The Greatest Salesman In The World by Og Mandino (Book Summary)

If you are expecting some sales techniques here, then sorry to say, but you won’t find them in this video.

The title of the book is a bit misleading.

Instead of directly teaching you how to become a great salesman, the book shares 10 scrolls that help you become a better human being.

Alrighty, so without further, let’s dive right in.

Lesson #1: Every other day is a new beginning and gives you the opportunity to change yourself for the best.

Lot of people don’t realize that they have a free will and that they can choose their habits.

So they go on repeating their days on autopilot mode.

As a result, their days get boring and redundant.

The first scroll reminds us that today is a new beginning.

We don’t have the luxury to waste our time. But we do have the luxury to form new habits.

Every successful person has many good habits. And every failure person has lots of bad habits.

Many people act like a slave to their habits.

Successful people deliberately choose their habits and accumulate them with wisdom.

Whether or not your surrender to your impulses is your choice.

Surrendering to them every time has bad consequences.

For example, if you always give in to the urge of procrastination, you might feel good for a while, but if you keep delaying important tasks, you now have a bad habit that will lead you to failures in life.

Wise men choose to stick with good habits that provide wins for a long period of time.

They are ready to change themselves and drop their bad habits.

You can only replace your habits for the most part. So to drop your bad habits, you have to replace them with the good ones.

People with so many bad habits live their lives in ignorance not knowing that there is greatness hidden within them.

So they stay slave to their habits all their lives.

Wisdom is knowing that time runs very fast, so if we are not aware of our habits, we are probably wasting time.

It’s okay for children to act ignorantly, but as adults, it is our responsibility to seek greatness and grow up.

Lesson #2: Greet every day with love in your heart.

The world is both good and bad. It depends on how you see it.

Many people carry hate in their hearts.

They see every situation with frustration and always find reasons to hate other people. They always complain and therefore they are never happy.

They don’t have any sense of gratitude.

For example, if they see a rich person, they immediately hate them for not helping the poor. And when they see a poor person, they don’t respect them for being poor.

Another example, when they see someone more attractive than them, they feel jealous. And when they see someone less attractive than them, they feel superior and treat them badly. Unattractive people are often bullied because of their looks.

The reason is, again, the same. Many people don’t carry love and gratitude in their hearts.

We can choose love over hatred.

Love can uplift your mood and make you a happier person in general.

Nobody is eternal. You can keep hating the world for not being fair, but it will only hurt you in the end.

When you start loving yourself, you also start loving the world with all its adversities and problems.

The problem is that our minds are more drawn towards evil and despair.

In other words, we are more easily drawn towards darkness instead of light.

Only love and wisdom have the ability to guide you in the right direction.

People today are bitter about other people because they don’t realize how their own bitterness is acting against them. They think that they can gain something by being bitter and taking revenge.

But that’s not how it works.

You actually lose yourself into despair when you hate all mankind for not loving you.

This scroll tells you to love all mankind and not waste a single second hating other humans.

Lesson #3: Persevere until you succeed.

Most things that are worth acquiring in life don’t come easy. They take time.

The third scroll says that the prizes of life are at the end of the journey, not near the beginning.

We never know when we will succeed.

Our best bet is to keep trying and give our best.

Many people give up too early.

What if you give up at the 9th step and the success was hidden right at the next step?

Those who say that “I will persist until I succeed” succeed eventually.

With every failure, they become stronger. And they keep taking the next step after learning from their previous steps.

It’s like building a castle.

You don’t build a castle in just one step. You have to put one brick at a time.

Despair is like a disease and should be avoided at all costs.

Failure isn’t a big thing. And there is no need to quit just because you failed a few times.

Many people feel hopeless when they don’t achieve the desired results.

But this is usually the time when they are learning and getting stronger.

For example, you don’t feel good when a book tells you that you are dumber than you think. But when you realize this, you start getting smarter even though it feels bad at that moment.

Every time you get rejected, you realize that rejections are normal.

Losers are those who quit too early without realizing their potential.

Smart people develop skills to overcome their failures while people with weak mindset stop putting effort and find some coping activity to avoid hardships.

Remember that those who aren’t afraid to persist are usually the ones who win.

Lesson #4: Your uniqueness makes you valuable.

This scroll tells you that you are not just like any other creature.

Humans have a strong drive within them. As a result, they always try to become better than their current version.

This is what separates humans from other animals.

Are we from the animal kingdom? Yes we are.

But unlike other animals, we are never satisfied.

We always demand something more. We have ambitions.

Lot of people never realize their value.

They never see themselves as a unique creature. They think that they are just like everybody else without any purpose in life.

It’s the same phenomenon that happens during sales.

Products that are rare are associated with high value.

If we think of ourselves as a product, then a person who has in-demand skills, a bright mind, and a healthy body, will be valuable to everyone in the society.

Such a person can explore their unlimited potential.

When people don’t understand that they have unlimited potential, they get satisfied with small accomplishments.

And they stop growing themselves.

They stop acquiring more knowledge and polishing their skills.

We all have eyes to see and the mind to think.

We are nature’s greatest miracle.

Lesson #5: Live everyday as if it’s your last.

The reason things like laziness and procrastination take control over is that we don’t understand how fast time flows.

And life can simply be measured with time.

The less time you have, the less days you have to live your life and do things you wish to do.

We forget that we are not eternal and that some day that last day will come. And we don’t even know which will be the last.

So, it makes sense to see every day as our last day.

The only way to destroy time-killers like procrastination and laziness is to act with a little sense of urgency.

