Product Description

What are the secrets to finding happiness? Why do some people live well and die happy? John Izzo asked thousands of people to identify the wisest person they knew. "The Five Secrets You Must Discover Before You Die" shares what he learned from over 200 people aged 60-106 whom others said had found the meaning in life. From town barbers to Holocaust survivors, from aboriginal chiefs to CEO's, these people had over 18,000 years of life experience. With warmth and wit, this book shares the "Five Secrets" to a happy and purpose-filled life which Izzo distilled from listening to these stories. Dr. Izzo also shows the reader how to put these secrets into practice in our lives. This book will make you laugh, bring you to tears, and inspire you to discover what matters long before you die. Based on a highly acclaimed TV series appearing on public television, this book takes the reader on a heart-warming and profound journey to find lasting happiness.

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Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #14432 in Books
• Published on: 2008-01-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 178 pages

From Publishers Weekly
From the pushy title on down, corporate speaker Izzo (president of The Izzo Group) offers lots of insistent but uninspiring advice for an audience presumably unfamiliar with the real value behind clichés like "be true to your self," "leave no regrets" and "live the moment." Based on interviews with the 235 wisest individuals Izzo could find (culled from some 15,000 nominees), advice boils down to commonsense sayings and platitudes ("every day is a gift"), illustrated by short anecdotes and personal insights. Those new to the self-help genre will find tried and true advice, but little to motivate a real life change.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Review

"In my experience, the two things humans want most are to find happiness and to find meaning," Izzo writes. In this ready-made spiritual quest, the business consultant and ordained Presbyterian minister interviewed more than 200 people from ages 60 to 106. The answers they received led him and his team to the belief that there are five secrets to happiness. Izzo's interviewees were selected after relatives and friends submitted their names as wise people with something to teach. The list was narrowed from 1,000 names to a diverse group that includes men and women, Muslims and Christians, doctors, barbers, priests, and aboriginal people.

Throughout the book, Izzo presents each lesson with heartfelt responses and anecdotes from these wise elders to illustrate how living each lesson has made them fulfilled and unafraid of death. "Just be yourself" has been the advice of every parent since Polonius. Izzo found that the simple phrase, "be true to yourself," is the first secret. Seventy-two-year-old Elsa told the author, "In order to tell a person the secret to happiness, I would have to sit down with them, look them deeply in the eyes, find out who they are, find out what their dreams are." A college professor discussed with him the difference he sees every day between his students who are following their dreams and those who aren't. Izzo also explains that the word "sin" comes from an ancient Greek word related to archery that literally means "to miss the mark." He believes that to sin, in the original sense of the word, means to "miss the mark of what you intended your life to be." After "leave no regrets," "become love," and "live the moment," the book's final secret is "give more than you take." As George, a seventy-one-year-old physicist, put it, "sooner or later you realize that you are not going to take anything with you but you can leave something behind." Each chapter ends with questions that encourage readers to think about the way they are living their own lives, such as, "Did I make the world a better place this week in some small way?"

In a society where old age is often seen as weakness, The Five Secrets is a refreshing reminder that our elders have much to teach. Izzo writes, "Whenever I am going to take a trip, I choose hotels by using a website that taps into the experiences of hundreds of other travelers ... It occurred to me that one could apply this same method to discovering the secrets to living well and dying happy." How many pitfalls and heartaches could be avoided if we consulted with travelers who have taken the road before?

-- Foreword Magazine, January/February 2008

Verdict: In the burgeoning world of self-help books, Izzo's "five secrets"--"be true to yourself," "leave no regrets," "become love," "live the moment," and "give more than you take"--aren't exactly secrets anymore. But his book takes off on the strength of his methodology of surveying "wide elders." Readers will want to know more about these interviewees and see the accompanying public television series to air widely in the spring of 2008. Highly recommended for all public libraries.


