3 out of 4 stars
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Life is constantly giving us opportunities to meet ‘’unexpected gurus’’ who help us experience more fulfilling lives. And Then I Met Margaret is a non-fiction book by Rob White. This book recounts his personal transformation affected vastly by the people he has met in his life.
In the book’s introduction, Rob gives a list of the self-help celebrities that he has met and interacted with ( Zig Ziglar, Brian Tracy, John Grinder…). He then mentions lessons he learned from these mentors. The book, however, wasn’t about any of these celebrities we know. It is centered on the ordinary people he met in his life; his teachers, cleaners, children and also the perfect strangers. These people taught him lessons that shaped many aspects of his life success. Who do you think has influenced where you are today?
I think this book will go to the top of my favorite non-fiction books. Why? I think Rob’s focus on the lessons he has learned from ‘’unexpected gurus’’ is one of the main reasons. This has taught me to pay attention to just anyone around me. We mostly wait to learn from inspirational speakers, self-help experts, millionaires… and almost ignore the day-to-day life lessons from people we meet. Rob reminds us that anyone under the sun can teach us something regardless their age, race, religion or status. We just have to open our eyes and hearts for life’s unexpected teachers.
My favorite character was Mr. Lampkin. He was a landscaping supervisor in the campus. His focus and passion for maintaining smart plant life on the campus lawns were really admirable. One day a colleague in the landscaping crew made a mistake and trimmed some roses wrongly. He was very upset and just told them a few words that struck them deep.
Little did Rob know that he’ll one day use the same statement (though customized) to make a defensive worker realize his mistake.‘’I have a little trick I like to call, ‘PAY ATTENTION’. I’ve never met anyone who succeeded in life and didn’t pay attention’’.
I really admire Rob’s humility. He gives a lot of credit to every mentor in his life. He gives a full description of how they influenced him whether directly or indirectly, to make pivotal changes in his life. Many people think that if their decisions were quite influenced by others, it’ll mean they are not self-made or smart enough. We all have people that help our journey to success in one way or another. Rob’s gratefulness to these mentors doesn’t change the fact that he was smart to have paid attention and made the right choices. He also exposes ugly truths with brutal honesty and talks about his flaws with confidence. This made his story more authentic and relatable.
I rate this book 3 out of 4 stars. The book was well structured with short chapters starting with a quote of a myth and ending with another contrasting quote that shatters the myth. I would have given it four stars but I noticed too many errors in the book. Spelling mistakes, lack of punctuation marks and duplicated words happened more than once. I’ll recommend this book to anyone who wants to better their lives. I will definitely pay more attention to absorb teachings from my own ‘’unexpected gurus’’.
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And Then I Met Margaret
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