The 5 Essentials

Most of us are on a quest to realize the best versions of ourselves. Some of us see the quest as a great challenge, while some of us see that challenge as overwhelming. How can any of us create the full, creative, and dynamic life we desire?

Bob Deutsch, PhD, has spent nearly three decades researching this question, and what he has found is revelatory. Each of us has five inborn resources - curiosity, openness, sensuality, paradox, and self-story - that we used optimally can...
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Most of us are on a quest to realize the best versions of ourselves. Some of us see the quest as a great challenge, while some of us see that challenge as overwhelming. How can any of us create the full, creative, and dynamic life we desire?

Bob Deutsch, PhD, has spent nearly three decades researching this question, and what he has found is revelatory. Each of us has five inborn resources - curiosity, openness, sensuality, paradox, and self-story - that we used optimally can lead to extraordinary levels of self-expansion. Dr. Deutsch calls these tools essentials because they are resident in all of us, because they are central to our being, and because they go a long way toward providing us clues to who we really are.

The 5 Essentialsis your guidebook to making the most of each of these resources. Through Dr. Deutsch's keen anthropoligical eye for 'deep universals' he highlights surprising juxtapositions across celebrity, factory worker, small business owner, and stay-at-home parent, in the common human search for identity and vitality. What he shows us is that we each have, in our own way and on our own scale, the ability to live lives as rich and vibrant as we can imagine.

Brimming with stories of fascinating lives - including Wynton Marsalis, Anna Quindlen, Richard Feynman, Jane Goodall, and many people you will be meeting for the first time in these pages - The 5 Essentialsis told with wit, compassion, and a deep understanding of what it means to be human.

There couldn't be a better time for this book. As we face unprecedented levels of uncertainty and change, it is more important than ever that you know who you are. The 5 Essentialswill help make this possible in revelatory new ways.

Praise for The 5 Essentials

'The 5 Essentialsis a book of rare insight on how to live your best life by taping into your deep personal resources. Bob Deutsch is a wise, seasoned, and compassionate companion on this essential journey to become your true self.' Sir Ken Robinson, PHD, author of Finding Your Element- How to Discover Your Talents and Passions and Transform Your Life

'Dr. Deutsch is an essential member of that shrinking group that we used to term 'a few wise men.' He has the unique ability to see through to the simple truth of how we think, process, and build belief systems. In The 5 Essentialshe has brought the sum of his rich and unique experiences to bear, and captured the formula for living a truly purposeful life and maximizing our innate capacities, on the path to what he terms our 'self-story.'' Jeremy Holden, chief strategy officer of Publicis Kaplan Thaler and author of Second That Emotion- How Decisions, Trends, and Emotions Are Shaped

'The 5 Essentialsbegins with a simple premise. Don't look at high achievers as outliers. Consider them kindred spirits. Understand the strategies that worked for them and put them to work for you. You may not end up a Hollywood director or a Silicon Valley hotshot, but with hard work, you can discover your unique self-story and begin to carve out a more meaning-filled life. A refreshing take on the American romance with success, taking its iconic tales as opportunities for self-reflection. The inspirational takeaway- there is a great story inside of you.' Sherry Turkle, PHD, author of Alone Together- Why We Expect More from Technology and Less from Each Other

'In The 5 Essentials, Dr. Bob bottles up his native brilliance and eclectic intellect in a compact volume that is rich with inspiring and actionable insights for all readers. Drawing on his life story, as well as conversations with ordinary and extraordinary people he has met along the way, Dr. Bob presents a compel