Summary: We live in an age of political correctness, positive affirmations and lack of personal accountability. It is a “fake” world where “fake it ‘til you make it” and “oh, it’s alright if you don’t” tends to give our children and adults alike a distorted view of the “real world”. Far from being a pessimistic, negative book, Mark puts everything into perspective and suggest we will all have down times and “bad days”. He says it best where he isn’t about turning lemons into lemonade but more about learning to tolerating lemons better or even using lemons to your advantage. Accept you as you are.
Thoughts: This is definitely a book I would not have normally read or have any interest in reading but it was strongly recommended by a friend so I thought I’d give it a go. It certainly has rough edges so is NOT for the more sensitive types out there. In the end, I found it immensely entertaining (if not, somewhat vulgar), quite educational about the “real world” and human behaviour and desires and very inspirational. Putting things into perspective and not taking yourself and others too seriously and moving on when things turn to dirt (stronger language actually used) is a skill we all can and should learn. We are all awesome but we’re not perfect and we should embrace those imperfections. Taking personal responsibility for your own actions, accepting you for who you are, riding the bumps out, ignoring the critics, celebrating successes when they come, realising no effort equals no rewards (no gold medals for just showing up) and finally having fun along the way seems to be the underlying philosophy of the author.
