The tragedy of life is not death, but what we let die inside of us while we live.- Norman Cousins

Do you feel that life is slipping by so fast that you might never get the chance to live with the meaning, happiness and joy you know you deserve? If so, then this book will be the guiding light that leads you to a new way of living. The life lessons are going to be life changing for you.

In this easy-to-read yet wisdom-rich manual, the author Robin Sharma offers 101 simple solutions to life’s most complex problems. Through this book, he urges you to live more deliberately, more joyfully and completely. He asks the readers to live their lives by choice rather than by chance, by design rather than by default.The author says, it’s not enough to know what to do, we must act on that knowledge in order to have the lives we want.

So, here are the top 25 life lessons from this wealth of wisdom by ‘Robin Sharma’-

1.   Discover your calling

Robin’s father once said to Robin, "Son, when you were born, you cried while the world rejoiced. Live your life in such a way that when you die the world cries while you rejoice."

So, to live such life that others get inspired by, it's very important that you find your calling. We all have special talents that are just waiting to be engaged in a worthy pursuit. We all are here for some unique purpose, some noble objective that will allow us to manifest our highest human potential while we add value to the lives around us. Finding  your calling doesn’t mean you must leave the job you currently have. It simply means you need to bring more of yourself into your work and focus on the things you do best. 

Be the change you wish to see in this world.

2.   Care for the temple

In a sound body rests a sound mind. Our bodies need to be treated like temples and considered sacred if we hope to live life fully and completely. Make a habit of doing exercise regularly. It will not only improve your health, it will help you think more clearly, boost creativity and manage the relentless stress that seems to dominate our days. It will not only add life to your years, it could add years to your life. Life’s greatest pleasures are often life’s simplest ones. 

3.   Learn to be silent

Find time to be silent on a regular basis so as to reconnect with who you really are as a person and to come to know the glory that rests within you. It’s very important to enjoy the power of solitude to restore, refocus and revitalize your mind, body and spirit. Experiencing solitude, for even a few minutes a day, will keep you centred on your highest life priorities and help you avoid the neglect that pervades the lives of so many of us. If you don’t have enough time to be silent on a regular basis is like saying you are too busy driving to stop for gas, eventually it’ll catch up with you.

4.   Get up early

Getting up early is a gift you give to yourself. This gift has the power to transform your life. Time seems to slow down and a deep sense of peace fills the air. So, join the 5 AM club for it allows you to start controlling your day rather than letting your day control you. If you spend the beginning of your day wisely, the rest of your day will unfold in a wonderful way. To cultivate the habit of rising early, we need to understand that it is the quality rather than the quantity of sleep that matters most. It’s better to have 6 hours of uninterrupted sleep than 10 hours of restless broken sleep.

Here are some tips to sleep more deeply-

a.       Don’t rehearse the activities of your day while you are lying in bed trying to get to      sleep.

b.      Don’t eat after 8 PM

c.       Don’t watch the news before you goto sleep.

d.      Don’t read in bed.

5.   See your troubles as blessings

The most difficult experiences are our greatest teachers. Pain is a teacher and failure is the highway to success. You can’t learn how to play the guitar without hitting a few wrong notes. Begin to see your troubles as blessings, resolve to transform your stumbling blocks into stepping stones and vow to turn your wounds into wisdom. It’s life’s most trying times that we discover who we really are and the fullness of the strength that lies within us.

6.   Take more risks

The more risks you take, the more rewards you will receive. On your deathbed, in the twilight of your life, it will not be all the risks you took that you’ll regret the most. Rather, what will fill your heart with the greatest amount of regret and sadness will be all those risks that you did not take, all those opportunities that you did not seize and all those fears you did not face. Start taking more risks and doing the things you fear. Get good at being uncomfortable and stop walking the path of least resistance. It’s risky out on a limb, but that’s where all the fruit is. 

7.   Focus on the worthy

Eliminate the multitude of distractions in your life and concentrate on only the fundamentals, those few activities that really had the power to make a difference in the way you worked and lived. The person who tries to do everything ultimately achieves nothing. Keep it simple. Time is the most precious commodity we have, and yet most of us live our lives as we have all the time in the world. Restore the sense of focus. 

The sage Confucius put it aptly, “The person who chases two rabbits catches neither.”

