– At the beginning of this year, I committed to reading more – a lot more. Since then I’ve read several books. Things like Good to Great, which was on my reading bucket list for a long time. Rocket Fuel, which was recommended to me by several friends and The One Thing, which I’m a big fan of their podcast and enjoy that book. But a few weeks ago I was given an early edition of Eben Pagan’s new book and this video is my book review for Eben Pagan’s book.
Here we go. First, let me start by saying this was not what I expected. This book is a mix of self-help, psychology, and business. I’d put it into the category of books like Influence by Cialdini and The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey. If you liked either of those books, then I think you’re gonna love this one.
The book is an exploration of the word opportunity and all of the meaning that’s packed behind it. A lot more than I expected. It was like a 300-page definition of the word. And if you think about it, the opportunity is probably the most important word to study. If you want anything of value in life it requires you to follow through on the opportunity to receive it.
As Eben puts it, the opportunity is the heart of entrepreneurship. I’ve heard people say, the more opportunity one has, the luckier that person is. However, I believe there is no such thing as luck, luck is simply preparation meeting opportunity. I know, it’s deep. So if you want to be prepared for an opportunity, you should read this book.
The book couldn’t have come at a better time for me in my life. Those who have been around me for the past few months know that I have been struggling with a slew of new ideas.
Marketing ideas. Business ideas. Ideas about life.
I have too many damn ideas! I see so much opportunity and it’s been a distraction to my productivity. It’s been hard for me to choose which opportunities to pursue and which to let go of. I found myself going back and forth from one idea to another. This book helped me ground my ideas, and create a framework for choosing which ideas to pursue and which to let go of.
So here are three things that I loved about this book to give you a little bit more insights into what’s between these pages. Number one – the future of opportunity. Eben does a great job of explaining the tidal wave of new opportunities that are coming in the next few years. One interesting point he makes is something that he calls great acceleration. The concept is that technology is accelerating the rate of opportunities.
And, it’s also accelerating the rate at which opportunities are closing. This is part of the introduction to the book that sets the precedence for the rest of the book.
It was very fascinating to read and it really hooks, it hooked me in right away. I mean, I believe it is going to hook the reader into the book very quickly because it’s very fascinating once you start understanding how technology is affecting the rate at which opportunity is both opening and closing. Number two – the emotional game of opportunity.
I was a little surprised that this topic was even covered in the book. But what I learned in this part of the book had me pondering the idea for several days afterwards. I even had a long discussion with a friend just on this topic alone.
Eben drives the point home that emotions control minds and bodies more than minds and bodies control emotions. I’ll say it again.
Emotions control minds and bodies more than minds and bodies control emotions. Right? It’s pretty deep. As Eben puts it, we as humans are driven by an ever-changing and dynamically unpredictable change in emotions every day. There’s an interesting exercise in the book to help you identify the physical feelings of emotions so that you can recognize them when they’re happening and then act accordingly.
So what does this have to do with the opportunity? I asked myself the same question. Emotions play a big role in how we relate to and interact with opportunities in our lives. Getting in tune with the emotional dynamics that you’re gonna encounter as you discover and design new opportunities is important in the process of the development of the skill.
Number three – mental models.
If you studied Eben’s work in the past you might be familiar with this already. A mental model is a miniature map of a particular domain of life that you carry in your mind. Not a physical map. It’s an unconscious way of thinking. We all have them unconsciously.
Mental models are a simplified version of how things work that we use as a reference throughout life. We all use mental models to navigate through life, as we perceive our surroundings, interpret meaning, make decisions, and communicate.
And we can create new models in our minds. If you learn how to use these models in your business and life, you will begin reprogramming your mind to think in a new and more conscious way. You can reshape your instincts and intuition.
Think of mental models as recipes for success. With the right models, you can increase the quality and quantity of opportunities in your life. And you have the potential to dramatically increase your overall success. Yeah, this book gets a little deep. And look, we’ve only scratched the surface here.
This book goes much deeper into each of these topics, and many more. Plus, you get an entire online course for free when you buy the book from Eben’s website.
So go and get the damn book, you’re gonna feel great reading it. Eben has invested the past year in writing this book, and yes, he wrote it. It wasn’t written by a ghostwriter.
The book is titled simply “Opportunity”. I’ll drop a link in the description of this video so you can pick up a copy for yourself. Right now he has it on sale for free.
Just pay the shipping and you’re gonna get a free copy of the book, a live workshop called “The Best Opportunities of 2018”, a video series that shows you how to find your Big Idea, and discounts on additional training by Eben Pagan. I’ve personally invested in almost every course by Eben Pagan.
It’s become my life goal to become personal friends with this man. He’s been a huge influence on my life as well as many others. So go and get the book, read it and if you ever bump into him let him know that you heard about the book right here. All right, have a good one. And if you enjoyed this video and wanna see more book reviews hit the share button.
Hit the like button. Leave me a comment. I will do more of these videos. I’m trying to cram through about a book a week. Right now I’m on about a book every two weeks.
But I’m gonna keep going with it. So let me know if you want more book reviews.
I’ll make more for you, okay? Just like, comment, share. Show me that you are interested in this and I’ll do a lot more.
Transformation! 