"Mind Shift" (Erwin Raphael McManus)

TITLE: Mind Shift - It Doesn't Take a Genius to Think Like One
AUTHOR: Erwin Raphael McManus
PUBLISHER: New York, NY: Convergent Books, 2023, (160 pages).
 

Are we limiting ourselves from our true potential? In a difficult, drudgery, and sometimes discouraging world, we need inspiration to drive us forward. The author begins with a pessimistic question, "Are people simply structured for failure?" He then questions this very statement with a more optimistic angle, that perhaps, the problem is not the question but more about how we push back against such skepticism. While that is one big emphasis, author McManus's reason for writing this book is to promote" Mental health, mental clarity, mental toughness, and mental agility." In a surprising twist in his reflection on the popular Zombie series of movies, he notes that while most people see the zombies as the real problem, the uninfected ones fleeing or battling the zombies might be the ones who are "consumed by fear, hate, greed, and power." Violence inflicted by humans might even be worse than the zombies. Just like how the issue flips from zombies to humans, readers need to do a mind flip as well. This sets the stage for readers to journey through the 12 mind shifts. What does it take to make a mind shift? McManus shows us the way. In a book about the mind, he begins with the mind. In a world infatuated with achievements, materialism, and success, the first shift reminds us that people should be a priority. Success means nothing if we lose our friends. Learn to treasure our relationships more than using them as a means to our ends. The second shift has to do with fame or the downsides of pursuing fame. Just learn to show up for people you care for, without the pressure of needing fame to fan that desire. The third shift is not to let ourselves be defined by the number of people following us. Losing people is part and parcel of all forms of leadership. Our inner circle of people will always be faithful supporters. The fourth shift deals with the need to demonstrate what we teach, practice what we preach, and do what we say. Most people won't be able to concretize what we say until they see the principle demonstrated in our lives. Moving along, the fifth shift is about self-limitations. Our mental toughness is related to this. The ceiling in our lives is not about what others place on us, but what we place upon ourselves. Sometimes the way to overcome any form of ceiling is to learn to take one step at a time, one floor at a time, and one building at a time. The sixth shift deals with seeing talent as a "hallucinogen." Far too many people fall prey to the belief that only the talented can succeed in life. This is something quite crippling to anyone because definitions of talent can differ so widely. Shift from such a mindset to one of character. The seventh shift is not to assume successful people all had a strategy or plan to begin with. It is simply to learn and adapt to opportunities as they open to us. many of the so-called successful people had absolutely no idea what they were going to do. The key here is to learn to shift from a crippling form of idealistic presumption that prevents us from doing what we could do. The eighth shift is to accept rather than avoid. We cannot continue to live simply by avoiding hurts. Problems are part and parcel of life. McManus then draws on the subject of forgiveness, showing us that unforgiveness is probably one of the most limiting things we can ever do to ourselves. Nine, we are encouraged to shift from being discouraged by incompetence to being inspired by competent people around us. He urges us not to expect others to be different first. Place that expectation on ourselves first. The tenth shift takes us back to our regular educational environment to remind us of the importance of focus. We tend to be average in most things but once we find out our core skills, we can focus on developing that. More importantly, be great in the things that really matter to us. For everything else, don't be too stressed over them when we cannot achieve greatness in them. The last two shifts are essentially attempts to summarize many of the concepts dealt with in the previous chapters. Like some life lessons that the author has learned, they highlight the importance of character, family, generosity, integrity, teachability, etc.

My Thoughts
Books like this are nothing new. The topic of self-actualization and achieving our dreams is an evergreen one. Philosophers like Abraham Maslow have given us a pyramid that maps out our hierarchy of needs. Motivational speakers like Tony Robbins, Chris Gardner, and many others teach us how to get the best out of ourselves. The Catholic writer, Matthew Kelly writes his bestselling books of different titles to simply this single message: "Becoming the Best of Yourself." Even evangelicals like John Ortberg also preach the same message to help us be "The Me I want to be." This ubiquitous need summarizes the reasons why so many people continue to give seminars or write books about it. What is there to stop another one from jumping on this bandwagon? Nothing. In fact, the world cries out for more such resources. Thus, the key reason why people would buy this book is precisely because of this: Motivational. However, the purpose of writing this book is more than motivational. It is about improving our mental resilience. From IQ to EQ, the key phrase now is MQ (Mental Quotient). In a post-covid era, books about mental health will continue to be welcomed. For that matter, there is definitely a place for this book to help build some form of mental toughness in an increasingly tough economic and spiritual climate. 

I must admit. One of my first musings about this book is how "Christian" it is. Not all of the twelve shifts are explicitly Christian, but some of them do show us traits of Christlikeness. Such as the Golden Rule to do to others what we want others to do to us. Another is the need to build character and the beauty of generosity. In fact, the desire to do well in life dovetails into the Christian teaching of stewarding our talents diligently and faithfully. McManus knows what it means about the futility of success. As a popular public speaker, he has experienced the difficulty of building his platform, and also the futility of worldly success. That said, he provides pretty insightful teachings about life in general. Teachings such as success are not the pinnacle of life but the magnifier of what is already in us. He teaches us to question even the most widely accepted premises, and not to swallow them all lock, stock, and barrel. There are a lot more interesting nuggets that one can gain when reading this book.

In summary, this book is a collection of personal learning by the author. If you are a fan of McManus, buying this book is a no brainer. If not, maybe, one or more of the mind shifts could get you thinking. If you just want to challenge yourself to the next level, this book should help you do just that.

Rating: 4 stars out of 5.

conrade

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This book has been provided courtesy of Convergent Books (an Imprint of Random House) via NetGalley without requiring a positive review. All opinions offered above are mine unless otherwise stated or implied.