8.   Always carry a book with you

So long as you live, keep learning how to live- Seneca. How high you will rise in your life will be determined not by how hard you work but by how well you think. The person you will be five years from now will come down to two primary influences: the people you associate with and the books you read. When you expose your mind to the thoughts of the greatest people who have walked this planet before you, your game improves, the depth of your thinking expands and you rise to a whole new level of wisdom.

9.   Write thank-you notes

There is this lost art of writing thank-you notes which has profound consequences. We all have a deep-seated need to feel important. Writing such notes takes time, for sure. There might be pressing things on your agenda for sure. But few acts have the power to build and cement relationships like a heart-felt letter of thanks. It shows you care and that you are considerate and human. Go buy a package of the blank thank-you cards and start writing.

1     Enjoy the path, not just the reward

Rather than savouring only the rewards that have flowed from the achievement of the goal, celebrate the fact that the process of reaching your destination has improved the person you are. You have built self-discipline, discovered new things about your abilities and manifested more of your human potential. These are reward in and of themselves.

       Develop your talents, Increase your value

Too many people spend more time focusing on their weaknesses rather than developing their strengths. By concentrating on what they don’t have, they neglect the talents they do have. The greatest people who have gone before us, all had a simple strategy that ensured their success; they knew themselves. They made the time to reflect on their core abilities, those special qualities that made them unique and spent the rest of their lives refining and expanding them. You see, we are all endowed with the capacity for genius. Perhaps you have just not taken the time to discover what your personal gifts are and then honed them to the level where you are considered brilliant.

1     Remember the rule of 21

Adopting new habits is a big challenge for us. Right? We are too resistant to change. We are more comfortable when more favourable possibilities exist. But this is the thing which prevents us from moving to higher levels of living.  It takes about 21 days to develop a new habit. But most people give up on creating a positive life change after only the first few days when they experience the stress and pain that is always associated with replacing old behaviours with new ones. Remember, the quality of your life is determined in large measure by the nature of your habits. We first make our habits and then our habits make us. The skeleton of habit alone upholds the human frame. So, ensure that your habits move you forward rather than hold you back. Be open to change. Don’t be too rigid. It could be detrimental to your growth. 



1    Practice forgiveness

Forgiveness is the fragrance that the violet sheds on the heel that crushed it. It is a selfish act rather than a selfless one. Letting go of the hostility and hatred that you may have allowed to bottle up inside you is actually something you do for yourself rather than for the benefit of the other person. It is one of the best ways to elevate the quality of your life.

       Become a volunteer, Serve selflessly

There is a great deal of wisdom in the ancient Persian proverb- “I wept because I had no shoes until I saw a man who had no feet.” It is easy to magnify our problems and lose sight of the many blessings we all have to be so very grateful for. Giving the gift of your time by volunteering to serve those who have less than you is an excellent way to remind yourself on a regular basis of the abundance that exists in your life. Seeing what other’s don’t have keeps you awake to all the good things that you do have. It’ll prevent you from taking things for granted. Volunteering affords you the chance to help others and pay back the debt owed to those who have helped you.

1     Stop complaining and start living

If you are not as fulfilled or as happy or as prosperous or as peaceful as you know you could be, stop blaming your parents or the economy or your boss and take full responsibility for your circumstances. This will be the first step to a completely new way of looking at your life and the starting point of a better way to live. Very wise words said by George Bernard Shaw- “The people who get on in this world are the people who get up and look for the circumstances they want, and if they can’t find them, make them.” Take full control of your life. Own it. Take full responsibility. You’ll do wonders then!

1     Carry a goal card

We all just fill our days with activities that seem important in the moment but that count for little in the overall scheme of our lives. It’s imperative that we be to the point. For that our priorities should be clearly defined with the respective deadlines. So, it is advised that we carry a goal card with top life goals being listed in it, that too with clear deadlines for achieving them. Having a goal card and coming back to it 3-4 times a day will keep your mind centred on the things that truly count. It’ll foster the self-control you need to concentrate only on activities that advance your goals. If you spend your life focusing on only worthiest pursuits, it is certain to end in complete joy.

