Donovan Watkis’ first offering “JR’s Hope: Thoughts on Improving from up the Street” is an inspiring piece. As the name suggests, this book inspires hope and courage in anyone willing to have a read. After all, that is the very essence of Watkis – a man with a story about triumph over tribulations, translating into a modern day motivational speaker just a page away.
“JR’s Hope: Thoughts on Improving From Up the Street” chronicles how life is a series of interconnected events based on sequences of actions, past or present, of ourselves as well as others. To put simply, what is done today can impact our future so it is always best to sow seeds of positivity now to ensure we later reap rewards, not wrath.
A perfect example of his serendipitous logic that he shared was how Harry Belafonte was the first black man to sell a million records based on his love for Jamaica and its extraordinary cultural heritage, hence a song like ‘Day O’ resonated with people near and far.
Belafonte, through his numerous philanthropic works, was then able to provide scholarships to students from the motherland to study in the United States; hence, Barrack Obama Senior arrived on US soil and left the seed that would one day be the President of the United States, the leader of the free world. As a comedian once said: “Who would have thunk it?”
Early in, Watkis shared some poignant and somewhat painful memories of his childhood and how it shaped him into the man he would become. His intestinal fortitude to overcome various challenges serves as blue print to others, in understanding how he got from point A to point B and how they too can transition from mediocrity to mega success.
32 chapters of awe inspiring work is delivered within these pages, as Watkis tackles self- improvement, goal attainment, improving communication and thinking, being educated for success and utilizing tools and resources that will transform the mind as well as the physical man (or woman).
“JR’s Hope: Thoughts on Improving From Up the Street” is a channel through which individuals, especially the young, can determine their own moral compass and develop a mentality of winning instead of whining, as we are by and large a nation of complainers and not sustainers. We have a myopic view of many things and often fail to see the big picture; this explains why, rather than be armed with the lessons we learnt from that failure, we tend to give up and not get up and go again.
“JR’s Hope: Thoughts on Improving From Up the Street” is recommended for just about anyone but makes a great gift for any young person on the cusp of choosing a career or who need assistance in seeing the light at the end of the tunnel.