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Prosper: Create the Life You Really Want
What is true prosperity? Is it simply having enough money? Certainly financial security is necessary for peace of mind. But for many people the pursuit of money stresses and exhausts them so much, it makes peace of mind impossible. And they’re always chasing after more—they never feel like they have enough.True prosperity is when there is no conflict between money and happiness—when you don’t have to drag yourself out of bed every morning because the way you make a living is true to who you are. And when your way of life is sustainable, you don’t fall victim to the boom/crash syndrome that afflicts so many people because you know exactly what you need to be happy and have a plan to achieve it.For the past twelve years Ethan Willis and Randy Garn have helped tens of thousands of people find their own personal path to prosperity. After nearly 11 million hours of personal coaching observation in eighty countries, they’ve developed six Prosperity Practices that will enable you to create a life that is rich, rewarding, and renewing.You begin by focusing on what you have, not on what you do not—you’ll be sur- prised what you find once you shift your way of thinking. A key part of this process is determining what Willis and Garn call your “Polaris Point”: a precise description of the life you want and what you need to sustain it. This becomes your own private North Star, guiding all your actions and keeping you from chasing after things you don’t really want or need. Then you’ll discover how to leverage your passions, experi- ence, and expertise to generate the income you require to reach your Polaris Point.Although you’ll find much to reflect on here, Prosper is an action guide—at the end of each chapter, Willis and Garn provide concrete steps you can take to make each of the Prosperity Practices a reality. Soon your life will be aligned with the core of your being, you will have a deep understanding of what you need to be happy, and you’ll know how to hold to that vision—and you will truly prosper.
159 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 2011
18 people are currently reading
82 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
January 2, 2019
Good book but hard to remember any of the takeaways in particular.
August 26, 2025
El libro ofrece simples y efectivos pasos y es fácil de entender. La tan mencionada y recomendada página web prosperbook.com no está funcionando.
December 14, 2011
"Prosper" is a combination of a practical, self-help motivational guide to pursuing your passions and a valuable productivity guide when it comes to thinking about finances and achieving what you want from a business/professional perspective. It doesn't sell its points of success through gimmicks or tricks for being successful, but rather aims to transform the reader's perception of prosperity by tackling the thoughts and virtues that a person has to drive that individual to pursue what they love in a path to success. Ethan Willis and Randy Garn employ six, straightforward principles that will promote one to lead a prosperous life:
1. Locate Your Polaris Point: basically finding your foundation - what you want to do, and establishing what you want to contribute in your passions.
2. Live in Your Prosperity Zone: finding a living balance, between your finances and the vision you have with respect to your "polaris point."
3. Earn from Your Core: tackles looking at one's on unique talents and contributions to building prosperity, and how to make note of them to use for one's overall goals
4. Start with What You Already Have: searches for hidden abilities that may be productive to one's pursuit of prosperity.
5. Commit to Your Prosperity Path: making the plan to execute plans toward the polaris point.
6. Take Profound Action: presenting and pursuing the path in action.
Each of these principles are examined in close detail, with several examples and interactive points where readers can make their own assessments, through the brief chapters highlighted in the book. It presents a clear cut, forward thinking, encouraging guide towards building success based on a person's passions, interests, and larger goals in their envisioned, ideal life. If the latter part of Benjamin Franklin's famous quote establishes that people can make themselves "healthy, wealthy, and wise" - the authors of Prosper certainly had a similar vision in mind when establishing their definition of what prosperity entails, only they establish it under the terms of establishing the term with money (the means of supporting one's prosperity), happiness (the personal investment in pursuing one's goals), and sustainability (being able to maintain/manage the measure of prosperity over time).
I found "Prosper" easy to read through and I actively followed along the guide to craft and reinforce ideas in my own respective goals in life. I think this is a guide that can benefit a lot of people who want to get back to basics and combine their personal investments and passions into their professional aspirations. I think if at any point a reader wants to return to the book to reassess a part of their "polaris point," the book makes it easy to do so with its straightforward, punctuated advice. And what's more, the authors actually take the time to examine their own paths to their "polaris points" - which make it resonate on a personal level and an inspirational read. The guide also includes cases of success and concrete inventories that assess the various aspects covered in "Prosper."
