What do you think?
Rate this book
Are You Ready to Succeed? Unconventional Strategies to Achieving Personal Mastery in Business and Life
Whether you’re looking for personal, financial, or career support, this carefully curated guidebook will help you get your life on track and prepared to reach all your goals.
The premise is A person's ideal life, especially their career, can be carefully conceived and crafted. Based on Dr. Rao's popular course "Creativity and Personal Mastery" at Columbia University's Graduate School of Business, this book offers a series of readings, exercises, and lessons drawn from both spiritual and commercial situations that enable you to reconstruct and improve your professional world. This transformation will turn your life around and help you become exponentially more effective in your chosen career, and thereby flourish in all aspects of your life. Whether you are questioning the value of money or the core values of your life, this book is a powerful tool that will help you to "discover the purpose that can suffuse your life and bring stars to your eyes."
The premise is A person's ideal life, especially their career, can be carefully conceived and crafted. Based on Dr. Rao's popular course "Creativity and Personal Mastery" at Columbia University's Graduate School of Business, this book offers a series of readings, exercises, and lessons drawn from both spiritual and commercial situations that enable you to reconstruct and improve your professional world. This transformation will turn your life around and help you become exponentially more effective in your chosen career, and thereby flourish in all aspects of your life. Whether you are questioning the value of money or the core values of your life, this book is a powerful tool that will help you to "discover the purpose that can suffuse your life and bring stars to your eyes."
272 pages, Hardcover
Published January 1, 2006
110 people are currently reading
941 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 - 30 of 41 reviews
June 20, 2015
This is not an easy book. It will definitely challenge you and require that you put in a lot of work. If you do so it will be a worthwhile experience. It took me about 6 months to get through the book and the reason was that I sincerely made an effort with all the exercises. I feel it has given me a lot, but I'm sure this is not the last time I read it as I'm sure I still can get a lot more out of it.
November 26, 2013
Please read this book and do the exercises as you read it. This book is as close to a manual for a fulfilling life as any I've read. And yet, it's less than 200 pages, easy to read, and full of engaging stories.
None of the concepts are new. Yet the synthesis and the telling are genius.
A masterful accomplishment that can change how you see yourself and the world - and empower you to live a fuller, more fulfilling life.
None of the concepts are new. Yet the synthesis and the telling are genius.
A masterful accomplishment that can change how you see yourself and the world - and empower you to live a fuller, more fulfilling life.
November 24, 2020
This is not really a book. It is a journey of your own transformation. It is a must read for anybody and everybody. I would strongly suggest that you should go through the exercises in this book throughly and sincerely for a proper result. Though I have read the whole book cover to cover, I am not done with it. I will keep reading the book from time to time whenever I would feel I am going back to my old self or whenever I need a little motivation.
January 5, 2021
The book could've stopped after introducing the mental model, instead it was dragged far and beyond and north of what was necessary. Key takeaway is our (mostly negative) mental chatter is powerful because it reinforces our mental models of the world and how things work. Realizing this is half the battle won, and beyond that - we can harness equanimity, sense of gratitude, a dash of positive thinking and other prescribed tools to become architects of our success. Rao is like the Indian uncle who visits just to read you some parables (only Indian people would get this part), it's soothing but at times cheesy. I'd say his methods are a but new age-ish so might not be everyone's cup of tea.
March 19, 2016
I won this book through Goodreads. I loved this book. Lots of tips that help out.
May 5, 2019
3.5 stars. A friend told me to read this book.
Here is the best story—-
There was once a farmer who owned a horse and had a son. One day, his horse ran away. The neighbors came to express their concern: “Oh, that’s too bad. How are you going to work the fields now?” The farmer replied: “Good thing, bad thing, who knows?”
In a few days, his horse came back and brought another horse with her. Now, the neighbors were glad: “Oh, how lucky! Now you can do twice as much work as before!” The farmer replied: “Good thing, bad thing, who knows?”
The next day, the farmer’s son fell off the new horse and broke his leg. The neighbors were concerned again: “Now that he is incapacitated, he can’t help you around, that is too bad.” The farmer replied: “Good thing, bad thing, who knows?”
Soon, the news came that a war broke out, and all the young men were required to join the army. The villagers were sad because they knew that many of the young men will not come back. The farmer’s son could not be drafted because of his broken leg. His neighbors were envious: “How lucky! You get to keep your only son.” The farmer replied: “Good thing, bad thing, who knows?”
That very summer….and the story continues…
The above Sufi story is quoted by many authors to illustrate how our perceptions color our life experiences.
Here is the best story—-
There was once a farmer who owned a horse and had a son. One day, his horse ran away. The neighbors came to express their concern: “Oh, that’s too bad. How are you going to work the fields now?” The farmer replied: “Good thing, bad thing, who knows?”
