I originally came across Robin Sharma’s book, The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari, on a recommended reading list for investors, however this is meant for anyone and everyone. Having spent a great deal of time in my life studying spirituality and mediation techniques, this is a book that puts it all into a nice, neat and simple nutshell for anyone to follow.
The tone of the book is very much a Buddhist kind of lifestyle. One of mastery of self, and living with purpose and kindness. It won’t make you into a monk, but it will help you to navigate a busy life and to get the best out of it.
What is great about the book, or more the method of teaching within the book, is that it gives you a roadmap. A lot of texts on spiritual practices fail to do that. It’s usually practice this, this and that, but when you put it all together it would take hours of your day and no real way of going about it, so you have no idea where to start. In Robin Sharma’s book, there is a great visual aid in the form of a short story, with each major element being a symbol of each practice. I prefer instruction manuals rather than a bunch of words that leave you guessing at the end.
From the story you can then remember what you need to do, and as you go through the text each element if explained in depth with excellent examples of how to go about practising them in a modern and busy world.
The main thing to keep in mind is to just start. In the first week or two you may find that you need to adjust your time schedule a few times to best incorporate everything, but that’s ok, just start and go from there.
I’ve just come back from a holiday in Margate, where I finished reading The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari, and I was going to begin my own practice, following the outline in the book, tomorrow morning, being Monday. However, I got up at 5am this morning and decided now, right now, is the best time to start. It’s all part of bettering yourself, it begins right now, and there is really no point in delaying.
I highly recommend The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari by Robin Sharma for anyone, whether you are a busy entrepreneur or a busy housewife, it doesn’t matter, we can all benefit from this simple yet effective advice.