Review of How To Be Successful

[Alida Spies]

[Following is a volunteer review of "How To Be Successful" by M. Curtis McCoy.]

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5 out of 5 stars

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What distinguishes successful people from the millions of people who never achieve success? Are all successful people endowed with special talents or are they just ruthless individuals who don’t care who they hurt or destroy in their rise to the top? M. Curtis McCoy shows a very different picture in his book, How To Be Successful: Think Like A Leader.

The author shares a number of his own experiences, personal as well as business-related, in this book. He was not born with the proverbial silver spoon in his mouth; in fact, he had to battle diabetes and a malignant brain tumor and make many sacrifices during his lifetime. He never lost faith in God and also retained a positive attitude throughout all his trials and tribulations.

McCoy includes interviews with successful people and true stories that cover life lessons applicable to business, relationships, leadership, confidence building and various other topics. Why do people spend countless hours at jobs that they hate? Why are some people not treated with respect by their peers? Do you have dreams, great ideas and goals but do not follow up on them? Read what McCoy and other ordinary people have done to change their lives.

I loved that he talked to a wide variety of people, including a pastor with some criminal tendencies in his younger days, someone who spent four years of his life in jail, a US Navy SEAL and successful business owners. Not all of these people have the same definition of success but they mostly share similar thought processes, habits and approaches. McCoy intersperses these interviews with life lessons of his own, which keeps the book interesting. He does not profess that success comes without sacrifice, or that a minimal investment of time and other resources will magically change one’s life, as so many articles and self-help gurus will have us believe. It is also significant that all the people he interviewed appreciate the same characteristics when choosing friends or business partners. McCoy embraces his dedication to Christianity and makes it part of all aspects of his life.

There is nothing in this book that I did not like. It is realistic, easy to follow and the recommendations are executable. The book was professionally edited and the only “errors” were in the interviews, which were the responses of the interviewees and as such were not counted as errors.

I rate this book 5 out of 5 stars.

The book quotes Bible passages and McCoy and most of the interviewees are dedicated Christians. Non-Christian readers may not like this aspect of the book and especially atheists may be offended by one of the quotes he references.

I think that people who want to change their lives, aspiring entrepreneurs who are aiming to succeed or anybody who feels stuck in their current circumstances will benefit from this book.

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How To Be Successful
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[Tshepsyt]

I've always hated how self-help gurus make it seem like you just wake up and suddenly your life is beautiful and change has happened without any hard choices and sacrifices. If this book isn't one of those, it's definitely up my alley!