Book review: The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari

Note: I plan to do a series of book reviews about books that inspire, that offer practical tips about goals, habits, productivity, simplifying, frugality and more. This series should run every few days or so, and it will cover some of my favorites in this fairly large genre.

Overview
The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari: A Fable About Fulfilling Your Dreams & Reaching Your Destiny, by Robin Sharma, is an interesting book — as the subtitle suggests, it’s a fable, and it’s one that will certainly make you give some thought to your life, your goals, your dreams and how your daily habits help you reach those dreams. In other words, right up the Zen Habits alley.

I can’t give this book my highest rating (see Conclusion for the rating) for several reasons I discuss below, but I did highly enjoy its discussion of a number of concepts. The author is a leadership expert and author, and he fills the book with a combination of life strategies. Many of these are useful, but whether they work in combination is the real question.

The Fable
The book takes the form of a fable about Julian Mantle, a high-profile attorney with a crazy schedule and a set of priorities that center around money, power and prestige. As such, Mantle represents the values of our society. The story is told from the perspective of one of his associates, who admires Mantle’s great success and aspires to be like him.

But when Mantle has a heart attack, he drops out of the game and disappears. He sells all his possessions and goes to India to seek a more meaningful existence. When he comes back, he’s a changed man. Really, it’s as if he’s a completely different person. He’s learned from some mythical Himalayan gurus who give him mystical and yet practical advice, which he shares with his former associate (and the reader).

The Concepts
The core of the book is the Seven Virtues of Enlightened Learning, which Mantle reveals one by one. Now, although the book presents them as actual Virtues learned from Himalayan gurus, it’s important to remember as you read that these are made up by the author — actually, he pulled them from other sources and put them together:

master your mind
follow your purpose
practice kaizen
live with discipline
respect your time
selflessly serve others
embrace the present

Each of these Virtues is discussed in some detail in separate chapters, each of them with a number of concepts and habits to develop. Most of them are very inspiring and potentially very useful. After reading the book, I incorporated several of them into my life, including the ones that involve positive thinking, visualizing goals and more. Again, these are not new concepts, and have been discussed in many other books, but the book presents a great collection of useful concepts that you might want to try out.

The Problem
After reading the book, I began to outline each of the Seven Virtues, because I was confused about all the action steps the book recommends taking. The truth is, each of the Seven Virtues encompasses a bunch of daily habits, and incorporating all of them into your life would be cumbersome. And some of them seem to me to be conflicting.

As an example of the large number of habits in every virtue, here are the ones I have listed for the first virtue, Master your mind:

Habit: Find positive in every circumstance; don’t judge events as “good” or “bad”, but experience them, celebrate them and learn from them.
Habit: The heart of the rose: find a silent place and a fresh rose. Stare at the heart of the rose, the inner petals, concentrating on the folds of the flower, the texture, etc … push away other thoughts that come to you. Start with 5 minutes a day, stretch it to 20. It will be your oasis of peace.
Habit: 10 minutes of reflection on your day, and how to improve your next day.
Habit: Opposition thinking – take every negative thought that comes into your mind and turn it into a positive one. First, be aware of your thoughts. Second, appreciate that as easily as negative thoughts enter, they can be replaced with positive ones. So think of the opposite of the negative ones. Instead of being gloomy, concentrate on being happy and energetic.
Habit: Secret of the lake. Take a few deep breaths and relax. Then envision your dreams becoming a reality. Picture vivid images of what you want to become. Then they will become reality.

And that’s just with the first virtue. Each one has a number of habits to develop, and they’re not listed out like I’ve done here. If you tried to incorporate all of the habits in the book, your day would be very busy indeed. Also, I would recommend only trying to adopt one at a time — more than that, and your habit change will be hard to sustain.

Conclusion
Although I can’t give The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari my highest rating, because of the problem listed above, I still enjoyed it a lot and was highly inspired by it.

I give this book a buy recommendation for anyone who is interested in incorporating routines and habits that can transform their lives, help them achieve their dreams, calm them and make them more happy. Yes, it’s a jumble of too many ideas, but you can pick and choose, and the ideas contained within are potentially very powerful. Plus, it’s a fun and easy read.

If you’re interested, check it out here: The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari: A Fable About Fulfilling Your Dreams & Reaching Your Destiny.

