BOOK REVIEW: THINK STRAIGHT BY DARIUS FOROUX
By: B Kumar
Tags: Procrastination, Productivity Tips, Growth Mindset

The Book “Think Straight” is written by DARIUS FOROUX.

Following is the review of the book where I have taken the key points from the book and putting them here.

Book Review: Think Straight, Change Your Thoughts; Change Your Lives

1. You can control your thoughts and thoughts are what your life made of. You can have good thoughts and direct your life accordingly or have bad thoughts, curse yourself and others and make your life miserable.

2. If you got in a problem then rather finding a solution you start feeling low, blaming yourself. In such situations, you’re confused, depressed and have no clarity to what to do next. But, you have already a better solution around if you just stop worrying and focus your mind on getting rid of the mess.

3. Your mind is far better in finding solutions than you think. You just need to put it in work and stop worrying about those useless thoughts that fill your mind when you get in the problem.

4. How do you get those worthless thoughts that made you crazy or feeling low? What is the source of them? The thoughts that put you in stress, confusion and in a situation where you lose clarity then you must immediately erase them from your mind. Finally, our life is made of our thoughts.

5. Focus on things which you can control. Worrying about things that you don’t control is stressful and is a waste of time.

6. We always worry about our past which is gone and we can’t change anything there. Should we waste our time on it? We can only learn from the mistakes we committed in the past that could change our present and future for good if we can use that learning.

7. Don’t have any thoughts in your mind that don’t serve any good purpose. They only confuse you and make your life stressful. Always have purposeful thinking. Have big thoughts that could help you in improving your knowledge, skills and help you grow in your career.

8. The simple way to eliminate bad thoughts in your life; whenever something comes in your mind and try to rob your concentration, ask just one thing” Is that worth your time?”

9. Take time in making decisions. If you’re quick in it then probably you’re not thinking. You need to give some time, think deeply and consider all the aspects before making any decisions.

10. We have limited time here and we can’t say “Yes” to everything that is scheduled months away from now. You have to carefully plan your time and anything that does not worth your attention must be dropped and replaced by something valuable for you and others.

11. When you work on to improve your skills, knowledge or anything important you don’t get better in it immediately. You get better in stages. On the path to improvement, you face a wall where it seems what you’re trying is worthless. You feel depressed. You want to quit. But, this is an indication that you are improving and coming close to the next level of proficiency. When you experience such instance, just relax and let your mind recover and be ready for new triumph.

12. Start writing what you do. Journaling is a great practice followed by many successful people. It is a readymade guide to look at your achievements, progress and mistakes that can motivate you and let you know how you can avoid those mistakes in your future endeavors.

13. Don’t worry about money. If you don’t have it now, you can earn it. You can manage money efficiently if you follow these simple rules. Don’t spend more than you earn. Don’t buy things you don’t need. Invest your money in the good assets that appreciate over time. Follow a budget plan that controls your spending. Have an emergency fund that could last for a minimum of six months. If you follow these simple rules, you can do better than other people, and your money will start working for you.

14. Whatever you do, try to make it the best with all your efforts. Don’t deliver anything that is mediocre and is not as promised. Check all your details inspect all the aspects before submitting it for other’s use. You should follow this basic principle “ If you don’t like the product and could use it then how can you think others would use it and appreciate you”.

15. You can never go up if you don’t take any action. Planning is important but it will not yield anything if it is not supported by the action. Action with good planning can help you achieve whatever you want. A good plan without action is nothing but daydreaming.

16. We always like to impress others. We want to live someone else life. We have goals that we only want to achieve because we like to be praised. We want to buy that big house or car because we want to impress our colleagues. But, does it make sense or do we really need to do this. It is our life and we have to live it. Live it happily. Do the things that make you cheerful. We have one and only one life.

17. You can’t concentrate on many things at a time. If you try to do this you would not only waste your time but also you would lose focus on things you’re good at. There is a very popular Russian proverb on it” If you try to catch two rabbits at a time, you don’t catch either one”.

18. Always have good thoughts on developing your career, skills, solving problems that matter, and having beautiful ideas that could change your life. It is your thoughts that make your life.

19. No matter what your circumstances are, you must always be peaceful and calm. Avoid all the thoughts that can disturb you. Start using your good thoughts to shape a beautiful world around you where you have to live and prosper.

20. We should always work to make this world a better place for self and others. We all can do this if we have total control over our mind and thoughts. Get up and get moving with thoughts that can shape the world for better.

Some of the popular books mentioned in the book;

Mastery by Robert Greene

Meditation by Marcus Aurelius

The article was originally published @ Mr. Money Frugal