Author: Patrick Bet-David
Publisher: Tico Publishing -159 pages
Book Review by: Sonu Chandiram
One of the first things I do when I begin to review a book is to read about its author. At the outset I cannot understand what Patrick Bet-David means when he states in his “About the Author” section that his financial services company People Helping People (PHP) had 5,500 “associates” two years after founding it. That’s like gaining 230 “associates” in an average month. Based on an average 24 working days per month including Saturdays, that’s like getting almost 10 people to join you each day.
What exactly do these associates do, is not mentioned in his brief write up on the last page of this book. I suppose they are sales people. There is a lot of churn of sales people in financial service companies. They leave as easily as they come in through the door. There is a constant revolving-door phenomenon in such firms. Another example of low retention of people is the shallow-bowl concept wherein you pour a lot of milk quickly but most of it is lost as it is pushed out of the bowl with the force of pouring it.
The most important questions for financial firms are: how many people remain for the long haul, and how much total net income they produce in a year for themselves and collectively for the company. Having gone through the PHP website found through Google, I found none of that information. Nevertheless, I decided to read the book anyway even if I could not get solid, verifiable evidence of Bet-David’s financial success.
This is basically a book of inspiration and advice. Organized in three parts as calls to action, Patrick Bet-David challenges you at the start of his book to “Do the Impossible,” whatever that is to you in your life, which you have identified with an instant thought, or after careful pondering.
The 25 laws for doing the impossible are presented to you as chapters grouped together and categorized in the three sections of the book entitled: Recreate Yourself; Identify Your Cause; and Go Make History.
The first ten laws are all about building a new, improved identify for yourself. In this mission of self-improvement, the author provides you specific suggestions, discusses them by relating real-life examples to you and presents to you action plans at the end of each chapter. This same pattern is followed in each of the three sections.
So how to you recreate yourself, as your first mission? Patrick Bet-David suggests that you “invest in your identity” by thinking of yourself as someone who is extraordinary and already doing the things that make you a person with big dreams. In other words, live your dream by first changing yourself from the inside.
The other laws in recreating yourself are to: associate with people you admire and can mentor you; become a person people can trust; read, read and read more, especially self-improvement books; think of things differently than you do at present; find your purpose or “know your why” as the author writes; raise your imagination to a higher level; learn new things all the time; and leave your old self behind you as you create your new you.
The second and third sections of this book – “Identify Your Cause” and “Go Make History” – respectively contain eight and seven specific suggestions or laws. The laws in the second section are mainly ways to change your thinking, but in the third section, action is called for, like changing your manner of speech to one that is positively reinforcing; doing various things differently; acquiring the tools to change yourself; and building relationships with people who will help you improve yourself and empower you to achieve the impossible.
The first step to achieving the impossible is to acquire this book. It will inspire you, make you think what you need and what you don’t, and guide you by putting you on the path to realizing your potential.
