“Aspire” is an unusual and inspirational self-help book. Fundamentally, the book is abound purpose in life, through eleven words. Learn about the Using the power of words in this article.
Kevin Hall is a business consultant, speaker, and coach. He was a partner in Franklin Ques and is credited with the slogan for the 2002 Olympic Winter Games, “Ignite the Fire Within.” His work has been featured in media like the Forbes magazine and the Food network.
Aspire: Discovering your purpose through the power of words
The book Aspire: Discovering your purpose through the power of words, has an unusual organization for a self-help book that I think works very well. It is structured around eleven words, each with an uplifting meaning. They are:
1) Ghenshai – “not treating anyone, including yourself, small”
2) Pathfinder – “leader”;
3) Namaste – “respecting each person’s authenticity and uniqueness”;
4) Passion – “suffering for what you value”;
5) Sapere Vedere – “visioning”:
6) Humility – “being teachable”;
7) Inspire – “breathing life into”;
8) Empathy – “walking the path of another”;
9) Coach – “mentoring another”;
10) Ollin – “total commitment”
11) Integrity – “being congruent”.
The great promise of the book is that it will help the reader discover his purpose with these 11 words. Even though the book doesn’t fulfill that promise very well it does a very good job in helping the reader finding meaning in daily life and changing behaviour.
The word Ghenshai
Personally, I adopted the word Ghenshai (“not treating anyone, including yourself, small”) in my daily life. It wasn’t an easy task. However, I think it had a very positive effect in my professional life. I am a Senior Lecturer and by adopting Ghenshai, I improved the quality of my interactions with students and colleagues. On one hand, I think I treat better students, by trying to bring to surface their better qualities. On the other hand, I express more clearly my opposition towards certain ideas and behaviors.
In my personal life, the book has had an impact as well. But I noticed though, how it isn’t easy to apply the word genshai on those moments it is most needed. But it is worth a try since the word prevents problems further along the road.
Should the reader buy the book? Well, this is one my favorite books ever and I already offered several copies to various friends. The reactions were quite varied and very subjective. Some people said it was one the best books of their lives whereas others said it was OK. Finally, some people didn’t finished the book and even considered it boring.
My advice is that after reading the book, one should choose the word that more appeals to the reader. Then, you should apply that word in your life as much as you can. After a while you are ready to see if the results are good for the reader.
Perhaps some readers have the temptation of choosing more than one word to apply to their life. Well, I strongly suggest not to do that. Why? Focus is important in our life so if we choose two or more words we won’t really apply them to our daily routine. It is better to apply one word for a while and then, to choose a second word.
My final suggestion is to take a walk on the wild side and take a chance with this book. 🙂 Words like “Namaste” and “Integrity” have more power than we normally think, particularly if we take the commitment of living for a while by what they mean. Are you ready to live by the word integrity ?
Ivo Dias de Sousa is a Portuguese writer born in Mozambique. Ivo is also a Professor at Universidade Aberta, Portugal, giving courses on information management. Currently, Ivo is interested in using his experience on information management to construct applications (see http://windit-app.com/ ) for smartphones, in collaboration with others. Ivo holds a Master in Statistics and Information Management (Universidade Nova de Lisboa) and a Ph.D. in Information Management (Universidade Aberta). Amongst his main interests are information management, psychology of luck and literature.
