Personal Socrates: Questions That Will Upgrade Your Life from Legends & World-Class Performers

by Marc Champagne

Better Questions, Better LifeExplore questions that stimulate your mental fitness and teach you how to direct your internal narrative to work for you. Personal Socrates contains 100+ life-changing questions across 40+ profiles of Legends (Kobe Bryant, Maya Angelou, Robin Williams, etc.) and Top Performers (Ryan Holiday, Shantell Martin, James Clear, etc.).Inspired by Socrates himself, Marc Champagne draws on his interviews with award-winning writers, designers, photographers, strategists, entrepreneurs, technologists, musicians, athletes, and more to provide inspiration and examples as to where and how pointed self-inquiry can help your health, happiness and performance. Readers are guided by powerful reflective questions that can be easily applied to daily life and work for incredible results.What can you expect after reading Personal Socrates?A personalized mental fitness routineMorning rituals to win the dayCalming and clearing evening wind-down practicesTools to deescalate emotionally charged situationsTo feel mentally lighter, clearer, focused, and confidentThe prompts and mental fitness practices detailed throughout Personal Socrates are like having your very own mental fitness coach with you at all times—one who can be used to bring clarity, intentionality, and possibility to every aspect of your life.

Genres: Self Help, Nonfiction, Philosophy, Psychology, Leadership

258 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 19, 2021

About the author

Marc Champagne is an author, speaker and mental fitness strategist. He studies the questions and practises shaping the lives of legends and world-class performers—questions that have the power to change your life and work.

Marc hosts the top 50 ranked podcast Behind The Human and co-founded the journaling app (KYO) which reached 86.9 million people without any paid advertising. Marc has studied mental fitness practices for over a decade and consults with Fortune 500 companies as a mental fitness strategist and speaker.

Reviews

[Teejay · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lots of good, insightful nuggets in here. Also lots that I couldn't connect with. But that's sort of the format of this book. Champagne does an analysis on dozens of thought leaders (some he has personally interviewed) and breaks down their way of thinking, their rituals, and other things that have helped them become who they are. If you're ready to sit down and analyze what you need to change, or how to reflect on things, or just want to know how more "successful" people look at life, this is a good book to start that process!

[Rikuya Osawa · Rating 2 out of 5]

"At any point, we are one question away from a different life."

I strongly resonate with the core concept of this book. The author's in-depth study of the minds of numerous highly successful individuals across various fields reveals a common thread: the universal language of questions, untouched by the passage of time. These individuals employ questions as a potent tool for self-examination, offering them greater clarity, insight, and confidence in their decision-making processes. In reality, we all engage in this practice, but often, we fail to pose the right questions to ourselves.

However, upon completing the book, I found that many of the prompts and profiles did not resonate with me. Consequently, I felt somewhat indifferent toward a significant portion of the book. The intentional brevity of each prompt, designed to accommodate even the busiest individuals, might have limited the depth of exploration for some of these topics, leaving me desiring a more profound dive into the subject matter (I could say that the book fulfilled its intended aim then).

Still, I can see that many people come to appreciate this book and that the profiles in this book can help them ask the right questions to propel forward in life, personally and professionally. I certainly have some insightful and meaningful questions that I can ask myself every day.

Rating: 3.3

[Thomas Hansen · Rating 2 out of 5]

I think readers would be better off reading some of the material referenced (Atomic Habits, Deep Work etc) and not this book; which I think could have been a couple of blog posts. Also the section with Astrology and Neuroscience.. AND? I think it is Pseudoscience at best, so deducted one star for Astrology as it would have been better without.
Even though I did not enhoy the book as much as I had hoped I do hope, like Larry King, that he will keep at it and improve.

[Rycknoc · Rating 5 out of 5]

More than self-reflection. The prompts allow you to put pen to paper and do a deep dive into your personal psyche. I have benefited from this journey this book has led me on. I believe you will also, and therefore I recommend this book to everyone. Use the prompts to get your creative self-analysis juices following and you may be surprised by what you discover.

[Kyle S · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5, but rounding up. I think that the questions posed in this book can help people when reflecting on their lives. Although this book was not what I was expecting when I picked it up. I honestly didn’t know what I was expecting, but I certainly wasn’t expecting it to be a bunch of short profiles on influential people the author has personally met or admires. Not that it’s a bad format, just not what I was expecting.

I mostly docked points because of the two pseudo science figures profiled in this book. One, as some might know from reading the reviews, is an astrologer. I’m honestly okay with that. I don’t believe in astrology but for the most part I see it as harmless. However, there was another figure who was mentioned who supposedly overcame a debilitating chronic illness just by believing it away. I just can’t support those sorts of claims and they can be dangerous.

I was going to give the book 3 stars initially just for supporting that kind of belief, even if it’s just a small section in the book. However, I bumped it up to 4 stars because the other sections are pretty good, a bit redundant at times, but still good with good questions and exercises to consider.

Also, I have never heard of Marc Champagne nor his podcast before in my life. I picked this book up because of seeing it recommended in the ether of the internet and finally decided to check it out.

[L · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have to give this book 5 stars because of one question in the book. There has been a question that has been gnawing away it me for probably say, the last 10 years, and I have read countless books and pestered my husband countless times trying to figure out the answer. In this book, he asked the question and then a follow up question that I just had never thought to ask and it just made everything (for me) completely clear. So thank you and 5 stars.

[Larry (LPosse1) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Agh- I wanted to love this book. It’s based on Mark Champagne’s podcast that I have not really listened to it or did not know about it before I read the book. I loved the format and many of the interviews. Kobe Bryant was amazing. I read it to my class!! Some not so good. I have still have not listened to the podcast much!

[Andrea Talarico · Rating 5 out of 5]

The profiles in this book are each so inspiring! Rather than reading it front-to-back, I like to choose a profile each day and try the suggested journaling exercise that accompanies it. It's a quick and easy way to experience a tiny bit of enlightenment every morning.

[Kevin Wammer · Rating 3 out of 5]

The questions are intriguing, and most profiles interesting. But this book could easily be shorter (and better) by just removing a lot of fluff. However, I had to skip the chapter about astrology altogether. Why was this included?

[Laura Toffolo · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book! I learned a lot about the socratic method and have applied many of these findings to my own life. Thank you Marc Champagne for this masterpiece!

[Zenith · Rating 5 out of 5]

Impressed with Marc's insights from start to finish. Forming chapters around questions—brilliantly simple and effective. He made me think—hard—on more than a few occasions.

[Cindy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant! This one will definitely stay on the shelf for a re-visit!

[Topherjaynes · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good palate cleansers, but brevity of stories kept things superficial. Wanted a little deeper, but get these are “daily” readings.

[Tim · Rating 3 out of 5]

3/5

Book started out really well. Intriguing questions and some nice profiles. Near the end the book becomes more 'spiritual' and includes some astrology. That really doesn't help the book.