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The Gift of Adversity: Overcoming Paralysis and Pain to Find Purpose
While preparing to deploy with the U.S. Army Marcus suffered a severe spinal injury that left him paralyzed. After dying on the operating table twice, the surgeons saved his life, but told him he'd never walk again. Having no other option, Marcus started doing some brutally honest soul searching, looking for the lesson to be learned from his injury. Once he started seeing his Adversity as a gift instead of a curse, something miraculous began to happen...
"The Gift of Adversity" tells the inspiring story and lessons learned from overcoming pain and paralysis to find purpose. Based on Marcus Aurelius Anderson's life and TEDx talk, "The Gift of Adversity" gives functional and inspiring wisdom that can be applied in personal development, motivation, and achievement.
"The Gift of Adversity" tells the inspiring story and lessons learned from overcoming pain and paralysis to find purpose. Based on Marcus Aurelius Anderson's life and TEDx talk, "The Gift of Adversity" gives functional and inspiring wisdom that can be applied in personal development, motivation, and achievement.
252 pages, Kindle Edition
Published October 22, 2017
12 people are currently reading
39 people want to read
About the author
Marcus Aurelius Anderson
1 book1 followerMarcus Aurelius Anderson is an author, TEDx speaker & Keynote Speaker, Executive Mindset Coach to CEO's, Leaders and Entrepreneurs, Host of the #1 New and Noteworthy "Epic Achiever" Podcast and the World's foremost Authority on The Gift of Adversity.
While preparing to deploy with the U.S. Army, Marcus suffered a severe spinal injury that left him paralyzed.
After dying on the operating table twice, the surgeons saved his life, but told him he'd never walk again.
Having no other option, Marcus started doing some brutally honest soul searching, looking for the lesson to be learned from his injury. Once he started seeing his Adversity as a gift instead of a curse, something miraculous began to happen...
Marcus now speaks, writes, inspires and teaches others to overcome their own Adversity and actualize their personal definition of success.
His TEDx talk “The Gift of Adversity” tells of how we can use our Adversity to make us into better leaders, citizens and human beings.
While preparing to deploy with the U.S. Army, Marcus suffered a severe spinal injury that left him paralyzed.
After dying on the operating table twice, the surgeons saved his life, but told him he'd never walk again.
Having no other option, Marcus started doing some brutally honest soul searching, looking for the lesson to be learned from his injury. Once he started seeing his Adversity as a gift instead of a curse, something miraculous began to happen...
Marcus now speaks, writes, inspires and teaches others to overcome their own Adversity and actualize their personal definition of success.
His TEDx talk “The Gift of Adversity” tells of how we can use our Adversity to make us into better leaders, citizens and human beings.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
March 21, 2023
I heard about this book when the author appeared on Ryan Holiday's podcast. So, I thought I'd check it out, given that I've always believed adversity should be something we seek out rather than avoid.
In general, I enjoyed this book. It has a lot in common with David Goggins' "Can't Hurt Me" - both positive and negative. The positive includes a similar overall theme/message and a lot of great inspirational points, including the following few examples:
“The reality is that Law of Attraction only works as hard as you do.” [p. 32]
“Though it may sound counterintuitive, an Adversity is our best teacher…You must seek the Adversity that you most wish to overcome [because]…In the end, we are only as strong as the Adversity we overcome. The pain will eventually subside, but the lesson will always remain. If you look hard enough, you find that experience will strengthen you to endure the next battle. Only this time you will be stronger and wiser than before. Pain and discomfort are always the best teachers. Adversity is the gift that teaches and strengthens us, causing us to reach far beyond where we ever thought possible.” [pp. 38-39]
“Acting like a ‘normal person’ with a ‘normal work ethic,’ ‘normal motivation,’ and ‘normal attention span’ will get you ‘normal’ results. Normal is unoriginal, often subpar, and flat out boring. I’d wager that your biggest dreams and desires don’t involve things that are ‘normal,’ subpar, or boring. So how in the hell can a ‘normal’ mentality create the things you’ve always wanted in your life? It can’t, and to think any differently is the very definition of insanity. Don’t be ‘normal.’ Choose to be abnormal. Have abnormal expectations of yourself. Have an abnormal work ethic and focus if you want to achieve things that are above and beyond what is the norm.” [p. 88]
“Everybody wants to become a ‘success,’ but few want to put in the amount of work necessary to become one. It all boils down to a single question: Do you want to accomplish your goals, or do you want to do what is comfortable at this moment?” [p. 147]
“Many hunger for the truth, but the taste can sometimes be difficult to stomach.” [p. 223]
Unfortunately, the book also included a number of negative similarities to Goggins' work, including redundancy/rambling at times, a number of disjointed and long chapters, and an over-reliance on personal examples. But at least Goggins' book wasn't filled with countless typos, grammatical errors, and spelling & punctuation mistakes.
