The Principle of 18, Getting the Most out of Every Stage of Your Life

Author Eyal Danon has written the perfect self-help book for all genders, ages, and occupations. His method of teaching through stories will help readers understand the five stages in his book The Principle of 18. In this book, life is divided into five eighteen-year segments with the last segment extended to beyond ninety years of age. The five stages are The Dreamer, The Explorer, The Builder, The Mentor, and The Giver. I found myself thinking about my own life as it fits into the five stages and gave a little smile as I realized that I have been following this plan without even knowing. In fact, when I entered The Builder stage at thirty-six years old, this was the exact time that I had just changed jobs and bought my own business. Of course, I couldn’t wait to read more about what the future had in store if I kept using this path of eighteen-year increments.

The Dreamer stage from childhood to eighteen emphasizes identifying three possible dreams for your future and visualizing how to get there. It also states to beware of dream killers. These are people who tell you that you cannot accomplish what you want to. This advice would have been helpful to me when my own mother told me that I was mediocre and not good at any one thing when I was twelve years old. It was a good thing I didn’t listen to her negative comments. The second stage is The Explorer which emphasizes taking risks and emphasizing working on one dream at a time to find your true calling. It also leads right into planning for the next stage, The Builder stage. The Builder stage emphasizes creating the deadlines and goals to make your number one dream happen. Having the drive and being persistent can get you to where you want to be. The stories that Danon tells in this chapter are so inspiring and teach you to really stay true to yourself and not compromise your values. The effort in this stage comes from the two previous stages not being rushed. I love that this is also the stage in which you find a mentor to help guide you. This is actually the next stage, becoming The Mentor. After experiencing the other stages, The Mentor and The Giver, the next eighteen-year periods should fall into place. These two stages give a great deal of purpose into a person’s life as they age and are not working quite so many hours each week.

The Principle of 18 is a beautifully written book that can help its readers in any stage of life. Being self-aware of what stage you are in can really set a person up for success and prolonged happiness.