Wellth: How I Learned to Build a Life, Not a Resume

by Jason Wachob

In his first book, mindbodygreen founder Jason Wachob, redefines successful living and offers readers a new life currency to build on, one that is steeped in wellbeing…Wellth.

“Many of us aren’t satisfied with just trying to accumulate the most money and toys. The good life is no longer just about the material—instead, it can be found in a lifestyle that is devoted to mental, physical, and emotional health. A wellthy existence is one in which happiness is attainable, health is paramount, and daily living is about abundance. It’s a life in which work is purposeful; friendships are deep and plentiful; and there’s a daily sense of richness or overflowing joy. But since there’s no one-size-fits all definition for a wellthy existence, I hope this book will serve as a guide to help you embark on your own personal journey that is both unique and meaningful.”

Eat. Move. Work. Believe. Explore. Breathe. Connect. Love. Heal. Thank. Ground. Live. Laugh.

These are the building blocks of Wellth…and in this blend of memoir and prescriptive advice Jason Wachob shows us all how to enjoy truly ‘wellthy’ lives—lives that are deeply rich in every conceivable way. Through his experience and personal story, as well as in exclusive material from popular expert contributors (including Dr. Frank Lipman, Dr. Lissa Rankin, Joe Cross, Charlie Knoles, Kathryn Budig, Dr. Aviva Romm, and Dr. Sue Johnson), we learn how we too can embrace this new movement and develop richer, fuller, happier, healthier, and more meaningful lives. What will make your life more wellthy? Come and explore it.

Genres: Nonfiction, Self Help, Health, Business, Personal Development, Audiobook, Personal Growth

256 pages, Hardcover

First published March 1, 2016

Reviews

[Monica Kim | Musings of Monica · Rating 2 out of 5]

I started writing review for this book last night, but I had to take a step back before I write something I might regret it later. I always want to be respectful of author’s effort and time in writing a book, but I have to be brutally honest with this one. As the founder & CEO of one of the world’s leading website on health, happiness, and wellness (one of my favorite websites), you’ll think this would be a mind-blowing book with eye-opening, unique revelations, this was one the most uninspiring books I’ve ever read in my life. This book almost felt like it lwas written just because every CEO wants a book under their belt. I’m also mad that publisher published another hyped-up book by a well-known person, this practice needs to change. Before I go on, I want to reiterate what I say every time a book didn’t work for me, that there are no bad books, just bad timing and/or chemistry. As someone who read ton of self growth & personal development books, I just think this book was just too basic & dumb downed for me.
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The premise of the book, although nothing new, was great, that life is more than just accumulation of wealth, but other important things that make life fulfilling, satisfying, and happy, thus the title, WELLth, and the start was really great. I like how he combined health & wellness with finding life’s purpose & fulfilling career. There’s absolutely nothing new here, and it’s more autobiographical with quotes to fill the pages. I’m really li shocked that this is a finished product. Author certainly had a privileged life, which I’m not saying there’s anything wrong and that it wasn’t without a struggle, but he tried to make his life story somewhat relatable, but it did not resonate with me. It’s easy to say the things he’s written coming from where he started. The information he provides was so dry & generic, it’s really disappointing coming from an author with access to wealth of great contents. Of course, exercise, eating healthy, being mindful, spending time in nature are great, it’s common sense...I’m glad this was borrowed from the library, which is what I typically do with nonfictions before buying it, if I really like it. Although, there’s nothing new here, I understand that every person has their unique voices, so it may resonate with others. I think this would be a great book for someone has never read any personal development books or someone in high school or college. I had to be real honest with this one. 🤓✌️📖

[Jennifer Cody · Rating 1 out of 5]

I would have abandoned this book if it hadn’t been a little fun to hate-read.

Notes on why I didn’t like this book:

It’s much more of a dull memoir than a self-help book.
The author comes off as very privileged, bro-dude, and unlikeable.
He actually suggests people go volunteer with underprivileged people as a method to feel better about themselves.
He talks about the ever-vague “toxins” and “chemicals.”
This athlete/finance bro took a few yoga classes and started a meditation practice and... needed to write a book about it?

[Shavon · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had 2 overriding thoughts as I read Wellth.
1. The “wellth” concept of integrating your personal and professional lives makes perfect sense to me. It is how I live my life.
2. The author has had so many chances in life. He was forgiven for his youthful indiscretions including brushes with the law and poor grades. Sure, he had to struggle and work hard to build the mindbodygreen brand, but I believe that if he had been the “wrong” type of person, doors would have remained closed. He would have been written off as unworthy of salvaging. He would have been doomed to a life in the system or in some low-paying crappy job. As a society, we have to stop writing certain people off based upon behavior that occurred before the age of mental maturity (30). We need to care enough to give everyone who wants it a chance to live a decent life. Maybe as people read the book, they can begin to understand that most people do not get it right the first time and that they deserve a second chance.

