This is one of the finest books written by Robin Sharma. I remember reading this book some 11 years back and this year in the year 2021, I am reading it again and that’s when I decided to write the summary of this book so that I can re-read or refer to others as and when needed.

The book revolves around 2 characters Julian Mantle, a hotshot lawyer and his friend John in the form of conversation.

Julian had a massive heart attack in the middle of a packed courtroom, after which he gives up practicing law and travels to the Himalayas in India to simplify his life and get some unanswered questions about his life and purpose.

Three years later Julian returned much happier, healthier and youthful than he’s been in decades. John was astonished to see Julian’s transformation and asked the secret of his transformation. Julian promised John to teach him the lessons he learned in the mystic land of India so that this teaching can spread across the world.

Julian met Yogi Raman in the Himalayan Mountain where he was taught seven virtues required for a life of inner peace, joy and wealth of spiritual gifts. All virtues

Virtue #1: Master your Mind

Our mind is like a magnificent garden. We should cultivate our minds like a gardener cultivates the garden. Just like sowing good seeds eventually produce tasty and fruitful fruits, similarly, we should improve our quality of life by improving our quality of thought. Letting negative thoughts take over is equivalent to under-watering or leaving the trash in the garden. We can substitute these negative thoughts with positive thoughts by deliberate practice.

Just like we like achieving goals, it is also crucial to value the journey and appreciate what we have right now. We should learn to reinforce self-appreciation and self-respect.

Techniques to Master your Mind:

A simple technique is recommended in the book for improving or say training your mind. Take an actual rose and then start staring at the rose for around 10-20 minutes. Notice the design, colour, texture and design of the rose. Your mind will wander first but this is just a sign of an untrained mind. Do not worry about the wandering mind, as soon as you realize that the mind is wandering, bring your attention back to the rose. Perform this technique every day to improve your focus and concentration.

Everything is created twice, first in the mind and then it is realized in a physical form.

Virtue #2: Follow your Purpose

Your destination is your purpose. Find the purpose of your life, make goals and write them down on a piece of paper. It is hard to achieve the goals which are not written.

Humans have approximately 60,000 thoughts per day. Writing Goals send the signal to the unconscious mind, suggesting that this thought is more important than the remaining 59,999 thoughts appearing daily. Then the subconscious mind starts working on the written goals.

Setting clearly defined goals, (personal, professional or spiritual) and then acting upon them with courage by staying out of your comfort zones gives happiness both after achieving the goal and during the journey itself.

The Five-Step Method to Following Your Purpose

There is a clear step-by-step process that we can follow to start following our life’s purpose:

1. Have a clear vision of your outcome.
2. Create positive pressure to keep you inspired.
3. Never set a goal without attaching a timeline to it.
4. Stay with your goal for 21 days.
5. Enjoy the process.

Virtue #3 – Practice Kaizen

Kaizen is the Japanese method of continuous learning and improvement. Self-mastery is the DNA of life mastery. Success begins within. Practice the art of Kaizen by pushing yourself daily. Work hard to improve your mind and body. Nourish your spirit. Start to live with unbridled energy and enthusiasm. Watch the sunrise. Dance in a rain shower. Be the person you dream of being. Do the things you have always wanted to do but didn’t because you tricked yourself into believing that you were too young, too old, too rich, or too poor. Prepare to live a soaring, fully alive life.

Identify your weakness and face them head-on and attack your fears. Fear is nothing more than a negative stream of consciousness.

The Ten Ancient Rituals for Radiant Living

1. Ritual of Solitude: Spend 15 to 50 minutes in silence daily. Solitude and quiet connect you to your creative source and release the limitless intelligence of the universe.
2. Ritual of Physicality: Nourish the temple of your body daily through vigorous exercise. Do some young or breathing exercises, ‘to breathe properly is to live properly’.
3. Ritual of Live Nourishment: Fill your plate with fresh vegetables, fruits, and grains. A poor diet has a pronounced effect on your life. Ir drains your mental and physical energy. It affects your moods, and it hampers the clarity of you mind. ‘As you nourish your body, so you nourish your mind.
4. Ritual of Abundant Knowledge: Read for at least thirty minutes daily. Be very selective about what you put into the lush garden of your mind. It must be immensely nourishing. Make it something that will improve both you and the quality of your life.
5. Ritual of Personal Reflection – the only way to improve tomorrow is to know what you did wrong today. Therefore, everyday at the end of the day spend sometime with yourself and reflect on how you spend your day and thoughts that came across your mind. Try to journal this personal reflection to benchmark for measuring improvements.
6. Ritual of Early Awakening – Rise with the sun and start the day off well. You do not need 8 hours of sleep per night. An average person can get by on 6 hours of sleep. It is the quality and not the quantity of sleep that is important.
7. Ritual of Music – Play some music whenever you feel weary. Music can be one of the best motivators.
8. Ritual of the Spoken Word – There are several mantras which you can recite to stay focused, strong and happy. You can change your self image, just like you can change everything else in your life it is it not serving to enhance it. Mantras are a great way to accomplish this objective. And when you change your inner world, you change your outer world. Repeat “I am inspired, disciplined and energized” out loud two or three hundred times when you need to feel motivated. Repeat “I am strong, able and calm” out loud two or three hundred times to maintain the supreme sense of self-confidence.
9. Ritual of Congruent Character – Your habits combine to form your character. This character will determine your destiny. You sow a thought, you reap an action. Reap an action, you sow a Habit. Sow a habit, you reap a character. Sow a character, you reap your destiny. Do little things everyday to build your character.
10. Ritual of Simplicity – Live a simple life. Focus only on your priorities, those activities that are truly meaningful.

