Taking complex psychological concepts and turning them into easily understood bites of practical and usable techniques is one of the strengths of Neil Pasricha, The New York Times million-copy bestselling author. In his latest book, You Are Awesome: How to Navigate Change, Wrestle with Failure, and Live an Intentional Life (part of his Book of Awesome Series), Pasricha shows use a path forward and a way to achieve resiliency—the ability to accept and learn from failure.
“Some people think my concepts are simple,” says Pasricha. “That’s fine. They are. I take big concepts and hundreds of scientific studies and my work is to distill, distill, distill until it is in its simplest and most actionable form. Each of my recent books takes years of reading hundreds of books and research studies, about three-to-six months to write, and about ten deep edits back and forth over about two years.”
Because his concepts are so simple, Pasricha says some people might initially reject them but he developed them as a way to work through his own double whammy Within a short period of time his wife left him as well.
“The reason I began writing my blog, 1000 Awesome Things, and my first book, The Book of Awesome, is because I felt terrible,” he says about those times. “I define resilience as the ability to see that thin sliver of light right between the door and the frame right after you hear the latch click.”
Though he seems amazingly upbeat, Pasricha doesn’t see himself as an optimist, just a person who is resilient enough to face life’s crisis. It’s a lesson, he says, that may seem obvious, but we often overlook. In psychological terms some of his techniques would be called cognitive reframing, the ability to view and experience events, ideas, concepts and emotion to find more positive alternatives. Or as Pasricha puts it in his book, “Don’t magnify. Don’t Biggify. Don’t amplify.” By building resiliency and the ability to overcome, it breaks a vicious cycle that holds us back.
Any last words of advice I ask him.
“Life is short,” says Pasricha. “Time is short. And the master attention manipulators of cell phones, news media, and big tech have deep claws. If you managed to momentarily break free and read my book, or listen to my podcast, or read any book for that matter, then you broke out of the matrix. Congrats.”
ifyougo:
When: Wednesday, November 13, 2019 at 7:00 PM
Where: Anderson’s Bookshop La Grange, 26 S. La Grange Rd, La Grange, IL
Cost: This event is free and open to the public. To join the signing line, please purchase the author’s latest book, You are Awesome, from Anderson’s Bookshop. To purchase please stop into or call Anderson’s Bookshop La Grange (708) 582-6353.
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