I could have overlooked these numerous mistakes until Anderson wrote this on page 234:
"There are some grammatical errors in this book as I'm sure you've already noticed. I insisted that they remain in the final draft to make a point. If the gravity of my message and story is lessened because of a misspelled word or the semantics of pronouns, then obviously I haven't done my job. I trust that my voice and lessons aren't watered down by something as insignificant as a punctuation..."
Um, no.
For the previous 233 pages, you implored the reader to strive for excellence in all they do, including seeking out and overcoming adversity. But now you not only accept, but you embrace, mediocrity in your writing mechanics? Sorry, but that perceived hypocrisy cost you a full star in this review (not to mention a fair amount of respect).
Still, I enjoyed this book and took much from it. I just wish the author had practiced as much discipline in his writing as he obviously did in his decades of martial arts training and in overcoming his paralyzing injury.
In general, I enjoyed this book. It has a lot in common with David Goggins' "Can't Hurt Me" - both positive and negative. The positive includes a similar overall theme/message and a lot of great inspirational points, including the following few examples:
“The reality is that Law of Attraction only works as hard as you do.” [p. 32]
“Though it may sound counterintuitive, an Adversity is our best teacher…You must seek the Adversity that you most wish to overcome [because]…In the end, we are only as strong as the Adversity we overcome. The pain will eventually subside, but the lesson will always remain. If you look hard enough, you find that experience will strengthen you to endure the next battle. Only this time you will be stronger and wiser than before. Pain and discomfort are always the best teachers. Adversity is the gift that teaches and strengthens us, causing us to reach far beyond where we ever thought possible.” [pp. 38-39]
“Acting like a ‘normal person’ with a ‘normal work ethic,’ ‘normal motivation,’ and ‘normal attention span’ will get you ‘normal’ results. Normal is unoriginal, often subpar, and flat out boring. I’d wager that your biggest dreams and desires don’t involve things that are ‘normal,’ subpar, or boring. So how in the hell can a ‘normal’ mentality create the things you’ve always wanted in your life? It can’t, and to think any differently is the very definition of insanity. Don’t be ‘normal.’ Choose to be abnormal. Have abnormal expectations of yourself. Have an abnormal work ethic and focus if you want to achieve things that are above and beyond what is the norm.” [p. 88]
“Everybody wants to become a ‘success,’ but few want to put in the amount of work necessary to become one. It all boils down to a single question: Do you want to accomplish your goals, or do you want to do what is comfortable at this moment?” [p. 147]
“Many hunger for the truth, but the taste can sometimes be difficult to stomach.” [p. 223]
Unfortunately, the book also included a number of negative similarities to Goggins' work, including redundancy/rambling at times, a number of disjointed and long chapters, and an over-reliance on personal examples. But at least Goggins' book wasn't filled with countless typos, grammatical errors, and spelling & punctuation mistakes.
I could have overlooked these numerous mistakes until Anderson wrote this on page 234:
"There are some grammatical errors in this book as I'm sure you've already noticed. I insisted that they remain in the final draft to make a point. If the gravity of my message and story is lessened because of a misspelled word or the semantics of pronouns, then obviously I haven't done my job. I trust that my voice and lessons aren't watered down by something as insignificant as a punctuation..."
Um, no.
For the previous 233 pages, you implored the reader to strive for excellence in all they do, including seeking out and overcoming adversity. But now you not only accept, but you embrace, mediocrity in your writing mechanics? Sorry, but that perceived hypocrisy cost you a full star in this review (not to mention a fair amount of respect).
Still, I enjoyed this book and took much from it. I just wish the author had practiced as much discipline in his writing as he obviously did in his decades of martial arts training and in overcoming his paralyzing injury.
April 6, 2023
AMAZING!!! Marcus is an inspiration and puts things in a different perspective. So many lessons to learn from this book and his story!
October 14, 2024
Great book on overcoming adversity, audio version is great too!
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews