BOOK REVIEW: Rhinoceros Success

Okay I get it…KEEP CHARGING!

In Rhinoceros Success, Scott Alexander is a man on a motivational mission. He wants to motivate me (and you) into succeeding and he tells us exactly how that will happen….become a rhinoceros!

I’ve read a lot of motivational, inspirational personal/professional development books so I’m always a little skeptical. I’m always wondering what’s their angle? So my first reaction to Rhinoceros Success was…”Really Scott? A Rhino?!”

I’ve been told to be a tiger, a gazelle, an eagle, and so forth…now I’m suppose to be a rhino. It has always fascinated me how man needs an animal to be that image of motivation…but I digress.

So my initial reaction – skepticism. However, Rhinoceros Success has some real nuggets of truth. I have always admired the guy (or gal) who just jumps out there and says “No, this is how you do it!” That level of confidence is inspiring in and of itself. Do I want that type of enthusiasm? ABSOLUTELY! So I set my skepticism aside and charged forward through the rest of the book. Here are some of the things I found.

1. KEEP CHARGING! – Whatever you do, do it with energy and focus. In Rhinoceros Success, Scott refers to this age-old concept as charging:

Rhinoceroses charge with singleness of purpose. All of your energies are directed toward the attainment of your one burning desire. The reason you are so dangerous is because once you set yourself charging at something, nothing can distract you. You never charge two things at once. You concentrate on getting your first target and then you fix your concentration on your next goal. Never spread yourself thin.

This is great advice, but I’m not a one dimensional being, my life is multifaceted. Right?!

Scott Alexander gets that,too.

2. BALANCE COMES TO ALL “REAL” RHINOS – Rhinoceros Success asserts that the intensity of the rhinoceros is all encompassing. Scott address the six major areas of your life.

There are six major areas of your life that will immensely benefit if you go rhino. They are financial, work, family, physical, social, and spiritual. Rhinoceros success can be had in each of these facets of our lives if we become full time rhinoceroses.

Rhinoceros Success then goes on to look at each one of these areas individually. Reading through these facet analyses a couple things really jumped out at me.

From the FINANCIAL chapter:

Money is not the root of all evil; LOVE of money is. You can like money an extreme amount, but never let it become your god. Respect money for all the good it can do.

Scott goes on to show that he’s serious about the good you can do with money.

Always remember though, this (making money) is only a hobby. Don’t let it become your master…In order to avoid getting into this trap, I highly recommend tithing. Give ten percent of all the money you make back to God.

It’s funny but the tithe has been something I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about. I heard Dave Ramsey make the case for “tithing a tenth” on his radio show – The Dave Ramsey Show. But that would make another excellent post so I’ll wait on entering that topic.

From the WORK chapter:

If you are suffering financially, you are probably suffering in your work….Get into something that you can really get your horns into and enjoy…To make money, it is imperative to do something you enjoy; something you are interested in; something that inspires you…Make plans to get into something you really want to do. Do not wait for permission. You will never get it. Especially don’t ask anyone what they think you should do. How would they know?!

Scott goes on to qualify this. He makes the case for seeking advice from rhinos not cows (people who never “charge”). He also talks about being true to who you are:

Be a rhionceros and show your personality….Put some feeling behind your words and show an eagerness to help. You will not only like yourself much more, but you will create a warmer, friendlier, more productive work environment and everyone will love you for that, especially your boss.

There are other insightful points made throughout the chapters covering the areas of life. These are just a few of the things that really grabbed my attention. One other chapter really charged me up – Be Prepared For Rhinoceros Problems. There is some really good, practical advice for dealing with problems in this chapter.

The first step in annihilating your problems is to identify them. Do you know exactly what your problem is? Write it down. Put the problems in writing as if you were explaining it to a friend. This will help you sort out in your mind the real issue. When you know what the real heart of the problem is, ask yourself, “What needs to be done now to solve this problem?” Write down the answer or answers. There is a solution to every problem. Use your rhinoceros imagination!

Scott goes on to provide addition step-by-step ways of overcoming problems. Rhinoceros Success also addressed the different types of problems. Again, a great chapter!

While I’m still a little confused about my animal identity, I certainly get the point of this book and it is certainly worth reading.

One more thing, Rhinoceros Success is only 123 pages and has a fairly large font size. So this book makes a perfect day or weekend read.

KEEP CHARGING!

The Purpose of Goals

It’s that old time of year, time for resolutions, ambitions, goals. Why do we find this necessary? What is it about “making New Year resolutions” or “writing down goals” that makes us feel better about ourselves?

I’m a goal setter, so I’m speaking from experience here. When I lay out my goals for the coming year I believe that I’m focused on my life, that I have some idea what I’ll be doing-accomplishing in the coming year. I’m one of those “5-year, 1-year, 6-month, 1-month” goals kind of guy, so I take this very seriously. I’ve written in greater detail on other blogs about small business and a balance life in which I tie work and goals together and about purposefully considering the coming year. The point in both articles being that approaching goals in a purposeful, systematic way is always best.

But here I want to focus on the why. I think the answer is simple. GOALS CLARIFY PURPOSE.

Fulton Sheen, in The Way to Happiness states:

…there are many who, instead of working toward an ideal, change it, and call it progress…Only when a goal is fixed and definite do we ever have a target and the energy to shoot the arrow.

So goals do matter. We are able to “shoot the arrow” at them. As I cover in the other blog posts mentioned above, the 7 areas need to be considered: Financial, Physical, Personal Development, Family, Spiritual, Social, and Career. Yet all of these have to be focused on the “what”. What ultimately lies behind each goal. For the answer to what let us turn back to Fulton Sheen:

Everything in earth’s geology and everything on the earth’s surface point to a future: the impulse of a river is forward into the sea; the little child tells what he intends to be when he is a man; thoughts fly on wings toward the tomorrow; all these impulses which carry us onward imply a future under God…Perfection is being, not doing; it is not to affect an act but to achieve a character. There is nothing that makes life unhappier than its meaninglessness, and life is devoid of meaning only when it is without purpose. There are tens of thousands of minor purposes, but the one great purpose is the perfection of our character from a moral point of view. Infinite as are the varities of life, who has not found out directly how to make everything converge to the sanctification of his own soul has missed the meaning of life. The Way To Happiness, pg 162-163.

So let the purpose of our goal setting be just that – the converging of all things to the sanctification of our souls.

May you and your family have a happy, healthy, hopeful, and holy New Year!