Book review: The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari

master your mind
follow your purpose
practice kaizen
live with discipline
respect your time
selflessly serve others
embrace the present

As an example of the large number of habits in every virtue, here are the ones I have listed for the first virtue, Master your mind:

Habit: Find positive in every circumstance; don’t judge events as “good” or “bad”, but experience them, celebrate them and learn from them.
Habit: The heart of the rose: find a silent place and a fresh rose. Stare at the heart of the rose, the inner petals, concentrating on the folds of the flower, the texture, etc … push away other thoughts that come to you. Start with 5 minutes a day, stretch it to 20. It will be your oasis of peace.
Habit: 10 minutes of reflection on your day, and how to improve your next day.
Habit: Opposition thinking – take every negative thought that comes into your mind and turn it into a positive one. First, be aware of your thoughts. Second, appreciate that as easily as negative thoughts enter, they can be replaced with positive ones. So think of the opposite of the negative ones. Instead of being gloomy, concentrate on being happy and energetic.
Habit: Secret of the lake. Take a few deep breaths and relax. Then envision your dreams becoming a reality. Picture vivid images of what you want to become. Then they will become reality.

Conclusion
Although I can’t give The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari my highest rating, because of the problem listed above, I still enjoyed it a lot and was highly inspired by it.

If you’re interested, check it out here: The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari: A Fable About Fulfilling Your Dreams & Reaching Your Destiny.

Posted on 29 March 2007 in Books |
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Comments (14)

Deb Says:

March 29th, 2007, 13:22 pm

Just read your review of Robin Sharma’s book. I have read all Sharma’s books and attended one of his weekend seminars. All worth it! In fact his books have helped me change my life.

I would suggest anyone wanting to implement the habits outlined in Monk who Sold his Ferrari also pick up MegaLiving. It is a 30 day, step by step guide to help you implement the habits.

I agree, there is nothing “new” here, but reading Sharma made me aware of Napoleon Hill, Charles Haanel, et al and I continue to better myself with those materials

zenhabits Says:

March 29th, 2007, 16:02 pm

Hi Deb, thanks for sharing that! I haven’t read any of Sharma’s other stuff, so I appreciate the info and recommendation.

stayfly Says:

March 29th, 2007, 21:00 pm

great book review!

by the way Leo, have you read a book called “Your Money Or Your Life”? I just finished reading this recently and I thought it was fantastic

zenhabits Says:

March 29th, 2007, 21:04 pm

Thanks stayfly! And yes! Your Money or Your Life is one of my favorite books ever. It changed my life. And it’s on my short list of books to review, along with other timeless classics like Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, Getting Things Done, etc. - leo

stayfly Says:

March 29th, 2007, 21:22 pm

^^^

fantastic! I would say “Your Money Or Your Life” changed my life as well. I was on the right path already but that book has helped me greatly :)

Deb Says:

March 29th, 2007, 21:46 pm

Have you read “Die Broke” I am currently reading it and it is changing my thinking towards things as well. Will look into “your money” - can’t wait for your review so I will know what is about.

Nneka Says:

March 29th, 2007, 21:48 pm

Man, my book list is growing exponentially. There is so much information out there. Well written, must read information. I better learn how to speed read fast :-)

Cheers,
Nneka

zenhabits Says:

March 29th, 2007, 21:51 pm

Die Broke is also awesome. Thanks for the reminder — I should add that to my review list. Keep the suggestions coming! - leo

Saji Says:

May 5th, 2007, 13:44 pm

Excellent and i should a very unbiased review .

I am really lagging behind in reading . I read and really enjoyed ” the monk ….” but i have not heard of “Die broke as well as “Your money or your life ” . Have these book been released in India ? Shall try and get hold of them .

There is a new book released by macmillan in India ” Give me back my guitar ” written by Ravindra Potharaju . The book is amazing in its simplicity while delivering highly powerful messages .

Please do keep updating on the latest and meaningful books .

best rgds

Shaji .

kirana Says:

October 7th, 2007, 13:41 pm

Dear all,

Am not a reader, but am trying to build reading as my habbit. by tomorrow will be buying ‘The monk who sold his ferrari’ book as my first read. hope its available in bangalore. Please update me with few good books to read so that i can improve my personality,reading capability and which makes me fond of reading. I lack in erading just coz of patience, have very less …pls help me

kirana Says:

October 7th, 2007, 13:42 pm

Dear all,

Migo Says:

November 20th, 2007, 12:52 pm

Hello Leo,

Thanks for the review, Im actually reading it right now and it made me more excited in finishing it. I also have read the Megaliving it is indeed worth it. Thanks “Deb”

More power to you leo!

Chenna Krishna Says:

December 22nd, 2007, 18:18 pm

Hi All,

I agree with what Zen has said in his review. The virtues that has been mentioned in the book are fine but some of them contradict.

Even me too has practiced some of them, for example in the book he says that mind is like big screen where all the thoughts are being displayed if a bad thought comes try erase them and display only good thoughts. This is a good practice.

Even me too cannot rate this book as my highest.

Regards,
Chenna Krishna

sneha Says:

September 30th, 2008, 9:40 am

i never had the habit of book reading.I lack confidence to the core when im in a group of people.My friend suggested me to read the very book to improvise myself.please forward any such personality development books as you update yourself.

yours sharingly,
sneha