[Mitchell Clifford · Rating 2 out of 5]

While there’s are a couple ideas I will take away from this book moving forwards there were many yellow and red flags that’s couldn’t be overlooked.

While his personal narrative is impressive his positioning of himself as someone who faced more unprecedented hurdles than the average person, which mostly focused around financial setbacks, but making over 200K, created an early idea of Wachob being an unreliable narrator.

In addition, his rhetoric and ideas around healing and health appeared dangerous at times, especially within the context of our current medical landscape of the pandemic with some individuals trying to receive unproven medical practices to cure Covid-19 symptoms such as acupuncture instead of listening to medical advice backed from medical professionals and scientific studies.

Overall, I would recommend should this book be read, it should be read critically and without rose-coloured glasses.

[Lenissa · Rating 2 out of 5]

Hmm. For the most part I liked a few things in this book, while I could care less about most parts in this book. Wow that came off mean; I don't mean for it to come off that way. For me, I liked the last pages of each chapter. While I know the authors story is important and how he learned from his mistakes and such. I found it a little boring and would find myself skimming some parts until a sentence captured my attention.

I received this book from Blogging For Books for an honest review.

[Hanah · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was inspiring! I loved how the author emphasized experiences more than careers, and how a "wealthy" life is a life of new experiences and people and positive thought instead of "wealthy" in the sense as we've known it--lots and lots of money. He doesn't necessarily demonize money, but emphasizes that it's not the most important thing, and I greatly appreciate that.

[Cheryl · Rating 5 out of 5]

Many things resonated with me. The last paragraph of the book sums it all up.

"Eat. Move. Work. Believe. Explore. Breathe. Feel. Love. Heal. Thank. Ground. Live. And last but not least - Laugh. Because after all, if we can't find humor in this zigzagging journey called life, then what are we here for? "

[Josh Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

Life often follows obscure trajectories and takes unexpected detours. In this book, Wachob explores the ways in which life can test you and provides his own life's story and experiences as examples of how to handle it all. I couldn't put the book down and was always excited to resume after I had. The only drawback to this otherwise excellent work, is the tendency the author had to call on his religious views. I remember one instance where he was writing about relationships and mentioned the sexual attraction between men and women when he could have simple said "between two people". Regardless, the core message of the book was pure and helped me gain a different perspective on life.

[Angela · Rating 2 out of 5]

I feel like I could have written this book. Nothing mind blowing, not could be a good read for a younger crowd.

[Shazul · Rating 2 out of 5]

'Wellth' is your typical self-help book that in simple words encourages people to pursue different areas of "wellth"—in regards to health, career, relationships, exploring the world, connecting with nature, etc.—instead of chasing monetary wealth and other standard markers for success that will likely not truly fulfill us. So this book will not offer anything new. But emphasis on ideas that you can easily get online. As one says, 'It was fine, but certainly not revolutionary nor particularly memorable. Wachob takes concepts that are common staples in the health and wellness world and just puts his "wellth" spin on them.'

[Vivian Perez · Rating 5 out of 5]

Life. Love. Loss. Gratitude. Well-being. Wellth.

If you want to increase your wellth more than your wealth, this is the book for you. Wachob gives you 13 themes to think about; words of wisdom to help you find yourself without putting yourself down, comparing you to others and injecting gratitude to your everyday tasks at hand.

A wonderful book indeed. Worth every page.

[Ietrio · Rating 1 out of 5]

A low qualification person found popularity in blogging through preaching the gospel of prosperity with new age terms. The book is a series of low quality observations and shallow thinking peppered generously with keywords.

[Jason · Rating 5 out of 5]

Yes I'm giving it 5-stars - I wrote it! :) Looking forward to hearing everyone else's thoughts!

[Anastasia Efimov · Rating 5 out of 5]

What an amazing and easy to read book! Got very hooked and read it in 3 days!
Definitely one of those books that you can re-read with time!
Recommended to friends and close ones!

[Wayne McCoy · Rating 3 out of 5]

'Wellth: How I Learned to Build a Life, Not a Resume' by mindbodygreen founder Jason Wachob is a self-help book.

The author talks about his life and how he came to make life choices. He talks about how wealth isn't nearly as important as well-being. The reader is encouraged to build a healthy life that includes gratitude and mindfulness.

