Aleksandr E. Kheyson | Heart & Mind of a Leader
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Book Review #6 - How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big: Kind of the Story of My Life by Scott Adams

1/21/2018

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Review written by Alex E Kheyson

Many of us look at failure as something very negative and something to avoid at all costs. However, that is not how failure is described in Scott Adams's book - How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big: Kind of the Story of My Life. Author shares his story and unique relationship with failure, where it is not something that is to be avoided, instead failure is welcomed and embraced. Instead of complaining how bad everything is and how unfair the life is, we are invited on the journey through Scott Adams's life, where he tells his life story and how he failed over and over again, learned something new from each failure, acquired new experience, new knowledge, and kept on going, continue to fail until he became a very successful cartoonist and creator of comic strip - Dilbert. 

Some of the key points and questions answered in this book are:
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  • How your mind is viewed as the "moist computer" that we can program vs. viewing it as magic
  • How the acquisition of each new skill doubles our odds of success
  • Six filters for truth - the system of sorting truth from fiction
  • How level of our success is dependent on the level of our passion
  • How to view failure as manageable resource
  • The differences between Goals and Systems - Why we should have a system as supposed to a goal
  • Wishing vs. Deciding - "Successful don't wish for success, they decide to pursue it"
  • How to define and manage our personal level of energy
  • Simplifiers vs. Optimizers - The advantages of simplification
  • The power of day dreaming
  • The habit of success - strategy for success in life
  • The power of smiling
  • And, much, much more

I highly recommend this book as I believe that is helps to see failure from the different angle that many of us use to seeing it from, and instead of giving up, keep on going and finding new opportunities to learn from and live life with positive and optimistic mindset

Check out this book on Amazon by clicking here
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Audio Book Review #5 - Secrets of the Millionaire Mind in Turbulent Times by T. Harv Eker

9/30/2017

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Review written by Alex E Kheyson

Secrets of the Millionaire Mind in Turbulent Time is an awesome resource for anyone who is interested in getting ahead in life, find motivation to keep going, keep trying, making a lot of money, becoming rich, while helping other people during the process to find their motivation and drive in life.

​This audio book has inspired me to look for opportunities and ways to follow my own passion in life vs. continuing to live someone else's passions and dreams. It inspired me to start my own online business while working full time, something that I previously thought was just an unattainable dream. However, anything is possible if we simply believe in it and believe in ourselves. 

​T. Harv Eker has started with nothing, and is now a multimillionaire. He found a way to recognize and change his personal money 'blueprint', and is now teaching other people, just like you and me, how we can do the same. 

​Some of the key points and questions answered in this audio book are:

  • How to identify and revise your own money blueprint
  • How to program millionaire's mindset
  • How to succeed personally, professionally, and economically in turbulent times
  • How 'rich-minded' people think
  • The price for fear
  • How to choose and create your own economy regardless what is happening in the world
  • Helping to determine if you are a part of a problem or a part of a solution
  • What is the definition of fear
  • Creating your own unique selling proposition
  • Learning to market yourself
  • How to determine how good you are at what you do
  • Understanding energy as a driving force behind everything
  • Goal setting the right way
  • How to act in spite of fear vs. trying to get rid of fear
  • What are your mind's money files and where did they came from
  • Warrior - Whatever It Takes Mindset

​These and many other potentially 'life-changing' points are discussed by T. Harv Eker in his awesome book - The Secrets of the Millionaire Mind in Turbulent Times. I highly recommend this audio book to anyone, regardless where you may be in life today. It is not enough to read it ones, this book is the one that you would read over and over again, and it never gets old or less interesting. 

