Primary Greatness summary

Inner peace, a sense of fulfillment, long-lasting prosperity – the benefits of primary greatness are myriad and magnificent. But how exactly do you move toward acquiring it? Well, there are a few handy techniques that will prep your brain and make it more receptive.

The first is to use self-affirmations.

Integrity. It’s a word that gets thrown around a lot, but, if asked, would you be able to define it succinctly? Well, since it’s the first of the 12 levers of success and the foundation of primary greatness, it’s important to have a clear definition.

So the author broke it down into its component parts, and he found that integrity is a combination of two traits: humility and courage.

People need purpose. Whether it’s writing novels or raising a family, a purpose imbues life with meaning, giving its possessor a sense of direction and duty. And yet only between five and ten percent of people take the time to define their purpose.

Purpose is crucial because, without it, you won’t know how to contribute to the world, and contribution is the second lever of success. To identify your purpose, start by asking yourself three questions: What is the world lacking? What do I excel at? And how could I contribute by doing something I like?

Maybe you left some dishes in the sink, assuming your partner would wash them. Maybe you “accidentally” cut someone off in traffic. Or maybe you just didn’t take the time to call your mother.

Yes, being selfish is normal. However, if you want to form meaningful and productive relationships, you’ve got to fight those selfish tendencies and nourish the fourth lever of success – sacrifice.

Now that you’ve got an idea how to establish and strengthen relationships, let’s take a look at how to make them productive. Interestingly enough, one of the best ways to build a beneficial relationship with others is to improve how secure you feel about yourself.

A self-assured character is, in fact, the foundation of the next two levers of success – reciprocity and diversity.

We’ve all experienced it. There you are, at the bar with friends or eating lunch with colleagues, and somebody starts bad-mouthing an absent pal or coworker. Such behavior is common, but it’s also horribly toxic.

The eighth lever, loyalty, combats such toxicity by holding you back from ever disrespecting other people, regardless of whether they’re present or absent.

Imagine that, for the next ten years, you learn nothing new. Well, the truth is that, if you stopped learning, you’d become irrelevant: your skills and knowledge would get you nowhere in the world of ten years hence. So how can you keep growing and stay up-to-date?

The best way is to keep learning, which is the tenth lever of success.

So we’ve been focusing a lot on the component parts of primary greatness. But if you really want to a serve a higher purpose, and live a fulfilled and peaceful life, you’ve got to take care of yourself. And that’s where the twelfth lever, renewal, comes in.

Self-care is a matter of balancing your mental, physical and social health.