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From the Publisher

Ryan Holiday celebrate the awesome power of self-discipline and those who have seized it.

Stoic Virtue Series. An inspiring anthem to the timeless virtues of a good life and better world.

Read all the books from the world's bestselling living philosopher

	Wisdom Takes Work (The Stoic Virtues Series)	Right Thing, Right Now (The Stoic V...	Courage Is Calling (The Stoic Virtues Series)	The Daily Stoic: 366 Meditations on Wisdom, Perseverance, and the Art of Living	The Daily Dad: 366 Meditations on Parenting, Love, and Raising Great Kids	The Way, the Enemy, and the Key: A Boxed Set of The Obstacle is the Way, Ego ...

Other Books by Ryan Holiday	In the final installment in the Stoic Virtues series, Holiday makes the case for the virtue on which all other virtues depend.	In the third installment in the Stoic Virtues series, Holiday argues for the necessity of doing what’s right – even when it isn’t easy.	In the first book of his series on the virtues of ancient philosophy, Holiday explores the most foundational virtue of all: courage.	The beloved classic daily devotional of Stoic meditations.	A collection of timeless meditations on parenting in a few manageable paragraphs a day – useful for even the most sleep deprived new parent.	A timeless trilogy of some of Ryan Holiday’s extraordinary bestsellers.

Editorial Reviews

Review

“Ryan Holiday has helped bring the ancient teaching of Stoicism to millions of readers—from athletes and politicians to CEOs.”—GOOD MORNING AMERICA

“A brisk and absorbing read.”—ANNIE DUKE, bestselling author of Thinking In Bets

"A powerful case for the virtues and values that leaders must live by in the modern world."— ADMIRAL JAMES STAVRIDIS, former NATO 16th Supreme Allied Commander

"Well-meant advice for making positive life choices."—KIRKUS REVIEWS

About the Author

Ryan Holiday is one of the world’s bestselling living philosophers. His books, including The Obstacle Is the Way, Ego Is the Enemy, The Daily Stoic, and the #1 New York Times bestseller Stillness Is the Key, appear in more than forty languages and have sold over 10 million copies. He lives outside Austin with his wife and two boys ... and a small herd of cows and donkeys and goats. His bookstore, The Painted Porch, sits on historic Main Street in Bastrop, Texas.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Part I The Exterior (The Body)

Our body is our glory, our hazard and our care.

Martha Graham

We begin with the self-the physical form. In St Paul's first letter to the Corinthians, we're told to keep under the body, and bring it into subjection, so that we will not be made a castaway. The Roman tradition, according to the Stoics, was about "endurance, a frugal diet, and a modest use of other material possessions." They wore functional clothes and shoes, ate off functional plates, drank moderately out of functional glasses, and committed earnestly to the rituals of ancient life. Do we pity this? Or admire it for its simplicity and dignity? In a world of abundance, each of us must wrestle with our desires, our urges, as well as the timeless battle to strengthen ourselves for the vicissitudes of life. This is not about six-pack abs or the avoidance of all that feels good, but instead about developing the fortitude required for the path we have chosen. It's about being able to go the distance, and steering clear of the blind alleys and mirages along the way. If we don't dominate ourselves physically, who and what does dominate? Outside forces. Laziness. Adversity. Entropy. Atrophy. We do the work, today and always, because it's what we're here for. And we know that while it might seem easy to take it easy and more pleasurable to indulge our pleasure centers, in the long run, it is a far more painful route.

Ruling Over the Body . . .

He played through fevers and migraines. He played through crippling back pain; pulled muscles; sprained ankles; and once, the day after being hit in the head by an eighty-mile-per-hour fastball, he suited up and played in Babe Ruth's hat, because the swelling made it impossible to put on his own.

