Customer Reviews

100 Simple Secrets of Successful People, The: What Scientists Have Learned and How You Can Use It

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

What a brilliant idea! Niven has taken scientific studies, summarized their results, and placed them in a format that can easily be read by the general public. He is to be commended for taking discoveries from the academy and making the results useful to anyone interested enough to tap this resource. To illustrate, I'll cite a few examples. He tells readers "people who regularly keep a journal, or some kind of written record pertaining to their asperirations, are 32 percent more likely to feel like they are making progress in their lives." A person who wanted to know the source can find the citation in the back of the book and review the study in detail.
A second example, "your success is far more dependent on your behavior now than it is based upon where you grew up, where you went to school, or whether your path so far has been easy or difficult." The source here is Arrison, 1998 and is listed in the bibliography. A third example is "people who approach things with order, common sense, consistency, and persistence will ultimately succeed." Again, the citation is given. There are 100 "secrets" presented. This is an inspiring motivational book. I highly recommend it.

I had read the author's previous book "The 100 Simple Secrets of Happy People" which I found to offer practical advice, and it was also fun and interesting to read. I had similar expectations for "The 100 Simple Secrets of Successful People" which has the same format of providing a research finding along with advice and an example. The 100 secrets of the "Successful People" book do not seem as practical and concrete as the secrets in the "Happy People" book. Also, I felt like the examples often did not directly relate to the research finding. I would read an example and find myself more perplexed than enlightened, wondering how it was supposed to illustrate the current "secret". Overall, the book provides numerous research findings that could contribute to success (and provides a reference to the published research), but the reading is tedious--not a successful book.

I'm a sucker for books that draw me in with a captivating
title . . . so when I saw THE 100 SIMPLE SECRETS OF
SUCCESSFUL PEOPLE by Dr. David Niven, I just had to read it.

The book's subtitle (WHAT SCIENTISTS HAVE LEARNED AND HOW
YOU CAN USE IT) was also of interest . . . it gave me the impression
that the secrets would be based on actual research findings.

That said, I must admit to being disappointed with the author's
attempt to back up his secrets with research . . . this approach

seemed forced, in the sense that the studies that were presented
didn't relate all that well to the point that was seemingly being made.

Yet I still liked the book for what it did do well; i.e., give useful
tips on how to succeed--be it in work or life . . . furthermore,
each of the 100 short chapters was backed up by an inspiring
story, such as Olympic gold medalist Paul Gonzales' rise from
a gang-ridden Los Angeles neighborhood . . . another one
I liked: a schoolteacher's simple advice that helped make David
Brinkley a top news anchorman.

There were several sections that I really enjoyed; among them:
* Think of success as filling a box. You'll be finished sooner not just
by working harder to fill it but also by choosing a smaller box.

Becky considers herself normal in most respects. She has a career,
a husband, two children, and almost no time.

"Do you ever feel like you woke up in an episode of Twilight Zone?
My story is the person who constantly has more things to do and
less time in which to do it. It's like every day I have to make more
runs to the store than the day before, and I have to do it in half
the time." Becky concluded that the key to living life at her own pace,
instead of in a rushed hurry, was "to realize what is really important.
I spent so much time doing things because I thought I was supposed
to instead of because they were really necessary."

To get out of her Twilight Zone, Becky stopped going after everything.
"If you run out of time trying to do absolutely everything, then some-
times you wind up finishing the stupid stuff and missing out on what
really matters."

* No matter what your career dream, it will at some point cause conflict
in your home life. It is easier to pretend these conflicts do not exist
or to dodge the matter whenever possible. But ignoring conflict doesn't
make it go away; it just feeds the conflict and makes it worse.
Discuss conflicts between your work life and your home life because
that is the only way you can make the situation better.

The Coalition for Marriage, Family, and Couples Education teaches
people that the surest path to resentment, strain, and relationship
disaster is the complete absence of disagreements. Having on
disagreements means you aren't saying what you think and feel
and that emotions will simmer within you until they reach a boil.
One of the coalition's main lessons is that in any relationship there
are "ten irreconcilable differences."

According to Dianne Sollee, the director of the coalition,
"The problem for most people is that they
don't recognize that differences are inevitable and should be talked
about, and they instead seek refuge from another relationship. Of
course, their new relationship will have ten new irreconcilable
differences, and the pattern will just be repeated."

Healthy relationships are successful, not because people have fewer
disagreements, but because they apply problem-solving skills to
arguments. Dianne says, "Instead of an emphasis on who is right
and who is wrong, the underlying emphasis in healthy relationships
is on what can be done to improve the situation for everyone involved."

* People don't buy houses or cars if they're not sure about every detail.
It's too important to rush into that kind of commitment. But how many
of us toil in jobs that we don't think are right for us?

You will spend more time between the ages of twenty-five and sixty-
five working than you will spend doing anything other than sleeping.
Your job not only will define possibilities for your future, it may also
come to define you. Never stop thinking about what you need to do
to love what you do.

William Raspberry is a Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist for the
WASHINGTON POST. He loves his job and wishes more people
loved theirs. "You need to love what you do. Love the hell out of it.
Don't settle for just liking your career, for becoming a data processor
or school principal or Toyota saleswoman because 'the pay-check's
decent and, hey, it's a job.' "

William has a simple test for figuring out if you're in the right line of
work: "Imagine the job you have right now paid you the least amount
of money you could possibly live on. Would you still want the job? If
not, you're not in the right line of work."

Above all, this book highlights studies of success and the science of success, all written so that you can understand it and put it to use today. It is presented to not only be clear but also engaging. Each study on success is accompanied by an example of a person who demonstrates the idea in real life. The examples are wonderful, and range from famous leaders to average people. Some, such as the tale of the fall of the Schwinn Bicycle company, are incredibly valuable examples. I got a lot from this book, and I think everyone I work with would benefit from reading it.

The key to understanding this book is right in the title, "simple secrets". There is nothing complicated or deep about any of the 100 short stories, complete with a moral and lesson of the day. Most of the "secrets" seemed a little forced and within the 100 there was a bit of redundancy.

This book also focused about 75% of it's secrets and stories on work/business related experiences. The lack of variety made this seem more like a "how to do better at your job book". Really one-dimensional.

I was dissapointed, but kept the book...the short stroies are trite but offer some tiny gems of western culture wisdom. Nothing really new, but a good 5 minute read.

I can understand why some reviewers are quite frustrated with the author's so claimed secrets. If you go through the content page here, you are very likely to get the impression that they are "common sense" or "cliche" repeated regularly in all self help books. What makes this book better is the short conclusions in the end of each "secret" summarizing research findings of social scientists per that "secret", many with statistics quantifying impact of individual factors, say,

Those who sacrifice their individual beliefs and backgrounds ultimately express one third less satisfaction with their jobs and almost two thirds less satisfaction with their lives. FRanklin and Mizell 1995 (22 Remember who you are and where you are)

Those whose careers continute to have momentum are 53 percent more likely to engage in healthy life habits than those whose careers are stalled. Roberts and Friend 1998 (41 Exercise and Eat Right)

Those who spend a lot of time worrying about their jobs are 17 percent less productive than workers who seldom or never worry about their job. Verbeke and Bagozzi 2000 (47 You'll get what you're afraid of)

The productivity of employees who score high in dedication to their career is 33 percent less likely to be affected by the quality of thier managers than is the production of low dedication employees. Pollock 1998 (87 Learn to lead yourself)

Managers of production facilities who are meeting their quality targets actually invest 2o percent more time in improving their practices than managers of facilities that are falling short of their goals. In other words, the better off work harder to get even better. Coulthard 1998 (89 People who have it right work harder to make it better)

Successful people spend t least fifteen minutes everyday thinking about what they are doing and can do to improve their lives. Sigmund 1999 (94 Keep goals where you can see them)

Those who do not feel they are taking steps toward their goals are five times more likely to give up and three times less likely to feel satisfied with their lives. Elliott 1999 (99 Take action)

In my opinion, the references in each "secret" and their bibliography provided do help. The book is good and concise enough to be placed on a working desk as a tool or first aid kit. In short, well worths the time and the price.

p.s. I had read the author's first book "The 100 simple secrets of happy people" as well. Surprisingly the two books are quite different or not repetitive. If you like this "successful" one, you should get the "happy" one as well.

