Q&A: Andy Andrews
May 13 -- In The Traveler's Gift: Seven Decisions That Determine Personal Success, author Andy Andrews weaves a fictional tale about a man who loses his job and money but finds his way after he's magically transported to seven key points in history.
Andrews joined a live discussion with Good Morning America viewers on Tuesday, May 13. The transcript follows.
Also: Read an excerpt from The Traveler's Gift — this month's GMA "Read This!" book club pick.
Moderator
Andy, welcome! Thanks for joining us today.
Andy Andrews
Thanks for the opportunity to be here. I'm anxious to hear the comments and field some questions.
Moderator
What prompted you to write The Traveler's Gift? How do you think this book can change people's lives?
Andy Andrews
When I was 19 years old, both of my parents died in the same year; my mom of cancer and my dad in a car accident. Through the next two or three years and a series of bad decisions — all my own, I might add — I ended up literally homeless, before that was even a word. I even slept occasionally under a pier on the Gulf Coast.
I remember hearing that old Bible verse: "God will put a man after his own heart where he wants him to be." And I remember thinking, "Thanks, you put me under a pier!"
So my question at that time was: Is life a lottery ticket, or is there something we can do to direct our progress and our growth and our success?
Here's what I did. I read hundreds of biographies at that time. Library cards are free, and I read biographies trying to find a common denominator between all of these successful, influential, happy people.
Is it something that they all were? Is it something they all did? Is it something they all became? What I found were seven common denominators between all of these successful people.
These seven principles became the seven decisions that are in The Traveler's Gift. Not coincidentally, they are also the seven decisions that I made to bring myself out of the circumstances that I was in 20 years ago.
The reason that these seven decisions are so critical and the reason that people recognize their power to change lives is that they are principles, not ideas; they are principles, not theories. A principle is something that works every time.
Curiously, a principle affects your life whether you are aware of it or not. For instance, the principle of gravity was working long before the apple ever fell on Newton's head. But once it did, and he understood it, then we as a society were free to harness this principle to create, among other things, airline flight.
The principles of personal success are exactly the same. They are affecting our lives, whether we know them or not. Therefore, shouldn't we harness them and place them in our lives, under our control, to create the future of our choosing?
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