Customer Reviews

A Message from Garcia: Yes, You Can Succeed

5 star:		(22)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I would recommend this book for two reasons. One, I am responsible for motivating a team of employees to make my company a success, and Garcia offers plenty of business related insights that can help me. I can't wait to share the four success strategies with my people. The second reason I like this book is more personal: I don't want to be stuck here in middle-management-limbo all my career. My goal is to eventually become a CEO, I have an idea for my own company and this book is giving me the personal strength and the professional techniques that can help me visualize achieving that dream. A Message From Garcia offers some very powerful advice on setting goals and meeting them. I have read many books on success and this one takes the genre to a new level. Kudos, Garcia! This is the holiday gift I am giving to my entire staff and my boss. And his website, successcompass.com is amazing...check it out!

What can I say about this book? I loved it! In less than a year I will have to face the "real world" armed only with a bachelor's degree and my own resourcefulness. A Message From Garcia makes it clear that I have everything within me that I need not only to find a job but to build a life that I love. You wouldn't believe how glad I was to receive this message. So many of my classmates are frightened about the economy and discouraged about their job prospects. Sometimes I get discouraged, too, listening to their negativity. I guess I am still nervous but now I realize that achieving my dreams is a realistic goal if I'm willing to work hard, think creatively and not give up. I don't usually write reviews like this, but I felt compelled to say that this book is definitely worth reading. It gave me hope at a time that I really need it.

There is a story in this book that really touched me. It's the story of Charles Garcia's little daughter Olivia, who was having trouble making friends at school. Her Dad gave her a "magic bracelet" and told her to wear it when she introduced herself to new people. Guess what? It worked-the first day Olivia tried it, she came home and reported that she made three new friends! Of course the "magic" in the bracelet was only in the little girl's mind - but it was, nevertheless, real. Being a teacher for more than 20 years, I've seen how easily children grasp the concept of belief, while adults continue to find reasons and make excuses for why things won't work. This story beautifully conveys the fact that we only need self-confidence and the ability to believe in ourself in order to succeed, whatever our goals may be. It's a theme that Garcia repeats throughout the book, illustrated by many real-life stories of people who pursued their dreams and caught them. Read this book if you need a little extra push - you will come away from it convinced that you can do great things.

Why don't more people have a go-for-it attitude? As a high school guidance counselor, I often see students who feel hopeless, trapped in circumstances they've either created or fallen into. They don't know that all they need to "be all they can be" (to borrow a phrase from the army) is initiative and determination. You don't have to resign yourself to your fate. A Message From Garcia conveys this idea in much more inspiring language than I just did. It's a powerful concept: life as a masterpiece you can shape and mold in any way you desire. I think it's a true concept-but when you look around at most people's lives you realize it's also the best-kept secret in the Universe. I wish more people would read Garcia's book and really take its words to heart.

Good book. Great message. Lots of useful information and good stories. As a person who has never quite "fit in," I liked Garcia's emphasis on forging your own path in life. Sometimes people don't fall into predictable categories and need to think creatively about how to get from Point A (where they are) to Point B (where they want to be). "Message" offers reassurance that these "outside the box" thinkers are often the ones who find the greatest success. I especially enjoyed the SuccessCompass.com -- free stuff!

The recipe for success isn't so tough to figure out, writes financial entrepreneur Charles Patrick Garcia. Start with a heaping helping of passion, then mix in equal parts hard work, integrity, belief and positive attitude. The quality of the final dish resides in the details, of course, so the former military intelligence officer outlines the actions you must take to succeed and the mindset you need to adopt. Garcia's easily digested writing style, peppered with plenty of real-world examples from the military, politics and business, makes this motivational book a rewarding repast. We suggests Garcia's success manual to managers looking for a refresher course in staying focused, inspired and on task.

here is a light read with a heavy dose of motivation! if you are down about having resigned yourself to a life of mediocrity, mr. garcia has crafted just the pep talk you need. replete with apt anecdotes and real-life success stories, the book inspires you to greatness and a life of deliberate action.

"yes, you can succeed" fortuitously appeared in my life just as i was reevaluating my future. i gave a copy of the book to a friend wrestling with similar issues. if you are ready to start turning your dreams into reality, you should get yourself a copy, as well.

This book does a good job helping you prioritize your relationship between work, success, family and personal growth, with clear & concrete advice. Like most books of this type, it suffers from the vacuum effect--advice as textbook. But it is inspirational and helpful. Coming from a completely different angle, I love how author Bruce Stockler discusses the way he shifted his priorities--work, marriage, kids--in "I Sleep At Red Lights: A True Story of Life After Triplets." Very inspirational, but a humorous memoir, not a self-help book.

I have never been a big fan of motivational books, because they seem so "pie in the sky" if you know what I mean. But a friend recommended this one to me and told me it was different. He was right. It was easy to read and in fact I didn't want to put it down. But what I really liked was the "how to" part of the book. After all, it's no good reading about other people's success stories if you don't know how to make your own. Also, something I thought was interesting is that the author has a website called Success Compass which helps you set goals and then e-mails you a reminder several times a day. I guess the real key to success is not allowing yourself to forget what you want, and this website doesn't let you forget. Hmmmmm . . . electronic nagging as the key to success! ;-) Hey, whatever works!

I just completed reading A Message from Garcia on a recent trip to Chicago to see my son graduate from Navy Basic Training at Great Lakes. I intend to give him the book to read when he comes home for the holidays, as it contains an extensive amount of practical advice on living life to the fullest and how to be successful along the way. It provides many first hand experiences from Charles that will help others learn how to succeed. If you incorporate only 10% of the ideas that are given, you are guaranteed to improve your life.

Congratulations Charles, and I will await the sequel.