In a few days, his horse came back and brought another horse with her. Now, the neighbors were glad: “Oh, how lucky! Now you can do twice as much work as before!” The farmer replied: “Good thing, bad thing, who knows?”
The next day, the farmer’s son fell off the new horse and broke his leg. The neighbors were concerned again: “Now that he is incapacitated, he can’t help you around, that is too bad.” The farmer replied: “Good thing, bad thing, who knows?”
Soon, the news came that a war broke out, and all the young men were required to join the army. The villagers were sad because they knew that many of the young men will not come back. The farmer’s son could not be drafted because of his broken leg. His neighbors were envious: “How lucky! You get to keep your only son.” The farmer replied: “Good thing, bad thing, who knows?”
That very summer….and the story continues…
The above Sufi story is quoted by many authors to illustrate how our perceptions color our life experiences.
April 27, 2016
What an incredible book! This book contains so many valuable pieces of information/ "strategies" to help you completely change your life. I am amazed by the reality concept and the witness concept. I have already made many changes because of reading this book. Many of them are developed over time and will become habits once you start. It is hard to turn loose of ways/habits of looking at / dealing with situations that have become instilled over years.
I have seen glimpses of some of these strategies/ ways in other writings, but the author has put into clear form a pathway. This is a book that will remain on my shelf to be reread and referenced for the rest of my life. I am amazed at the insight the author has in these areas and how he has relayed them in "simple" terms. Great job! I won this book in a GoodReads giveaway. I highly recommend this book to others wanting to make a positive change in their lives.
I have seen glimpses of some of these strategies/ ways in other writings, but the author has put into clear form a pathway. This is a book that will remain on my shelf to be reread and referenced for the rest of my life. I am amazed at the insight the author has in these areas and how he has relayed them in "simple" terms. Great job! I won this book in a GoodReads giveaway. I highly recommend this book to others wanting to make a positive change in their lives.
March 23, 2009
Spiritual guidance on how to let the universe help you succeed
Srikumar S. Rao presents a broad, philosophical context you can use to contemplate the notion of success. Though he covers complex ideas that derive from global traditions of ancient wisdom, the book is accessible and not quite as deep as it might be, given the topic. If changing your personal reality were really as easy as these exercises suggest, the world might be an easier place. Rao includes exercises designed to help you open your mind and confront your preconceptions, as well as a reading list designed to jar loose and challenge the daily realities you may take for granted. getAbstract recommends this to those who are new to the genre of self-awareness literature, and who want to find success through contemplating or rediscovering joy and purpose.
Srikumar S. Rao presents a broad, philosophical context you can use to contemplate the notion of success. Though he covers complex ideas that derive from global traditions of ancient wisdom, the book is accessible and not quite as deep as it might be, given the topic. If changing your personal reality were really as easy as these exercises suggest, the world might be an easier place. Rao includes exercises designed to help you open your mind and confront your preconceptions, as well as a reading list designed to jar loose and challenge the daily realities you may take for granted. getAbstract recommends this to those who are new to the genre of self-awareness literature, and who want to find success through contemplating or rediscovering joy and purpose.
December 3, 2021
I enjoyed some talks I heard from Dr. Rao on this subject matter, but the book did not do it for me. This book has many powerful concepts and philosphies and reflects teaching from a top-rated course for leading MBA students at a prestigious university.
I had trouble getting past the style of writing, which was hyperbolic, full of exclamations and outdated slang. Further, I found that the book employed far too many "approaches" to personal growth, basing much of the principles on non-dual teachings (Vedanta) but also integrating a number of new-age ideas (a la "the secret") and personal empowerment rituals (NLP and Tony Robbins style mental jujitsu) to align oneself towards success. I found this approach confusing and far less simply effective than just sticking with a deeper exploration of the non-dual teaching and applying it to business and career success.
I had trouble getting past the style of writing, which was hyperbolic, full of exclamations and outdated slang. Further, I found that the book employed far too many "approaches" to personal growth, basing much of the principles on non-dual teachings (Vedanta) but also integrating a number of new-age ideas (a la "the secret") and personal empowerment rituals (NLP and Tony Robbins style mental jujitsu) to align oneself towards success. I found this approach confusing and far less simply effective than just sticking with a deeper exploration of the non-dual teaching and applying it to business and career success.
Read
November 6, 2010Highly Recommended. What the writer wrote was not really practical business tips to follow. But what he recorded are anecdotes and stories that give insight to the nature of mankind. The exercises that the author generally are there to increase our state of happiness. Two big ideas are the Law of Increase and using thought to create the world that we want to live in. If we want more happiness, we need to give thanks everyday to whatever little things that touch us. We got to pay attention to what the universe gave to us. Then, when we reach the state, we understand how universe work for us, then we will be able to harness its power and create what we want.