By being lazy, we delay our greatness.

We are supposed to become great, aren’t we?

So say to yourself when you wake up that “Today, I will make this day my greatest. I will not waste even a single second. I will create something of value and become something of value.”

There are so many things that you wish to do, but you are postponing them thinking that you have so much time in the future.

Chances, you will never do many of those things.

When we really want to do something, we do it.

There is no tomorrow!

Lesson #6: Master your emotions.

Emotions are hard to master.

But whatever they are, they are a part of our nature.

In fact, they are so natural that their nature is just like everything else in nature.

For example: rain comes and goes, sun rises and sets, winter goes and summer comes.

Our mood is very much like the weather.

It’s always changing.

One day we are in a good mood and another day we are in a bad mood.

But what differentiates us from mother nature is that we don’t have to follow how we feel in a given moment.

For instance, if you have a low mood and you don’t feel like doing any work, there is no obligation to not do any work. Even with your low mood, you can choose to work.

We are the master of our actions.

Our thoughts and emotions try to control our actions.

But strong men don’t lose control so easily.

Weak men allow their emotions to take charge all the time, that’s why they never feel that their life is in their control. And they always find themselves in unwanted problems.

Just because you are depressed, it doesn’t mean you can’t dance.

We can always go against our mind out of our free will.

We are the masters of our minds.

Just because you are angry at someone, it doesn’t mean you have to always express it and show anger through your actions.

The worst thing you can do is let your mood control your destiny.

We can’t rely on our moods all the time unless we wish to go crazy.

Mood is never permanent.

Our free will is permanent.

When you wake up every day with this new realization, you automatically act like you are the ruler of your emotions and destiny, and thus make better decisions.

Lesson #7: Laughter is a powerful tool.

The 7th scroll says that sadness or remorse or any kind of frustration are of no value.

If they aren’t helping you grow, they are of no use.

We can always feel frustrated, but the better approach is to use laughter as a medicine instead.

People chase perfection.

But nothing is perfect.

When we learn to laugh at ourselves, we release a lot of unnecessary tension in our heads.

When you are frustrated, your focus tends to shift on minor problems.

On the other hand, when you are at ease, your focus improves and you are able to see a bigger image of reality.

Using laughter as a therapy helps you shrink bigger problems into smaller ones.

Most people get way too serious because when a problem comes in their lives, they think that those problems are permanent.

However, most problems are like tides that come and go.

Try laughing at your problems once.

And you will see that your heart has become lighter. Suddenly, the problem looks a bit simpler and solvable.

In fact, most high level problems remain a mystery because most people can’t relax their minds.

The more tension you have in your mind, the harder it is to solve a problem.

For example, when you are too concerned about other people’s opinions, you feel tense or anxious.

Based on this scroll, if you learn to laugh at yourself, you will realize that even if other people make fun of you, it doesn’t affect you at all.

Why? Because you have learned to laugh at yourself. You have solved 80% of the problem already.

This is why this scroll emphasizes the value of laughter.

Salespersons experience rejections all the time. And they use laughter to remain cool-headed during such situations.

Lesson #8: Continuously keep multiplying your value.

The 8th scroll encourages you to aim higher and ambitiously keep setting new goals.

Many people get complacent in life.

Once they achieve a certain goal, they stop setting more new goals. And they start celebrating their success.

It’s fine to celebrate your success, but it shouldn’t be the end point of your growth.

Throughout your life, you are supposed to keep growing your value manifolds.

Never be content with your current performance in life.

Keep raising your standards. Keep redefining your vision.

The worst thing you can do with yourself is aim too low and achieve it.

Lesson #9: All goals are meaningless if they aren’t followed by action.

Plans don’t get executed by themselves.

Goals don’t get achieved by themselves.

You get the point?

Nobody ever achieved something without action.

Setting goals is easy. Anybody can make goals today and then sleep on them.

Anybody can dream today.

But guess what, how many people actually take action? Very few.

If “success” is a tree, then “action” is the nourishment that makes that tree grow.

Procrastination is a real problem among a majority of people today.

They get excited after seeing someone else’s success. They wish to become great. But aren’t willing to endure all the struggles that lead to greatness.

Whenever you feel like procrastinating, say to yourself “I will act now.”

The problem is that your mind is conditioned to operate on easy mode. You are conditioned to think that things should be quick and easy.

When you are not used to enduring the pain of struggles, it’s just very difficult to put yourself through the grind.

It’s tempting to avoid failures. It’s tempting to put off important tasks until tomorrow.

This is the pattern that most people struggle to break.

The more they avoid their struggles, the more they struggle to get right back on the track.

When you say that “Now is all I have. And I will act now,” then no reason is left for you to procrastinate.

Great opportunities won’t wait for you. You have to be hungry and impatient enough so that there is no room for procrastination.

Lesson #10: Seek guidance from the creator of this universe.

It doesn’t matter whether you believe in the existence of God or not, we can’t deny the fact that this universe is full of mysteries.

There are a gazillion things we don’t know about this universe.

Our understanding of this universe is very limited.

But the irony is that many people think that they are the almighty. And that nothing can break them. It’s sometimes okay to be delusional. However, the truth is that all of us seek guidance in tough situations.

Not accepting this basic fact is against our true nature.

When in trouble, you can look up to a higher power for guidance and say “Guide me. Help me. Show me the way.”

People today have stopped accepting help because of their ego.

Many people have lost touch with humility.

They don’t acknowledge that they’re in a big mess. So they don’t even try to seek any spiritual help.