The Monk who sold his Ferrari

The Monk who sold his Ferrari is a book written as a fable.. What that implies is that the story is just a story written to inspire or impart wisdom to the reader.

The book written by Robin Sharma is a self help book based on the story of a Rich, Successful Trial Lawyer who gains the world but lost his soul, his health, passion and flair even for doing the things that used to excite him.

We are told of how he slumps in the court room; is taken to the hospital, recovers, quits his practice as a Lawyer after a sterling career, shut out all his former associates, sells all his prized possessions including his Ferrari and then travels to the East in search of a meaning for his life.

His meeting with Sages changed his life so much and based on a promise he made to the Yogi who taught him the principles, he decided to come see his former associate who happens to be our narrator. 

The story of his transformation is shared and the principles taught too.

Now.. 

Chapter one

The Wakeup Call

The first chapter opens with a scene where a Julian Mantle, a topnotch trial Lawyer who was at the peak of his career suddenly collapsed right in the middle of a courtroom. He was quickly rushed to an hospital where he was later said to have recovered.

John, our narrator now explains his relationship with Julian Mantle and how they've worked together for about 17 years on several cases in the same firm.

Julian Mantle is our Joe Flom. A distinguished Lawyer making more than enough from his sterling legal career. He was also a workaholic who worked long hours to achieve his desired success. As an outlier, he believed in hardwork, had the privilege of being brought up by a father who was a Judge and a Grandfather who was a prominent Senator in his days. That is eventually displayed in how he finds it easy to communicate with people of authority later in the book.

With more wins in the court room came more assignments that needed more time to prepare. Julian was never resting, never relaxing. He was gunning for success before but now, he was past that stage and was beyond into gunning for emptiness which eventually enveloped him and made him miserable.

Not only was he now looking older than his age but he was also loosing his focus, his passion, his enthusiasm and his health. All seemed to be wrong except with the fact that he had a lot of unneeded materials things. 

His relationships started failing. His marriage failed, his relationship with his Dad failed. He lost his passion for his job and his loss of focus was visible in the court room where he once shone brilliantly.

We are told that Julian's troubles were deeper than the ills of his work ethics, it was something more spiritual. And contrary to what you might want to believe, there was actually a time when he was propelled by a vision of himself as force for good, someone who could help correct the ills of the society using his skills. He was genuinely in love with his profession and had the passion for it. 

It wasn't that he didn't start it out right, it was that something went wrong along the way.

And now, the heart attack that sent him to the ICU was also also gonna be leading him to take the decision to heal from the inside.

My Personal Notes for Chapter 1.

A lot of what was explained in the book Outliers is correct. Opportunities come to the rightly placed, the rightly schooled and the rightly raised. Also, your generation has a lot to do with who you turn out to be and what you turn out to do

2. Success is not final. As young ones, it is easy for us to fantasize about the kind of life that Julian had.. Everything he wanted or desired he could afford. A good house, a nice car, shiny stuffs and a good stream of income that sets your financial freedom in place.

We tend to believe that our lives will take on more meaning if we are able to achieve all that. 

We tend to wrongly place our future joy in the solace of things we will acquire. 

We tend to misunderstand and mistake career success and material possessions for the ultimate purpose of our existence.

3. Julian was someone who cared about others too. 

Caring about others is never a replacement for caring about yourself. 

Remember to take care of yourself while taking care of others.

And finally, learn when to stop.