How to Be Fantastic—7 Keys from Book Summary

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Fantastic
When Being Good Is Not Enough
Alan Austin-Smith
©2013 Alan Austin-Smith
Adapted by permission of Capstone Publishing, Ltd., a
Wiley Company
ISBN: 978-0-857-08396-8

Fantastic By Alan Austin-Smith
FEATURES OF THE BOOK
Alan Austin-Smith wrote Fantastic in the style of a handbook or
workbook. Many key points are printed in large colored text to
jump out at the reader.

KEY CONCEPTS
There are seven characteristics that allow fantastic people to be
great at their jobs, have healthy relationships, and deal with
adversity:
1.Having passion
2.Expressing creativity
3.Sharing delight
4.Performing
5.Feeling alive inside
6.Learning always
7.Having fun

INTRODUCTION
In Fantastic, author Alan Austin-Smith attempts to answer the
age old question of why some people are consistently more
successful than others. Having studied many successful people,
Austin-Smith presents the Fantastic Theory, a presentation of
the seven characteristics that all fantastic people have. In order
to be fantastic, people must stand out above the rest who are
merely good enough by adopting the seven characteristics.
These characteristics are known as “the other stuff” and are the
secret of successful people. Austin-Smith stresses throughout
the book that simply reading and learning is not enough; people
must take action in order to move in the direction of their
dreams.

SUCCESS—WHAT IS IT?
Success is about reward. Rewards come in many forms, but
there are four general types:
1.Community
2.Personal
3.Security
4.Material

LEARN FROM FANTASTIC PEOPLE
There are seven characteristics that allow people to be great at
their jobs, have healthy relationships, and deal with adversity.
Fantastic people:
•Are passionate.
•Are creative.
•Delight others.
•Are performers.
•Are alive inside.
•Are always learning.
•Have fun.

FANTASTIC PEOPLE ARE PASSIONATE
Fantastic people are passionate for one reason: they love what
they do. Many people can easily find passion when beginning a
new job or a new relationship, but often somewhere along the
way the passion is lost.
One of the reasons for lost passion is because there has been a
loss of focus, or perhaps a change of focus to the negative.
Everyone has experienced relationships where suddenly they
only see the negatives in the other person.

FANTASTIC PEOPLE ARE CREATIVE
The world today is one of fast-paced change and shows no signs
of slowing down. People must learn how to adapt to rapid
change and to use change to their advantage.
The Creative Revolution presents ways to focus on the solutions
and not the problems in this rapidly changing world.

FANTASTIC PEOPLE DELIGHT
The FLOW method is a guide for delighting others.
First Impression—People must create a fantastic first
impression.
Last Impression—Leave others with a fantastic last impression.
Ouch’s—Any problems should be approached positively.
Wow—Wow the customer every time.

FANTASTIC PEOPLE ARE PERFORMERS
People often have good intentions but no follow through. They
mean to send a thank you note or call this or that person but
they just never get to it. Many times the reason people do not
take action is due to a lack of confidence.
Fantastic people have a trick to overcome this lack of
confidence. They pretend! Fantastic people act confident even if
they do not feel it. If they are nervous, they do not show it. If they
are afraid, they hide it.

FANTASTIC PEOPLE ARE ALIVE INSIDE
Waiting for motivation from an outside source, event, or person
is at best inconsistent. A lot of time can be wasted waiting for
outside motivation. People can motivate themselves by:
Focusing on strengths—Everyone makes mistakes, has
weaknesses, and has things they are just not good at. By
focusing on what they are good at, what they enjoy, and what
inspires them, people create positive motivation.
Focusing on solutions not problems—Time spent thinking
about problems, rather than solutions to problems is wasted
time. Fantastic people are creative; they use imagination to see
solutions that motivate.

FANTASTIC PEOPLE ARE ALWAYS LEARNING
People should follow three steps when creating learning goals:
1.Focus learning on personal strengths for rapid growth.
2.Set learning goals for the day, month, and year.
3.Take 15 minutes each day to learn.

FANTASTIC PEOPLE ARE HAVING FUN!
The most important characteristic in the Fantastic Revolution is
having fun. Without this essential ingredient, the cycle is not
sustainable. There must be balance to have fun. There are
several ways for people to keep fun in their days:
•Focus on fun.
•Prioritize—make having fun a priority.
•Practice DOGASHI—quiet the voices that associate guilt
with fun.
•Stop procrastinating—do not put off fun until there is more
time or more money.

BE FANTASTIC!
Learning how to be fantastic is all good and fine, but what will
make all the difference for most people is the word “be.”Action
must follow learning in order for people to become fantastic at
what they do.
Being fantastic starts with passion from knowing what one is
doing and why. This leads to being creative, delighting and
inspiring others with performance, and the outward expression of
being alive inside. With constancy and consistency in learning
and action, all the while having fun, people can become
fantastic.

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