Book Review: Know is a Four-Letter Word

Introduction:

No is a Four-Letter Word is a self-help book by Chris Jericho. It was published in 2017. The book talks about twenty principles which Jericho believes can bring success in life. Chris uses examples from his life and career to illustrate the usefulness of these twenty principals, along with certain incidents in his life.

I generally stay away from self-help and self-motivation books, because I feel a lot of their advice is just copy paste, and unrealistic. Not to mention, with the rise of e-books, everyone, and their dog is publishing one, usually to advertise some expensive course. As if this wasn’t enough, the books can also be psychologically damaging for the readers, if they fail to meet the criteria of success decided by the author. Having said that, I am reviewing this book. Will it change my opinion?

Let’s find out… today!

My review:

First, let’s talk about the author, Chris Jericho himself. He’s a professional wrestler, podcaster, musician, and I suppose a writer after writing four books. Chris debuted in 1990, and his career is defined by the constant changes in his character to keep up with the changing times, and he has successfully kept himself relevant for over 30 years in the wrestling and music circles simultaneously.

So, I suppose if anyone is qualified to give advice for success, he might be the guy. The twenty principals are named after people with whom Jericho has either worked with, or has been influenced by. Here are a few examples:

The Mike Dammon Principal.

The Keith Richard Principal.

The Jericho Principal. (Of course, it’s his book. It would be surprising if there wasn’t one.)

The Vince McMahon Principal.

Though the principals are named after people, they mostly talk about how you should look good, beware, because someone is watching you all the time, work, work, and work some more, don’t say “I’ll try to do that.” Instead, say “I can do that.” and always be gracious to the people whom you meet.

Naturally, all these principles sound great when you read them. “I want to be like that.” You might think. But the problem is, if you try to follow them literally, word-for-word, you will end up disappointed. This in turn, will make you feel loathing towards yourself, because you can’t match the work rate of Vince or Jericho. Then, it is important to adapt these principles according to yourself.

I suppose, grudging though they might be, I suppose these principles can be adapted by the reader, with caution. After all, as I stated in the beginning, there’s a reason why I don’t like self-help self-motivation books.

Though if you ask me, being gracious to other people has to be my favorite principal. And Jericho explains it nicely in the book. If you’re popular or in a position of power or influence, people gushing about you is the normal event for you. but to the person who met you, it is an event which they are going to remember for a long time to come, even until the end of their life.

Thus, just a little acknowledgement from you just might make their day. So always acknowledge the people who met you, and I really like this principle. I don’t think I am in any position of power or influence, and I probably won’t achieve anything like that in my life anyway. but acknowledgement of the people who meet me and respectfully greet me, is something I could really do.

Of course, if they won’t, I could bring out the inner asshole. You can’t let someone walk all over you, just because you’re nice.

In conclusion, read this book for amusing stories; pick and choose which principals you want to follow because I don’t think you would want to follow them all, and most important of all, do not take the advice literally. Always think about your own personality, and how you do things before applying the advice in this book.

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