The Earthquake: Your Journey from Setback to Breakthrough

by Vince Poscente

Overview

From the New York Times bestselling author of The Age of Speed and The Ant and the Elephant comes an all-new parable to help you break free from feeling stuck and bounce back after a crisis.

"Life has its ups and downs; however, we should never give up hope . . . The Earthquake will inspire many to meet the difficult challenges of life."
—Dalai Lama

The Earthquake is a must read for anyone looking to find their way to sustained hope. Use this book to find specific solutions to the setback you’re currently facing or to help others bounce back from their personal earthquake.

This parable will help readers to:

Reframe dark times as illuminating experiences

Resist the impulse to go it alone

Find fresh perspectives

Seek a path where you can enjoy the journey

In this entertaining modern-day fable, Vince Poscente introduces us to the well-intentioned, conscious ant and the habitually fearful, subconscious elephant as seismic destruction changes their world and ultimately forces them to leave their oasis.

What Adir the ant and Elgo the elephant learn—and what you’ll learn by journeying with them—is the linear path they used to reach the oasis in The Ant and the Elephant does not work in the chaos after an earthquake. How can they breakthrough and thrive after a life-altering setback?

This book offers prescriptive advice, and is based on Poscente’s study of practices including:

decoding human behavior

the neuroscience of performance

interpersonal dysfunction around fear

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781953295712
Publisher:	BenBella Books, Inc.
Publication date:	11/30/2021
Pages:	224
Sales rank:	1,031,981
Product dimensions:	5.60(w) x 8.30(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

Vince Poscente is one of the most in-demand presenters today. He is an expert on resiliency—the ability to overcome challenges and bounce back stronger than ever before. During this current crisis, he is a guest on multiple programs, podcasts and virtual meetings giving audiences the tools to thrive. His client list includes Fortune 500 companies with one commonality: they understand that success is not just about managing challenges, but proactively pivoting from setbacks and overcoming obstacles to become smarter, stronger and more focused than ever before. Vince knows firsthand the power that attitude, determination and innovation play in your future success, especially when life doesn’t go as planned.

Table of Contents

Map xii

Character Key xv

Author's Note xvii

Chapter 1 Accepting a New Reality 1

Chapter 2 Using Discomfort as a Catalyst 23

Chapter 3 Harnessing Action to Interrupt Anxiety 31

Chapter 4 Letting Go of the Right Way 39

Chapter 5 Learning the Hard Way 57

Chapter 6 Rebound and Redefine 75

Chapter 7 The Solution Loop Treasure 99

Chapter 8 Adapt or Die 119

Chapter 9 Death's Back Door 131

Chapter 10 Rest, Pace, Go with It 139

Chapter 11 Wrath from Land and Sky 157

Chapter 12 Resspace Gowiddit 169

Chapter 13 When Action Gets Traction 177

Chapter 14 From Darkness to Light 187

Acknowledgments 193

About the Author 197

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

"Life has its ups and downs; however, we should never give up hope . . . The Earthquake will inspire many to meet the difficult challenges of life."
—Dalai Lama

"The volume’s insights will...effectively teach readers to move from despair to solutions."
—Krikus Reviews

“The Earthquake is more than a story about a personal ‘earthquake.’ It is a formula to escape the feeling of being stuck and into the light of hope.”
—Nando Parrado, leader of the Miracle in the Andes and featured in the film Alive

“If you want to take your life to the next level, and master life to not only survive but thrive, read this book, because Vince Poscente has done the hard work for us and outlined the lessons in a very practical, clever, and entertaining way.”
—Maja Kazazic, Bosnian genocide survivor and Vela Business Solutions founder

“Your ‘earthquake’ may have only happened once, but it can indeed live rent-free in your brain until you find your way out of the setback you experienced. Learn from The Earthquake to escape the insidious nature of fear and limiting beliefs.”
—Steven Pressfield, international bestselling author of The War of Art

“No matter the scale of the setbacks you experience, you can find a way past the struggles that come from limiting beliefs. Read and learn from The Earthquake to truly supersede any obstacles you experience in your life.”
—Harville Hendrix, PhD, New York Times bestselling author of Getting the Love That You Want

“The Earthquake is a how-to guide for anyone who’s ever hit rock bottom and sees no way up. It is about triumph in the midst of tragedy, of overcoming the seemingly insurmountable, and it is about an inexhaustible faith under fire.”
—T.D. Jakes, CEO of TDJ Enterprises, movie producer, and author of Crushing

Editorial Reviews

2021-10-15
A group of metaphorical creatures presents lessons about perseverance and mental strength in this guide.

In this follow-up to The Ant and the Elephant (2004), Poscente returns to the two animals who are his stand-ins for the conscious (ant) and subconscious (elephant) minds. Adir the Ant and Elgo the Elephant go everywhere together. Adir has learned how to make sure he and Elgo are working toward the same purpose in pursuit of excellence. Their idyllic existence is interrupted by an earthquake that destroys their home—and Adir’s extensive and highly leveraged real estate enterprise—and the two fall into despondency. After trying to rebuild as all their animal neighbors leave the area, Adir and Elgo eventually set out on a quest for a safe place to serve as a new home. With periodic advice from Brio the Owl, Adir and Elgo set goals for themselves, find a path through unfamiliar territory, and learn new ways to work together. They also face external challenges: Villains Chromia the Wolf and Valafar the Vulture see Adir and Elgo as potential prey. When Adir and Elgo’s conflicts aren’t driving them further from their goals, the predators are. By implementing Brio’s lessons (“Adir, criticism is like manure. It stinks but helps you grow”), Adir and Elgo are eventually able to triumph. In the introduction, Poscente writes that the book was inspired by his “own personal earthquake,” a confluence of bad financial decisions coupled with the falloff of his public speaking business during the recession of the late 2000s, which forced him to learn the lessons Adir and Elgo discover in the story. While the talking animal storyline may not appeal to all readers, it follows the successful path of earlier titles like Spencer Johnson’s Who Moved My Cheese? (1998) and Holden Rothgeber and John Kotter’s Our Iceberg Is Melting (2006) and does so equally well. Each chapter ends with a restatement of the pithy lessons taught by the tale, presented as an entry in Adir’s collection of notes to himself. The volume’s insights will be familiar to pop-psychology veterans, but the format is a smooth and persuasive way of concisely presenting them to new audiences.

Talking animals effectively teach readers to move from despair to solutions.

Kirkus Reviews