Robin Sharma’s Who Will Cry When You Die Book Summary and Quotes

Who should read this book

Who Will Cry When You Die is a book written by Indian born writer Robin Sharma. The book was first published in 1999. It is a Self-help book. If you are one of those who are living their life without any purpose if so, then this book must help you gain confidence. This book is a collection of all world famous quotes explained.Robin Sharma says “If you are ready to live with greater meaning-while you experience greater achievement If words like ‘legacy’, ‘impact’ and ‘contribution’ speak deeply to you? If so, this book will be a wake-up call for you”.This book holds a title tagline “WHEN WE BORN WE CRIED WHILE THE WORLD REJOICED, LIVE YOUR LIFE IN SUCH A WAY THAT WHEN YOU DIE THE WORLD CRIES AND YOU REJOICE”. It is pretty clear by these lines that if you don’t want to die a meaningless life. This book is for you.

overview

Robin Sharma discusses most important life lessons which he has learned throughout his life & put together those in the form of 101 inspirational chapters which, if we follow will help us in improving our quality of life as well as our interpersonal relationships no doubt that, every lesson in this book has something essential to teach you.The reason why Robin Sharma wrote this book is that, he don’t want people to regret in their death beds for the reason that they didn’t lived their life the way they would like to live as a happy person. Discover how to live your dreams, get the most from your days, awaken your power, have more fun, lead the field and make a difference in your life so that when you get to the end, you will feel you’ve lived greatly.

summary

I am explaining some of my personal favourite chapters in brief

1. Keep a journal

Writing in a journal offers you the opportunity to have one-on-one conservation with yourself. A journal is not a diary. A diary is a place where you recorded events while a journal is a place where you analyze and evaluate them.

2. Let the brightness enter your life

Thinking about all those things that you wish never happened to you is actually blocking all the things you want to happen from entering your life.

3. Never worry about past events

You become what you think about all the day long. It makes no sense to worry about past events or mistakes unless you want to experience them for the second time.

Chita burns the dead while Chinta burns the living.

4. focus on quality of sleep rather than quality

It is the quality rather than the quantity of sleep that matters most. Robin shares some effective tips to help sleep more deeply. They are :-

• Don’t eat after 8:00 PM.
• Don’t rehearse activities of your day while sleeping.
• Don’t watch news before you go to sleep (some sad news can make you feel distress).
• Don’t read in bed.

5. pain is the teacher and failure is the highway to success

It is during life’s most trying times that we discover who we really are and the fullness of strength that lies within us.

6. Develop your talents

Norman Cousins once noted that “The Tragedy of life is not death, but what we let die inside of us while we live.” Too many people spend more time focusing on a weakness rather than developing their strength. If you set goals, the action you take will be based on your life’s mission rather than your day-to-day mood.

In my speeches, I often use the following story drawn from ancient Indian mythology to remind the
audience that there is an abundance of potential and ability just waiting to be awakened within us if we will only
allow it to see the light of day. Thousands of years ago, it was believed that everyone who walked the earth was
a god. But humankind abused its limitless powers so that supreme god decided to hide the godhead, the source
of all of this potential, so that no one could find it. The question then became, where could such a thing be
hidden? The first adviser suggested it could be placed deep in the ground to which the supreme god replied,
“No, eventually someone will dig deep enough and find it.” The second adviser then offered, “What if we place
the godhead at the bottom of the deepest ocean” to which the supreme god responded, “No, eventually someone
will dive deep enough and find it.” The third adviser then chimed in, “Well, why don’t we put it on the top of
the highest mountain?” which prompted the supreme god to reply, “No, I’m certain that eventually someone
will scale that highest of peaks and find it.” After reflecting for some time, the supreme god found the solution:
“I will put this source of all human power, potential and purpose inside the hearts of every man, woman and
child on the planet, for they will never think to look there.”

Are you using the best within you to its fullest capacity? If not, you are not only doing yourself a disservice. Ruskin put it this way,

The weakest among us has a gift, however seemingly trivial, which is peculiar to him and which worthily used will be a gift also to his race.

7. Fortune is not on the side of the faint hearted

Life is nothing more than a game of numbers. The more risks you take the more rewards you will receive. Pursue opportunity stop spending your days searching for security and start spending your time pursuing opportunity.

The person who tries to do everything ultimately achieves nothing. The real secret is to getting things done is to know what things need to be left undone.

8. Youth is a state of mind

According to L.F. phelan –

“Youth is not a time of life; it is a state of mind”. People grow old only by deserting their ideals and outgrowing the consciousness of youth. Years wrinkle the skin but to give up enthusiasm wrinkles your soul. You are as old as you fear, your doubt and your despair. The way you keep young is to keep your faith young.

Happiness is not a place you reach but a state you create.

9. Get behind people’s eyeball

Listen carefully while conservation. If you are not listening you are not learning.

Robin Sharma’s tips for better conservation-

• When you are saying something and the person infront don’t respond for 60sec it is better to be quit.
• Focus more on what the person is saying rather than speaking.
• Take some time to reply once the person finish saying.
• Take time before keeping your opinion.

10. Decompress before you go home

We treat our friends, colleagues, boss very well. But we don’t treat our family the same way. In fact, they are the person we admire and trust the most. So after work, before going to home take a break of at least 10 minutes in Solitude and plan how you will make them happy. Reach your home with a smile on your face.

Some of my favoured quotes from this book

“Too many of us die at twenty and are buried at eighty”

 

We are all dreaming of some magical rose garden beyond the horizon instead of enjoying the roses that are blooming outside our window today.

Dale Carnegie

The telephone is there for your convenience, not the convenience of your caller.

Sleep is like a drug, take too much at a time and it makes you dopey. You lose time, vitality and opportunity.

Thomas Edison

It is not enough to be busy, so are ants. The question is what are you busy about ?

Thorean

Wisdom is knowing what to do next, skill is knowing how to do it, and virtue is doing it.

David Star Jordan

To be paid more in your work, you must add more value to the world. And the best way to begin adding value to the world is to start becoming a more valuable person. Acquire skills no one else has. Read books no one else is reading. Think thoughts no one else is thinking. Or to put it another way, you cannot have all that you want if you remain the person you are. To get more from life, you need to be more in life.

my views

I love the way Robin Sharma expressed his thoughts in a very simple language which is why this book is easy to understand by any age group. Every lesson in this book is worthy and along with that everything is discussed here is to the point no repetition of the same thing which makes this book unique & the reader wouldn’t feel dull while reading this book.

Robin Sharma has mostly focused on Solitude in this book. Solitude has the answer to your problems. But at the same time solitude is soo addictive. If you are in a complete solitude you will least care about others you will be completely lost in yourself.

Solitude is dangerous. It’s very addictive. It becomes a habit after you realize how calm and peaceful it is. It’s like you don’t want to deal with people anymore because they drain your energy.

Jim Carrey

About the Author

“Who will cry when you die” is written by Robin Sharma.

Robin Sharma is considered to be one of the top 5 leadership experts in the world. His work is embraced by rock stars, royalty, billionaires and many celebrity CEOs.  For nearly 20 years, many of the most well-known organizations on the planet, ranging from Nike, GE, Microsoft, FedEx, PwC, HP and Oracle to NASA, Yale University and YPO have chosen Robin Sharma for their most important events, when nothing less than a world-class speaker will do. Robin’s books on Leadership and peak performance at work have sold over 15,000,000 copies in 75+ Countries. He is a former lawyer, he quit his job and self-published a book at a Kinko’s copy shop. Robin Sharma is deeply passionate about helping children in need live happier, healthier lives. He truly wants to make a giant difference in the lives of underprivileged children around the world.