The School of Greatness is Lewis Howe’s study of numerous successful people who embody his definition of greatness. The investigation of the similarities and shared features of these people gives insight into some habits that are truly beneficial. I love this kind of book, being able to learn from the experiences of others is something that I can’t get enough of.
Is this Recommended Reading?
Yes.
Being the first book of the week, I’m trying not to look at this book through rose colored glasses, but that being said I really enjoyed this book. I’m always looking to improve and I think this book gives some great actionable steps to move in that direction. I would definitely suggest people read this, especially young people who haven’t really gotten out in the world. Some of the ideas in this book could have helped me focus and move towards my own goals in college when I fell off the tracks a bit.
The Gist of It
For the first few chapters of this book I instantly felt that this book was a combination of The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People and The Miracle Morning. I love both of these books and was pretty sure I was going to enjoy this book also.
Each chapter covers a habit or characteristic of greatness. Most of these are things that are often said in these types of books, but the thing that really sets this book apart are the exercises that are at the end of each chapter. There are multiple exercises and they’re really laid out in a step-by-step way for anybody to be able to sit down and go through them easily. Here are the subjects of the chapters:
- Creating a Vision
- Turn Adversity into Advantage
- Cultivate a Champions Mindset
- Develop Hustle
- Master Your Body
- Practice Positive Habits
- Build a Winning Team
- Live a Life of Service
My Takeaways
Some of the sections in this book were expected. Almost every book I’ve read on this topic has included something about vision, hustle, habits, and health, but some of the topics I had not expected to read about. The amount that this book talks about being grateful caught me off guard. The suggestion that one of the key factors for greatness is living a life of service was a concept that I was happy to here. Pointing out that great people don’t become great all by themselves was eye opening.
Recently Kendra and I have started going through our “highs” and “lows” each night. We say at least three good things and we say at most one bad thing that happened during the day. This practice has been really enjoyable for me lately and really has left me quite a bit happier. I can definitely see how being grateful can help push a person in the direction of greatness. I was sick and exhausted all week, and yet I’ve felt happy and productive the entire time. I consider having a cold to be one of the worst things because it’s annoying and lingers, and because of that view it usually brings me down pretty badly. Knowing that at the end of the day I would need to be able to find at least three things that went well during the day meant that I needed to make at least three good things happen, regardless of how I was feeling. This one change in our night has shown me the power of having people around me to hold me accountable to being grateful.
While not only influenced by this book I am looking to start/join a mastermind after reading the chapter on building a winning team.
I’m not going to summarize the book, but I’m definitely thankful for the knowledge that I’ve gained from it.