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The Habit of Winning Summary
The Habit of Winning by Prakash Iyer is a collection of inspiring stories with lessons from cricketer to businessman which will inspire you to unleash your full potential as well as to help others to do the same. so let’s start a book summary of the habit of winning.
What is your white rabbit?
There is an interesting story of a man in a beautiful house who was a very sober, hard-working, and calm by nature.
Impressed by the man, god appeared magically in front of him and said that there is a large treasure in the garden filled with gems and diamonds. You just have to go there and claim it.
But there is one white rabbit in the garden and you must not think about the white rabbit. If you do, you will lose all riches.
We all are like that man. We all have our success in our reach but we held back by our self-limiting beliefs. we blame our childhood, background, education, etc. We find our own rabbits. Our limit ourselves by the favorite excuse for not doing things. So, what is your white rabbit?
Climbing the Mountain
If two people are trying to climb a mountain then what is the important thing they need to be at the top? Do they need equipment or team or proper training? Of course, they need these things but the most important thing they need is a mountain itself. We people focus too much on training, team, etc. things.
If you don’t have a mountain to climb then every other thing become secondary.
The same is with your life. You should have your own mountains to climb, goals to reach, and the potential to fulfill & meaning to live. When you decide to go after your life’s purpose you start taking responsibility and actions.
Lesson: the best mountain to climbing equipement is little of use if you don’t have mountain to climb.
Don’t change your rabbit
There are many rabbits running around you but if you try to chase all of them then you will end up with nothing. There are many opportunities to grab, many businesses to start but focus on the one thing. Even if you fail, change your tactics and strategies but don’t change your goals.
Focus and persistance are key ingredients for success.
In the 1980’s Gujarat, Vadilal ice cream was famous and well known for awesome ice cream. They had the capability to become the world’s best ice cream. Even now they serve the ice cream but they are not the best in the world. What was the reason?
As time passed after 1980 Vadilal tride their hands in many businesses thus diverted their focus.
We are always tempted to do lot of things around us, we want to chase many opportunities but you have to decide which rabbit to chase and which rabbit to leave.
Lesson: Identify rabbit you want to catch and focus only on that one. If you try and catch them all, you may end up with none. If the rabbit proves elusive change your tactics but daon’t change the rabbit.
Break your mental barrier
In the 1950’s athletics, it was believed that human can not run a mile within 4 minutes. At that time the highest record of running was of 4 minutes & 1.4 seconds which was created in 1945 by Gunder Hegg & lasted for several years.
Doctors believed that no human body can break this record without having significant damage to body.
This 4-minute barrier continued until 1954 when Roger Bannister ran a mile in 3 minutes and 59.4 seconds. By the end of 1957, 16 other runners broken the record & ran a mile within 4 minute. What was happened? Do their body grown stonger? Actually not.
What happened is that Roger not only broken the record but also broke the self limiting belief that no human can run a mile within 4 minutes. After breaking this barrier in mind other16 athelete’s also ran and broke the reocrd.
We all are like this. We carry our own self-limiting beliefs and never rise above that belief. We restrict our actions as well. So, what are your 4-minute barriers?
Lesson: If you think you can, you can. If you think you can’t, you are right!
The Chinese Bamboo
Chinese bamboo took 5 years & 3 months to grow up to its full height of over 80 feet. The interesting fact is that for the first 5 years you will see negligible growth in it. You will find a bamboo tree struggling to make a squiggle. Can you believe it?
Actually what happen is that it take 5 years to make it’s roots stronger to bear eighty feet height.
In the time of instant gratification, we love fast food, we look for quick weight loss tips. We need to stop and think like a bamboo tree. Patience has its own rewards. Nothing happens overnight.
Every achievement is a result of years of struggle, efforts, and hard work. Next time when you think to give up because of not getting results, think of a bamboo tree.
Lesson: Patience has its rewards. nothing of substance happens in jiffy.
Power of Positive Expectations
In one experiment taken in Texas, the principle of school brought 3 teachers to teach the top 30 students of class 7th with the objective of training the students to top the state examination and bringing glory to the school.
Teachers were happy knowing they will teach brightest 30 students and students were happy as they were getting guiddance by best teachers.
Both students and teachers worked hard. They did the extra classes, assignments to ensure they will cover everything to achieve success. They astonished the day results came. All thirty students were in the states top percentile.
The principle called three teachers to congratulate. Teachers attributed their success to bright students. Then the principle revealed the secret. Top 30 students were not bright students and they were picked up randomly. Teachers are also randomly picked up.
So what really happened? How school was able to achieve extraordinary result with average students and ordinary students?
It was because of positive expectations. Teachers worked hard to stand on student’s expectations and students delighted to be in the top 30 and they put their extra efforts.
The same happens to us. We get what we expect. When we expect good performance from our team at work, we get it. When we label our child with poor in the study, he actually does the same. The choice is yours. Expect good things from your life, you will get it.
Lesson: Expect more, get more. Expect failure. And get that too.
Begin. And End. Nothing Else Matters
‘Aoccrdnig to a rseearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosnt mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are. The olny iprmoatnt tihng
is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pcale. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit a porbelm. Tihs is
bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey ltteer by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe.’
The road to success in life is quite similar. Getting started is key. People wait for the right time to come and right time never comes. Unfinished tasks are the biggest problem in companies. If you have a dream to start anything then start now, put your efforts now.
Lesson: Two key to success- get started and learn to finish. The rest is, well, commentry.
The habit of winning book review
- There are many lessons in this book that are interesting and inspiring.
- The language used in this book is very easy.
- I recommend this book to people who love to read short but inspiring stories
With this, we come to the end of Prakash Iyer’s the habit of winning summary and book review. There are many interesting and inspiring stories in the book I recommend to buy the book.
