforming you in any way."
"Riffing on the world is about considering the things that you're good at and imagining ways in which you can extend that expertise to make your experience more fulfilling."
April 8, 2014
Got this book from First Reads. This book is largely filled with the same tropes you'll hear at any motivational speaking event. Granted, there are some insights here that, while obvious, we tend to forget every now and then. There are some great stories and anecdotes that might make you re-think about large life concepts. Overall, the book isn't something you'd read to gain a deeper understanding of human psychology, emotions, or behavior. But, it might be something worthwhile if you're feeling particularly down on a certain day.
December 25, 2015
May be of interest to read for someone, but I personally didn't like the narrative of author. It felt unnatural, like the author first chose those 5 essentials (I still didn't get the source or scientific explorations descriptions of that process) and the rest of the book (the biggest part) he was just proving himself his correctness. To tell the truth, the book left me feeling that the author was talking, proving and writing to himself, not to the reader.
November 7, 2013
This was helpful, clear, and insightful. As with all career books, I could have used fewer encomiums to the rich, famous, and powerful, and more celebration of ordinary people triumphing. I know ordinary accounts are harder to find.
November 13, 2013
This book was very helpful especially that I am going through a lot of soul searching right now... A lot of stuff he says I've might have done a little or thought of it but he puts it for you in an organized way and loved how he toppled it with real life experiences and testimonials!
May 2, 2018
Highlights:
1. Curiosity.
2. openness - directed serendipity.
3. Sensuality.
4. Paradox.
5. Self-story - paradox, creation story "seeds of greatness".
6. Riffing - improv + openness
7. Vital lives - emotional energy increases when we do something we care about. Mentoring.
1. Curiosity.
2. openness - directed serendipity.
3. Sensuality.
4. Paradox.
5. Self-story - paradox, creation story "seeds of greatness".
6. Riffing - improv + openness
7. Vital lives - emotional energy increases when we do something we care about. Mentoring.
December 1, 2014
You're going to want to take lots of notes. There is a good deal of wisdom that you are going to want to apply and remember.
August 13, 2015
Легкая для чтения книга для тех, кто потерялся :) кто хочет изменений в жизни, но не знает, в какую сторону копать. Решения в книге нет, но она представляет собой, возможно, новый взгляд для вас.
March 2, 2016
There's really nothing new here. Just the usual stuff, but none of it feels particularly actionable. There are some details examples, but it remains vague overall.
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews