Customer Reviews

Become Who You Were Born to Be: We All Have a Gift. . . . Have You Discovered Yours?

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There are hundreds of Self-Help books out there. Some are useful. This is not one of them. The book is structured around five supposedly sequential parts: Part I Discover it [your gift], Part II Develop it, etc... But, there is little substance to it. The book is nearly 300 pages long, but each page tells the same thing: find out what you want to do, and do it. It shares tens of biographical examples that have the same pattern: An individual overcame the odds of a miserable childhood to become most successful in life through determination. The profiled characters include Lance Armstrong, Abraham Lincoln, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Mother Theresa, and Mahatma Gandhi. That's inspirational but not informational.

I judge a self-help book by its usefulness. Does the author convey practical insights beyond the self-evident? Is the advice original? (Or, has it been stated many times before). Has this book changed my perspective, attitude, and knowledge? The response is no.

Let me recommend other books instead. Unlike Souza who keeps you guessing, Marcus Buckingham allows you to readily identify your talents in "Now Discover Your Strength." While Souza keeps you dreaming, Stephen Covey tells you concretely how to give your life purpose in "The Seven Habits of Effective People."

Okay, give the one dissenter below some credit for his book bash. I can kind of see his point, especially with the title being what it is. The title is a little lofty, but hey, the author can't share his knowledge unless he sells books. And his knowledge - the stuff after the cheesy cover - is really, really good. David Ogilvy once said, "Great ideas tend to be simple ideas." And this book is not rocket science. It's a lot of insightful common sense, gleaned from many many interviews with a lot of really really successful people, then laid out for the reader in a digestible, useful way. Like the best self-help books (I think Rich Dad, Poor Dad is a good example), Brian simply provides you with a different and yet totally logical way to approach something that we're all so close to - in this case, what we do for a living. He helps you step back, clear your mind a bit, examine what it is you're doing, what you happen to enjoy doing, what you happen to be good at, and then approach it with a fresh perspective. The examples he gives and the people who illustrate his ideas are dead-on. Hell, listening to Lance Armstrong talk about all the sports he SUCKED at (and how badly he sucked at them) before he got into cycling, is reason enough to re-evaluate what you do for a living. This book is good, sound, fundamental advice that a person can actually read and then ACT ON. Granted, the world still needs ditch diggers and cornea-removers, but there's more than enough room for most of us to figure out what our ideal role in life is, and then do it. Give it to a college kid. Give it to a high school kid. Hell, give it to your uncle who's 45 and has been schlepping HP toner cartridges for 20 years. Buy it, read it, then give it away.

Unlike any book in its class, Become Who You Where Born To Be does something all the other books fail to do....it gives you a step-by-step process that guides you to finding your personal passion. The inspirational stories throughout the book reinforce the notion you can do anything you put your mind to. Sometimes our society forgets just how fortunate we are. After reading this book, you too may unlock a passion you never knew existed.

I can honestly say that I've dozens of self-improvement/self-help books over the years and BECOME WHO YOU WERE BORN TO BE IS HEAD AND SHOULDERS ABOVE THE REST! The author takes a refreshingly new and honest approach to helping people discover their gifts, purpose, and passion in life. This is probably the only self-improvement book that actually reads like a novel. I literally couldn't put it down and read it cover to cover in only 3 days! I highly recommend you see for yourself. You won't be dissappointed.

I found Brian Souza's book to be very well-organized, inspirational and full of concrete examples. I know that others have a different orientation in terms of wanting or needing a stronger practical focus. However, I also know that many people need inspiration and a vision that will give them the drive to move toward worthwhile goals. I know this because I am a personal and professional coach and help a lot of people precisely with these types of issues.

I imagine almost everyone who is reading this has heard of the right and left brain split. The left brain is more linear and the right brain more specialized in synthetic type thought. What I find in career counseling and finding a path is that most people neglect the first part, which is a right hemisphere process that looks inward for values and a vision. This is precisely what this book focuses on. There are many books out there on "how to do" the left hemisphere tactical part of executing on a vision. My guess is this book was published because it meets a need in the market for more of this type of information.

Another thing I really enjoyed about this title was that it sticks to a simple formula. Just like in music or sports, mastering fundamentals is the key to high performance. The book also takes the important key concepts and illustrates them through interesting vignettes from the lives of high achievers such as Oprah and Lance Armstrong. This brings the concepts alive and seems to have a lot of value. Culturally, we have been telling stories to each other for 7,500 years and its probably the most natural way for concepts and principles to land deeply.

I get the sense that this author believes in what he says and most likely embodies the principles he is talking about. Some of the more useful topics covered are finding your passion within i.e. finding a personally meaningful vision, looking at the habits and patterns you might have that are self defeating, how to develop your abilities via self discipline, appreciating what you have and your unique gifts and exercising your capacities in the world. He also talks about giving and how you will get what you want in life by having something worthwhile to give that is connected to a meaningful purpose.

While I agree that means are as important than ends, you can't hit a target you can't see or that is fuzzy. This book will help you to get clear and give you a roadmap if you feel stuck. It will help you to find a way to combine your gifts and passions in a way that will meet the needs of others without abandoning your true values.

Another added value of this text is that it is riddled with excellent quotes, which you can use as affirmations. Personally, I think this alone makes the book worth its price. A few examples are:

"We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, this, is not an act, but a habit." Aristotle

"The best way to find yourself, is to lose yourself in service to others."

Mahatma Gandhi

"We are always getting ready to live, but never living."

Ralph Waldo Emerson

"If one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with success unexpected in common hours." Henry David Thoreau

This book is also filled with many powerful inquiries that will lead you to a deeper knowledge of yourself, such as:

How do you want to be remembered?

How can you use your gift - today - to make a positive difference in someone's life?

How can you set up your rules for success so that you feel like a winner everyday?

I have some recommendations for more left hemisphered linear people who feel they don't need inspiration or this type of approach. Zen and the Art of Making a Living: A Practical Guide to Creative Career Design (Arkana) provides both perspectives, What Color Is Your Parachute Workbook: How to Create a Picture of Your Ideal Job or Next Career and How You Do Anything Is How You Do Everything: A Workbook. Something even more skewed toward a linear approach is Goals : Setting And Achieving Them On Schedule, See You at the Top: 25th Anniversary Edition and Secrets of the Millionaire Mind: Mastering the Inner Game of Wealth. I also like The Beginner's Guide to Finding Your Perfect Job: How to Discover Your Real Life's Work although this is strongly right brain focused with lots of visualization type exercises. You can also see more recommendation on my listmania lists under career and business categories.

Finally, I agree with the other reviewer that Stephen Covey's materials and Now, Discover Your Strengths are excellent resources. I feel they complement rather than replace this particular book and I respect that everyone is different and has different needs. I'm glad everyone's opinion is counted on Amazon and I appreciate the credibility and opinions of other reviewers who I sometimes agree with and other times do not.

When my boyfriend told me I had to read Become Who You Were Born to Be because it was exactly what I needed, I thought he had gone off the deep end! He knows I never read those cheesy self-help books. After all, I'm more of a romance novel kinda gal. But after a few days his persistance wore me down and I started reading it. My advice to you is this - whether you typically read this "kind of book" or not - you must read this book to believe it. It will really get your mind thinking of all the options and opportunities available in this world. I especially liked chapter 3 - "Are Your Life Patterns Holding You Hostage?"

Yeah the ideas might be same that one might have read in so many other books, but then success principles are are not infinite. This book is very well written and presented. Each chapter is full of examples and life stories of successful people that lived the message. I highly recommend the book for its life changing messages and the way its conveyed.

Become Who You Were Born to Be is a truly life-changing and inspirational journey of discovery. The author, Brian Souza tells his real life success story and that of many other inspirational "greats" such as Oprah Winfrey, Lance Armstrong, Sylvester Stallone, Garth Brooks, Amy Tan, and many others. The stories are a touching and empowering look into the lives of truly courageous people on their journey to discovering their life's purpose and how they achieved their goals and used their gift to create extraordinary lives.

Brian Souza's book is a sincere look at discovering your gift by realizing your passion and purpose in life. Brian gives you the skills to figure out what your gift is and how your outlook governs your outcome and that through controlling your thoughts you can control your destiny.

Brian reminds us that dreams are long term, and there are no shortcuts to success, but goals are milestones to our dreams. "Goals are like road signs. They tell us which direction we're heading and how long it should take to get there. To arrive at our destination we must not only be swept up with the excitement of our giant dreams but also committed to the tiny, repetitive intermediate tasks and goals that will lead to its fruition." Patience and perseverance are the keys to discovering your dreams, always remembering that what we focus on tends to happen.

He talks about the 5 steps to achieving our goals: First discovering your gift, then developing your gift, next finding an appreciation for your gift, followed by using your gift, and ultimately giving your gift away.

He tackles how to discover your gift, achieve your goals, face your fears, follow your personal compass by using your values to guide you, and discovering your true happiness. This life is about dreaming, challenging ourselves, and continuing to grow.

This book is very well organized with each chapter being followed with "words of wisdom", an inspiration to remember, and a question to contemplate.

I found this book to be truly empowering, a must read. It is a wonderful guide and the author Brian Souza takes you on a sincere journey into understanding how your habits and perspective can control your destiny. It is by understanding the importance of knowing your life's purpose and sharing your gift with others that Brian Souza touches your heart and opens your mind to the power of positive thinking and possibility. After reading this book you will have all the tools you need to embrace your full potential.

Ashley Ayres

Director of New Business Development for betterSelf Magazine

I enjoy reading motivational titles, and this is one that I enjoyed quite a bit... Become Who You Were Born to Be: We All Have a Gift. . . . Have You Discovered Yours? by Brian Souza. If you've read more than a couple of titles on life improvement, you will have seen much of what's in here. But the packaging and style is excellent, and readers new to the genre will benefit tremendously.

Contents:

Part 1 - Discover It: How This Book Can Change Your Life - My Story; Find the Fire Within; Are Your Life Patterns Holding You Hostage?; How to Give Meaning and Purpose to Your Life; Have You Been Listening to the Voice?; Discover the True You You Never Knew; What a Face-Lift Can't Hide; Discover Your Gift

Part 2 - Develop It: What Really Separates Winners from Losers; The Secret of Top Achievers; The Unglamourous Side of Becoming a Celebrity; Are Your Dreams on Life Support?; Avoid the Goal-Setting Trap; Develop Your Gift

Part 3 - Appreciate It: These Are Extraordinary Times; Has America Lost Its Way?; A Little Perspective; Avoid Premature Aging with One Word; Appreciate Your Gift

Part 4 - Use It: Learning to Deal with Change; For Better or For Worse; Confronting Life's Struggles; How to Face Your Fears; How You Can Succeed by Failing; Get Your Groove Back; Use Your Gift

Part 5 - Give It Away: Follow Your Compass; The Essence of Success; The Secret to Happiness, Joy, and Peace of Mind; Are We Here to Serve or to Be Served?; Give Your Gift Away

Bibliography

Souza looks at the "gift" process as a five step approach. First you discover your gift, then you work at developing it. Appreciating what you have to offer and actually using it comes next, followed by giving yourself away through the use of your gift. Each chapter deals with a discrete component of the process, and involves looking at the life story of someone who has excelled in that area. The chapter wraps up with an applicable quote, the person you should remember for inspiration, and questions to contemplate in relation to what you've just read. With a clear and engaging writing style, Souza pulls the reader in and the meat of the content becomes something that just makes sense.

What I appreciated most about the style of his book was the biographies of the particular individuals. Granted, in all the examples the outcomes are what you'd expect with hard work and perseverance. But I didn't get the feeling that I was reading "revisionist history" that so often happens when you read the life stories of well-known individuals. Souza makes it clear that many "overnight sensations" and people who have everything had plenty of hard times where it would have been very easy to give up (and I'm sure many others have). Sylvester Stallone and Kurt Warner are but two of many that overcame stacked odds and still succeeded. Seeing how others have struggled helps put your own situation in perspective.

This is one of those books that I'll be re-reading a number of times. No matter how many times you see this material, you are always adding new experiences to your application of it. A very enjoyable read, and one that pays dividends...

Brian Souza notes in his excellent book, BECOME WHO YOU

WERE BORN TO BE, notes that:

Just as musicians must make music, poets must write, and

artists must paint, we all have a unique gift designed for a

specific vocation that will bring both meaning and purpose

to our lives. True joy and happiness will continue to elude

us until we use that gift to become who we were born to be.

Souza then describes how he found this unique gift for

himself and, in doing so, shows how others can do the same.

He also presents countless real-life examples from such famed

successes as Lance Armstrong, Amy Tang, Richard Branson.

I gained so many valuable ideas from reading BECOME WHO YOU WERE

BORN TO BE that I'm going to reread it in the near future, if

just to remind me about the "no regrets" strategy that Souza uses

to make life's daily decisions:

By analyzing each decision closely and making a conscious

choice about which path we believe will lead us to long-term

happiness, we'll better our odds of achieving it. If you think

that at some point in the future you might regret a decision

you're thinking about making, choose a different path. You'll

find that this strategy is also helpful in breaking out of the

short-timer's mentality of doing only what's easiest today at

the expense of tomorrow. When you start with the end in mind,

you better your chances of actually liking where you're going to

end up.

And then there was this invaluable tidbit:

Imagine that every day is a holiday. But instead of presents, you

give a friendly smile to a passerby, you give the right of way to the

guy at the stop sign, you give a compliment to a stranger, you give

a meal to a homeless person, you rejoice in someone else's

success. It doesn't take much to brighten someone's day. All that

you give will be returned to you-and then some.

I also liked the many famous and not-so-famous quotes that were

used, along with the "questions to contemplate" that he presented

at the end of each chapter . . . for example:

If you could have any job, what would it be? If you could live anyplace,

were would it be? If you could do anything, what would it be?

My only nitpick with the book was that I think it could have used

a better job of documentation . . . Souza includes an extensive

Bibliography; however, I would have wanted to see reference

to the items he cites in the actual pages of BECOME WHO

YOU WERE BORN TO BE.