July 24, 2020
This book is more of a process. You could just read it cover to cover, but you'd miss a ton of potentially valuable insights on the way. Even working through the exercises as I went, I can tell I'll need to revisit a few things. You can't master everything the first time around, and I honestly don't think you're meant to.
A lot of the things Rao writes about are things you'll see from other places, mindfulness, awareness, witnessing without judging, so the value of his work is not in novelty, but in giving you a practice to change the self-inhibiting habits and framework built over the years.
A lot of the things Rao writes about are things you'll see from other places, mindfulness, awareness, witnessing without judging, so the value of his work is not in novelty, but in giving you a practice to change the self-inhibiting habits and framework built over the years.
July 31, 2012
The book was a very good combination of eastern and western teachings. The author tries to hide the origin of the thoughts and principles his method is based on. I guess the reason is that if people know the old philosophies behind it they would be be more preconscious, but to me that secrecy gives a feeling of hiding something. If you would really follow the steps described, I'm sure they would have impact on you, but as with any self-help books it's difficult to really take time to go through all the steps.
November 24, 2016
I would consider the book to be a self mastery book focusing both on personal and professional lives. The author has taken lot of ideas, and examples from eastern philosophy. Two key ideas that I took from this book are mental models and mental chatters and how these impact over lives. Overall a good read; but putting into action the ideas discussed will be the success criteria of what you gain out of the book. I have written a detailed review at https://goo.gl/NIjnYO
September 17, 2012
"Disenchantment and disengagement are like infectious diseases running though our economy and our institutions. Unconventional strategies might be just what is called for." Nice journaling companion. Use the questions in the book as points to reflect against to clarify your values, limiting beliefs, etc.
September 9, 2016
This book really has profound insights which can change the way we think and thereby change how we live. Most of the ideas are well rooted in research. the exercises, show us how constrained we are (and ironically we always want more freedom) and how to live a happy life. Really helpful if you want to get unstuck and live life fully.
December 12, 2019
You have to have an open mind to read this book. It’s all unpopular strategies. It challenges and changes your beliefs and thinking. Anyone that keeps doing the exercises in the book will benefit greatly. You will gain skills to help you go through life. As you keep doing the exercises, it will get easier and easier. It is like mental jujitsu. It is a book on life mastery.
June 1, 2008
this guy taught a course of the same name at columbia for years and many of my students said it was the best course they have or will ever take. Has some great reading lists.
Never finished it - perhaps I'm NOT ready to succeed!
Never finished it - perhaps I'm NOT ready to succeed!
April 9, 2013
Un excelente resumen del material del curso que el Doctor Rao dio por algunos años en la Universidad de Columbia y ahora da de forma independiente. En él toma ideas y ejercicios de muchas fuentes, en especial la tradición oriental, y los adapta para un público moderno.
July 26, 2020
Mr. Srikumar has a very captivating style. It is simple and concise. The author explains wisdom of his ideas, and offers eye-opening exercises. It is one of the best books on spiritual growth I've read so far. There is fantastic annotated bibliography at the end.
February 26, 2008
Rao teaches a very popular class at Columbia Business School about what it means to be happy, to succeed. A great place to start for somebody wanting to understand and change their life.
July 29, 2008
Mike is always reading these types of books, so I end up reading a few myself. I like to read anything that encourages you to live your best life though.
Read
September 1, 2008Read years ago...Forgot everything :)
January 2, 2009
great book-changed my life. Follow Dr. Rao's instructions completely.
Want to read
February 16, 2011Recommended by Corbett Barr http://www.corbettbarr.com/5-books-th...
March 11, 2012
Srikumar teaches a course in the London Business school as well as Columbia that comes highly recommended by many students.
October 7, 2012
Few books have challenged the fundamental framework through which I approach my life as this one. Much like a rich chocolate cake, it is best taken in small, meditative bites.
March 26, 2013
saya pusing membaca buku ini dan gak nyampek separuh saja... tulisannya terlalu dominan dari pada gambarnya jd bikin pusing :D, next time klo dah kuat baca yang panjang2 dilanjutkan. hehehe
March 30, 2013
A must-read book on success frameworks in self development for knowledge workers, managers, executives, and entrepreneurs.
June 15, 2013
Geared to people just starting out their career, but the exercises are really good for anyone who wants to make a positive change in their work life. Great annotated reading list.
July 11, 2016
I won this book through Goodreads. It has a really good recommended reading list at the end of it.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 41 reviews