By the time an author publishes their book, they usually hate it. I am no different.

You write it. Re-write it. Read it. Edit it. Edit it some more. Read it. Proof it. Read it again!!

By the time you, the reader gets holds of it… the author has turned to the bottle and is already thinking about their next great writing adventure. I’ve followed this trend during my other four books’ releases, but this time it’s a little different.

For ‘Beyond The Pale’, I’ve yet to reach the point where I either hate it or am ready to move on to my next project. As I now get to sit back and reflect on the journey I’ve been on so far, I can say, without any apprehension that this is my most impactful book to date.

Not because of what it’s brought to me, but what it will soon bring to you, as a reader (and person)…

1: Entrepreneurs NEED Fiction!

Not only do entrepreneurs need to read more fiction, but they also need to read a great deal less non-fiction. More specifically, you need to distance yourself from those usual “how-to” books!

They have their place, don’t get me wrong. If you have something specific to learn, a “how-to” book can be useful (although oftentimes a video series or online course is more relevant and practical).

Yet how many of these must-read business books remain on your nightstand? How often do you come across articles that focus on all the new books written by wise entrepreneurs, investors, and the like?

You buy them, and maybe you even read them. But what do you learn? 

And, if you do learn something new, what do you do with this knowledge?

The problem I have with the standard business-type book is that they’re designed to teach you something. Again, if you’re looking to be specifically taught about a subject, this is fine. Yet most of us don’t live life this way. We consume for the sake of consuming, hoping that by cramming our brain-box with more knowledge that we’ll somehow be wiser for it.

I spent years doing this, and I can assure you that you do not gain wisdom this way.

Wisdom often comes from an internal place, not an external entity like a book. You gain it from thinking, experiencing, and doing. Most business books do not provide this. In fact, they prevent it.

So what should you read?

• Fiction

• Memiors and biopgrahies

• History
• Philosophy…

Basically, any book that’s designed to make you think, rather than one with the aim to teach.

Most of us need more inspiration in our lives, yet we avoid it by seeking greater education. Again, education has its place. We all need to learn. I am no different. But learning has to have a purpose.

And this is the problem I see many entrepreneurs struggle with, buying one “how-to” book after another hoping that one of them has the answer they crave. An answer to a question they don’t know to ask.

When I speak to those who inspire me the most (some of them appear in ‘Beyond The Pale’), what I hear again and again is how they DO NOT read the sort of books that most of their friends and peers write. They read fiction. They read history and philosophy and mythology. They explore the minds of some of history’s greatest figures…

Why? Because once you’ve read ten typical business-esque books, you’ve read them all.

This is the first reason why I know ‘Beyond The Pale’ will have a huge impact because it’s a fable that blends the fiction and non-fiction worlds into one; a purpose to inspire rather than to teach or inform.

2: Work/Life Balance is a Myth!

If there’s one thing that 2020 taught me (and the pandemic and worldwide crisis as a whole), it’s that life is life. You don’t get to live a work-life, a personal life, a family life, a social life…

You get one.

Not plural.

Singular!

Yet we’re brought up to pursue work/life balance, as though if we get this balance right that we’ll taste the elixir of happiness. It’s a lie. It doesn’t exist. You cannot balance two objects on a scale when they’re joined together as one.

Your work-life… your personal one… those other buckets you create… they’re all the same.

It’s just life.

In recent years, I’ve learned my focus shouldn’t be on a work/life balance but rather a Whole Life Balance. It’s this slight switch in perspective that led me to write ‘Beyond The Pale’ in the first place.

2020 (like I imagine it did for you) forced me to truly embrace this fact as home-life and work-life blended into one. The balance of being a father with a worker with a man… all under the same roof, simultaneously as I was no longer able to wear separate hats.

If you choose to read ‘Beyond The Pale’, you’ll see this notion of Whole Life Balance in action. Whoever you are and whatever your circumstance, you don’t get to split your life into two. You can try and in many ways, you can succeed, but the fact remains that you only ever live one life.

You can choose to accept it (and embrace it) or fight this fact by creating your own fiction.

3: YOU Do Not Know What Success “is”!

As I wrote my last book, ‘The Successful Mistake’, I realized I had no clue what success meant to me. I interviewed 160+ successful people, you see… and I began to piece together an important puzzle.

Writing that book taught me a lot. But it isn’t a book I would recommend you read, because I wrote it with the aim to teach you something.

And as already discussed, you need fewer books like that in your life.

