NEWS

Beyond Shark Tank: Daymond John Shares Life Lessons

With the New Year just getting rolling, our latest Igloo Book Buzz selection, Daymond John’s RISE AND GRIND, presents a diverse series of practical, anecdotal, and motivational success stories.  Published on January 23 by Crown Publishing Group imprint Currency, the subtitle of this book is “Outperform, Outwork and Outhustle Your Way to a More Successful and Rewarding Life.” ABC-TV’s Shark Tank star not only writes about himself, aspects of his multi-billion-dollar entrepreneurial career, and recent cancer scare, but he also delves inside the daily routines, work ethics and paths to personal fulfillment of a diverse mix of individuals, including television executive and woman’s advocate Nely Galan, serial entrepreneur and bestselling author Gary Vaynerchuck, Grammy Award-winning musician Carlos Santana, and renowned pastor Joel Osteen.

Here Daymond talks about what sparked his dedication to books that provide inspiration, how RISE AND GRIND came to be, and what he hopes will be reader takeaways:

“I discovered the transformative power of the written word when I was 14 years old, and picked up a copy of Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill.  It was just as relevant to me then – and today – as it was when it was published way back in the 1930s.   Because I’m dyslexic, I had to read it a few times to absorb it fully, but once I did, it lit a fire in me. I think that’s when I knew that I wanted to someday write books that would move people the way that book moved me. Books that would inspire people to chase the life they’d always dreamed of; to push and challenge themselves to be the best version of themselves that they can, and to believe – as I always have – that if you work hard enough, anything is possible, no matter your circumstances.

“My new book, RISE AND GRIND, is all about sharing the message that my mother instilled in me as a kid – that if we think big, and strive relentlessly, we really can do anything. Another huge inspiration for this book came out of something I noticed in the many remarkable people I met while traveling around the world with President Obama as a Presidential Ambassador, and while researching my previous book THE POWER OF BROKE.  It just blew me away how all these incredibly successful people I met were so different in so many ways, and yet, they all had one thing in common: a fierce work ethic and incredible drive forward. And the more I learned from them, the more I realized that these lessons were too valuable to keep to myself.

“So I decided that for my next book I wanted to sit down with people I admired to learn about what gets them going (or what I call ‘rising and grinding’) in the morning: what inspires them to push themselves tirelessly in pursuit of their goals and ambitions, how they sustain that determination and focus, and how they power through their days to get the most out of their 24 hours.  Because we all get the same 1,440 minutes in the day, no matter who we are, right? So what I really wanted to know was, how did these exceptionally successful people use that time so productively, meaningfully, and purposely.  The goal, of course, was to come away with a blueprint that would help readers implement some those habits and routines in their own lives.

“So I picked about 15 people from all different backgrounds, professions, and walks of life – entrepreneurs, artists, activists, leaders, and so on – and asked them questions they told me they’d never been asked before. I asked them what they do as soon as they get up in the morning, where they turn for energy and inspiration, how they structure their days, and more. What came out of those interviews amazed me, and left me more inspired than ever to distill these insights – along with what I’ve learned about grit and persistence from pushing myself to overcome challenges in my own life – in a way that would be meaningful to readers.

“There’s this great quote from the Dali Lama about how man ‘lives as if he is never going to die, and then dies having never really lived.’ I wanted to get inside the heads of those people who really live – people who get up every morning and live every hour of every day to the fullest – so that every one of us, no matter what we do or where we live or what obstacles we face, can learn to do the same.”