“You think I never read a book? I’ve read books. I’ve got friends now who read them by the ton. A big deal. What’s so special in them? They all make fun of guys like me.”
- The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz, by Mordecai Richler
Wow! Book 11 already. I’m almost at the halfway point. Two more and I’m over the hill, as they say, it’s all downhill from there. I’m really quite excited about this one too. It had all the elements I was looking for in a good book – The story was interesting. The characters were believable and it was Canadian.
The last criteria isn’t a necessity when I judge books (My favourite books aren’t Canadian), but it does make me happy, or is the word proud, when a fellow countryman writes a great novel.
I picked The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz, by Mordecai Richler, because of my brother. It had a great impact on him. He texted me the pivotal line: "a man without land is nobody". At the time I just thought this was just a random bold statement. Little did I know what this phrase would mean to me today.
In the novel, this statement is a rally cry for Duddy. His sole focus in the novel is to buy the land around the lake in St Agathe, Quebec. This goal consumes him so greatly he is willing to use family, friends and the disabled to his advantage in order
to achieve it.
Now, I don’t agree with the manipulating and scheming by Duddy, but I do like the sentiment behind the statement:
“A man without land is nobody”.
How true and wrong at the same time. It’s wrong for the obvious reason that owning land doesn’t necessarily make you a somebody. It’s who you are on the inside and how you got the land that creates your character, that makes you a somebody.
Still, I do think you can create truth in the statement by replacing “land” with a different word, “motivation”. In my mind, “a man without motivation is nobody”.
It’s the drive and journey towards your goals that’s important in life.
What’s the Springsteen song? Oh ya, “from small things (big things one day come)”. And that other saying, “from little acorns mighty oaks grow”. This is all true, and drive and determination – the sustained motivation – is the water that makes them grow.
At least this is what I believe.
If you want to succeed you have to remain motivated. You have to keep up that energy, focus and passion, or else, sadly you won’t succeed.
Go on to YouTube and watch any of Ronnie Coleman’s workout videos, even if you aren’t in to weightlifting. He accomplishes amazing feats of strength by training, working hard, and maintaining a positive attitude. 
And you can hear it in just the way he talks. Right before squatting 500 pounds he will shout “Yeah Buddy! Light weight”, and “Ain’t nothing to it but to do it".
That is the key: maintaining that attitude and focus. You have to believe you can do it. Not only that, you have to be able to visualize yourself doing it.
Any motivational speaker will tell you this. Your mind doesn’t know the difference between you physically having your object of desire and you thinking you have it. Anthony Robbins wants people to take an “hour of power” each day, and spend that time visualizing yourself accomplishing your goals.
If an hour is too long for you, Shane Warne, Australia’s greatest cricketer, gave this 
advice: right before you take a shot, roll a ball, or make a swing, visualize yourself already successfully completing that task and celebrating. You will greatly increase your success rate.
He does it. Anthony Robbins does it. Dale Carnegie did it. I know Hunter S. Thompson did it. As well as countless others. Sure it may feel weird, but it works. (If you don’t believe it works, think about all the times you thought you couldn’t do something, and were right.)
Anyway, this book has obviously inspired me. I apologize for going on a bit of a rant here but I really thought I should get it out there. And Maybe my comments will inspire some people out there. Who knows?
I just know that when I’m at the gym, writing, playing sports, or preparing for a job interview, in my mind I am thinking “Ain’t nothing to it but to do it.” And, seriously, it helps.
Next book: The Scarlet Letter, by Nathaniel Hawthorne
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I love reading author’s letters. You get great insight into the writer’s life, their process, and personality. I just came across these letters between Hunter S. Thompson and Ralph Steadman, the illustrator of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas and lots of Thompson’s other works.