Regardless, writing that book was one I had to write, and it’s a journey that led me to craft ‘Beyond The Pale’. It forced me to question what success means to me. I realized I had no idea. I presumed I knew, but it turned out I had become so influenced by others (my parents, my friends, the media, influencers, society as a whole…) that I slipped into the trap of blindly pursuing the life I “should” lead.

• Get a good education
• Get a good job
• Earn good money
• Have nice things.
• Buy more nice things!!

If you ask most people what success looks like, they’ll give you a vague idea of an answer that loosely fits into the general consensus of what success is. But if you stop them in their tracks and insist they dig deeper, you may well find they stutter, get flushed, and act all defensive.

I should know… I’ve asked a lot of people this question over the years 😏

Success isn’t a brand, amount of money, or some flashy slogan. It’s a personal, intimate part of you that so often sits below the surface, ignored and abused year upon year. It’s there, and it’s available for you to tap into whenever you like.

But it’s inside you.

Not out there, out in the world!

As a book, ‘Beyond The Pale’ dives a mile deep into this notion. It follows the lead character, Ferdinand, a vastly successful young-go-getter who seemingly has everything he wants and is on a path toward greater success, and one he intentionally chose for himself.

Only, he didn’t. He didn’t choose it. He just blindly followed it, as most of us do.

Chances are you are, and you will until the day you choose not to.

4: The “Hustle” is a LIE!

A few summers ago, I found out I was to become a father for the second time. It came as a surprise, and it wasn’t exactly part of my or her mother’s plan (yet). We had to fast-track aspects we assumed we had years to figure out, and it led me to look deep into my own situation and stage of mind.

Very soon, I would need to earn more money (consistently so, month on month).

I would also have to work less–starting my workday later, and ending it sooner.

Earn more, work less… not exactly a formula that adds up.

Or so I thought.

It turns out that you not only can earn more by working less, but you usually do end up earning more by working less (at least when you work for yourself or run your own business). It’s the difference between working “ON” your company versus being stuck inside it as a glorified employee.

It’s doing the work you need to do and that reaps the greatest rewards instead of saying yes to everything and becoming a master of nothing.

I realized, quickly, that I had committed to a hustle-centered mentality of working more than I had to; that if I chose to work less that it somehow made me lazy or unworthy of the success I craved. Again, part of this was because I didn’t truly appreciate what success meant.

But another part was down to the world we live in that too often glorifies “the hustle”.

(and I’m not alone in thinking this, as this article shows…)

This isn’t about work ethic or hard work.

If you want anything in life, you need to earn it.

But earning something is determined by how many all-nighters you do. You don’t earn success by burning the midnight oil. You earn it by making the right decisions at the right time.

Yet it’s hard making the right decisions these days when you’re constantly connected to the online world., glimpsing into the lives of supposedly successful folk that are living the life you crave. For starters, you don’t know what their life is really like. You only get to see what they show you.

Beyond this, their life is their life. It’s not yours, and there’s no value in comparing you to them.

But we do, and the temptation to do is there each time we scroll on our phone.

The hustle, at best, is a short-term solution to an immediate problem. A deadline approaches that you have to meet? Do what you need to. But to hustle for the sake of hustle is one of the dumbest things you do can do, and we’re all at its mercy to some degree.

Again, this plays out right ‘Beyond The Pale’, as Ferdinand questions the life he has led of late.

As I wrote it, I was able to relate to it, and I dare say you will too as the pages turn.

An Impactful Book? I Hope So…

Will ‘Beyond The Pale’ have an impact on you? I do not know. I hope it does, but I cannot guarantee that. What I do believe is that this book will impact certain people like no other book I’ve written has.

I’ve written books with the aim to teach… not this one.

I’ve written books with the aim to entertain… not this one.

It has elements of both, sure, and I certainly hope you enjoy the journey as you flick paper between finger. But above all, my hope and dream is that ‘Beyond The Pale’ makes you think.

To question where you’ve come from.

To question where you’re going.

To question where you are right now.

This is why it’s the most impactful one I’ve written to date, and I’m excited to share it with you if you wish to join Ferdinand on his journey that spans across several continents. If you would like to learn more about and to read a Free Sample of the book, you can do so here ⇒ 

You may also like to join The Anti-Hustle Facebook Group that dives into many of the topics that we cover in the book. It’s a place where you can mind other folks who desire to turn their back on “the hustle”.

Come join us, if you wish…

Above all, make the next book you read be one that inspires you. Learn less, “be” more. The books you supposedly should read usually aren’t. That’s true for most people, but especially for entrepreneurs.

hi, i’m turndog and I wrote this article … i am a writer, ghostwriter, anti-hustler & a guy on a mission to ensure you too escape the hustle — come be part of the [no hustle] movement