I've read a number of these type of books. This one feels a lot more autobiographical than others. I learned that the author was an athlete and had a good paying job on Wall Street. The book feels like it's telling more than showing. While it's important to know how the author came to have this viewpoint, there was just too much backstory to most things. Also, while this advice seems good, I felt like I was being shown the magic formula. This may be the author's magic formula, but it's not everyones.

I received a review copy of this ebook from Crown Publishing and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for allowing me to review this ebook.

[Joan Stroh · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had no expectations of this book, but admit the title captured my interest as 2020 hasn't been going the way I've planned. I also have read many articles on bodymindgreen.com since its inception so I was curious what the creator of this company had to say.

I will also admit that while I own many self-help books, many don't speak to me, or I find them a bit extreme. This book was different. Jason was open and honest with how he created his life he has today by shifting his priorities. He also pointed out what many self-help or diet books don't - everyone is different and what works for him may not work for me. However, there are some fundamental basics (i.e., do the work - wishing for something won't manifest it; and people can fail and hit rock bottom).

He reminded me of a lot of things/practices I've known or done in the past, but need to start doing again in these COVID times (i.e., gratitude journal and meditation) as it's far too easy to see the negative, but you need to remember to shift thinking and look at the positives in one's life.

[Stephanie S · Rating 3 out of 5]

It really should be 2.5 stars I think. If it weren’t for a few solid bits of advice that were good to hear again or completely new it would have been 2 stars. Like others have commented most of the advice is pretty useless for someone who reads a lot of the health & wellness / self help genre, I mean I’ve read most of the books he’s quoting from. It’s also a bit tough to listen to some of the antidotes, I bet there is more to them but man he really comes off as a dude with shitloads of straight white male Ivy League privilege. I do love how much he talked about being in touch with his emotions, valuing and loving his male friends, and being willing to cry. That felt pretty groundbreaking for a guy with a frat boy background which I thought was pretty rad.

TLDR: probably a more useful read if you don’t read a lot of health & wellness books.

[Steph · Rating 4 out of 5]

For anyone interested in total health that encompasses not only physical health, but also social, psychological, spiritual, and overall well-being, this book is a great introduction.
It has similar components other leaders write about in the mind-body connection world (with an addition of connection to the environment) and introduces the concepts in a concise and accessible way.
If you’re familiar with this world, this book will talk about concepts you already know, but it never hurts to have another great voice delivering the message.
I’ve followed mindbodygreen on Instagram for a while now and it was interesting to see how this platform came to be. Keep up the great work Jason! I hope more people learn the benefits of wellth in their lives.
Really 4.5!

[Joyce Wheeler · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quite a few of the chapters in the book I already had some knowledge on, but I still found some things helpful. To the novice its a great book of basics and universal truths, but even to the advanced there is some type of takeaway. I spent a great deal more effort on the chapter regarding work since it is something I have been contemplating a lot lately. It asked a lot of poignant questions to start working on self and future career paths, and then the importance of your top 5 people and their impact whether negative or positive on you. I enjoyed this book and it was fairly a quick read which is always a great thing.

[Nyssa · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was pretty disappointed with this one. Maybe I've just been reading such great, inspirational books lately, I've been spending too much time editing, or I just can't relate to this author, but this just wasn't up to par. I like the idea of having quotes for each of the sections, but they broke up the flow of the stories (which didn't always connect, either). I could sense some entitlement and there seemed to be a lack of identification of privilege (especially in the "thank" chapter). Sections were redundant and choppy. I appreciated the sentiment and liked the snippets of how one can improve the areas of of his or her life, but it didn't seem to be executed well. Also, "ironically" does not mean what you think it means. :/

