Consciousness ("Mentality") is the key

The three simple steps revolve around the ways you can consciously use your mind (or "mentality" as Blake calls it):

1. Focus only on what you want, not on what you do not want. Filter out negative conversation, people and media. Cultivate internal views of scenes and conditions you enjoy, love and wish to have more of.

2. Set aside quiet time each day. Quiet is the ground of potentiality.

3. Develop *intention* to attract your desired results and circumstances. Not a goal; a goal is inherently separate from us and has doubt attached. Intention -- or as Blake also puts it, a state of knowing -- is part of us and does not include doubt. Intention brings itself into being.

The book includes inspiring stories, including the one at the beginning that I will refrain from spoiling by not revealing the surprise ending. He relates being bullied as an English boy growing up in poverty in Wales (with some truly harrowing anecdotes), and how he overcame trauma by learning about and following the examples of others from oppressed backgrounds who discovered secrets to phenomenal success.

A modern take on some age-old ideas, the "Three Simple Steps" are refreshingly straightforward, but there is also nuance to this book. Blake encourages us to pay close attention to our internal and external experience, and to become the selectors of the circumstances and lives we want.

The voice performance is adequate, although to hear Britishisms read in an American accent is a little odd at times. Overall there is nothing negative to say about Dudley's narration; it is easy to listen to without sending the listener to sleep.

Recommended for those who wish to set their lives on an upward trajectory.

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50 people found this helpful

Some shaky logic

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I really liked this book at first. It definitely started with a little more of a spiritual perspective than I was expecting (positive thinking and filtering out negativity from others and the media to steer your mentality in a positive direction) but it wasn't too out there.... at first. As the book progressed however, things really took a turn. At one point the author uses the theory of relativity to explain why all thoughts "must" become reality and he uses the actual mathematical formula E=mC^2 as proof where mass (things) = energy (thoughts) divided by the speed of light in a vacuum (nothingness) squared. A bit of a stretch to say the least. Later, he very casually walks through a story in which a dead person explains how unhappy he was in life to his parents via a spiritual medium. The thing I found most off-putting about that part was how matter-of-fact the story was presented as evidence to support the major conclusions of the book. And then there is the "quiet time" ritual which is obviously exactly the same thing as meditation, although the author basically bends over backwards not to call it that. At another point, the author suggests that a friend of his didn't get the job she really wanted because she told other people that she wanted it and their positive thoughts about her getting the job interfered with her own communication to the universe, preventing the universe from turning her specific thoughts into reality. For a book framed under the pretense that self-help gurus are a dime-a-dozen and usually offer little practical advice, I found it ironic how much of this book was the most guru laden material I have ever encountered.

Overall, I think there are a few takeaways from this book that will serve me well. It's an easy listen with lots of good story-telling, which I enjoyed. If you are able to let a few shaky conclusions about thoughts vs reality slide, you will probably enjoy this book. If you're someone who thinks critically about the information being presented, you might take issue with some of the ideas presented and you will probably struggle, as I did, with the repeated advice of the author not to worry about how it all works, just trust that it will.

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33 people found this helpful

Esoteric Claptrap à la ‘The Secret’

I didn't know it when I bought it, but now I know, and if there were something from the book I could tell my previous self so that I would have saved the money, it would go something like this:

The Universe can hear when you say things out loud (it speaks English, by the way). And if you think something, it will happen, and stones are perceived by humans as more dense than trees, but they vibrate at a lower frequency. Positive thinking and E=MC² and waka waka bing bam.

The initial revelation in the book that the author is a multimillionaire serial entrepreneur made me think that he might actually reveal some secrets to his success, but with all this new-age woo woo, he clearly doesn't even know himself.

Yes, he is a successful millionaire. And he believes the universe reads his mind. That doesn't mean the latter was the cause of the former. I'm good at, let's say... languages. I also scratch my rear end sometimes. I won't try and convince you that scratching your butt makes you a cunning linguist, however.

There, former self! Save that money and but a more sensible book. Sorry I had to toss this one. I will never be successful if I keep buying junk like this.

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17 people found this helpful

Simple steps and a great system to implement them

The Three Simple Steps has no real new ideas, but these ideas are put in terms that make them easy to understand and to put into practice and that is its true brilliance. I have read numerous self help books in the last twenty of thirty years and non of them put the basics in such terms that allow you to follow them.

You are what you think about, has been taught through out the history of the subject, but my trouble was always how to put that into practice. Blake tells you not just to think positive, because we all know that is hard to do, but how we react to the negative thoughts that makes the difference. When a negative thought come into your head, try and think a even better, positive thought to drown it out. Think about what you hear and say, as he says, map it on your tough before you speak, change a little, change a lot.Good advice.

I had listened to "The Secret" and it all made since, but it never told you how to keep the positive thoughts in your head, to keep from getting bogged down in the negative. Blake gives you some great advice. It's the next step, at least for me.

The other two steps are to take quiet time each day to get to nothingness, that is where the great ideas come from and then have intentions, not just goals. Intentions are something that you can see as already happening, goals are something that is going to happen. It's a subtle , but important difference.

He did sometimes get bogged down in too long story telling, the stories were good, just a little to long, and the narration was just ok, but I will listen to it again.

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16 people found this helpful

Yes Man

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This guy comes across like Terrence the new age preacher from the movie Yes Man. Tolerated it through most of the book, but then he cited the conclusions of one of Europe's most renowned psychics as a source to back up some point....click. Any shred of credibility was lost. Can't finish the book. Complete waste of a credit.

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11 people found this helpful

High above the crowd

Where does Three Simple Steps rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

Top audiobook in terms of learning about life.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Three Simple Steps?

Turn off the negative Commercials and News in life and focus on what you want.

What does Matthew Dudley bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

Great voice expression. He keeps things interesting

If you were to make a film of this book, what would be the tag line be?

Forget all the other self help movies and look at this one.

Any additional comments?

This book is worth every important second of your life.

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9 people found this helpful

The Occult in a self help book?

Trevor Blake actually ties Einstein and Aleister Crowley in the same sentence--and then tells you how a dead doctor, speaking from beyond the grave through a trusted medium, proved an unfulfilled life could kill you.

Actually, Blake begins his book trashing every other writer in his genre, while claiming the first step to success is to avoid negative input.

This book is terrible.It is filled with magical thinking and the author's ego.

Pass on this one folks.

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7 people found this helpful

Enjoy The Simple Things

If you could sum up Three Simple Steps in three words, what would they be?

Simple Success

What was one of the most memorable moments of Three Simple Steps?

The history of some of the other successful people in the book. It was a bit of an eyeopener to hear their stories.

Any additional comments?

This is great book to allow you to get focused on improving your life with Trevor's "3 Steps". However, like most things in life they may be simple but there are not always easy. I recommend this to anyone who has been studying goal setting and getting frustrated with your success. It is not just the goal, it is the actions you take to achieve it. Trevor's lessons and experience will open a whole new process for you. It has for me!

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6 people found this helpful

Tooooo long

If it takes you 7 hours to go through 3 simple steps you are doing it wrong!

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4 people found this helpful

A great read

What made the experience of listening to Three Simple Steps the most enjoyable?

The simple steps highlighted by Trevor Blake

Who was your favorite character and why?

Trevor himself. He tells it in a humble way.

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3 people found this helpful