Begin From Where You Are
Enough With The Excuses
Quote from Introduction
"We all arrived at the point where we happen to be in our lives by zigzagging our way here. Regardless of how we got here, it's probably safe to say that nobody has brought us to our current place in life by brute force.”
Quote from Chapter 7: Precious Commodities
"Time. It's the most precious commodity of all. Nobody on the planet can produce any more of it, nobody can purchase any of it with any amount of money, yet the exact same amount of time available in a day is accessible to everyone. Every second of every minute of every hour of every day of your life will never be recovered, once the calendar flips to the next day. Once time is spent, it's gone forever.”
Quote from Chapter 9: The B.O.W. Improvement Process
"The greatest attributes for making progress are humility and honesty. Choose to continuously humble yourself and to not sugarcoat the truth and reality of your personal starting point. Life has a way of exposing those who fib about it while thinking they’ve got it all figured out.”
Book Review for "Begin from where you are":
BEGIN FROM WHERE YOU ARE by Cornel Rizea is what anyone trying to figure life out needs right now. The author gives an insight into the BOW (Believe, Observe, and Will) improvement process. This process has helped him overcome financial, marital, and other life challenges. This book not only prescribes how to overcome; it also specifies how to improve your current situations and find everlasting joy.
One of the impactful sayings that resonate with me from this book is: "Sitting down at a table to learn is like having a seat at a table where wisdom is served." Learning is a must-do if any improvement is to be made. From learning, we understand the why and how. Many mistakes and accidents come from pride — not being humble enough to listen to the voice of reason or find out the actual situation of things. When faced with a challenge, the last thing you want to do is make it worse. The feeling of knowing that you could have done better is depressing and may make you give up. But there is hope; knowing that things can and will improve is the first step. As simple as it sounds, the BOW improvement method is a robust process that has been proven to work. At first, I was skeptical about it. After all, there are many self-help books out there promising heaven and earth. However, after reading through and understanding the foundations of this process, I am now a convert. The BOW process is simple, but it isn't a walk in the park either. But I believe that if you put in the work, you will get the desired outcome.
Although this book talks about basic themes we might already know, the presentation, analogies, and anecdotes leave an indelible mark in the mind of readers. For example, the "jar and its four content" analogy made me truly understand how to focus on what is essential. The description of how we use our time as a deposit that will eventually yield a dividend is very striking. The author's conversational tone gives the reader a sense of assurance, and his personal story and insightful quotes are inspiring. An excellent addition is the reflective questions at the end of each chapter; it allows the reader to ponder and find answers to questions that might be bothering them. I am deeply grateful to have come across this book, as the time I invested in reading it has started yielding dividends.
The editing of this book is exceptionally done; there are no grammatical or typographical errors. Beyond the easy-flowing language of the book, the arrangement of its content in meaningful chapters, each covering an important topic, makes this book an encompassing read. From time to time, the author explains the reason for writing this book: to help someone out there.
I recommend this book to readers facing difficult life challenges, especially those who feel they are stuck in a rut. Cornel Rizea has been there, and he has learned to overcome and improve. His methods cost nothing but time. However, the benefits are worth it. I rate this book 4 out of 4 stars. It delivers on its promise of helping you get your life back on track from wherever you might be stuck. There isn't escaping life challenges, but hope is always available to those willing to receive it.