A word of warning though - I think the keyword that one could think about in this guide to prosperity is "flexibility", meaning it's a guide that allows a bit more of a freerange DIY approach. In other words, if you are a reader who wants a specific step-by-step formula with specific feedback on a particular aspect like managing finances in specific methodologies - this isn't the type of guide that I would readily recommend. Rather, those who want a less rigid, but still structured and inspiring read towards their productivity goals would get a lot more out of this book. Willis and Garn do an excellent job with explaining how to balance each of these components without overwhelming the reader on just one aspect, rather finding a way to structure and flow with these aspects in a profile that readers can return to for many times to come.
Overall score: 4/5
Note: I received this as an ARC from Netgalley under the publisher Berrett-Koehler Publishers, Inc.
1. Locate Your Polaris Point: basically finding your foundation - what you want to do, and establishing what you want to contribute in your passions.
2. Live in Your Prosperity Zone: finding a living balance, between your finances and the vision you have with respect to your "polaris point."
3. Earn from Your Core: tackles looking at one's on unique talents and contributions to building prosperity, and how to make note of them to use for one's overall goals
4. Start with What You Already Have: searches for hidden abilities that may be productive to one's pursuit of prosperity.
5. Commit to Your Prosperity Path: making the plan to execute plans toward the polaris point.
6. Take Profound Action: presenting and pursuing the path in action.
Each of these principles are examined in close detail, with several examples and interactive points where readers can make their own assessments, through the brief chapters highlighted in the book. It presents a clear cut, forward thinking, encouraging guide towards building success based on a person's passions, interests, and larger goals in their envisioned, ideal life. If the latter part of Benjamin Franklin's famous quote establishes that people can make themselves "healthy, wealthy, and wise" - the authors of Prosper certainly had a similar vision in mind when establishing their definition of what prosperity entails, only they establish it under the terms of establishing the term with money (the means of supporting one's prosperity), happiness (the personal investment in pursuing one's goals), and sustainability (being able to maintain/manage the measure of prosperity over time).
I found "Prosper" easy to read through and I actively followed along the guide to craft and reinforce ideas in my own respective goals in life. I think this is a guide that can benefit a lot of people who want to get back to basics and combine their personal investments and passions into their professional aspirations. I think if at any point a reader wants to return to the book to reassess a part of their "polaris point," the book makes it easy to do so with its straightforward, punctuated advice. And what's more, the authors actually take the time to examine their own paths to their "polaris points" - which make it resonate on a personal level and an inspirational read. The guide also includes cases of success and concrete inventories that assess the various aspects covered in "Prosper."
A word of warning though - I think the keyword that one could think about in this guide to prosperity is "flexibility", meaning it's a guide that allows a bit more of a freerange DIY approach. In other words, if you are a reader who wants a specific step-by-step formula with specific feedback on a particular aspect like managing finances in specific methodologies - this isn't the type of guide that I would readily recommend. Rather, those who want a less rigid, but still structured and inspiring read towards their productivity goals would get a lot more out of this book. Willis and Garn do an excellent job with explaining how to balance each of these components without overwhelming the reader on just one aspect, rather finding a way to structure and flow with these aspects in a profile that readers can return to for many times to come.
Overall score: 4/5
Note: I received this as an ARC from Netgalley under the publisher Berrett-Koehler Publishers, Inc.
October 29, 2011
Coaches of www.prospering.com wrote a book to commit on your prosperity, it's not a very big news but it's quite interesting becouse is shorter than any Anthony Robbin's book.
What is that you can consider your targt in life? How much time do you want to use to accomplish your goal? Tricks and tipps to achive your target.
THANKS TO NETGALLEY FOR THE PREVIEW
What is that you can consider your targt in life? How much time do you want to use to accomplish your goal? Tricks and tipps to achive your target.
THANKS TO NETGALLEY FOR THE PREVIEW
June 1, 2012
I don't like books that point to websites; this one not only directs the reader to their website where one must register but it is where the worksheets, evaluations are. I think this is just rude and poor marketing/pr.
Otherwise, not much new - figure out what is truly important, use developed skills and develop others that all lead to one's chief focus (polaris point is what they call it).
Otherwise, not much new - figure out what is truly important, use developed skills and develop others that all lead to one's chief focus (polaris point is what they call it).
January 28, 2015
Locate your own personal polaris point and orient your career and life decisions in that direction. This book had good suggestions for how to align your life's passions with how you spend your time at work and home.
May 11, 2012
Prosper is good companion for financial success, and the ideas are skillfully presented. However the book may be much longer than is necessary to convey the message.
September 8, 2016
Interesting ideas, but still the same-old, same-old when it comes to self-help books. Geared to those who the cash and the supportive spouse.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews