Customer Reviews

The Lazy Way to Success: How to Do Nothing and Accomplish Everything

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The author of this book was apparently the founder of two highly successful companies. I think the secret to his success is hatching schemes like getting people to plop down $30 for a book telling people that they can be "lazy" and have everything they've ever dreamed of. The problem is the book goes on to ramble about hippie pseudo-metaphysics for 200 pages but never really gives any advice whatsoever other than "do what you love and success will follow." Closely related to that theme is "if you are doing what you love, you are actually being lazy even if you work 16 hours a day, because you are not really working." I have heard that advice six thousand times before. A major flaw in this argument is that every job has a lot of unpleasant routine work, and this philopophy of only doing what you love accounts for many of the bankrupt musicians, writers, and people perpetually starting their own businesses. Furthermore, I was hoping to learn how to find more efficient, effective ways to accomplish the same amount of work -- instead all I got was essentially advice saying "you should find more effective ways to accomplish tasks" without any direction on how to do so. To add insult to injury, this guy used the hippie-aesthetic from his youth to talk about how making money is nature's way of saying that you're zen is on the right cosmic track. If that isn't an encapsulation of the Yuppie justifications of that generation and their failed ideals, I don't know what is. And then the plug for the Maharishi - jeez, even the Beatles ended up rejecting that guy as a fraud. The plusses of this book - nice cartoons, easy to read, and mildly inspirational for me to find more effective ways to get things done. But come to think of it, I was already inspired to do that before I read this -- why else would have I bought it?

I invited Fred Grazton on my radio show to talk about his book. When it arrived it, the first thing I noticed was how different it is from the many books I receive as a radio show host.

First of all, it's a beautiful book, a high-quality coffee table-type book.

Secondly, the flow of the text and illustrations is gorgeous. I don't know how he and his editor managed it, but this book doesn't seem to contain any fluff or distractions or extraneous text. I had the feeling that every word was just right. It drew me in, kept me entertained, and challenged some of my long-held notions.

I thoroughly enjoyed the book and the opportunity to interview Fred about it. (You can listen to the interview if you'd like). It's purely delightful, and has some very relevant applications not just to work, but to what's going on in the world today in terms of terrorism, Katrina, etc. I highly recommend it!

Can you think of a more compelling book title than this? How about the subtitle: How to do nothing and accomplish anything? Pretty strong stuff.

The author has built two multimillion dollar businesses, and brings that credibility to the table, but insists that he is lazy. Here are his three major premises:

* Success is inversely proportional to hard work.
* People who espouse the virtues of hard work publicly are doing a grave disservice to humanity because hard work is, in fact, counterproductive to success.
* The impulse to find ways of avoiding work drives all of civilization
* The deepest, most profound, most complete spiritual experience you can have is based on doing nothing. Absolutely nothing.

This book is irreverent (if you haven't figured that out yet), fun to read, full of great illustrations, and correct. It is the size of a coffee table book, and comes in at 215 pages. Buy yourself a copy for a great read and for a chance to re-examine some of your beliefs and principles. Read it and then put it on your coffee table or in your office. I guarantee with this title, it will stimulate conversation.

Fred's book is a much needed antidote to the crazy work 'ethic' that permeates most materialistic cultures today.
A feliticious combination of imagery and text, the design of the book makes abundantly clear the importance of having an aim in life, turning work into fun, making passionate commitments and trusting the inner compass to discover one's unique calling and happiness.
Personally the book is motivating me to transcend my own conditioning of doing 'busy work' as proof of my 'worth', and to have more time and space for contemplation of Life's depths.

The Lazy Way To Success: How To Do Nothing And Accomplish Everything, is a uniquely insightful self-help book, illustrated with humorous caricatures, and which presents a very strong message -- frantically working yourself to fragments is not the way to success and happiness. Instead, self-improvement and self-enhancement arises from using our mind, from choosing carefully the work that needs to be done, from seeking solutions at a subtler level than the problem, and from avoiding the insanity of unnecessary work at all costs. Featuring a wisdom that is reminiscent of (and in some ways similar to) Taoism, The Lazy Way To Success is a very highly recommended self-help guide.

This book was exhilarating! It explained that success comes from within, not from struggling with the world. This book explains how to find success by finding the source of infinite creativity and intelligence within you. When I finally found something I loved and was good at, I was so much more successful than when I tried to follow other people's ideas of how to succeed. And because I loved what I was doing and was good at it, it was easy!

Loved this book. Illustrations are world class, the content even better.
If I had to recommend just one book on doing less and accomplishing more to make money, this would be the one! Fred Gratzon clearly recognizes that success requires more than money alone. Gratzon obviously has been there, and realizes that success to reach the target sometimes requires pulling back the arrow first, in order to launch it effective and accurately forward. This is a book that I intend to keep and discuss with my grandchildren.

I found this book to be a treat to read. It was simple yet thought provoking and it was fun to read. The illustrations were cool too and helped to keep the book fun. I took my time reading the book because it had so much delightful information that can be so easily understood that it could be easily and quickly skipped over and missed. Sometimes we need reminders and a new way of looking at life and success and how it is supposed to be fun and flow. This book reminded me of that and gave me some new ideas. As I read this book it calmed me down, reminding me that success comes naturally as a result of keeping ourselves happy and simplifying life's tasks. It is a must have to any book collection. Plus I was happy to see that the author personally signed my copy- Thank You Mr. Gratzon.

This book is an interesting book as well as a fun read. He has some unusual ideas that you may find useful in your own life.

Lazy Way to Success provides a new, refreshing approach to accomplishment. I found Fred's views and insights very helpful. The principles really opened my eyes as to what creates success and happiness. His views fly in the face of conventional wisdom and are like nothing I've read in any self-help/success books. When I ordered the E-Book version, I also received many free additions, such as audio interviews. Fred has also responded consistently to questions about this book and has given me advice over the years.