For 2,130 consecutive games, Lou Gehrig played first base for the New York Yankees, a streak of physical stamina that stood for the next five-and-a-half decades. It was a feat of human endurance so long immortalized that it's easy to miss how incredible it actually was. The Major League Baseball regular season in those days was 152 games. Gehrig's Yankees went deep in the postseason, nearly every year, reaching the World Series a remarkable seven times. For seventeen years, Gehrig played from April to October, without rest, at the highest level imaginable. In the off-season, players barnstormed and played in exhibition games, sometimes traveling as far away as Japan to do so. During his time with the Yankees, Gehrig played some 350 doubleheaders and traveled at least two hundred thousand miles across the country, mostly by train and bus.

Yet he never missed a game.

Not because he was never injured or sick, but because he was an Iron Horse of a man who refused to quit, who pushed through pain and physical limits that others would have used as an excuse. At some point, Gehrig's hands were X-rayed, and stunned doctors found at least seventeen healed fractures. Over the course of his career, he'd broken nearly every one of his fingers-and it not only hadn't slowed him down, but he'd failed to say a word about it.

In another sense, he's almost unfairly famous for the streak, which overshadows the stats he accumulated along the way. His career batting average was an unbelievable .340, which he topped only when it counted, hitting .361 in his postseason career. (In two different World Series, he batted over .500.) He hit 495 home runs, including twenty-three grand slams-a record that stood for more than seven decades. In 1934, he became just the third player ever to win the MLB Triple Crown, leading the league in batting average, home runs, and RBIs (runs batted in). He's sixth all time with 1,995 RBIs, making him, effectively, one of the greatest teammates in the history of the game. He was a two-time MVP, seven-time All-Star, six-time World Series Champion, Hall of Famer, and the first player ever to have his number retired.

While the streak started in earnest in June 1925, when Gehrig replaced Wally Pipp, a Yankees legend, in reality, his Herculean endurance could be seen at an early age. Born to German immigrants in New York in 1903, Gehrig was the only one of four children to survive infancy. He entered the world a whopping fourteen pounds, and his mother's German cooking seems to have plumped him up from there. It was the teasing of school kids that first hardened the determination of the young boy, sending him to his father's turnverein, a German gymnastics club where Gehrig began to develop the powerful lower body that later drove in so many runs. Not naturally coordinated, a boyhood friend once joked that Gehrig's body often "behaved as if it were drunk."

He wasn't born an athlete. He made himself one in the gym.

Life as a poor immigrant was not easy. Gehrig's father was a drinker, and a bit of a layabout. It's more than ironic to read of his father's chronic excuses and sick days. This example shamed Gehrig, inspiring him to turn dependability and toughness into nonnegotiable assets (in a bit of foreshadowing, he never missed a day of school). Thankfully, his mother not only doted on him, she provided an incredible example of a quiet, indefatigable work ethic as well. She worked as a cook. She worked as a laundress. She worked as a baker. She worked as a cleaning lady, hoping to provide her son a ticket to a better life.

But the poverty, the poverty was always there. "No one who went to school with Lou," a classmate recalled, "can forget the cold winter days and Lou coming to school wearing [a] khaki shirt, khaki pants and heavy brown shoes, but no overcoat, nor any hat." He was a poor boy, a fate no one would choose, but it did shape him.

There is a story about Cleanthes, the Stoic philosopher, who, as he walked through Athens on a cold day, had his thin cloak blown open by a gust of wind. Observers were stunned to find he had little else on underneath, despite the frigid temperatures. Slowly, they burst into applause at the sheer endurance of it. So it went with Gehrig, who, even as his Yankees salary made him one of the highest-paid athletes in America, was rarely seen in a hat or even a vest in New York winters. Only later, when he married a kind and loving woman, could he be convinced to put on a coat-for her sake.

Most kids like to play sports. Lou Gehrig saw in the game a higher calling. Baseball was a profession that demanded control of, as well as care for, the body-since it was both the obstacle and the vehicle for success.

Gehrig did both.

He worked harder than anyone. "Fitness was almost a religion to him," one teammate would say of him. "I am a slave to baseball," Gehrig said. A willing slave, a slave who loved the job and remained forever grateful at just the opportunity to play.