1     Savour the simple stuff

One of the most tragic things I know about human nature is that all of us tend to put off living. We are all dreaming of some magical rose garden over the horizon instead of enjoying the roses that are blooming outside our windows today- lines by Dale Carnegie. No one gets to take his possessions with him when he dies. The only thing we can take with us are our memories of all those great life experiences that add meaning to our lives. So, have the wisdom to savour the simple things. The wonderful memories that they bring will add more value to your life than any of the material toys we spend so much life energy pursuing.

       Become the CEO of your life

Too many people are leaving the quality of their futures to chance rather than to choice. Chant this mantra- If it’s going to be, it’s up to me. We should keep our ears and eyes open to the realities of life. If we don’t act on life and take action to make things happen, it will act on us and gives us results we might not want. Begin to see yourself as the CEO of your life. Act as the catalyst of your own dreams. If you want something done, rather than waiting for luck to look your way, take steps to get it done. Remember, you can make excuses or you can make progress, but you can not do both. Instead of sailing through life as a passenger, you become the captain of the ship, leading things in the direction you choose to move in rather than reacting to the whim of the changing tides.

1     Be humble

Remember, the tree that has the most fruit is the tree that bends to the ground. So, be humble. It shows that you respect others and sends a signal to those around you that you are open to receiving the gift of their knowledge and listening to what they have to say. Learn and grow staying down to earth.

 Don’t be so hard on yourself- Don’t worry about things you can’t change

Stop beating up on yourself for past mistakes. You are a human being and humans have been designed to make mistakes. You see, Imperfections are beautiful. As long as you don’t keep making the same errors and have the good judgement to let your past serve you, you’ll be on the right track. Make your own mistakes. Find out where the gap is. Rectify. Accept and move on. Realizing the fact that we all make mistakes and that they are essential to our growth and progress is quite liberating. So be gentler to yourself and see life for what it really is- a path of self-discovery, personal growth and lifelong learning.

2    Stop thinking tiny thoughts

The British statesman Benjamin Disraeli said- “Nurture your mind with great thoughts, for you will never go any higher than you think.”  Remember, it’s all what is going on in your inner world that is preventing you from having all that you want. And the moment you fully understand this insight and shed the shackles of self-imposed limitations , you will see almost immediate improvements in your personal circumstances. Nothing can stop a person who refuses to be stopped. Most people don’t really fail, they simply give up trying. Try. Fail. Succeed. Live.

 Love your work

Love what you do. Spend your days doing work that you find rewarding, intellectually challenging and fun. It’ll do more than all the spa vacations in the world to keep your spirits high and your heart engaged. When you do the things you love, you’ll not feel like working. Your work will be play and the hours will slip away as quickly as they came.

 Decompress before you go home

Give time to your spouse, kids. Use dinner/breakfast time. After a day of stress and pressure at the office, most of us arrive home cranky, tired and dispirited. We gave the best to our colleagues and clients, but sadly, we don’t have anything left for the people we love the most. So, how you can sort this out? Take 10 minutes to decompress before you walk through the door of your home. Use this time to relax and reflect on what you would like to accomplish during the next few hours with your family. Recharge yourself and then enter your home.

Have a living funeral

Live each day as if it were your last day. Connect to your mortality every day.  Remember, time slips through our hands like grains of sand and the time to live life greatly is not tomorrow but today. One’s sense of mortality is a great source of wisdom. Having a living funeral will reconnect you to the fact that time is a priceless commodity and the best time to live a richer, wiser and more fulfilling life is now.

Live fully so you can die happy

Most people don’t discover what life is all about until just before they die. While we are young, we spend our days striving and keeping up with social expectations. We are so busy chasing our life’s big pleasures that we miss out on the little ones. We live in an age where we have conquered the highest mountains but have yet to master ourselves. We have taller buildings but shorter tempers, more possessions but less happiness, fuller minds but emptier lives. Remember, happiness is not a place you reach but a state you create. So, do not wait until you are on your deathbed to realize the meaning of life and the precious role you have to play within it. Strip away all the clutter from your life. Spend your highest human talents on a purpose that makes a difference in others’ lives. This will give you real happiness in life.

So, in my opinion it's worth reading the book. In this book, the author has given some amazing life lessons that if one inculcates these values in one's life, he or she is going to do wonders in life. I would strongly recommend the readers out there to spare some time and read this brilliantly and amazingly written book. It's going to be of great help.

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