10 Lessons from the Road
- Alastair Humpreys
A coffee table book with snippets to kick start your day
For those that haven’t read my little story on how I stumbled upon Alastair Humphreys, check out the review on his book ‘Moods of Future Joy.
Over the years I expanded the type of content I was getting from Alastair. It started with his round the world cycling books, moved onto his blog, then his documentaries, and then returned to any of his other books he had written.
One thing that was really fortunate was that he was roughly 3-4 years ahead of me in life plans and milestones. So when he wrote a book or a blog it was almost like looking ahead of the life decisions I needed to make. This was amazing as it was like having a slightly older mentor who had very similar interests and life ambitions as me. His blog during it’s early years was an emotional plea to action, to motivate you to do more. Little snippets on things you could do and practical advice on how to do it. These were so good to read as they didn’t require much time commitment but had maximum impact of outcome. The 10 lessons from the road was like the blog – but on steroids!
Overview:
At the point of release Alastair had ridden around the world on his bike over 4 years, and had given lots of talks talking of his adventure. This book are his ‘straight-to-the-point’, motivational nuggets whose aim is to make you believe you can do some epic global expedition. He aims to dispel any of the myths that might surround doing a big project and break down these barriers. The format of the book is very easy to read, with not a lot of text that can be consumed in a short period. You can revisit it many times and the aim is that you can apply these lessons to whatever struggle you are going through.
Initial Impression:
I absolutely loved this book from page 1 and couldn’t stop turning it’s pages all the way to the end. I have kept my initial impression section as I use this in my other reviews, however it’s a little redundant with such a small book. This book captures you straight away and doesn’t let go. Given the experience of Alastair in these expeditions and his world travel, he has such authority to be giving this advice, so you believe everything he suggests you do as genuinely possible.
As a rare treat, and to do things slightly different, I won’t list what I loved about this book as it is probably already clear it’s all of it. But instead list down the 10 lessons, and right at the bottom a PDF a sample of the book itself. So if you don’t want to buy it you can still enjoy it for FREE!
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You want to do what?
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Just do it
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Quitting in Not an Option (But failure is)
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We walk alone
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A bad day is a good day
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be brutally honest with yourself
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What do you really want
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Think like a goldfish
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Shed a load, Hit the Road
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The World is a good place
tenlessonssample.pdf (alastairhumphreys.com)
Conclusion:
This book still told a story, it had a beginning, middle and an end. It built up as you went through the lessons and managed to tackle each fear someone may have of doing a trip at the time it would crop up in the thought process of doing a trip. You can read one lesson and get a big boost to tackle your day, or all 10 in a row and think you can fly to the moon.
I’ve bought this book for friends, recommended it to many, and absolutely love how helpful the advice is.
It’s normally thrown in as part of a bundle from Alastair, and if not it is super cheap. Give it a crack, I’ll be surprised if anybody isn’t impressed.
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Head over to Amazon UK for the latest offers and to purchase this book.
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