Author and entrepreneur R.C. Farrington has written a book for those he calls “average Joes and Josies” who may be wondering when, if ever, they can excel in The Average Joe’s Guide to Success: The Brilliant Overachievers Will Never See You Coming.
If you fall into this category, as Farrington says he does, you will probably realize it early on: you won’t make straight A’s in school, and perhaps, like him, you will be tested at some point and routed towards vocational work. You may feel undervalued and lapse into a pattern of underachieving, because it seems pointless to try to aim high. Farrington asserts that just because you are average does not mean you shouldn’t or can’t take responsibility for your future. You may not wind up as a multimillionaire, but you can be a “thousandaire” with attitude.
Farrington’s tone is refreshingly honest and realistic, and separates it from business self-help books of this kind. Often, business books center around “leadership,” and here Farrington’s focus is on people who are not natural born leaders, or may never even find themselves in a leadership capacity. Other books often have an unrealistic take on what is possible, which often seem more like transparent pandering than a hard look at what can actually be attained. Farrington effectively avoids this trap, and provides practical solutions for finding a career and doing well at work.
In this way, the book could be useful for most any reader, as Farrington avoids being a superficial cheerleader, and instead addresses people’s potential weaknesses, in addition positive attributes that anyone might possess, even the “average.” He stresses positive attributes such as consistency, flexibility, patience, optimism, and practicality, while negative attitudes to be avoided include arrogance, impulsivity, inconsiderateness, and pessimism. Once you realize your limits, you can start setting goals based on your own capabilities.
What makes the book work well is Farrington’s perspective as a guide, having walked the walk from “average” to success. The book covers in detail how this process has worked for him when he maximized the asset of a strong imagination, but he also fairly points out that not every aspiration will come to fruition. He has made a modest, even enviable, amount of money from improving the ideas of others. Having a bent towards computer programming, as a hobby, he developed a software business that he was later able to sell. He covers his subject well, including plenty of examples and motivational stories from his own life and others, such as the men who started McDonald’s, so the book is a well-rounded look at success in a number of fields.
The cover doesn’t really do the book justice, seeming more like a stock template, and the subject matter is rife with possibilities, so the cover doesn’t have to be average itself. Overall, The Average Joe’s Guide to Success is well-organized and stands out in a crowded field, and should inspire the average and not-so-average to succeed with this unique work of business self-help.
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