Aspire: Discovering Your Purpose Through the Power of Words
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Product Description
An practiced recognizable for his uncovering the hidden, and regularly secret meaning of words, Kevin Hall now shares his wisdom with us all. In Wish! he teaches readers to know what words mean in their purest sense and unlock their importance as they renovate a thoughtful new vocabulary.
As Stephen R. Covey so perfectly elucidates in his foreword, “this masterfully written book will help you know that words have an inherent power, a force capable of lighting one′s paths and horizons. Used correctly and positively, words are the first building blocks for success and inner peace. Used incorrectly and negatively, they are capable of undermining even the best of intentions. This is right in business, in personal relationships, and every additional walk of life.”
By focusing on eleven words-one per chapter–Wish! shows how to use these words as building blocks for success and inner peace. The words, from the very familiar to the very unusual, will become touchstones in personal development and in business.
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The subtitle for this book is “Learning Your Purpose Through the Power of Words”–but this book is less a mode of personal discovery than a collection of inspirational (but not permanently inspiring) tales of the leader and his fabulous friends and associates–with occasional word etymologies thrown in. That sounds so snippy, and I don’t mean it to be. So I’ll start over.
Kevin Hall likes words and has dedicated his life to teasing out their meanings within the context of life purpose. He is a coach and his style is rousingly motivational and corporate in scenery. I don’t really respond to this particular style, which focuses on a win/lose mentality and can be to some extent simplistic and cookie-cutter. The majority of the book is spent on 11 words (such as integrity and namaste) and their meanings. Each chapter includes an “Afternoons with Arthur” section, Arthur being a retired professor whose like of language and intense erudition continues unabated. Hall visits him in the senior citizen home for weekly instruction and discussion.
What I like: each chapter includes a section where the reader thinks about a name who exemplifies the particular characteristic and writes their name down. The leader directs the reader to tell that person about the word and why the person exemplifies the quality in your opinion. I reflect any opportunity (and now I’ll permanently see “port” in the word, thanks to this book) to tell a name something right and positive about him or herself is a excellent thing. In addition, this contrivance gets the reader putting the information in the book within the context of his or her life and associations.
It also is a way to spread the word about the book, but then…that’s what a lot of the book is about–innovatively serving yourself and others simultaneously. And that’s not a terrible message, either.
I’ve already said what I don’t like–so I’ll end by adage that I reflect people who are business managers and others looking to motivate people in a work environment will find this book to their liking, but it wasn’t my cup of tea.
Reader’s Rating: 3 / 5
This is an entertaining book that covers much of the same ground that Dyer, Covey, et al do. This one is a small different, but, in that the leader focuses on the origin of certain words. That’s right up my alley so I particularly loved learning more about the history of language and the evolution of words.
The leader also includes inspirational tales about remarkable individuals. I had to disagree, but, with his inclusion of Meg Whitman and Lance Armstrong. I got the feeling he included Whitman because they’re both Republicans and worked on McCain’s battle. She’s hardly a hero to everyone, and many blame her for ruining eBay (and now running for the opportunity to ruin California). As for Armstrong, he’s a shark and doesn’t have much credibility with me.
In any event, the book can be simplistic at times and it covers well-worn ground, but I establish the etymology sub-theme to be fascinating.
Reader’s Rating: 4 / 5
Everything in this book is sugar-covered and positive, so I feel a bit contrarian giving it only three stars. Maybe it’s all the hype on the dust jacket, maybe it’s the heavy-handed anecdotes. In any event, after finishing the book, I don’t feel like I came away with much new information that will stick.
I loved reading the book — it was a quick, simple read with appealing discussions of word origins. Each of the eleven chapters is organized around a particular word — such as pathfinder, passion, coach, and empathy. I loved learning the origin and meaning of a few words I knew small about. “Namaste” is the name of an Indian grocery down the street from my home. I thought the word meant, roughly, “hello.” Thanks to Kevin Hall, now I know that it really means “I salute the divine within you; I salute your god-agreed gifts.” That’s a pretty powerful way to greet a name. “Genshai” is another appealing word that Hall explores. It means “you should never treat another person in a way that makes them feel tiny.” Nor should you treat yourself in belittling way, Hall emphasizes. Each chapter ends with a synopsis of the word and a space for the reader to identify a name who exemplifies that word, a name who has been an influence or “fantastic” in the reader’s life. It’s inspirational, but not particularly groundbreaking.
The book is filled with anecdotes — I did find the anecdotes to be a small heavy-handed at times. There were so many examples of individuals who overcame serious misfortune to achieve fantastic business or more regularly, powerful success. If you like the Lance Armstrong tale (which gets ample press time here), you’ll find many variations on that theme in Wish. The anecdotes are rich with individuals with apparent physical limitations — blindness, for example. There’s the tale of a blind lengthy runner and a tale about a blind trumpet player. Childhood misfortune. There’s a tale about the CEO of IHOP/Applebees, who was born into a family tree of violence and non-stop fighting, and the tale of a fantastic artist who, as a child, saw his step-father kill his mother and then himself. There is a tale about a paraplegic who can get dressed quicker than anyone around, a woman who cannot walk but swims in the ocean on a near-daily basis, channel swimmers. wheelchair racers — many, many tales of folks who are positive and successful (and seem to be doing particularly well on the language circuit) in spite of serious physical limitations. There is the tale of a bloated baby with the artificial heart valve, born to Olympic-class athletes. Though these tales have the potential to be awe-inspiring, they’re open with such small detail and explanation that they seem more sensationalistic than realistic. There’s not much explanation of how exactly these folks overcame misfortune and the struggle or path that entailed — the tales are offered more as a snapshot — here’s a picture of a name with physical limitations but look, here’s what that person has achieved.
Overall, the concept is appealing. Words are powerful, and thinking about the words we use can cause us to choose them more carefully. Concepts such as humility and integrity and passion are certainly worth thinking about — and Hall provides the readers with tools and thoughts to get that thought process going. I just wish he would have gone a small deeper with the analysis and provided more detail and balance with the anecdotes.
Reader’s Rating: 3 / 5
I need to preface my review by adage that I was not looking for a self-help book. The subtitle “learning your purpose through the power of words” for some reason gave me the impression that this book would be on writing and using words effectively. As you can imagine, I was a bit dismayed when I establish that was not at all the intention of Wish. I chose to read it anyway and I did find inspiration from it. Not inspiration to write–though the chapter about the word “ollin” (going all in) did make me reflect if I was really giving my all or not to my book–but really I was inspired to be a better person. To have more empathy, more humility, more integrity in everything I do. I especially loved the tales of the men and women who overcame such incredible odds and went on to lead rich, fulfilling lives. And that’s what’s vital–at least to me–I don’t care about apt rich or legendary–but I want to have a fulfilling life that makes a difference to at least one person. Wish has inspired me to do that. My one criticism–I would have liked some more creative exercises at the end of each chapter as a replacement for of the same one each time.
Reader’s Rating: 4 / 5
The most valuable part of this book for me was where the leader argues that ancient saw notwithstanding, sticks and stones do break bones and words do hurt the heart. In a a society where cruelty is considered comic, never is this more right. Touted as a book that helps one learn their purpose through the power of words, this book features eleven chapters each featuring a different word. If you work looking for NLP scripts, mantras or spells, you won’t find it here. What you will find is a slickly produced combination of vignettes and weekend with Morrie-like visits between the leader and a retired linguistics professor. Each chapter ends with the leader’s two page reflections and an exercise where one is to identify a person exhibiting the featured word, writing his name in a box then reaching the out to the theme land educating him on the meaning of the word.
Perhpas I have soured on the self-help genre, but this book just fell flat for me. This is not to say that there is no value to it..it can be inspiring in parts and some of the word history parts are reasonably appealing. What is most disappointing is that leader fails to show the reader how to apply these qualities into their unromantic, non-epic day to day lives. There are glimpses of the possibilities, particularly where the leader describes how most sales people will tell a prospect about the benefits of the product. When he demonstrates the power of really showing the person the benefits, the book comes to life.
The small vignettes failed to go me. Surely John Assaref has another tale additional than the one where years after doing a vision board, he realizes he manifested the exact same house as appeared on the board. That tale has been told sooooooo many times. The tales are also a bit heavy on physically disabled people performing powerful feats. One wheelchair bound individual trekked five hundred miles across a desert as a publicity stunt to jump start a career in public language. The leader expresses astonishment that one of his gorgeous powerful daughters and her handsome powerful spouse lost at the genetic veer of chance and produced a child with a hole in her heart. He expresses pride and astonishment at the fact that the mother rushed to the side of her post op baby with like and determination on her face even though the child was a bloated hideous version of her previous self. Note to hideous, unfit people, thank God for plastic surgeons and personal trainers and check out the chapter on education. He tells the tale of holocaust survivor Viktor Frankel who had a visa to place his country pre-Nazi invasion. His father leaves a brick on the table from a synagogue with the commandment honor thy father and mother. So Frankel goes to the concentration camp with his father and the father dies in his arms. A demonstration of sacrifice, yes. But the question remains unasked about what kind of parent would guilt his kid into an nearly certain death sentence as a replacement for of urging him to be free? Perhaps I am too cynical, but most of the tales failed to go me.
Nicely written and attractively produced, this is the type of book one slips in with a gift for a college or high school grad. I am sure that many people will delight in the tales and find inspiration. But, if you are seeking a practical plot to apply success techniques, you will not find it here.
Reader’s Rating: 3 / 5