Succeeding: How to Choose the Right Goals and Increase Your Chances of Achieving Them

by John T. Reed

High goals are fine. Author John T. Reed reached several high goals in his life like making a million dollars, getting degrees from West Point and Harvard, being listed in Whos Who in America, appearing on TV shows like 60 Minutes, writing over two dozen well-received books, as well as celebrating a 30-year marriage and raising three fine sons. His experience has also been varied from being the son of an alcoholic father to living in the country, suburbs, and big city to serving a tour in Vietnam to working for a large corporation to successful self-employment and extended bachelorhood. He also failed significantly in various pursuits and thereby learned many important lessons. Succeeding will tell you how to achieve high success, but it will constantly remind you to go for enough, not more; and to pursue what suits you, not just some goal chosen solely based on how much you think it will impress others. Strategies, tactics, tips, and tricks on how to succeed. Lessons learned by one man in his 50 plus years. The book focuses on choosing the right spouse and career. Unlike most success books that encourage you to choose whatever extremely high goals your heart desires, this book emphasizes the importance of choosing the right goals. If you choose your goals carefully, you are far more likely to achieve them and far more likely to be happy when you do.

Genres: Self Help, Nonfiction, Business

205 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2003

Reviews

[Jason · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you like John Reed's writing style, you'll love this book. It has a bit of everything. If I would've read this in my early 20's, I'd probably be doing something more exciting right now than writing a book review on Goodreads.

[Christopher · Rating 2 out of 5]

Some good things I have picked up from this book:

(1) Have some good goals into place.
(2) Make sure you at least try. Avoid the "little ol' me-ism" and replace it with all they can say is "No"

Some of the political aspects I disagree with him. I look forward to other editions he produces but has room for improvements.

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

Enjoyable-succeeding as defined by a very opinionated author

[Ryan · Rating 2 out of 5]

I cannot believe that I finished this entire book given that I was put off by it pretty much instantly, but something about it compelled me to continue. The author is undeniably an interesting dude, and his experiences have led him to develop a rather unique perspective that you will not find anywhere else. Certainly not in the self-help genre.

There is definitely some good advice in here. Some of it has been presented better elsewhere, and some of it was (to me, at least) fairly novel. There is also a lot of (what I would personally consider to be) bad advice. I frequently found myself disagreeing with the author, who is not shy about advertising his own political views and opinions. However, that did not make the book less valuable - in fact, I appreciated the opportunity to be exposed to and grapple with his often heterodox views.

The book is way too long and strangely formatted. A decent editor could have pared this book down to less than half its length, and corrected all the typos while he or she was at it. The author repeats himself a lot and several "chapters" (which are sometimes as short as a single page) are completely redundant. The book is organized seemingly at random; sometimes multiple subheadings in a row are dedicated to random anecdotes which have nothing to do with the theme of the chapter. Weirdly enough, I suspect the stream-of-consciousness style is a big part of what drove me to keep reading.

The author spends a lot of time boasting, which is fair enough given that he actually has quite an impressive resume of accomplishments. Still, it sometimes comes across as a bit childish/insecure, especially when talking about his children and his Dating System™, which is weirdly teased like four times before you even find out what it is/was.

Having said all that, I will continue to read his work. I first discovered him through his blogging on real estate; I appreciated his frank and pragmatic views on that field, and only purchased this book because he recommended I do so prior to reading his real estate books. While I am personally not a fan of the writing style on display here, I feel like it's better suited to something more concrete (like real estate) than it is to something as broad as "succeeding."

[Patrick · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good antidote for much of the new agey and psychological stuff out on the self-help market these days.

I don't dig (or read) too many self-help or philosophy books, but this guy is worth listening to because he is such a hard-ass (though I doubt he thinks of himself that way). In my view, the advice is dead on common sense, yet most people won't make the effort to apply it.

If you're considering using Reed's real estate investment books to improve your financial situation, then you should start with this book and a complete read-through of his website in order to understand Reed's perspective on life and wealth accumulation. Trust me, he is 180 out from almost everybody else who you could seek advice from on real estate investment. But Reed's lived it - he doesn't just write about it.

Last note: his ideas on what you need to do before deciding who to marry are well worth consideration...I wish that my young Marines had shared his perspective before too many of them got married (especially right before deployments!).

[Steve]

A very holistic view of succeeding, including defining what exactly "succeeding" is. Some of the chapters are very short--only a few paragraphs, but they're necessary to cover the various aspects of life (and doing life well). Topics covered include career choice, spouse choice, children, education, athletics, health and sobriety. It's too bad schools (and parents?) don't spend much time teaching these basic how-to-succeed topics. Many of these topics are things everyone has to face, and there are so often "good" and "even better" ways to approach them. The writing style (and Reed himself) is very straightforward, including many stories from the authors personal experiences. I was a little surprised how willingly he advocates elective cosmetic surgery.

[Marcus · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a book that I wish I had read when I was 20. I will be sending this to anyone who graduates college as a gift. Author is a elf employed real estate investor, author & youth football coach. He is a former Army Office (West Point Grad) and a Harvard MBA. The book is written as advice to his sons on how to succeed in life. What differentiates this book from most self help is that it is very broad and very practical. It is not one of those envision success and it will happen book, but more like a wise elder sharing what he has learned in life.