This kind of dedication pays dividends. When Gehrig stepped up to the plate, he was communing with something divine. He stood, serenely, in a heavy wool uniform that no player today could perform in. He would sway, trading weight between his feet, settling into his batting stance. When he swung at a pitch, it was his enormous legs that did the work-sending the ball off his bat, deep, deep, out of the ballpark.

Some batters have a sweet spot; Gehrig could hit anywhere, off anyone. And when he did? He ran. For a guy who was teased for having "piano legs," it's pretty remarkable that Gehrig stole home plate more than a dozen times in his career. He wasn't all power. He was speed too. Hustle. Finesse.

There were players with more talent, with more personality, with more brilliance; but nobody outworked him, nobody cared more about conditioning, and nobody loved the game more.

When you love the work, you don't cheat it or the demands it asks of you. You respect even the most trivial aspects of the pursuit-he never threw his bat, or even flipped it. One of the only times he ever got in trouble with management was when they found out he was playing stickball in the streets of his old neighborhood with local kids, sometimes even after Yankees games. He just couldn't pass up the opportunity to play . . .

Still, there must have been so many days when he wasn't feeling it. When he wanted to quit. When he doubted himself. When it felt like he could barely move. When he was frustrated and tired of his own high standards. Gehrig was not superhuman-he had the same voice in his head that all of us do. He just cultivated the strength-made a habit-of not listening to it. Because once you start compromising, well, now you're compromised . . .

"I have the will to play," he said. "Baseball is hard work and the strain is tremendous. Sure, it's pleasurable, but it's tough." You'd think that everyone has that will to play, but of course, that's not true. Some of us get by on natural talent, hoping never to be tested. Others are dedicated up to a point, but they'll quit if it gets too hard. That was true then, as it is now, even at the elite level. A manager in Gehrig's time described it as an "age of alibis"-everyone was ready with an excuse. There was always a reason why they couldn't give their best, didn't have to hold the line, were showing up to camp less than prepared.

As a rookie, Joe DiMaggio once asked Gehrig who he thought was going to pitch for the opposing team, hoping perhaps, to hear it was someone easy to hit. "Never worry about that, Joe," Gehrig explained. "Just remember they always save the best for the Yankees." And by extension, he expected every member of the Yankees to bring their best with them too. That was the deal: To whom much is given, much is expected. The obligation of a champion is to act like a champion . . . while working as hard as somebody with something to prove.

Gehrig wasn't a drinker. He didn't chase girls or thrills or drive fast cars. He was no "good-time Charlie," he'd often say. At the same time, he made it clear, "I'm not a preacher and I'm not a saint." His biographer, Paul Gallico, who grew up in New York City only a few years ahead of Gehrig wrote that the man's "clean living did not grow out of a smugness and prudery, a desire for personal sanctification. He had a stubborn, pushing ambition. He wanted something. He chose the most sensible and efficient route to getting it."

One doesn't take care of the body because to abuse it is a sin, but because if we abuse the temple, we insult our chances of success as much as any god. Gehrig was fully ready to admit that his discipline meant he missed out on a few pleasures. He also knew that those who live the fast or the easy life miss something too-they fail to fully realize their own potential. Discipline isn't deprivation . . . it brings rewards.

Still, Gehrig could have easily gone in a different direction. In the midst of an early career slump while playing in the minor leagues, Gehrig went out one night with some teammates and got so drunk that he was still boozed up at first pitch the next day. Somehow, he didn't just manage to play, but he played better than he had in months. He found, miraculously, that the nerves, the overthinking, had disappeared with a few nips from a bottle between innings.

It was a seasoned coach who noticed and sat Gehrig down. He'd seen this before. He knew the short-term benefits of the shortcut. He understood the need for release and for pleasure too. But he explained the long-term costs, and he spelled out the future Gehrig could expect if he didn't develop more sustainable coping mechanisms. That was the end of it, we're told, and "not because of any prissy notions of righteousness that it was evil or wrong to take a drink but because he had a driving, non-stop ambition to become a great and successful ball player. Anything that interfered with that ambition was poison to him."

