The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari - Robin Sharma

The First Self-help Book I read

Hi,

Hope you are having the day you always wanted to have!

I actually wanted to talk about 4 self-help books that added a new perspective to my life, as per my friend Bindhu’s suggestion :)

But then, I decided to make separate posts for each of them because one post might become very lengthy.

I have always been fond of reading books since my childhood whether they are textbooks, poetry books, Sunday magazines, or anything that caught my attention.

However, here I want to talk about specifically self-help books that added a different angle to my thinking process.

Let’s start.

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The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari

This was probably the first self-help book I ever read. The author, Robin Sharma starts the book by explaining the daily life of a rich, well-educated, and successful lawyer who is a workaholic.

The story takes a different turn when this lawyer decides to quit his job and sells his properties along with the Ferrari (hence the title) and goes to the Himalayas.

The book mainly focuses on the work-life balance and how to take charge of our own thoughts and keep the mind clean.

One thing I particularly remember from this book is, the author says - Be like a guardian for your mind and never let a single bad thought into your mind, similar to how a watchman never lets any insect or animal into a flower garden.

(These might not be the exact words, I read the book years ago).

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When Did I Read it?

I remember reading this book during my 4th year, 1st-semester exams in engineering on my best friend’s mobile phone :D.

She used to study a lot that she almost forgets that she has a smartphone. And, I would take it to read the soft copy of this book. (mine never used to work properly :/ )

Back then, I knew nothing about work-life balance. But, the book made so much sense and I absolutely liked reading every bit of it.

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Reading This Book Saved Me Two Times

A few days after reading the book, I attended my first interview in the engineering 4th year. The interviewer asked about the recent book I read among many other questions.

I obviously mentioned, “The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari”. I am pretty sure they liked my answer and explanation regarding the book.

In 2019, during the training period of my first job, all of the batch members had to talk for a minute about any topic (The classic JAM session!). Guess what I talked about! “The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari”.

I felt like I did a good job and even our trainer mentioned that it is a good book and everyone should read it, at the end of my session :)

That’s it! That was all I wanted to share today.

I will be sharing more posts about the books I read.

Have a good day!

Manisha Ailneni.