Are You Ready to Succeed? Unconventional Strategies to Achieving Personal Mastery in Business and Life |  | Author: Srikumar S. Rao
Publisher: Hyperion
Category: Book
List Price: $24.95
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Rating:  41 reviews
Media: Hardcover
Pages: 255
Number Of Items: 1
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Dimensions (in): 9.3 x 6.2 x 0.9
ISBN: 1401301932
Dewey Decimal Number: 158.1
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Product Description
The premise is simple: 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."
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Showing reviews 1-5 of 41
 Totally Transformative January 17, 2006
Brandon Peele (Los Angeles, CA)
80 out of 90 found this review helpful
It will be fairly difficult for me to give an unbiased review of Are You Ready to Succeed, as the course on which it's based set me upon a path of growth and self-discovery and allowed me for first time to know true fulfillment. For this, I feel immense gratitude, incapable of expression with words. I'll divide this review into two parts: 1. The effect the wisdom and exercises within the book had on my life and 2. My feelings about the book itself.
Prior to taking Creativity and Personal Mastery, the course upon which the book is based, I was an obnoxious, mechanistic, sociopathic prince of capitalism. I viewed wealth as a means to exert dominance over others, as well as a vehicle to procure hedonic bliss. I found a happy home for this way of thinking in the world of investment banking, venture capital and startups. I drank, drugged, womanized, broke the law; I created a world in which those without a similar plunderer-type mentality were weak and destined to be dominated. At the beginning of the course, I had been fired twice, totally four cars, been arrested in five states and inflicted emotional harm on countless females. I didn't read; I thought introspection was for meek, those incapable of enjoying the finer things in life. In short, I was miserable - a gerbil on wheel of chemical and emotional highs, a slave to the influence of my fellow "pirate" peers. You could say I was ready for a change.
The course had several effects upon me. There are too many to list, so I will detail only four.
The first is the notion that the universe is benevolent, a partner in creating not only fulfilling personal endeavors, but a brighter future. The second is that I have an opportunity to be truly happy, i.e. fulfilled, not through striving and external action, but through removing that which is unreal and not me, thereby allowing my true nature to shine. The third is that HOW is not important, rather only the WHAT and the WHY, meaning I need not obsess over how desirable things such as fulfillment and impact come into my life, only a clear conception of what it is I want to achieve and why I want to achieve it. The last insight I was blessed with was, "If you build it, they will come", meaning that attention to my own personal mastery is the most important thing I can do in terms of creating the life and manifesting the impact I desire.
Since finishing the course, I have gone on to read several of the recommended texts, traveled to India to learn meditation, attended various personal growth related retreats, consulted with non-profits, helped people start companies, become a more effective writer and public speaker, begun creating healthy platonic and authentic romantic relationships, found fulfilling employment with a renewable energy company and am currently helping launch a non-profit. In addition to taking up meditation, I have stopped drinking, eating meat, eating sweets (and in doing so, lost 60 pounds), doing drugs, watching porn and have filled this gap with yoga, reading, writing, love-making, cooking and hiking.
Certainly the wisdom and exercises from the course (and book) did not do all of this, I did, but it was the seed crystal that allowed me to embark on a path of rapid transformation and achieve an infinitely more rewarding life. I owe Prof. Rao, the course, and by extension this book a tremendous debt of gratitude for which I am only beginning to repay.
I really enjoyed the book as well. It was a beautiful encapsulation of the course, touching on the major themes. Given the limited scope of the chosen media (in this case a book, as compared to a semester-long course) it is an excellent effort and if used as stated could produce extraordinary results for those who employ it. I say employ instead of read, because to merely read this book is not sufficient. As Prof. Rao says, the book should viewed more as a workbook, a guide for exercises. Viewing this book as anything else will produce only limited results. I echo the following recommendations: 1. Buy the book, 2. Convince 5 friends to also buy the book, 3. Spend 3 months reading the book, stopping to do each exercise for a week or so, 4. Hold weekly meetings to discuss the exercises with your group, 4. Keep a journal throughout the process.
Obliviously, the wisdom and exercises in this book had a marked affect on my life. I believe that if you are serious about reaching your true potential and enjoying unbounded success and fulfillment, this is the book for you.
The greatest self-help book out there January 10, 2006
Josh Klenoff (New York, NY)
42 out of 47 found this review helpful
I was "ready to succeed" but didn't have the tools. My ivy league schooling and decades in the school of hard knocks failed to give me what this book did: tools that INSTANTLY took me from where I was to where I wanted to be.
I went from stress to bliss, from taking for granted to immense appreciation, from nervous to confident, from unhealthy to in shape. Most of all, I went from from total confusion to my dream job.
I always wanted to be able to give speeches in public. There was only one problem-- my greatest fear was public speaking. In the book, Rao offers an exercise called "As-If's."
Three days afer stumling upon this exercise, I had to give a speech. I felt amazing. People complimented me left and right. To make a long story short, I'm now a corporate trainer and executive coach. I'm living my dream of traveling the globe speaking on topics I'm competely passionate about.
On every level, this book can and will change your life. I'm so grateful for the author's wisdom, I'll PERSONALLY offer a money-back guarantee for anyone who doesn't love this book!
An enlightening read June 22, 2006
Tricia Molloy (Marietta, GA United States)
15 out of 15 found this review helpful
There are so many wonderful "aha's!" in this enlightening book. These profound concepts, intricate stories and thoughtful exercises will change the way you look at life. Some were new to me and others were good reminders.
Here are a few of my favorites.
You can cultivate a Witness to help you objectively observe your life and break free of bad habits, replacing them with ones that serve your highest good.
Everyone acts in their own self interest. Understanding that at a deep level is liberating.
Surrender is a good thing. Once you give up the illusion of control and detach from the outcome, remarkable things transpire.
Srikumar Rao is a wise man with a big heart. He sees us at our best and supports us on our journey to succeed.
Good collection of a lot of information February 9, 2006
Yodacat (Pennsylvania)
13 out of 15 found this review helpful
A lot of the information in this book was not new to this reader. I have read a lot of it in many different books over the years. What is different here -- and very nice -- is that a lot of good information is presented in one book.
For someone starting out on their journey it saves a lot of time and hunting.
For someone looking to "put it all together", here it is.
The recommended reading list is nice and that list is broken down into sections.
Just read it... October 17, 2006
Thos. R. (Washington)
7 out of 7 found this review helpful
I don't understand some of the low reviews this book has received. I've been reading these type of books for 30 years and this one is at the absolute TOP of my list because it actually produced staggering results for me. It is a life changer. Indeed a lot of what is said is not new, but the way in which he puts these concepts together just resonates - with me, at least.
The chapter on gratitude is the single most powerful exercise anyone can do to change their life. I wouldn't have believed it if it did not actually happen to me. I wish I had a stronger way of saying it. It was scary in a disbelieving sort of way. If you are looking for something that will change your life, this is it. What happened to me is too long to relate in this review but you can have good things flooding into your life like a fire hose if you follow this exercise.
PS I would recommend the book over the audio. The author's voice sounds like Deepak Chopra and can distract from the message.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 41
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