The book “The Monk who Sold his Ferrari” by Robin S. Sharma is an inspiring story, a fable, on happiness, and taking control of your life through living in the now.
From mastering our minds, kindness, setting goals, and time being so precious, these are some of the themes throughout the book, a sort of prescription to life or at least living happier…
The Story…
A story about two lawyers, one who gives up the corporate gig, Julian Mantle and becomes a monk, the other, John who continues to work as a lawyer and meets his friend again, later in life. John notices how his friend has not aged like he has. Remaining committed to his career as a lawyer literally has aged John. Whereas he saw in his friend, Julian, who left his career, after a heart attack, and who sold his Ferrari, was living an empowered and happy life.
But how? What did Julian learn by leaving his corporate job.
As quoted by Four Minute Books website, they summarize “The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari is a self-help classic telling the story of fictional lawyer Julian Mantle, who sold his mansion and Ferrari to study the seven virtues of the Sages of Sivana in the Himalayan mountains”(2). He studied with Yogi Raman, who taught Julian, how to attain happiness. The Sages of Sivana have known the secrets to happiness for over 5000 years (1).
When Julian quit his “successful job”, or what society would call a successful job anyway, perception is being a lawyer is a great job, it pays well, has the status or prestige valued in society. The way he was living though, overworked, stressed to the max and reaching burnout, ultimately the job, led Julian to having a heart attack.
It’s not easy to be happy, its not something that just happens, happiness takes effort.
It takes work, time and focused action to attain a happier life. The book has many life lessons, but the main theme that’s apparent, is if you put in the effort and do the work and make it a priority, then you will be happy.
We will get into the specifics shortly…but first a quote to inspire…
"The Taj Mahal. One of the Seven Wonders of the World," Julian replied. "My point is simple. Everyone on this planet is a wonder of this world. Every one of us is a hero in some way or another. Every one of us has the potential for extraordinary achievement, happiness and lasting fulfillment.”
- Julian
from the Book the Monk who Sold his Ferrari
Being able to recognize and realize our own potential for happiness or at least a happier more enjoyable life, is possible!
We are ultimately more in control than we realize, in regard to our destiny and achievements.
The book’s insights and seven key takeaways, may inspire you to get into that drivers seat, and be more in charge of your destiny.
And if it’s happiness you seek, or if it’s reaching your goals, or maybe leading a life with more fulfilment…read on…
What did Julian, the ex-lawyer learn from his teacher, Yogi Raman, by studying the 7 virtues of the Sages of Sivana…let’s look at what the 7 virtues are and later I outline how you can take action, right away.
7 Key Takeaways…
Master your mind.
What this means is to be aware of what we feed our minds, our thoughts matter and when we have setbacks or make mistakes to not dwell.
The thoughtful way to cultivate our minds to see opportunity rather than looking towards negativity. The example used in the book is about a garden fable and this next quote refers to a garden as being a symbol of our minds… "If you care for your mind, if you nurture it and if you cultivate it just like a fertile, rich garden, it will blossom far beyond your expectations. But if you let the weeds take root, lasting peace of mind and deep inner harmony will always elude you” (1).
You in a sense don’t want to bring toxins into your garden and want to protect it, so it can grow strong, and keep nourishing it.
The book describes being that soldier that stands guard at the gate to the garden, to protect it from harm. The same concept should be applied to our mind. Nurture your mind, teach it to think positively, see opportunity and make it a habit.
Kindling your inner fire.
Finding something that you have passion and purpose for in life is important to keep us going, or driving. As quoted by Julian in the book, “The purpose of life is a life with purpose,” if we have nothing that drives us or fulfills us in life, we aren’t as happy. Setting goals for ourselves and having the courage to act and do them can fulfill us, but also examining ourselves and what we want in life, what we want to do helps us navigate our inner fire. Our purpose.
A quote from the book…
“When you are inspired by some great purpose, some extraordinary project, all of your thoughts break their bonds: your mind transcends limitations, your consciousness expands in every direction and you find yourself in a new, great and wonderful world. Dormant forces, faculties and talents become alive and you discover yourself to be a greater person than you ever dreamed yourself to be” (1).
