"There are perhaps no days of our childhood we lived so fully as those we spent with a favorite book." .Quote DB
Marcel Proust, French Novelist, 1871 - 1922
Book Review: The Other 90%: How to Unlock Your Vast Untapped Potential for Leadership and Life by Robert K. Cooper ( Library Call# 158.1 Coo)
I came upon this book when I was browsing in the library. As I scanned the Table of Contents, several chapter titles caught my eye:
- Be an Original
- Use your Brains: All Three of Them
- Dare to Trust
- Honor the Greatness in Others
- Be Quick Without Rushing
- Let Your Life Speak
- Get a Life
- Align Your Life with Your Biggest Dreams
- Face the World Straight On
- Hope Irrationally
- Die Young as Late as Possible
- Champion Lost Causes
- Know How to Get Gone
- Make Adversity your Ally
- Develop the Skin of a Rhino and the Soul of an Angel
- Care as if Everything Depended on Your Caring
- Raise a Banner Where a Banner Never Flew
- No One has to Lose for You to Win
Author Cooper's grandfather's name was Hugh Cooper, Sr. A one-time surveyor, minister, teacher, and school superintendent, Mr. Hugh Cooper had earned a master's degree around the turn of the century. Nearing the end of his life, Hugh shared with his grandson Robert K. (age 14 at the time)that he felt that he had failed to understand the words of the motto that he had tried to live by, Give the world the best you have and the best will come back to you.
He told Robert,
My whole life I thought I knew what those words meant. It was simple. Either you gave your best or you didn't. First you went to school and worked hard to make good grades...Then when you got a job, you arrived on time every day and worked hard. That was giving your best. From there the best would come back to you, as a paycheck and a sense of pride.
He continued.
When I was recently in the hospital, I wa thinking about the moat exceptional people I've known. They were the ones who kept going when the others quit; the ones who found ways to do what everyone else thought couldn't be done. They just didn't hold own a job or work hard. They were reaching deeper inside and finding something more. They made a greater difference. I don't think thay understood the words the way I did.
I remember my parents and other adults in my hometown saying, "Study hard but don't let your dreams get too big. If you do that, you will be disappointed. Learn to fit in and go along they said. That is what successful people do. I got very good at fitting in and going along.
Robert, you're going to hear the same kind of things from people around you. They're well-intentioned, but they're wrong. What if I hadn't accepted it? What if everyday I had questioned yesterday's definition of my best? What if I had listened to my own heart instead of their words? Then I might have kept looking deeper and giving the world more of the best that was hidden inside of me.
And if I had done that, more of the best would have come back to me, and to this family, and to you, Robert...But it won't because I didn't do it.
And so this is my challengeto you, to live these words...Age has nothing to do with it. Everyday you can learn something more about who you are and all the potential that is hidden inside you. Every day you can choose more than you have been. I'm asking you to start right now...
Robert. most of us are mostly unused potential. It is up to you to become the most curious person you know and to keep asking yourself, What is my best? Keep finding more of it every day to give to the world. If you do that, I promise that more of the best than you can ever imagine--and in many ways beyond money-- will come back to you.
So in the course of the book, Robert Cooper passes on the challenges of his grandfather to him to us the readers. Some things I like about the book:
- It is well-written and easy to read--no psychological mumbo-jumbo.
- It is well-illustrated with the lives of several people, including one of my personal favorites in American history: Abraham Lincoln. Also, another favorite, Charles Schultz, the creator of the comic strip "Peanuts.
- It has reference sources for the ideas that he puts forth.
Some of the ideas I most enjoyed reading about:
- The idea of us having three brains--the brain, the heart, and the stomach
- That the most important attribute of a leader or supervisor is he/she's ability to demonstrate sincere caring for workers
- The value of taking breaks through the day
- The value of humor in everyday living
- The value of calmness and defusing tensions
- The importance of tying values to behavior and behavior to goals
Robert Cooper proposes suggestions that are different than some types that you might expect. For overall energy, he emphasizes the importance of posture--hold your head high, align your neck, level your shoulders and open your chest. He advocates toning your lower absomen and flattening your back, neutralizing tension spots, and keeping your feet flat on the floor whenever possible. As I write this, I am following his advice--and feel better for it.
He also suggests that we have a snack before dinner (not just any kind of food, mind you), and that to avoid the sluggishness of a couch potato evening that we "get up and move right after the evening meal." This book is a treasure chest of well-explained suggestions for living a "better" life.
Cooper feels that what his grandfather told him has shaped his personal and professional life--making him the man that he is today. In summary, he says that "we should emphasize strengths and manage weaknessess."
Another suggestion that I really like is that he says slow down so that we can notice what matters to others. That just makes so much sense to me now that I have read it.
I recommend this book; it contains much distilled wisdom about life--life lived with purpose for oneself and for others.
BH
"Be as careful of the books you read, as of the company you keep, for your habits and character will be as much influenced by the former as the latter.
Paxton Hood
Deb Logan Quotations on Books_Reading_and Libraries
© Bob Hoff, 2007
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