For a quick look into some traits of successful people, pick up Nivens' "100 Simple Secrets." None of what you read is earth shattering, but books like this provide excellent examples of what helps define success. In daily life we often forget some of the lessons in this book, so as a refresher, it an enjoyable read.

Don't expect to come away with some sort of revelation into how people become successful. It is not here. Instead, be prepared to be reminded that the keys to succcess ultimately lie in those time honored traditions like hard work, integrity, and passion for what you do.

These are indeed simple ideas--and hardly secrets. If you have never thought about success in your own life, perhaps you may get something out of this book. But if seeking success and achievement is a part of your life this book will be nothing but dull for you.

The stories are not at all inspirational since they lack any real meat. They were more like a set of facts which may have sometimes been derived from a really good story, but left me thinking "So what?". The stories are too simple.

The "science" consists of a quick statistic. E.g., "The productivity of employees who score high in dedication to their career is 33 percent less likely to be affected by the quality of their managers than is the production of low-dedicated employees."

So, in short, the points are trivial, the stories don't work, and the so-called science is presented in a way that is generally useless. Very simplistic.

We all want to be successful. We all want it to be simple. Are there secrets we can get from a book? Hurrah, talk about easy!

This book combines those human desires with another one - the need for silly trivia. This bathroom-perfect-book has 100 different bizarre studies, telling you that 64% of people who felt they failed felt it was someone else's fault. 70% of successful long term managers focus on an even keel in daily life, rather than focussing on highs and lows. 90% of people feel they'll someday hit their career goals.

Each of the studies is accompanied by a little blurb that sometimes relates to the study - and sometimes does not. You also get a short illustrative story featuring a person who comes to an insight about their job or life.

None of the items here are life changing ideas. They're all common sense, and some of them are quite silly. You learn that "it might get worse before it gets better" - so stick with it. On the other hand, maybe you should reevaluate your goals and decide on new, better ones. Who knows which is the better course. After all, "your goals are a living thing." Be sure to "find your own path" - but "don't want everything" - just the things that you should want. "Write down the directions" too - in case someone else is following along behind you and wants to follow your path, towards your goal. Which is changing.

I don't mean to tease this book too much. I did enjoy it. It had nice little thoughts in it that certainly were good to think about. They are like zen koans, things to think about and ponder. Maybe each morning you wake up you could flip the book to a random page, read its message, and then see how it applies to your life. Like "exercise and eat right". That sounds like a good one that could apply to every day. So could "hope springs eternal".

Then again, you could go to a website that gives you a random feel-good idea each day, and accomplish pretty much the same thing. So it all depends if you have a computer screen in your bathroom, or if this book satisfies that need for you.

When asked the question, "How do you define success and what are you doing to achieve it?" most people respond with with a blank stare or a shrug and an "I don't know."

Well, here is the book for those who are struggling to define their ideal of success and anxious to chart a course to achieve that success. David Niven's book is a collection of research, anecdotes, and life changing stories of real people who will inspire, but more importantly, give you concrete tools to help you lay the foundation for achieving your own personal success.

100 Simple Secrets reads like an instructional manual, in which you can turn directly to the chapters most relevant for you and read a short, inspiring piece pertaining to your area of concern. I recommend reading an excerpt of this book every morning to charge your brain and get you ready for the day ahead. It's the perfect companion to breakfast or your first cup of coffee.

The top three lessons I gleaned from this book are found in the chapters, "It's Not How Hard You Try," "Be an Expert," and "Only You Can Say if This Is a World You Can Succeed In." I particularly enjoyed these chapters because I was trying to relate these three lessons to someone who was seeking my advice. Now I have a book and specific chapters to which I can steer them.

The chapters are brief and can be read quickly, making this a very efficient investment of time. A chapter a day will keep you moving toward your goals in both your personal and business life. I highly recommend this for your self help section of your personal library.