Truly finding something to live for. When we find that something that gets us up out of bed, excited about a project or purpose, wanting to share it with others, this is what drives us to keep going. To show up and do the thing!
When we have passion, our inner fire burns.
Self mastery. Practice Kaizen.
This can only begin with self inquiry and awareness. Once we are aware of what limits us, which is usually our thinking and fears we can master anything. Even though we may be scared to do something, it’s good practice for us to overcome challenges. When we overcome challenges, like public speaking, our a hard math problem, or run that half or full marathon, we master a talent, or skill and increase our confidence to show up to do another challenging thing.
When we master and overcome fears and challenges, this is self mastery, knowing your limitations from within. “Self talk” as the book says is important to overcome our challenges, or our negative outlook on things or our capabilities, it all starts with our mindset.
Mantras are a great way as described in the book, to help with self talk.
Saying affirmations like, I AM STRONG, ABLE AND CALM (1).
"Words affect the mind in a pronounced way. Whether they are spoken or written, they are powerful influences. While what you say to others is important, even more important is what you say to yourself." (1)
Saying positive affirmations to one self can help our mindset and outlook on life change for the positive. Towards the direction of happiness.
Power of discipline.
This helps us do what we want, and not succumb to our fears, laziness or other reasons that may step in our way, including ourselves. We are in control more than we realize, to what our destiny will be. If we want something, if we have the discipline to make time for that thing we want to do, or an outcome we want to see, this takes courage, practice and time. Time to notice. Notice what actions matter, repeat those and keeping going. Over time the little steps we take and do, end up leading us to fulfill our goals. It’s about having the discipline to take action.
The more we practice discipline the more naturally this comes.
Your time is valuable.
It's one thing for others to respect our time, but how about ourselves, are you respecting your time, using it wisely. Or are you spending too much time on things that aren’t nurturing your mind, body or soul. It’s one thing to watch a movie or show, but binge watching day after day and not accomplishing anything is not respecting our time. Numbing ourselves with consuming content. Doing not so helpful things that contribute to our procrastination.
Time is precious choose how we want to spend it, and wisely. Focus on what is a priority for you, and make sure to take time for both rest and fun. Above all making time, means also to simplify your life. Simplify your life by not over committing or over-scheduling your calendar, that way you can have time for the priority things.
Selflessly serve others and practice kindness.
It always feel good when we help others, or contribute to our community in some way. It make us feel good when we help others and see others be happy. If we do this more, more happiness will come. Even reaching out and offering our help to someone, can make others and ourselves feel good, letting others know we are thinking of them.
Live in the now, as there is no where to be then in the present moment.
Present moment savour the journey, and live life as if it’s your last day on this earth. Show up truly, and don’t complain. Be grateful for your experience in the now. Stop thinking about what’s next, or what happened in the past, truly live for today. This can be tricky, but becoming mindful about living more in the here and now, is enough to take action.
“investing in yourself is the best investment you will ever make. It will not only improve your life, it will improve the lives of all those around you.”
― Robin S. Sharma,The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari: A Fable About Fulfilling Your Dreams and Reaching Your Destiny
The 7 Key takeaways - Some ideas on how to get started and take action today…
Living like a monk takes quite a lot of discipline, even finding ways to enjoy the little things.
Cultivating our minds to do so can help with most of the takeaways from the book, but without discipline taking action can be challenging, the book covers that once you master your mind you can do anything.
Mindset shift right now, a MANTRA…repeat 5 times…
“I AM STRONG, ABLE AND CALM”
Master your mind.
Take part in things that help you nourish your mind, read more, meditate, take time in nature, give yourself screen time breaks, stop consuming negative content, or news. Stop the scroll on social media. Actively choose to not give into what’s easiest for your mind. As sometimes we gravitate to actions where we want to numb out.
Work your mind, nourish it with positive experiences and content you consume. An other tips is practicing gratitude to help master your mind, to see the good.
Rewiring your mind to see more good?
Practicing gratitude and/or keeping a gratitude journal is one way you can in a sense re-wire your mind to see the positives.How?
