Skip Prichard is an accomplished CEO, growth-oriented business leader and keynote speaker. He has spoken on topics such as leadership, personal development, growth strategies, culture, corporate turnarounds and the future of publishing. In his new book “The Book of Mistakes: 9 Secrets to Creating a Successful Future” he shares the nine mistakes that prevent many people from achieving their goals and how to overcome them to help reinvent their lives.

“The Book of Mistakes” begins with a Prologue set in England in 1425 where an unnamed monk is on a mission to hide the last of the ten copies he had transcribed from an ancient manuscript. His goal is to keep them from falling into the wrong hands until they can be distributed to the nine Teachers and the new Keeper. From there, the stories take off: one is in the present where David is living a generic life that includes an unreliable job, until he meets a young woman who jump starts a journey that changes his life forever. The other story take place in the American colonies in 1771 and centers around Aria, a teenager who is trying to fulfill her sick Uncle Raymond’s last wish. She needs to retrieve a manuscript from the family home and protect it at all costs. The two stories eventually coincide as David crosses paths with several strangers he names the Playwright, the Bartender, the Artist and so on, who each give him one “mistake” that he can learn from to improve his life. These include, among others, “working on someone else’s dream,” “allowing some else to define your value” and “surrounding yourself with the wrong people.” As he gets each life lesson, he finds his life slowly improving until he is ready to share them with others.

At first glance, it seems that this is a self-help book, which it is. But it is a self-help book cleverly disguised as an adventure complete with an ancient origin story and a scavenger hunt of sorts. This makes learning fun as the reader goes along with David as he meets these strangers who share their knowledge with him, eagerly flipping pages to get to the next “mistake.” Without giving too much of the content away, the advice that Skip Prichard gives may sound like common sense, but sometimes it is necessary to be reminded that it is indeed a mistake to “stay in your comfort zone” and “blend in instead of standing out.” He does so without sounding condescending and in language that is easy to understand and filled with details and imagery. Since the sections are conveniently divided by Mistakes and Laws, it is easy to refer back to them as needed. Highlights include Mistake #9: Believing You Have All the Time in the World and Mistake #6: Allowing Temporary Setbacks to Become Permanent Failures. Self-help books tend to be dry and boring and therefore difficult to get through to get much needed advice, but this is a fast-paced book, similar to Dan Brown’s “The DaVinci Code.” “The Book of Mistakes” brilliantly combines advice and a storytelling to get the message across and is recommended for readers who enjoy a suspenseful story jam-packed with life lessons.

“…on the one hand, live each day as if it’s your last and, on the other, as if it’s your first. Your last keeps you focused on what really matters…Your first is important because you also must have a longer view, or you will never accomplish the goals that are hard and take longer.”

*The author received a copy of this book for an honest review. The views and opinions expressed here belong solely to her.