Background: Izzo, CEO of the consulting and training firm that bears his name, and his staff received recommendations from thousands of people regarding who they went to for advice and who they felt had found happiness and purpose in their lives. From the thousands of "wise elders," a diverse group of 235 North American people between the ages of 59 and 105 were selected for in-depth interviews about their lives and feelings. From these stories, Izzo culled the common themes that make up the "secrets" to happiness. In order to incorporate the secrets to happiness, he points out that each of us must discern what really matters to us and incorporate it into our lives; he suggests personal questions to ask ourselves to find our personal path to happiness, as well as weekly and daily reflections.

-- Library Journal, December 4, 2008

From the Publisher

Praise for Five Secrets

"This book is rich with anecdotes and insights that broaden your perspective on life and deepen your commitment to live your very best."
--Brian Tracy, author of Maximum Achievement, Eat That Frog! and Flight Plan

"John Izzo is a masterful storyteller. He educates us by weaving a fascinating mosaic of stories that make his point. Let this book be your mentor!"
--Beverly Kaye, Founder and CEO, Career Systems International and co-author of Love It Don't Leave It: 26 Ways to Get What You Want at Work and Love `Em or Lose `Em: Getting Good People to Stay

"Instead of wishing at the end of life `If I only knew then what I know now' you can know it now! This book has incredible wisdom from people who have real perspective."
--Marshall Goldsmith, author of What Got You Here Won't Get You There

"John has written a book that takes the obvious and turns it into the essence. When you have finished reading The Five Secrets you will find yourself with a new point of view about the rest of your life. And you will love it!
--Joel Barker, futurist

"John Izzo has revealed key fundamental truths from our elders, which he has presented in a way that is absorbing and often moving. This is not just another simple meaning-of-life book; it is a carefully researched and edited exploration of a road map to fulfillment for an era that needs it more than ever. The author infuses personal meaning into each chapter, and we feel as though we are going on a personal journey with him. The journey is joyful, heartfelt, often tearful, moving, but always presented with meaning and purpose."
--Janet E. Lapp, PhD, psychologist, author, and host of the CBS series Keep Well

"Have you ever wanted to sit down with someone who is really wise and ask him or her some fundamental questions about life? How about sitting down with more than 200 wise people? That's what John Izzo did and he offers truths here that you can't afford to ignore. Prepare to be surprised, provoked, encouraged--and changed forever. You will want to keep this book as a constant companion. It is a gentle reminder that it is never too late to live the truths that lead to wisdom, grace, and deep happiness."
--Dr. Kent M. Keith, CEO, The Greenleaf Center for Servant Leadership, and author of Anyway: The Paradoxical Commandments

"The Five Secrets You Must Discover Before You Die is a magically engaging book: lyrical, poetic, and perceptive. Through deeply moving stories from wise elders, John Izzo masterfully unravels the mystery of what it means to live a full and meaningful life. This book is a joy to read, and it will be an even greater joy to live the profound yet simple lessons revealed in this remarkable book."
--Jim Kouzes, coauthor of The Leadership Challenge and A Leader's Legacy

"I was deeply moved as I savored the wisdom found in The Five Secrets You Must Discover Before You Die. This book brings to light much of the lost wisdom of our elders, providing practical ways to live with greater meaning and focus. John Izzo, who courageously puts the word `die' in the title, offers us profound and simple wisdom for living, for getting to the heart of what it means to be more fully human."
--David Irvine, author of Becoming Real: Journey to Authenticity and The Authentic Leader

"The things we think we know are usually the things we most need to be helped to remember. This book prompts us to refocus on the principles on which we build the well-lived life."
--Max Wyman, author of The Defiant Imagination

"If you read only one book this year, please make it The Five Secrets You Must Discover Before You Die. Dr. Izzo has done a monumental service for all of us in synthesizing fundamental keys to living a happy and meaningful life. This is extraordinary wisdom literature."
--Larry C. Spears, President Emeritus and Senior Fellow, The Greenleaf Center for Servant-Leadership

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Customer Reviews

The Five Secrets You Must Discover Before You Die, by John Izzo (Reviewed by Andrea Goeglein, Ph.D.)
John Izzo begins his book: The Five Secrets You Must Discover Before You Die with a question we should form our entire life around: "Why do some people find wisdom and die happy?" This query is one that should sit quietly in the back of our minds from birth until death. When we sit with a question like this, we open ourselves to the endless possibilities of the answer.