Try to aim for writing 3 unique things or people you are grateful for. You must at least do this daily, write it down (or jot it on your phone) and at least for over 3 weeks. The action of showing up to do this daily, helps re-wire our brains to see the good.
Gratitude can boost neurotransmitter serotonin and activate the brain stem to produce dopamine (3). Dopamine being a chemical messenger in how we feel pleasure (4). When we condition our mind to see good, we feel good literally by releasing the chemical dopamine, which will reinforce our behaviour.
Practice gratitude right now, what do you feel grateful for? Who are you grateful for in your life? What part of your day are you most grateful for?
Kindling your inner fire.
To find your purpose, what can you do right now? Try something new, read or do research on things that spark your interest, and see if you want to dive deeper. When we put ourselves out there to try new things, new experiences, or even foods.
When we do new things, we open our minds to the possibility that something will spark our drive to seek more, to learn more about it perhaps and maybe that thing brings us joy, a we obsessively talk about it, and want to share it with others. This is passion, this sparks our INNER FIRE, our drive.In the next 5 days, schedule a date with yourself and do something new, even going for a walk to a new place, or a new park can help inspire us. Try a new coffee shop perhaps? Try that new recipe? Or maybe research something you’ve been meaning to.
Self mastery.
One way you can do this right now, is by noticing your daily habits, and take time to notice what you are good at, what you may not be good at. Notice your challenges and seek to overcome them. But like with anything in life you must practice. So if you want to be a runner, start running, even if it is for 1 minute and then you walk, just show up and do the thing and you’ll eventually become a runner! Or one book I’m listening to right now is Atomic Habits by James Clear (7), he talks about habit stacking, for example when you’re making coffee and waiting for it to brew, maybe you stack another habit on top of that, and meditate or breath mindfully for a minute or two.
Another way is by Mantras, as mentioned above to help the mindset stick to positives.
Saying affirmations like:I AM STRONG, ABLE AND CALM (1).
I am confident.
I am capable and smart.
I am worthy.
I am enough.
I am kind and loving.
What mantra can you create for yourself? Maybe write it down, or repeat it to yourself at least 10 times.
Another cleaver way to get the mantra to stick out to you every time you see it, use some lipstick or white eraser markers, on your bathroom mirror.Saying positive affirmations to one self can help our mindset and outlook on life change for the positive.
Towards the direction of happiness.
Power of discipline.
Like in self mastery above I mentioned it takes practice, but you have to have the discipline, so essentially the will to want to do the thing. Eventually from repeated action, even if its small steps, builds our discipline. Through repetitive, time and practice, discipline is learned and eventually maintained. Just start and keep going. Once we see the reward of taking action, the discipline in us builds and builds. Luckily for you, once you get your mindset down and attain self mastery, as mentioned above, the discipline comes.
Your time is valuable.
Right now think of who in your life is an energy vampire?
We all have that friend or maybe even a family member that just seems to waste our time and/or feel completely drained and unmotivated by. I mean I get it spending time with people is important but is it quality time? Truly being present with whom ever we are with and having a reciprocal loving relationship. Rather than one sided, in the sense of emotional support, listening and caring for one another.
For time its not just other people that may be the concern, it’s also how WE choose to spend our time.Also, think about what do you take part in daily that is a time suck? Maybe it’s binge watching Netflix?
Maybe it’s mindlessly scrolling on social media? or consuming news?
Anything that takes you away from doing what your goals or aspirations are is a time suck, even if its people, friends or family doesn’t matter.Ask yourself are you using your time wisely?
Some suggestions to limit distractions and save you time…time to do what you want and need more in life.
One thing you can do right now is turn off notifications on your smart phone. Go through each application, social media.
Look at your smart phones screen time management, maybe turn on limitations that only allow 1.5 hours of social media use (I have this turned on, and love the reminder, when I’ve been on social media for way too long). Forces me literally to stop the mindless scroll and again limits the time spent in these applications that just want us to stay on them.Selflessly serve others and practice kindness.
In what way right now can you practice kindness?
How can you be of service to a loved one? A friend? Or co-worker. When we give and help others, it feels amazing seeing them be happy and feel loved. Or even that co-worker that you helped with something, show you gratitude.