Virtue #4 – The Power of Discipline

Strengthen your willpower and develop self-discipline. Self-discipline will provide you with the mental reserves required to persevere when life throws you one of its little curves.

Lack of willpower is a mental disease. An abundance of willpower and discipline is one of the chief attributes of all those with strong characters and wonderful lives. Willpower allows you to do what you said you would do when you said you would do it. It is willpower that allows you to get up at five in the morning to cultivate your mind through meditation, or to feed your spirit by a walk in the woods when a cozy bed beckons you on a cold winter’s day. It is willpower that allows you to hold your tongue when a less-actualized person insults you or does something you disagree with. It is willpower that pushes your dreams forward when the odds appear to be insurmountable. It is willpower that offers you the inner power to keep your commitments to others, and, perhaps even more importantly, to yourself.

Truly enlightened people never seek to be like others. Rather, they seek to be superior to their former selves. Don’t race against others. Race against yourself.

Mantras to Build Discipline

Everyday repeat a few simple words at least thirty times a day

“I am more than I appear to be, all the world’s strength and power rest inside me“.

For quick results, repeat this mantra at a quiet place. Sit with your eyes closed. Do not let your mind wander. Keep your body still, as the surest sign of a weak mind is a body that cannot rest. Now repeat the mantra aloud, over and over again. While you do so, see yourself as a disciplined, firm person, fully in control of your mind, your body and soul.

Other exercises to cultivate inner discipline:

• First Exercise: Start doing things that you don’t like, example making your bed, walking rather than driving to work.
• Second Exercise: Go an entire day without speaking, except in response to a direct question.

“Basically, by keeping silent for a day, you are conditioning your will to do as you command it to do. Each time the urge to speak arises, you actively curb this impulse and remain quiet. You see, your will does not have a mind of its own.

Virtue #5 – Respect Your Time

Well-arranged time is the surest mark of a well-arranged mind. – Sir Issac Pitman

Time is the most important commodity. Positive thinking, goal-getting and self-mastery mean nothing without time.

Busy, productive people are highly efficient with their time – they must be in order to survive. Time mastery allows you more time to do the things you love to do, the things that are truly meaningful to you. Guard time well. Remember, it’s a non-renewable resource. Plan your week and manage time creatively. Have the discipline to focus your time around your priorities. , failing to plan is planning to fail. Time spent enriching your non-work hours is never a waste. It makes you tremendously efficient during your working hours.

Ancient Rule of Twenty: “Being Busy is no excuse. The real question is, what are you so busy about? One of the great rile is that 80% of the results you achieve in your life come from only 20% of the activities that occupy your time.”

Enlightened people are priority-driven.

Don’t let others steal your time. Be wary of time thieves. Be ruthless with your time. Learn to say no. Ironically, people will respect you more when they see that you are a person who values your time.

The Deathbed Mentality: It is a new way of looking at your life, one that reminds you that today could be your last, so savour it to the fullest. The deathbed question alone has the power to change your life. It will energize your days and bring a rush of zest and spirit to all that you do. you will start focusing on all the meaningful things that you have been putting off, and stop squandering time on all those petty things that have dragged you down into the quagmire of crisis and chaos.

“Push yourself to do more and experience more. Expand your dreams. Don’t accept the life of mediocrity when you hold such infinite potential within the fortress of your mind. Dare to tap into your greatness. This is your birthright!“

“Act as if failure is impossible, and your success will be assured. Wipeout every thought of not achieving your objectives, whether they are material or spiritual. Be brave, and set no limits on the workings of your imagination. Never be a prisoner of your past. Become the architect of your future. You will never be the same.”

Virtue #6 – Selflessly Serve Others

The quality of your life is determined by the quality of your contributions to the world. To achieve wholeness, you should practice daily acts of kindness, give generously, and focus on your relationships with others. To cultivate the sacredness of each day, live to give. By elevating the lives of others, you elevate your own life.

There’s a famous saying in China that ‘There is always a little fragrance remaining in the hand of those who give flowers to others.’ The satisfaction of helping others is priceless. So, give to those who ask and cultivate richer relationships. Always be kind and compassionate toward others. One way to encourage these behaviours is to start your day by thinking about the goodness you can spread on that day. In a Buddhist proverb, a sumo wrestler was revived from his sleep by the smell of roses. After waking, he discovered a diamond-encrusted path that gave him overwhelming bliss and joy. The sumo wrestler learned that happiness is not the destination, but the journey itself. As you travel this journey, you will notice small wonders. In the fable, these wonders are depicted as diamonds. To appreciate these diamonds, you must practice gratitude at every opportunity. Appreciate your health, your family, and the small joys of life.

The moral of this story is that showing kindness to others will bring you happiness. That said, you must also show gratitude for this happiness to encourage future happiness.

Virtue #7 – Embrace the Present

The seventh and final virtue is all about living.

• Live in the ‘now’ and savor the gift of the present.
• Never put off happiness for the sake of achievement. Remember, Happiness is a journey, and not a destination. Never put off the things that are important for your well-being and satisfaction to a later time. This doesn’t mean that you should stop setting big goals, as goals and dreams for the future are essential elements in every truly successful life.
• Start practicing the art of gratitude. Giving daily thanks to all your assets, whether these are material or spiritual, you can develop the habit of living in the moment.

Grow Your Destiny

We all are here for some special reason. Meditate on what your true calling is, and how you can give of yourself to others. Stop being a prisoner of your past. Become an architect of your failure.