John Izzo seeks to provide his audience with a roadmap to discovering our own answer to this. Through his book, he invites us to create lives of wisdom and happiness, no matter what our circumstance. Before beginning the five-step lesson, Izzo outlines the greatest challenge of all. He reminds us that time is passing. In our powerlessness over that, we have huge opportunities. We can manage our priorities and our choices. We are the stars of this one-person, one-lifetime show.

This book was, in some ways, a collaboration. Four thousand people were nominated by friends or loved ones as being true pillars of wisdom and joy. The author then chose 235 of those candidates between 60 and 105 years old - the most knowledgeable section of our society. These subjects have experienced the most. They can separate the hard knocks from the great lessons. Through those subjects and their wisdom, Izzo came up with five tenets for a life worth living:

1. Be true to yourself.
2. Leave no regrets
3. Become love.
4. Live in the moment.
5. Give more than you take.

Although each of these is vital and approached with great depth and focus in the book, one or two demand a moment's inspection and are worth implementing this very moment.

* Living in the moment. If one of the five tenets to living a happy life is to live in the moment, we are literally behind the eightball before we even begin. We are taken out of the "moment" a thousand times each day through our own technology. (Can you say email?) The author recounts taking his dog for a walk one day. The dog was enjoying that walk so much more than Mr. Izzo himself. The dog paused to enthusiastically enjoy smells or the company of other dogs (friends). The author was simply busy timing himself to accomplish his daily speed walk.

* Become Love. Izzo asks us to recognize that love is not an idea, it is an action. It means choosing to spend time with friends. (Even dogs do that!) It means embodying thoughtfulness and a loving tone. We must not miss an opportunity or spend a day in human disappointment - there simply are no do-overs. You will pass through today only once, and love will sustain you.

* Leave no regrets. The author's grandfather offered him the idea, early in his life, to judge his days by how satisfying they are. Each day will pass, it is simply the law of time and space, but how we live and how fulfilled we are, will become the foundation of great choices. Quite simply, we get this one chance to create a life that leaves no regrets. Do what thrills us.

Like all great books on positive psychology, gratitude is the prevailing thought throughout this book. To be able to rebound every day (if necessary) and choose to live a joyous and meaningful life. To create time to be still and find the timeless beauty hidden behind to do lists and ever-full inboxes. To author our own sonata, our own academy-award winning existence. That is the good life, and John Izzo wants us to know it. The rewards of each of these five principles are limitless, and amazingly, they are free. It's the free lottery ticket - your one true life.

To your success every day!

Andrea Goeglein, Ph.D. (aka Dr. Success)
Expert on Positive Psychology and Executive Success Mentor
[...]

Inspirational to say the least
I'm a recent college grad. and I took this book with me while I backpacked through most of Western Europe. I read it within the first 3 weeks of my adventure and it made a difference on how I saw the rest of the trip (which lasted another 9 weeks). I honestly slowed down to experience more, to take it all in. I became better friends with my two buddy's who were traveling with me, the sites seemed that much more intriguing and beautiful, and I met dozens of people, who I probably would have met if I hadn't read the book, or had, but it helped me to see things about them in a different light.

The use of stories and interviews helped to make this book so interesting. While there is more to life, then these 5 ideals, they have changed as well as reinforced many of my beliefs. I would recommend this book to anyone who needs enlightenment about their life, and everyone around them.

What Are They?
The title of this book, the five secrets you must discover before you die, intrigued me - what are these five secrets, are they different from my own beliefs I wondered?

As I started reading the book, the way the author conducted his research inspired me to read more. You see, this book contains secrets not written from theory but secrets from actual life experiences of people. And, the secrets discovered are common reoccurring themes from the author's research. In my opinion, the book has creditability, as it is not a book of theory. One last point about the research conducted; the interviews were all done with people 59 and over. The author, in my view, truly did find wisdom from these people.

I would highly recommend this great book!