Stop reading the Top 10 Rules for Success by Evan Carmichael

I don’t do Motivation Monday.

I don’t get the whole “GO GO team” or “If you think it, you can have it “mambo jumbo. That’s just me.

Many people love it, and many people can’t do without it. I get that. We are all different and what pushes me, might not push you. Personally, I roll my eyes when a Motivation Speaker starts with the whole “it’s all in your mind” so you can imagine my excitement when I was told to check out Evan Carmichael’s YouTube channel.

But I like to give everything a fair opportunity and I live by the Golden Nugget Rule which I totally made up right now, but effectively, I think you can learn something from everyone. So armed with a strong cup of coffee and even stronger skepticism, I clicked on the play button on the first video and settled in.

What I expected was the same-old regurgitated nonsense which I often call bullshit on. What I discovered was some real-no-nonsense and very different approach to business. I was hooked.

Why Evan Carmichael got me:

On Evan’s channel there is a “Top 10” theme – Life lessons, Life Tips, Business Success and these are curated content from some of the best minds in the world spanning business, political, and other industry leaders.

Almost as an accompanying handy guide to the channel, Evan has a book titled: “The Top 10 Rules for Success: Rules to succeed in business and life from Titans, Billionaires, & Leaders who Changed the World” which I was sent to check out.

I loved it all of it. The channel, the book. The entire package.

Why?

I love it because in the book Evan starts by saying DO NOT READ THIS BOOK COVER TO COVER (I am paraphrasing) as Evan’s mission is to get us to read one page per day and take action. That’s it.

Seems do-able.

You have my attention Mr. Carmichael. Go on.

I summarize the book as follows: What if you could ask 40 brilliant people a simple question: “Sir/ Ma’am, tell me what your top 10 rules for success are?” and imagine if each one would lean in and in 10 minutes reveal to you the secret recipe of their success.

That would be immeasurably valuable, right?

When you pick up a copy of this book – that is exactly what you get.

The book is made up of various short “chapters”; each being a couple of pages in length. Each chapter is 10 life or business or success rules and lessons from different high profile individuals such as  Tony Robbins, Steve Jobs, Oprah Winfrey, Nelson Mandela, Dali Lama, Mark Cuban to name but a few.

There are 40 in total. That is 400 lessons from the brightest in the world.

I disagree. It’s not a question but it’s a challenge

Each chapter ends with a question: “How can you apply these rules to your business or life today?”

I disagree. It’s not a question but it’s a challenge. And it’s a good one.

The problem with all these great minds, philosophies, ideas, strategies is that they are endless. Just as you discover one great idea, it leads you to another and another and another. The problem is that you get stuck in the endless learning-mode loop. Consuming more “how to” content but never actually getting to the “doing” bit. And let’s be honest, that is where the real action is. In the doing.

You should never be a Ready-Fire-Aim kind of person just going 100% in a direction without a plan, but you should also not be the one that has a million plans for every eventuality without getting anything going.

When I relocated my entire family to the USA from South Africa, yes of course I had a plan and some directions, but “80% is good enough”. If I had waited until I had 100% all worked out, I would still be planning the big move.

Evan doesn’t want you to zoom by reading yet another chapter or watch yet another video. Evan wants you to stop and take an action. He challenges you to take those secret ingredients that you were just handed on a silver platter and go out and create your own success in whatever form that means to you.

As the joke goes: “How do you make God laugh? – tell him your plans”. Stop reading the Top 10 Rules for Success. Start doing. That is the kind of mindset motivation I can relate to!

Grab Evan’s book here: https://amzn.to/2HF80kI *

Check out Evan’s YouTube channel here: https://www.youtube.com/user/ModelingTheMasters

*affiliate link – doesn’t cost you anything extra but if you do buy the book, we get something which helps this channel.