Opportunity through reading

As a Roman philosopher once said, and is often quoted by Oprah “Luck is when preparation meets opportunity”. Preparation to me involves books as books provide knowledge. I give three selections below that could prepare you for the opportunity of luck finding you!

Being in Balance – Wayne Dyer

In this inspirational work, best-selling author and lecturer Wayne W. Dyer shows you how to restore balance in your life by offering nine principles for realigning your thoughts so that they correspond to your highest desires.

Imagine a balance scale with one end weighted down to the ground, and the other end–featuring the objects of your desires–sticking up precariously in the air. This scale is a measurement of your thoughts. To restore the same balance that characterizes everything in our universe, you have to take up the weighty thoughts so that they match up to your desires.

The seasons reflect the overall harmony of life. For example, winter passes and the blossoms emerge. This is balanced by a need to have the trees rest, so autumn arrives on time and helps the trees ready themselves for another period of repose. This book is dedicated to the idea that we’re a vital component of this creative process and have within ourselves the wherewithal to create all that we want if we recognize and revise out-of-balance thoughts.

Away Game – Luke Collins

Thousands of Australians have left their homeland to try their luck in the world’s richest country, where the rewards for succeeding are immense: multi-million dollar salaries, celebrity status, and tremendous professional fulfillment. Yet is it worth it?

In this book by the former New York Correspondent for The Australian Financial Review, our top professionals in the United States explain what makes them tick: why they left their homeland, the cultural shock of living in America, and their anguish about whether they will ever return to Australia. Career success, it seems, comes at a price.

8th Habit – Stephen Covey

The world has changed dramatically since the classic, internationally bestselling The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People was published, influencing tens of millions. The challenges and complexity we all face in our relationships, families, professional lives and communities are of an entirely new order of magnitude. In order to thrive, innovate, excel and lead in what Covey calls the new Knowledge Worker Age, we must build on and move beyond effectiveness…to greatness.

Accessing the higher levels of human genius and motivation in today’s new reality requires a sea change of new thinking — a new mind-set, a new skill-set, a new tool-set — in short, a whole new habit.