The subtitle of this book says it all: 15 Lessons on Finding Hope in Unexpected Places.

This is a follow-up to Gill’s memoir How Starbucks Saved My Life. In the first book he outlined his fall from a high-powered advertising executive to a depressed “failure.” And then how a job at a local Starbucks brought him a new sense of accomplishment and peace.

In this book he distills what he’s learned in his six decades into fifteen life lessons. The lessons are fairly simple; things like: Learn from your children (or your mother or your father), Laugh, Let yourself be helped, Lose your watch, Let go and let God, etc.

I’m happy for Gill that he’s achieved a stage of happiness and contentment with his life. I think there are some valuable lessons to be learned from his experience, and some of his recollections made me think of my own life and how his lessons might apply to me. But this is incredibly repetitive. How many times does he have to tell me that he grew up in a 25-room mansion? Or that he was obsessed with work to the exclusion of his family? Or that he has a brain tumor? Maybe that’s his advertising training; commercials and ads do tend to hit the consumer over the head with their message – over and over and over again.

It’s a slim volume and a quick read, but it could have been said in three pages.
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How to Save Your Own Life finds Michael Gates Gill imparting his wisdom on what he's learned after Starbucks saved his life. Many of it is platitudes we've all heard before: learn from your parents, it's never too late to go for your dreams, listen to the silence, etc. What makes it different is how he takes it from different aspects of his life.

What Gill is going through is nothing new. It's a riches to rags story and learning how to adapt to the misfortune. But he does it well. He's very charismatic. It's like how his Nana (his live-in cook/nanny when he was a child) used to tell him: he would be a preacher.

I liked the lesson about learning from his mother and how it is never to late to follow your dreams. I will admit the listening to your heart lesson made me gag. It is probably not the way it was written but I may just be to young and/or wrapped up in my personal bubble to truly appreciated what Gill is trying to teach. I totally understood being a slave to time yet I will always continue to be.

Amendment to my review:
You can never kill a good Ad Man, can you? That is all. ( )

How to Save Your Own Life finds Michael Gates Gill imparting his wisdom on what he's learned after Starbucks saved his life. Many of it is platitudes we've all heard before: learn from your parents, it's never too late to go for your dreams, listen to the silence, etc. What makes it different is how he takes it from different aspects of his life.

What Gill is going through is nothing new. It's a riches to rags story and learning how to adapt to the misfortune. But he does it well. He's very charismatic. It's like how his Nana (his live-in cook/nanny when he was a child) used to tell him: he would be a preacher.

I liked the lesson about learning from his mother and how it is never to late to follow your dreams. I will admit the listening to your heart lesson made me gag. It is probably not the way it was written but I may just be to young and/or wrapped up in my personal bubble to truly appreciated what Gill is trying to teach. I totally understood being a slave to time yet I will always continue to be.

Amendment to my review:
You can never kill a good Ad Man, can you? That is all. ( )

How to Save Your Own Life finds Michael Gates Gill imparting his wisdom on what he's learned after Starbucks saved his life. Many of it is platitudes we've all heard before: learn from your parents, it's never too late to go for your dreams, listen to the silence, etc. What makes it different is how he takes it from different aspects of his life.

What Gill is going through is nothing new. It's a riches to rags story and learning how to adapt to the misfortune. But he does it well. He's very charismatic. It's like how his Nana (his live-in cook/nanny when he was a child) used to tell him: he would be a preacher.

I liked the lesson about learning from his mother and how it is never to late to follow your dreams. I will admit the listening to your heart lesson made me gag. It is probably not the way it was written but I may just be to young and/or wrapped up in my personal bubble to truly appreciated what Gill is trying to teach. I totally understood being a slave to time yet I will always continue to be.

Amendment to my review:
You can never kill a good Ad Man, can you? That is all. ( )

About: Gates provides 15 lessons he's learned after he was fired from his corporate job and started working as a barista at Starbucks.

Pros: Short, quick read, meant to warm your heart a bit, which it does.

Cons: Nothing new here, just the same old self-help pablum "advice" such as remember to laugh, have faith, listen and learn from others and be respectful. We are treated to such giant thoughts as "emotion has the word motion in it"

Grade: C ( )