You Can Win -- Shiv Khera

With a strong introduction stating that ‘Winners don’t do different things. They do things differently’ the author instantaneously puts the reader at the beginning of the road to success. You know how to walk on with the help of a well-written preface, which familiarizes you with the book genre, the book contents, and how to approach them. So now you are well on your mark and set to go. But your start is not at a normal speed but at a lightning speed. Why? This is because the author starts with the first lap of the race, ‘Importance of Attitude,’ with a realistic example that gives you a strong lead. This lap talks on how your attitude is a strong contributor to your success and thus further explains factors that determine your attitude along with a convincing explanation on positive attitude Vise-verse negative attitude. But he doesn’t leave you estranged on this road of self-improvement. The next lap explains broadly on ‘How to build a Positive Attitude.’ All with examples that you can relate to and anecdotes that inspire you to keep looking forward. (Well, this is so good that the reader almost forgets that he had thought about retreating before he even started reading the book. The reason, a serious spelling error in the title of Chapter 1, ‘Impotance of Attitude’ instead of ‘Importance of Attitude.’ Publishers and author please note.) You further run with an even stronger lead as your third lap talks about ‘Success.’ This gives the reader an overall understanding of the term success further enforcing the qualities of a successful individual. But now when you realize that you are lagging behind in the race you see another helping hand coming towards you. A hand of a companion on your road to success. Yes, like most other books this book doesn’t preach it talks to you like a dedicated and loyal comrade. In the next lap, it tells you what is ‘Holding you back from reaching to your desired Goal.’ A SWOT analysis is included which gives you a complete insight to yourself. It teaches you to accentuate your strengths so that you can move forward holding your head high. It talks about your weaknesses, the reasons for your failures and gives the necessary solutions. It unfolds the various opportunities that are waiting or ignored and threats you need to overcome. Now you are running but with a stronger grip on the road. The next two laps ‘Motivate’ you and boost your ‘Self-esteem.’ The book acts like a coach who is running with you and encouraging you to move at an even faster pace. The next lap brushes your ‘Interpersonal Skills.’ It gives paramount importance to them by mentioning how life is a boomerang and an echo. How interpersonal skills can be ameliorated for maintaining relationships and further delivering the best is also enumerated. On your 8th lap your companion tells you ‘25 steps to Building a Positive Attitude.’ Here, sense of responsibility, accepting your mistakes and further mending them, avoiding criticism, good listening, being enthusiastic, honest and faithful, thinking positive and smiling, is detailed by the author. The next lap complements the earlier lap by talking about your ‘Subconscious Mind and Habits.’ The book further takes your positivity to the peak and unmasks you to present to you the real you. No pretense, a clean and candid you all zooming ahead to procure your goal. The next lap takes you further by detailing on ‘Goal Setting.’ It not only reminds you about your goal but also talks about SMART goals with a perfect balance of reality and accomplishment. The final lap ‘Values and Vision’ ensures that you do the right thing for the right reason. Talking about ethics, culture, commitment all it plunges into talking about winners. Now in your race when you can see that red ribbon you also know that you can actually see your goal. But when others too are zooming ahead to reach there, the experience and advise of true winners give you that final push. The book serves you enough energy boosters in your run by providing action plans after every chapter that assesses you completely. You don’t get dehydrated and are always perked up by the writer’s style, which makes even hackneyed topics interesting. The author mentions a point, gives a logical explanation and then makes it convincing by narrating stories, jokes, quotations, and giving testimonials for the same. They are something you can relate to and are out of sheer experience. It does not enervate you as it evaluates if the reader is going through life out of inspiration (playing to win) or desperation (playing not to lose). It translates positive thinking into ATTITUDE, AMBITION and COMPETITION. All this in a simple and practical way. It surely gives a winning edge. You can WIN is a recipe for success. But this one goes with the times. It’s instant! Yes, the book promises instant results making the reader remove the word impossible from his dictionary. That's why standing on the winners’ podium you would not be holding your trophy high up in the sky but a book flashing the words, 'You Can Win.' So in a nutshell like Economic Times puts it “You Can Win is a construction manual – with the blueprints to build a rewarding life.” No doubt that the book is also an ABSOLUTE WINNER!