Think and Win like Dhoni - Book Review

This is the era of marketing. Great personalities like Einstein, Chanakya, Steve Jobs and many others are packaged into self-development books. These books sell just by the cover. Only after the reader reads it he comes to realize that very less is written in the book about the personality who adorned its cover. The writer very cleverly sold his own thoughts by having an icon on its cover. Unfortunately the book stores are inundated with such books which cheat the readers.

But Sfurti Sahare’s Thinks and win like Dhoni is an exception. This book has warmth of genuineness. This book offers the qualities which are rarely mentioned in other self-development books. The book is divided into five sections which contain five traits of Dhoni. These according to the author are simple, achievable and they are within us.

In the section the right attitude, the author says that the Dhoni’s greatest strength is his fearlessness. According to Dhoni, fear is just an illusion of the mind, which doesn’t exist in reality. The more you entertain fear, the more you will attract it in your life.

According to the author the breed of angry young men has become obsolete. They do not stand a chance in this changing times where mind games and mental skill rule supreme. Dhoni was not born with a calm mind. He says, ‘I wasn’t so calm at a young age. I don’t like to lose, so when I was young, I had trouble controlling my emotions. But soon I realized that aggression is a waste of time and energy. Then I consciously practiced calmness and over a period of time, I learned to control my aggression.’

In the section Goals the author says while a novice sets big, expanded goals with the moon as the destination point, achievers sets small, achievable goals towards the very destination point. The difference is that a novice usually misses to reach his destination while an achiever, more often than not hits the goal post. At another place she says it’s not difficult to achieve clarity of mind if we waste less time on over thinking and complicating it by conjuring up unnecessary hypothetical situations. She further says that you should chose your goal; you should never mind if you win or lose and not forget to tally. To tally means to sit back and see what you have done right, what you have done wrong, and identify areas you need to work upon.

The section follow the process is the most important section in the book. It says there are no other procedures other than that to follow the process. We affix a goal and strengthen it with the right attitude. But if we cannot follow the process, winning will always elude us. Further she says losing your temper is not a part of the process. It has the potential to upset your psychological form. According to her when a person is obsessed about the result and has little patience in the process, a hurdle or impediment in the way makes him give it up easily.

The section a peaceful walk home is about unwinding, living in the moment and multitasking. The last section to be the chosen leader is about Dhoni’s people management skills.

This book has the potential to change your life. That is the reason why you should read it. Unfortunately the book is poorly proof read and is ridden with typographical errors (pages 37, 57, 64, 65, 76, 83, 91) I hope these errors are corrected in the next editions.