Isn’t there that saying when we give love, we receive love. When we are kind, kindness comes back to us. When we help others, this in turn makes us feel better as we gave back in some way. Kindness creates, more kindness.Live in the now, as there is no where to be then in the present moment.
Ways you can live in the present moment is by practicing gratitude, savour the journey of your life for what it is in this moment, and live life as if its your last.Ways you can do this today, next time your talking with someone in person, be truly all there. Don’t think about what to say, don’t itch for your phone, look the person in their eyes and listen.
Practice presence. It’s not easy, it’s a skill.
If we take part in it, in the small moments, whether it's talking to our spouse, or being with our kids when they are around, or our parents, or co-workers, people notice. Being in a society now where we have so many distractions, to live more in discipline to live more in the present, allows us to connect more with others and ourselves.
Not on our devices, or our minds elsewhere. Truly be here with our experience, our experience with others, or just life in general. Not that want of doing something else, or that need to be elsewhere.Just be.
My Closing Thoughts…
I really resonated with this book, as a lot of the concepts discussed come from Yogic principles and philosophy as well as, Buddhism. Being a yogini (female yoga practitioner) myself and yoga teacher, I’ve seen how many of the concepts work first hand.
Like practicing presence, knowing our worth, having the discipline and drive, or what’s called in yogic principles as “inner fire," that spark or drive us to do the things that bring us more happiness. I’ve learned that this is through conscious effort and action in my own yoga practice on and off my mat. I also, liked how the book’s story very much makes it easier for the non-yogi/non-yogini to understand or relate to.
We’ve all been at that job that just feels like it may be sucking the life out of us. Whether we work long hours, or say yes to too many projects, work with someone we don’t like or struggle to get a long with. I’m sure one time or another we’ve reached burnout. If not once maybe even a few times.
Being in the “driver’s seat” sort of speak, taking back control to not only our journey of life, lived more with intention, but also to find life lived in the happiest way. All things Julian’s story, the main character of the book highlights.
When we take control back, we can avoid burnout.
The book opens up with a quote by Winston Churchill and as the book talks about the quote, spoke volumes about the man that Julian was or more like who he became after his burnout and literal heart attack. His body showed him, how you are living is too much. Stop. Notice and start taking conscious effort to a life better lived.
Instead, I am going to leave you with the Winston Churchill quote to end this blog…
“Sure I am that this day we are masters of our fate, that the task which has been set before us is not above our strength; that it's pangs and toils are not beyond my endurance. As long as we have faith in our own cause and an uncon- querable will to win, victory will not be denied us.”
Winston Churchill, quoted in the Book The Monk who Sold his Ferrari
Hope this blog post has inspired you to take action, after all we are in the driver seat to our own lives and our happiness.
Be well,
Marzena
Sources & Other Reading
The Monk who Sold his Ferrari. A Fable to fulfilling your Dreams and Reaching your Destiny (1999). Robin. S. Sharma. Harper Collins Publisher.
The Monk who sold his Ferrari Summary. Nicolas Goeke. Four minute Books.com (2017) https://fourminutebooks.com/the-monk-who-sold-his-ferrari-summary/
How Grateful actually changes your brain and is good for your business (2018). Carrie D. Clarke, JD, ACC. https://thriveglobal.com/stories/how-gratitude-actually-changes-your-brain-and-is-good-for-business/
What is Dopamine? (2019) Smitha Bhandari, MD https://www.webmd.com/mental-health/what-is-dopamine
https://www.goodreads.com/work/quotes/43268-the-monk-who-sold-his-ferrari-a-fable-about-fulfilling-your-dreams-re
Top 10 lessons from the book Monk Who Sold his Ferrari by Vipan Thakur. https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/top-10-lessons-from-book-monk-who-sold-his-ferrari-vipan-thakur
Atomic Habits Video below…book by James Clear
Post-holiday blues can be tough, right? But there's a lot to look forward to! Think about setting new goals for the year, planning small outings or gatherings with friends/family, picking up a new hobby, or simply taking time for self-care. It's also a great time to organize, declutter, or try something different.
What's something you've been wanting to explore or achieve?