​Check out this book on Amazon by clicking here
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Book Review #4 - The 4-Hour Workweek: Escape 9-5. Live Anywhere. And Join the New Rich by Timothy Ferriss

9/10/2017

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Book Written by: Timothy Ferriss
​Review Written by: Alex E Kheyson

This book has truly inspired me to look for ways to optimize and simplify my file, both professionally and personally, and helped to answer questions such as:

  • How to create a freedom of time and place
  • How decisions me make change when retirement is not an option
  • How to see and take advantage of the opportunities other people choose to ignore
  • How are the ‘new rich’ and how they operate
  • How to do the minimum necessary for the maximum result
  • Understanding our ability of choice and how it can impact our lives
  • Being the challenger the status quo
  • How money alone is not the only solution
  • The difference between ‘relative’ and ‘absolute’ income
  • How fear of unknown affects our decision making
  • Cost of inaction
  • The different of being efficient vs. being effective
  • Ways to find inefficiencies in order to eliminate them
  • How to define a “Not To Do” List
  • The “art of refusing”
  • How to be a ‘big fish’ in a small pond vs. ‘small fish’ in a big pond


In addition to addressing questions/points mentioned above, this book opens our eyes to the fact that working 9-5, 40+ hours each week, is not the only option that we have. We can create the life that we want to live and do the things that we love and passionate about if we just pause and re-evaluate what we do, and how we do it. Then use our analysis to create a lifestyle working smart, not hard, and enjoy newly discovered free time to life the life of our dreams

Check out this book on Amazon by clicking here

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Book Review #3: The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business by Charles Duhigg

6/30/2017

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Book written by Charles Duhigg
​Review written by Alex Kheyson

What an awesome book which explains habits, their development, formation, and replacement, written in a very engaging format filled with in-depth research and real life examples.
​

As writer points out, “All of our life is a mass of habits” where “more than 40% of actions people perform are habits”. Since this is the case, would it be helpful for us to know and understand how habits form, how we can manage them, and how we an overwrite them with new, possibly better or different habits, replacing old and bad habits? That is exactly what you will learn about in this great book.

Some of the points covered in the book are:
  • How habits form on the neurological level
  • Understanding habits of societies and successful organizations
  • How habits can be changed, once we understand how they work
  • The Habit Loop – How habits work (3-step loop)
  • How habits are formed
  • How our brain reacts when new habit emerges
  • Delicate nature of habits
  • How habits can be changed
  • Habits and how they shape our lives
  • How to create new habits – “How new habits can be cultivated and grown?”
  • Habit and “neurological cravings”

These and many other points and topics are discussed in great detail in this very engaging, interesting, and easy to read book. I am on my third round of reading it, and every time I do, I learn something new.
​

I highly recommend this book to everyone who is interested to understand how habits work, and what we can do to change our habits to help us live happier and productive lives

​Check out this book on Amazon by clicking here

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Book Review #2: Never Split the Difference: Negotiating as if Your Life Depended on it by Chris Voss

6/29/2017

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Book written by Chriss Voss
​Review written by Alex Kheyson

This is by far one of the most interesting books that I've read about negotiating. There are so many books, articles, and so on about negotiating techniques, talking about different ways we can improve our negotiating methods and learn how to communicate more effectively, however, most of the techniques discussed in other books and materials are all theory and have not been extensively tested in real life. Never Split the Difference by Chris Voss is not like any other book out there, all negotiating techniques discussed in this book have been used in real life while negotiating in some of the toughest life or death situations, where peoples' lives depended on the successful outcome of negotiation examples presented in a very interesting story form used throughout this highly engaging book.

​If you interested to learn some of the best negotiating techniques which can be used in all aspects of our lives in different environments, both personal and professional, while learning very cool tricks that you can use to win in tough conversations and situations, then this book is a must read for you

I highly recommend this book to everyone. I only read it three times from the beginning to the end

​Some of the key points covered in the book are:
  • How to influence an emotional mind
  • Concept of using calibrated questions
  • How to separate the person from the problem
  • How to get access to the mind of another person - the concept of Tactical Empathy
  • How to negotiate your child's bedtime or higher salary
  • Mirroring negotiation technique
  • How to listen well
  • Voice as a most powerful tool in any negotiation
  • How smile in your voice helps increase your own agility
  • Negotiation Mindset - key to a successful negotiation
  • The concept of Tactical Empathy
  • Labeling negotiation technique
  • How to conduct an Accusation Audit 
  • Mastering "No". How "no" alters the negotiation
  • Three kinds of "Yes"
  • "That's Right" is better than a "Yes"
  • How to bend someone else's reality 
  • Creating an illusion of control
  • 7/38/55 Rule
  • These and many other very interesting topics/points are covered in great level of detail in this awesome book

