3.5 stars! Inner Mastery, Outer Impact is a book that distils the common underlying principles across religions, cultures and science. The author concludes there are 5 pillars that allow us to be our best selves (by tapping into our “inner core”) and thus allowing us to have a greater impact.

Most of the book is really focused on inner mastery and loosely ties in the outer impact. The 5 pillars: purpose, wisdom, growth, love and self-realization each get a chapter that explains why and how. And each gets a real world-famous example.

I’ve read a decent amount of “self-help” so the pillars were not new to me. However, the book served as a reminder to stick to them and I did restart my meditation practice. I deeply enjoyed the passage: “I offer you, the more we wish to serve others, the more crucial it is for us to cultivate inner joy.”

The book is long and riddled with too many examples. To the point, I sometimes couldn’t connect the examples to the message and sometimes lost the message in the examples. It made the book difficult for me to digest. This was my major downfall for the book. If it was more concise I would have liked it more. If you thrive off of examples this is a great option.

This is such a good book, filled with relevant stories and scientific data. This is an easy, interesting read that’s actually applicable in everyday life.