Nana Turkson’s “The Success Journal”-- A Review

Author: B.N. Turkson
Publisher: Kings & Trends Publications
Pages: 160
Release Year: 2016
Reviewer: Mic Yamoah
Contact: [email protected]
“Study the greats and be greater” is a very popular quote that runs through the re (telling) of the success stories of many people. The quote, many attribute to the late King of Pop, Michael Jackson, may appear quite simplistic.

How does one study the greats? Who is a great person? What is it about a great person that is worth studying? And above all, who, greater than that great person, inspired that great person, for someone to study him or her?

No matter how straight forward or easy your answers to the above questions may be, we all tend to agree that people take inspiration from others, be it positive or negative inspiration. Hence, it is said, if you have the power to influence society, do that positively, then you will be called great.

The Author
And one great personality who has, and is still affecting his generation is the author of the book The Success Journal, B.N. Turkson, popularly known as Nana Turkson in the entertainment and business circles. Turkson’s experiences, quantified, make him a competent persona, without a shred of doubt to prescribe a path that one can chart towards greatness.

The author is good at what he does; and he does it well, often to the extreme, and often beautifully different. Those who had followed his “exploits” in the media, his skills of oratory, his depth of research on issues, and his ability to lace caustic comments with subtle humour embellished with sarcasm, is an indication of a great author in the making.

In The Success Journal, a book that comes with the subtitle, A Worker’s: Guide and a Student’s Companion to Great Success, Turkson shares with the world, a chunk of his experiences- one drawn from painstakingly studying the greats of the past, and of our time.

Local Inspirers
It is very common for many local authors to quote copiously, the successes of foreigners as an inspiration for the youth to follow. Turkson, in as much as he catalogues the success formula of greats from Biblical times Solomon, to historical figures like William The Conqueror, Mansa Musa I, Augustus Caesar, Marcus Lucinius Crassus, among others, he devotes pages to celebrate Ghanaians who have achieved greatness from their bases in Ghana. These personalities cut across all spheres of our society from media, sports, music, real estate and pharmacy.

These local successes will definitely spur readers on to get the author’s point to rethink success as a utopian venture, but one that is very practical. It is very much close to us than we realise.

The Path
The eleven chapter book, with titles like Health is wealth, Small Beginnings, Man, the Machine Engineered to Succeed, Jobs and Multiple Streams of Income, High Net Worth, among others, certainly is a cocktail of ideas for everyone who yearns to be provoked to get things done.

Why will health be a major issue for the author? And why does the book even start with health? The author contends that for one to even read the book and internalise the prescriptions in there, is only possible when one is healthy. And how does one implement the ideas expounded when the strength to work is frail?

Thus, the author, in an effortless manner draws our attention to the very basic things we tend to ignore. Apart from healthy eating and exercise, he takes us to “dreamland” and does an expose on the importance of sleep and dreams to our health. Did you know your brain waves are more active when you are dreaming than when you are awake? And that the average dream lasts for ten to fifteen minutes?

The path to success then follows, as author waves us through the book chapter by chapter.

My Verdict
The Success Journal is certainly my guide to success, as a worker, and for my students, a companion to their success. There is more than something in there for me, and there are a lot in there for everyone. The book isn’t about showbusiness, but it is heavily laced with examples of showbiz personalities, highlighting their success formulae, rather than their foibles and follies.

The book is a must-read and not a must-acquire, for what is the essence of acquiring when it goes not to benefit you by not reading? I doubt purchasing the book is meant to make the publishers and the author rich; they will be richer, if the contents reflect in our lives.