The late Brian Klemmer (1950-2011) was a gifted writer, speaker, and philosopher, as well as a dedicated humanitarian. He achieved renown for the way he coached others toward extraordinary personal growth. Perhaps his best-known book is The Compassionate Samurai, which builds on the symbol of the feudal warriors who lived and died by a strict code of honor and service.
His other notable books include If How-To’s Were Enough, We Would All Be Skinny, Rich and Happy. It’s a snappy title, but the 128-page book also contains the same type of life-changing wisdom that made Brian Klemmer such a dynamic and sought-after leader. This book’s insights, like those of The Compassionate Samurai, help form the core of the workshops at the experiential leadership company he founded, Klemmer and Associates.
Truths about the life you never learned in school
Readers have noted that If How-To’s Were Enough opened their minds to possibilities they’d never imagined before. Many have said the book brought them back to a grounding in reality, teaching them hard, but beneficial, truths of life that they’d ignored. As a result, they understood more about what had been holding them back and became more capable of making long-lasting changes. Some readers have even stated that, if you were only able to read one book in your entire life, it should be this one.
If How-To’s Were Enough is designed to help readers unpack a “secret formula” that will get practical results when they’re confused about what to do next. It reveals the disconnect between a desire to do something, or to have something, and the results of that desire in the real world.
Readers will learn how to build more sustainable and effective relationships with others, find out how to stop self-sabotaging, and achieve the balance in their lives they’ve always been seeking. Brian Klemmer’s entire life’s work taught him that there’s a hidden component necessary for taking action in life, but most people never find it. Pro tip: This has nothing to do with what most people call “willpower” even as they laugh off their lack of it.
For numerous readers who have applied the techniques in the book, stress diminished and became easier to manage, financial success followed, and relationships became more fulfilling. People who’ve changed their life-perspective using its insights also often report losing unwanted weight and becoming more fit and alert in general. As the book’s title promises, this is a new way of being in the world that goes beyond clichéd “self-help” maxims to empower readers toward self-driven, permanent changes in their character, with far-reaching results.
The path to fulfillment leads through responsibility
Klemmer’s series of leadership and personal growth trainings are like no other. Participants learn to ask themselves hard questions: “How did I get to this point? What choices did I make that led me here? How can I develop a greater awareness of my choices and consequences? And how can I learn to be more accountable to myself and others, to set myself on the road to making better choices?”
This isn’t by any means a simple or sugar-coated type of “how-to” program. It’s not for those looking to make superficial changes while neglecting to probe the depths of their own character and life choices.
As Brian Klemmer discovered, it can be scary to apply honest scrutiny to the ways in which our ineffective behaviors limit us. It can be even scarier to then travel into the unknown: to dig deep enough to discard these old ways of being from our lives and begin to build the type of strong, but empathetic character we really want to have.
But it’s through the very act of holding ourselves accountable, acknowledging responsibility, and taking ownership of our failures and shortcomings, that we learn to be better people. And when we learn to follow through on our commitments, we gain the trust of the important people in our lives: family and friends, employees and bosses, clients and communities.
Experiences that reveal your true self
Klemmer’s Personal Mastery course is among the foundational trainings that draw heavily on these insights. Over the course of two-and-a-half days, trainers provide focused exercises, group discussions, and reflection times that clear a path through past negativity and bad habits. Participants are then able to move toward powerful self-transformation. The learning journey can continue through trainings that build on one another. These include the six-day Heart of the Samurai program, which helps people to incorporate intense emotional and ethical growth into their personalities over the long term.
That’s another thing that takes Klemmer trainings beyond mere “how-to’s.” The results really do last.
Each Klemmer training is experiential in nature precisely because how-to’s aren’t enough. People don’t always follow the path that’s best for them. And they certainly don’t always do what they’re told. On the other hand, an experiential approach to personal growth truly engages participants in ways that help cut through this type of resistance. Klemmer’s coaches and trainers understand how to help people challenge their own unproductive belief systems, releasing them to move forward with a greater understanding of who they really are, and a greater intention to claim their rightful place in the world.