Overview

The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari: A Fable About Fulfilling Your Dreams & Reaching Your
Destiny , by Robin Sharma, is an interesting book — as the subtitle suggests, it’s a fable, and it’s
one that will certainly make you give some thought to your life, your goals, your dreams and
how your daily habits help you reach those dreams. In other words, right up the Zen Habits alley.

I can’t give this book my highest rating (see Conclusion for the rating) for several reasons I
discuss below, but I did highly enjoy its discussion of a number of concepts. The author is a
leadership expert and author, and he fills the book with a combination of life strategies. Many of
these are useful, but whether they work in combination is the real question.

The Fable
The book takes the form of a fable about Julian Mantle, a high-profile attorney with a crazy
schedule and a set of priorities that center around money, power and prestige. As such, Mantle
represents the values of our society. The story is told from the perspective of one of his
associates, who admires Mantle’s great success and aspires to be like him.

But when Mantle has a heart attack, he drops out of the game and disappears. He sells all his
possessions and goes to India to seek a more meaningful existence. When he comes back, he’s a
changed man. Really, it’s as if he’s a completely different person. He’s learned from some
mythical Himalayan gurus who give him mystical and yet practical advice, which he shares with
his former associate (and the reader).

The Concepts
The core of the book is the Seven Virtues of Enlightened Learning, which Mantle reveals one by
one. Now, although the book presents them as actual Virtues learned from Himalayan gurus, it’s
important to remember as you read that these are made up by the author — actually, he pulled
them from other sources and put them together:

1. master your mind

2. follow your purpose
3. practice kaizen
4. live with discipline
5. respect your time
6. selflessly serve others
7. embrace the present

Each of these Virtues is discussed in some detail in separate chapters, each of them with a
number of concepts and habits to develop. Most of them are very inspiring and potentially very
useful. After reading the book, I incorporated several of them into my life, including the ones
that involve positive thinking, visualizing goals and more. Again, these are not new concepts,
and have been discussed in many other books, but the book presents a great collection of useful
concepts that you might want to try out.

The Problem
After reading the book, I began to outline each of the Seven Virtues, because I was confused
about all the action steps the book recommends taking. The truth is, each of the Seven Virtues
encompasses a bunch of daily habits, and incorporating all of them into your life would be
cumbersome. And some of them seem to me to be conflicting.

As an example of the large number of habits in every virtue, here are the ones I have listed for
the first virtue, Master your mind:

 Habit: Find positive in every circumstance; don’t judge events as “good” or “bad”, but
experience them, celebrate them and learn from them.
 Habit: The heart of the rose: find a silent place and a fresh rose. Stare at the heart of the
rose, the inner petals, concentrating on the folds of the flower, the texture, etc … push
away other thoughts that come to you. Start with 5 minutes a day, stretch it to 20. It will
be your oasis of peace.
 Habit: 10 minutes of reflection on your day, and how to improve your next day.
 Habit: Opposition thinking – take every negative thought that comes into your mind and
turn it into a positive one. First, be aware of your thoughts. Second, appreciate that as
easily as negative thoughts enter, they can be replaced with positive ones. So think of the
opposite of the negative ones. Instead of being gloomy, concentrate on being happy and
energetic.
 Habit: Secret of the lake. Take a few deep breaths and relax. Then envision your dreams
becoming a reality. Picture vivid images of what you want to become. Then they will
become reality.

And that’s just with the first virtue. Each one has a number of habits to develop, and they’re not
listed out like I’ve done here. If you tried to incorporate all of the habits in the book, your day
would be very busy indeed. Also, I would recommend only trying to adopt one at a time — more
than that, and your habit change will be hard to sustain.

Conclusion
Although I can’t give The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari my highest rating, because of the
problem listed above, I still enjoyed it a lot and was highly inspired by it.

I give this book a buy recommendation for anyone who is interested in incorporating routines
and habits that can transform their lives, help them achieve their dreams, calm them and make
them more happy. Yes, it’s a jumble of too many ideas, but you can pick and choose, and the
ideas contained within are potentially very powerful. Plus, it’s a fun and easy read.

