“This book will transform you”

You might have heard the term used by many people. May be your mentor/teacher/friend/sibling/colleague suggested that you read a book and promised that it will transform your life. You were skeptical because you have read many books and none them have “transformed” your life in the way you had expected. There were incremental improvements, yes, but not anything that you would call transformational.

Wait. Before you make a blanket conclusion about that book, let us first understand what is said and what is implied:

What is said:

This book will transform you.

What is implied:

This book will transform you IF
a. you are open to being transformed AND
b. you are hungry to be transformed AND
c. you will REALLY read the book (and not skim through it) AND
d. you will customize the learning to your needs AND
e. you will apply some of the key principles to work AND
f. you will get feedback and re-adjust and re-apply the principles AND
g. you will go the distance and make it work

Obviously, it’s easy to either miss what is implied or ignore it as it is too much work. The real price you pay for a book is a steal as compared to the price you pay to actually apply what you learn from a good book.

The insights are within that book but the magic to apply those insights are within you.

Photo courtesy: green.loofa on Flickr