This week we are discussing The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari by Robin Sharma.
The podcast series will be rotating through three arms of development as follows:
Developing your vision How do you find out what it is you want in life?
Cultivating self-discipline What skills, practices and habits do I need to cultivate on a daily basis to get there?
Cultivating wealth and abundance What resources do I need to get where I am going? How do I build those resources in your life?
Robin Sharma is a lawyer come self-development coach. He has authored a number of books on self-development and coaching. I highly recommend checking all of them out.
In the Monk Who Sold His Ferrari, the secrets to the art of timeless radiant living are hidden in a fable.
“You are sitting in the most magnificent garden you have ever seen. The garden is filled with flowers. Feel you have all the time in the world to indulge in the beauty of the garden.
tHere is a towering light house. 9 ft tall 900 pound sumo wrestler comes out of a red door. He has a pink cable protecting his private parts. He finds a shiny gold stop watch which someone had left behind years earlier.
Slips on it and falls to the ground unconscious. He is stirred by fragrance of beautiful roses.
He looks to the left and sees a long winding path covered in diamonds. He is compelled to take the path and this path leads him to everlasting joy and eternal happiness”
The symbols in the fable represent a principle in the art of living as follows:
- The most magnificent garden – represents your mind. You have to stand guard at the entrance of your garden and only let the best quality material in. You must weed your garden of the negative thoughts and water the positive thoughts daily.
- The lighthouse – is about achievement and setting goals. When we set goals, put them to paper and then focus on them we are flagging the goal as a priority for our subconscious and unconscious mind to focus on. writing down your goals in a dream book, creating SMART goals (being specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and time-bound), and setting goals for each segment of your life are all suggested.
- Japanese Sumo Wrestler – represents the art of Kaizen, meaning constant and never ending improvement. He mentions the 10 principles of radiant living (see below)
- The pink cable – represents self-discipline. This idea that each wire in the cable is weak by itself but when layered one on top of the other, the cable becomes as strong as steel. This is the symbol of daily practice.
- The Golden Stop Watch – represents your most precious commodity. Time. You cannot ever get time back so make the most of your time, prioritise, time manage, focus only on what matters, disregard all else.
- The Fresh Yellow Rose – represents service to others. Sharma mentions a Chinese proverb “a little bit of fragrance always clings to the hand that gives you roses” meaning when you improve the lives of others you indirectly elevate your own life in the process.
- A long windy path studded with millions of tiny diamonds – represents “Living in the now”. The most important moment is now. Learn to live and savour it accordingly. Happiness is a journey, not a destination. Live for today. There will never be another one quite like it.