If you’re interested, check it out here: The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari: A Fable About
Fulfilling Your Dreams & Reaching Your Destiny .
“The monk who sold his Ferrari” is a tale, which provides an approach to living a simple life
with greater balance, strength, courage and abundance of joy. The fable format is a refreshing
change from the tiresome listing of all the good things we could do for ourselves but do not. It
makes the message being conveyed linger in our minds. Although most of the principles dealt
with can be found in countless other books on self-help and spirituality, there is a difference in
the way of Sharma has put things together.

This well crafted story by Robin S Sharma is the tale of Julian Mantle, a lawyer brought face to
face with a spiritual crisis. Julian’s spark of life begins to flicker. He embarks on a life-changing
odyssey and discovers the ancient culture of India. During this journey he learns the value time
as the most important commodity and how to cherish relationships, develop joyful thoughts and
live fully, one day at a time.

The eleven chapters are meticulously planned and flow seamlessly from one to the next. Julian
Mantle, a very successful lawyer was the epitome of success. He had achieved everything most
of us could ever want: professional success with an seven figure income, a grand mansion in a
neighborhood inhabited by celebrities, a private jet, a summer home on a tropical island and his
prized possession a shiny red Ferrari parked in the center of his driveway. Suddenly he has to
come terms with the unexpected effects of his unbalanced lifestyle.

John, who is a friend as well as co-worker of Julian, narrates the story. He begins by describing
Julian’s flamboyant lifestyle, his exaggerated courtroom theatrics, which regularly made the
front pages of newspapers and his late night visits to the city’s finest restaurants with sexy young
models.
Julian Mantle, the great lawyer collapses in the courtroom, sweating and shivering. His obsession
with work has caused this heart attack. The last few years Julian had worked day and night
without caring about his mental and physical health. That helped him become a very rich and
successful lawyer but took a toll on his health and mental state. At fifty-three he looked seventy
and had lost his sense of humor. Julian refused to meet any of his friends and colleagues at the
hospital. One fine day he quit his law firm and took off without saying where he was headed.

Three years passed without any news from Julian. One day he paid a visit to his friend and
former colleague John, who was now a cynical older lawyer. But Julian, in the past three years,
had been miraculously transformed into a healthy man with physical vitality and spiritual
strength.

Following his heart attack Julian Mantle had sold all his property (Yes, his Ferrari too) and left
for India. The author tells us about Julian’s Indian odyssey, how he met the sages of Sivana who
had a life changing effect on him. Julian Mantle shares his story of transformation, his secrets of
a happy and fulfilling life with his friend John. Julian describes Sivana- a small place located in
the Himalayas, the land of rose covered huts, placid blue waters with white lotuses floating,
youth and vitality, beautiful glowing faces, fresh and exotic fruits. He tells John about the sages
of Sivana who knew all secrets of how to live life happily and how to fulfill one’s dreams and
reach one’s destiny.
Julian relates his experiences with yogi Raman the leader of the sages of Sivana and the person
who taught Julian his secrets of a happy and fulfilling life. He narrates to John the fable that
contained the seven virtues for a life abundant with inner peace, joy and a wealth of spiritual
gifts. He tells John the techniques that he learned from yogi Raman on how to master our minds
with simple techniques like “the heart of rose technique” and “the secret of lake technique”. He
tells John how to cultivate the mind and how to use setbacks for expanding knowledge of the
self.

He talks about setting and following our own purpose and teaches John the ancient art of self-
leadership with techniques such as “do the things you fear” and “the 5 step method for attaining
goals”. He waxes eloquent about the value of self-discipline and respect for time. He describes
techniques such as “the ancient rule of 20” and “the vow of silence”. He teaches how to focus on
the priorities and thereby maintain a balance and simplify life. He gives examples that prove that
willpower is the essential virtue of a fully actualized life.

Julian teaches John the virtue of selflessness in serving others. He asks John to embrace the
present and live in the present - “Now”, never to sacrifice happiness for achievements and to
savor the journey of life and live each day as his last one. At the end he asks John to spread these
secrets for the benefit of other people. Embracing John like the brother he never had, Julian
leaves.

For the reader who might be in the rat race for material success and money, this book might be
food for thought. But the message is a trifle too clichéd and the lectures too pedantic for the
reader who is more or less conversant with the principles and insights garnered by Julian Mantle
from the sages of Sivana. The presentation in the form of a story redeems the book to some
extent. The book might perhaps be more satisfactory for readers who are unfamiliar with and
hungry for oriental wisdom. All in all, a book of wisdom.