Check out this book on Amazon by clicking here
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Book Review #1: The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck. A counterintuitive approach to living a good life

5/7/2017

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Book written by Mark Manson
​Review written by Alex Kheyson

Before I purchased this book, I was intrigued by its title since it was bold, direct, and obviously, the title that does not give a f*ck if someone gets offended. That was something that made me curious to learn more, since I certainly felt that I was giving too many f*cks about what other people think of me or how they perceive me, and wanted to change that. What a better way to do so, if not reading a book with such an intriguing title.

I’ve never listened to or read anything written by Mark Manson, but I’ve decided to give him a try, and I know that re really wouldn’t give a f*ck whether I did or not, so hey why not. Now, I have to tell you that I’ve listened to this book in the audio format, since they only time I can actually listen to an audio book is when I am sitting in traffic for 2-3 hours each day.

From the first few minutes of listening to the first chapter, I was in love with Mark’s writing. I was sitting in my car laughing at what Mark was writing about picturing myself in the same situation as characters in the book. I am sure people in cars around me were thinking that something was wrong with me, but who gives a f*ck.

This book dives into something so unique, important and under-explored, yet something that we deal with every single day of our lives – making a choice what to care about and value, versus what to let go and move on from. As Mark said in the first chapter – “This book will help you think more clearly what you are choosing to find important and unimportant in life.” We often care way too much about things and situations that do not contribute any value to our lives, yet we continue to hold on to them, subconsciously knowing that we shouldn’t be wasting our time to care what’s holding us back and instead focusing what’s truly important to us and where we should invest time and energy focusing.
This book illustrates and talks about the process of uncovering and prioritizing what’s really important to us and what we should care about in a very interesting story-telling format, and content that is extremely engaging, fun, and full of surprises. Mark’s writing makes us question what is really important in life and how to find balance in everything that we do in our personal and business lives.

I don’t want to give you a summary of this book and ruin the fun of actually reading or listening to this awesome book. But, I do want to share some of the key points and takeaways that I have noted while reading it. Curious is my takeaways will align with what you find important as you read it?

Key points/takeaways:

“Fixation on the positive only highlights what we lack”
“Not giving a f*ck about feeling bad is OK”
“The acceptance of the negative experience is a positive experience”
“The avoidance of pain is giving too many f*cks about pain”
“We are giving too many f*cks where f*cks are not to be given”
What does not giving a f*ck really means?
“We are always choosing what we are giving f*cks about”
“Can’t win if you don’t play”
“Life choices is like a game of poker – person who wins is the one who makes best choices with cards they are dealt”
Working on being less wrong every day versus striving to reach perfection
“We assume we know how the story ends”
“Once we create meanings, we hold on to them even if they are wrong – be careful what you believe”
“Openness to being wrong is the driver of progress”
“We pass on opportunities in life because we afraid to challenge our values”
“Don’t be special, don’t be unique, giving up the sense of entitlement”
“Magnitude of success depends on how many times you had failed at something”
“If we are unwilling to fail, then we are unwilling to succeed”
“Pain is part of the growth and change process”
“Absolute freedom by itself means nothing”
“We are valued by what or who we choose to reject”
“Without conflict, there cannot be trust”
“Conflict is necessary for a healthy relationship”
“We are often happier with less not more”
“Commitment gives you freedom and filter out the distractions”
“What is your legacy? – The only value that matters”
“Entitlement isolates us from reality”
 
I am happy to share the takeaways/key points above with you that I’ve noted by reading this book. I am sure as you read the book you will have your own takeaways. I highly recommend this book to anyone, and know that you will read it again and again, I certainly have. 

​Check out this book on Amazon by clicking here

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