It meant something to him to be a ballplayer, to be a Yankee, to be a first-generation American, to be someone who kids looked up to.

Gehrig, as it happened, continued to live with his parents for his first ten seasons, often taking the subway to the stadium. More than financially comfortable, he later owned a small house in New Rochelle. To Gehrig, money was at best a tool, at worst a temptation. As the Yankees reigned over the game, the team was treated to an upgraded dugout, with padded seats replacing the old Spartan bench. Gehrig was spotted by the team's manager tearing off a section. "I get tired of sitting on cushions," he said of the posh life of an athlete in his prime. "Cushions in my car, cushions on the chairs at home-every place I got they have cushions."

He knew that getting comfortable was the enemy, and that success is an endless series of invitations to get comfortable. It's easy to be disciplined when you have nothing. What about when you have everything? What about when you're so talented that you can get away with not giving everything?

The thing about Lou Gehrig is that he chose to be in control. This wasn't discipline enforced from above or by the team. His temperance was an interior force, emanating from deep within his soul. He chose it, despite the sacrifices, despite the fact that others allowed themselves to forgo such penance and got away with it. Despite the fact that it usually wasn't recognized-not until long after he was gone anyway.

Did you know that immediately after Ruth's legendary "called" home run that Lou Gehrig hit one too? Without any dramatic gestures either. Actually, it was his second of the game. Or that they have the same number of league batting titles? Or that Ruth struck out almost twice as many times as Gehrig? Lou not only kept his body in check in a way that Ruth didn't (Ruth ballooned to 240 pounds), but Gehrig checked his ego too. He was, a reporter would write, "unspoiled, without the remotest vestige of ego, vanity or conceit." The team always came first. Before even his own health. Let the headlines go to whomever wanted them.

Product details

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B09PB1SB72
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Portfolio
Accessibility ‏ : ‎ Learn more
Publication date ‏ : ‎ September 27, 2022
Language ‏ : ‎ English
File size ‏ : ‎ 7.0 MB
Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Print length ‏ : ‎ 344 pages
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0593191705
Page Flip ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Part of series ‏ : ‎ The Stoic Virtues Series
Best Sellers Rank: #30,717 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- #9 in Ancient Greek & Roman Philosophy
- #10 in Greek & Roman Philosophy (Kindle Store)
- #19 in Motivational Business Management
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Ryan Holiday

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Ryan Holiday is one of the world's bestselling living philosophers. His books like The Obstacle Is the Way,Ego Is the Enemy,The Daily Stoic, and the #1 New York Times bestseller Stillness Is the Key appear in more than 40 languages and have sold more than 5 million copies. Together, they've spent over 300 weeks on the bestseller lists. He lives outside Austin with his wife and two boys...and a small herd of cows and donkeys and goats. His bookstore, The Painted Porch, sits on historic Main St in Bastrop, Texas.

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Tom Venuto, Author of Burn the Fat, Feed The Muscle
The virtue of self-discipline: A supremely important topic
Reviewed in the United States on November 2, 2024
Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase

Ryan Holiday is known for being a student of stoicism and teacher of stoic principles to people living in the modern world. He has been called a “modern philosopher.”

Many of the stories in his book Discipline Is Destiny are about stoics such as Seneca, Marcus Aurelius, and Antoninius. To illustrate the principles he is teaching, Holiday also shares dozens of stories about exemplars of self-discipline, including military leaders, politicians, musicians, artists, and athletes.

He opens the book with a legend about Hercules at a crossroads and how he was offered the opportunity to choose one of two paths: One was the tempting path of a life of ease, without want, unhappiness, fear, or pain, with every desire fulfilled. The other was a long path of sacrifice, scary moments, and hard work, with no promise of rewards except in proportion to the effort. The choice was between vice or virtue, the easy way or the hard way. Hercules chose the virtuous path, and it made all the difference.