Lines I did like:
5: Whether we like it or not, everything is connected: our minds, our bodies, and our environment.
15 (Eat): This magical, marvelous food on our plate, the sustenance we absorb, has a story to tell. It as a journey. It leaves a footprint. It leaves a legacy. to eat with reckless abandon, without conscience, without knowledge; folks, this ain't normal. --Joel Salatin, Folks, This Ain't Normal: A farmer's advice for happier hens, healthier people, and a better world
28 (Move): I began to see that I needed to practice "easy" instead of "hard." I realized that when you force things -- a career, a relationship -- life will be forceful back. If you want your life to be easy, you need to practice easy. Yoga isn't about pushing yourself into poses or competing with the person next to you. Yoga is about making yourself a better listener: to your mind, to your body, and to the world around you.
45 (Work): When one door of happiness closes, another opens; but often we took so long at the closed door that we do not see the one which has been opened for us. --Helen Keller, To Love This Life
48 (Work): My point isn't that you should slack off, but that you need to choose the things that matter and not go full on at every single thing. This is the type A challenge that many of us struggle with, myself included. We can just work harder and faster, trying to break down a door that's not ready to open. We can also work smarter and be ready for a different door that will open easily. It's finding the balance that's so hard. Prioritize but don't obsess.
70 (Believe): You can push yourself only so much, and then at some point you have to trust fate to show you the way. I believe that there are no accidents in life. Everything is connected, and where you are at this moment is precisely where you're supposed to be. You may not know why, and you may hate your current situation, but in time the reason will become clear.
126 (Feel): On the subject of athletes, once I asked my former college coach and now assistant coach for the L.A. Clippers, Armond Hill, about the problem that the NFL was having with players become increasingly violent off the field. What he said blew me away. He thought that the reason was fairly simple: football players actually "practice violence." That's what they do for a living, and they have been doing it for most of their adult lives. How can you turn that off? How can you go from practicing violence to practicing love and kindness? It's not so easy.
134 (Feel): Actions derived from shoulds are not truly loving to anyone. Since my friend attended the function because she was trying to be a good wife, she was betraying not only herself but also her partner. Now, this isn't to say that there aren't times when we need to assess the greater good and put our individual needs aside, but when we repeatedly ignore our inner no to please others, the results are ultimately disastrous.
To heal from the addiction to i>should start to notice how often the word populates your self-talk, and then notice how you feel when you fall prey to believing the statement. When you hear the word should, ask: What would be most loving to myself and other right now? Then listen closely to for the answer.
142 (Love): I believe that there are three different types of soul mates. The first is the one that you aren't meant to be with forever but that delivers powerful lessons. These soul mates ted to e the most influential teachers in our lives. They're the ones that provide the heartache, the ones that don't work out and aren't meant to work out. The second type is the one that allows you to be your true self and who stays with you forever. The third type is a platonic friend with whom you are always connected to and feel you can share your innermost thoughts and emotions.
In my first serious relationship, I learned that a great six months, or a great year, or a great few years --and all the love and affection in the world -- don't always make for a lasting relationship. Love isn't always enough. You can love someone, and they can love you, but it doesn't mean you're meant to be together. Your partner should make you better, and our partner should make you whole. In fact, I think they should make you more than whole and especially not less.
149 (Love): There are little things that matter and little things that don't. It drives me nuts when Colleen doesn't put all the dishes in the dishwasher, and it drives her nuts when I don't clean the toilet. But in the whole scheme of things, both aren't that important. Little things that do matter are all about communication, specifically a breakdown or lack of understanding around your partner's communication patterns and vice versa.

[Jacinda · Rating 2 out of 5]

Theres not much to say about this book and it's not overly memorable. It's part self help part biographical with a bunch of anecdotal stories from the author on how they improved their life (who would have guessed that from the title ;) ). It was a pleasant way to pass the time but I don't think I'd gravitate towards this book as a self help as I think there would be far more extensive books on the same topic.

[Holly Ites · Rating 2 out of 5]

Jason starts out really strong in building a case for personal contentment and fulfillment. However, his tangents into personal experiences and relationships borders on pandering by the end. Perhaps had he had a little more emotion in his narration, it wouldn't seem so self-serving. Still, there are some good tips and affirmations to make it worth reading.

[Navyredrose · Rating 5 out of 5]

Definitely a book I would like to revisit in the future. Although there are some things I didn’t fully agree with there is a lot of great nuggets of wisdom in this one. A very quick and easy read as well and was easy to come back to after interspersing it between other books. According to my library app it took only 2.5 hours to read.

[Elissa · Rating 2 out of 5]

I like mbg. I like these types of topics. I usually don't mind personal anecdotes from the author, but I just had a hard time relating to him. I wish it had more knowledge based content, and some variety of other people's experiences. At least it's a quick read.

[Allison · Rating 2 out of 5]

I didn't read past the first chapter. It was more of a general wellness book rather than a career development book and it seemed kind of boring. I probably should known that after looking at the spelling of title.

[Danyelle · Rating 2 out of 5]

If you put every stereotypical quote on a “good life” lesson in a book, it’s this. Also, half of it seems like a chance he wanted to write about himself, the other half is quotes from other books. There’s nothing new to takeaway here.

[Luis · Rating 1 out of 5]

There are definitely worthwhile ideas here but nothing new or groundbreaking. It also doesn't help that the author seems to unwittingly flaunt his privilege in every chapter.

[April · Rating 3 out of 5]

We learn the author's view on a number of principles relating to mind body and life.

[Felicia Renee · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is amazing and a great perspective on wellness. Health is wellth!

[Michael Lent · Rating 3 out of 5]

Prioritize your life.

A good skim.