Holiday explains that in the ancient world there were four key virtues: Courage, Temperance, Justice, and Wisdom. Simply put, he says that practicing these virtues is doing the right thing rather than the easy thing, and it’s the key to a life of excellence and honor. In this book, he focuses on temperance, defined as self-control, moderation, composure, and balance. In a word, discipline.

It's been said that discipline is freedom, and in the introduction, he quotes Eisenhower who said, “Freedom is actually only the opportunity for self-discipline. “In the introduction he adds that self-discipline (temperance) is the ability to work hard, to say no, to practice good habits, to set boundaries, to train, to prepare, to ignore temptations and provocations, to keep your emotions in check, and to endure painful difficulties.

Self-discipline is how you realize your potential, and one line really struck me about this: Holiday said that “Failing to realize your full potential is a terrible punishment” (for not being disciplined).

The book is broken up into three parts. Part one is titled, “The Exterior” and it’s about the body. The author says we must dominate ourselves physically because if we don’t, outside forces will dominate us. There are numerous short chapters focusing on themes and tips such as attack the mornings, quit being a slave to bad habits, just show up, hustle, practice, sweat the small stuff, and more.

The second part of the book is called, “The Inner Domain.” The body is only one vehicle for our self-discipline, says Holiday. Some people have complete command over their body, but are a mess everywhere else. True self-control means moderation not just in what we do physically, but also how we think and feel. In this section, numerous short chapters talk about topics such as set priorities, do the hard thing first, resist temptation, set boundaries, do your best, avoid perfectionism, focus, and pause before acting .

The third and final part of the book is named “The Magisterial” (the soul). There are people who have a handle on their physical body as well as their mind, but most rare is one who combines those two disciplines with excellence in public life as a contributor to others and society. Some of the themes focus on handling criticism, being tolerant of others, making others better, being a leader, being kind, and more.

Discipline is Destiny is fairly long, at 300 pages, but easy to read, and many chapters are very short. The book will be especially appreciated by people who like hearing stories of historical figures to illustrate all the points. Holiday is clearly well-read and an excellent writer. He’s motivating too. Countless highlightable passages leap off the page as calls to action.

I’m not sure if this is Holiday’s best or most popular book (he’s written over a dozen, including NY Times bestsellers that sold millions of copies), but it’s a really good one. Readers may also want to check out some of his more well-known earlier titles such as The Obstacle Is The Way, Ego Is The Enemy, Stillness is the Key, and The Daily Stoic.

I enjoy his writing style in general and I believe the subject matter of Discipline Is Destiny is supremely important. I think everyone should read about discipline and self-control, and do their best to put what they learn into practice every day. I would recommend this to just about everyone, and especially people who want to improve their fitness and health.

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Michael W. Smith
Great Read
Reviewed in the United States on April 3, 2026
Format: KindleVerified Purchase
Great read, easy read and provides a great lesson. I would recommend to anyone looking for some inspiration with a bit of a history lesson.

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Travis S. Collier
Discipline Is the Means and Mean
Reviewed in the United States on October 10, 2022
Format: KindleVerified Purchase

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If you've followed Ryan Holiday for the last 10 years, this book is a great bookend to his work as an author. I know it's in the middle of his journey, but "Trust Me, I'm Lying"--his first book, was published 10 years ago. And he's lived by this example of being disciplined enough, over a decade, to publish 12 books in 10 years. Several of which became NYT & WSJ Bestsellers.

That kind of success, is almost without parallel.

This book shows that way. And not through a normal assortment of examples of characters, but through legendary figures of modern & historic times. Drawing from Queen Elizabeth II to Hall of Famer Manu Ginóbili, Holiday provides ample examples of how discipline is the direction all of our lives should take. And it's hard--his argument is discipline as being the instrumental value of life. Not the terminal value after we've achieved what we wanted to achieve. Not only that--this argument changes our normal viewpoint of making it to the "finish line".

From this perspective--there IS no finish line. We never stop learning how to improve ourselves, temper our appetites, nor call upon the highest virtues in the face of ultimate consequences. Generals waiting for the decision to hang their careers on; politicians & courtesans willing to die in the name of their virtue; civil rights leaders willfully turning the other cheek to face their attackers--Holiday brings forward a variety of examples & perspectives to reinforce the Stoic perspective of temperance.

Fashioned into three sections of "Exterior", "Inner Domain", & "Magisterial"--this book makes clear what it takes to fashion the body, mind, and soul by self-discipline. And while we may chase freedom & the ability to live on a beach for the rest of our days, there is no rest in that life. Or in any of our lives.

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Maksim Murygin
Life changing book
Reviewed in the Netherlands on November 3, 2022
Verified Purchase

One more price less book from Ryan. Read it and read it again, so much wisdom in every page. Together with other Ryans books changed my life in much positive direction

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Eder
Amazing
Reviewed in Mexico on February 27, 2025
Format: KindleVerified Purchase
One of the best book's for reading and how to adopt the disciples in our live, day by day,

Regards

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Jonas Federighi
Must read
Reviewed in Brazil on April 14, 2024
Verified Purchase
Um livro tão importante é construtivo que deveria fazer parte do Ensino fundamental no Brasil (e no resto do Mundo). Exemplos de comportamento que serviriam para criarmos um Planeta melhor sem a desinteligência e o extremismo hoje reinantes que destroçam tantas vidas de inocentes.

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Francesco
A guide to reclaiming control over the chaos of modern life
Reviewed in Italy on December 25, 2024
Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
Ryan Holiday’s Discipline is Destiny felt like a much-needed wake-up call, a guide to reclaiming control over the chaos of modern life. As I turned its pages, I was struck by how Holiday masterfully weaves ancient Stoic wisdom with contemporary examples, making the timeless pursuit of self-discipline feel both urgent and achievable.

The book isn’t just about grinding harder; it’s about mastering oneself—body, mind, and soul—to live a life of purpose and balance.
What resonated most with me was Holiday’s insistence that discipline isn’t merely about endurance or willpower; it’s about temperance, moderation, and the ability to say no to distractions that pull us away from our goals. His vivid storytelling—whether recounting the relentless work ethic of Lou Gehrig or the quiet restraint of Queen Elizabeth—illustrates how discipline shapes greatness without sacrificing humanity.

The structure of the book is elegant yet profound. Divided into three sections—The Exterior (body), The Interior (mind), and The Magisterial (soul)—Holiday takes readers on a journey to understand discipline as more than just a tool for achievement. It’s a way to align our actions with our values, to find strength in restraint, and even to embrace failure as part of growth. His reminder that discipline is not perfection but persistence was both comforting and inspiring.
What I loved most was its practicality. Holiday doesn’t preach unattainable ideals; instead, he offers actionable wisdom. For instance, the idea that discipline includes stepping back, slowing down, or even choosing inaction when necessary was a revelation. It made me rethink my own approach to productivity and success.

Conclusion:

Discipline is Destiny left me with a renewed sense of purpose and a clearer understanding of what it means to truly master oneself. It’s not just a book for leaders or high achievers; it’s for anyone who seeks freedom through self-control. As Holiday puts it, “Most powerful is he who has himself in his own power.” This book reminded me that such power is within reach—if only we’re willing to cultivate it.

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Amazon Customer
Nice motivational book.
Reviewed in Japan on January 12, 2024
Verified Purchase
Light, easy, motivational read.

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5.0 out of 5 stars The virtue of self-discipline: A supremely important topic

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Read

5.0 out of 5 stars Discipline Is the Means and Mean

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5.0 out of 5 stars Life changing book

5.0 out of 5 stars Amazing

5.0 out of 5 stars Must read

5.0 out of 5 stars A guide to reclaiming control over the chaos of modern life

4.0 out of 5 stars Nice motivational book.

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The virtue of self-discipline: A supremely important topic

Great Read

Discipline Is the Means and Mean

Life changing book

Amazing

Must read

A guide to reclaiming control over the chaos of modern life

Nice motivational book.