8 out of 10.  The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho is one of the most popular books in the world and now I know why.  Although this is a fiction book, it could be easily considered a self-help book.  There are so many golden nuggets in the short book that it’s worth reading twice to reinforce the concepts.  Here are the 7 Key Learnings that I took from The Alchemist.

1. Chase Your Dreams – This is the main theme in the book and showcases characters that chase their dreams (Santiago and the Englishman) and those that don’t (Crystal Merchant).  Santiago has a recurring dream of finding treasure in the Pyramids in Egypt.  It leads him to an old women who could interpret dreams and confirms that he should begin his journey.

Santiago later meets Melchizedek (King of Salem) in a plaza and he tells Santiago that he has discovered his Personal Legend, which is defined as “what you have always wanted to accomplish.” We all have dreams as a young child and Melchizedek mentions that as we get older, a “mysterious force” convinces people that Personal Legends are impossible to achieve. And when we really want something, “it’s because that desire originated in the soul of the universe.”  Once we fulfill this desire is when we really truly achieve our Personal Legend.  He later sells his all of his sheep and is off to Africa to find his treasure.

Santiago further pursues his dream even after finding the love of his life at the Oasis.  He is at a crossroads and does not want to leave Fatima.  The Alchemist tells him his fortune if he decides to stay at the Oasis – “You’ll walk around, night after night, at the oasis, and Fatima will be unhappy because she’ll feel it was she who interrupted your quest.”  He leaves Fatima behind and trusts that his connection with Fatima is true love.

Contrary to Santiago, the crystal merchant is someone who doesn’t pursue his dream to make a trek to Mecca.  “Maktub” in Arabic means “it is written.”  This is the merchant’s philosophy on life and believes that everything is a result of fate and not of his own freewill.  The merchant doesn’t go to Mecca because it’s the thought of the dream that keeps him live and says “I’m afraid that if my dream is realized, I’ll have no reason to go on living.”

What’s also interesting is that Fatima also says Maktub when he decides to leave her in the Oasis.  She says: “If I am really a part of your dream, you’ll come back one day.”

2. Don’t be Afraid of Failure – “The secret of life, though, is to fall seven times and to get up eight times.” Santiago suffers many setbacks throughout his journey on finding his treasure.  He loses all of his money to a man in Tangier that promises to take him to the Pyramids.  Instead of moping and turning back around, he regains his fortune by working with the Crystal merchant.

The crystal merchant, on the other hand, is living in the fear of disappointment if his trek to Mecca didn’t meet his expectations. He decides not to pursue his dreams and remains in his shop. He later regrets not taking more action: “Now that I see how immense my possibilities are, I’m going to feel worse than I did before you arrived.  Because I know the things I should be able to accomplish, and I don’t want to do so.”

Another great moment of this lesson is when Santiago is learning from the Alchemist. “People are afraid to pursue their most important dreams, because they feel that they don’t deserve them, or that they’ll be unable to achieve them.  We, their hearts, become fearful just thinking of loved ones who go away forever, or of moments that could have been good but weren’t, or of treasures that might have been found but were forever hidden in the sands.  Because, when these things happen, we suffer terribly.”

The Alchemist later mentions that “the fear of suffering is worse than the suffering itself. And that no heart has ever suffered when it goes in search of its dreams, because every second of the search is a second’s encounter with God and with eternity.”  Our mind and hearts often prevent us from taking action and getting out of our comfort zone.

3. Be Proactive/Take Ownership – “I’m like everyone else – I see the world in terms of what I would like to see happen, not what actually does.”  Rather than being a victim of a crime, Santiago decides to take ownership and be proactive about his choices in life.  “He realized that he had to choose between thinking of himself as a poor victim of a thief and as an adventurer of in quest of his treasure.”  He chooses to become an adventurer and embrace his experiences and move forward with his purpose to achieve his Personal Legend.  We need to be responsible for the actions in our life and be proactive to live life in a way to achieve our own goals.

4. Take Action – “There is only one way to learn. It’s through action.”  This theme is reiterated by the pursuit of the Personal Legends between Santiago and the Englishman.  When Santiago was a shepherd, he learned mainly from books.  He begins to learn throughout his travels in Tangier (learning to trust people, sell, and be resourceful) to the desert (reading omens and signs).  Santiago is able to master and learn alchemy much quicker through action rather than reading.

The Englishman believes he can learn alchemy based on the text in his books.  He is immersed in his books throughout the travel and is unaware of the various omens surrounding him.  The Englishman ultimately begins his path towards alchemy when he begins to build a furnace to create gold.  He states: “It was my fear of failure that first kept me from attempting the Master Work. Now, I’m beginning what I could have started ten years ago. But I’m happy at least that I didn’t wait twenty years.”

5. Grit – “The darkest hour of midnight comes just before dawn.”  Santiago is learning from the Alchemist and he is attempting to listen to his heart and come to understand it.  He is warned that “every search begins with beginner’s luck.  And every search ends with the victor’s being severely tested.”

This is one of the keys to success as Angela Duckworth has examined in her book, “Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance.”  Success is not based on how smart you are, but through hard work and perseverance.  Grit and his determination to finding his treasure allows Santiago to succeed.

6. Being in the Present – “Because I don’t live in either my past or my future.  I’m interested only in the present.  If you can concentrate always on the present, you’ll be a happy man.”

This is a lesson from Santiago’s camel driver.  He tells his story of his former life as a farmer where he lost his farm due to a flood of the Nile, which forced him to be a camel driver.  He’s not concerned with the war between the tribes is because he lives only in the present.

The seer in the Oasis reads the omens within the environment to predict the future.  He states: “If you pay attention to the present, you can improve upon it.  And, if you improve on the present, what comes later will also be better.  Forget about the future, and live each day according to the teachings.”

This message is especially important in this day and age of technology that is programmed to keep us addicted to our phones and applications.  It’s hard to feel connected to the things around us when we have so much information at our fingertips.  We need to keep our mind focused on the task at hand and give our full attention to the in front of us, otherwise, we will never enjoy and appreciate the things in life.

7. New Perspectives – There is a famous quote by T.S. Elliot: “We must not cease from exploration and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we began and to know the place for the first time.”  This quote personifies the book in one sentence.  Santiago finds himself right where he began.  The treasure was buried in the old church back home where he had his recurring dream.  However, he had to travel all the way to the Pyramids in Africa to see this.

He comes back home with a new set of enlightened eyes and can see what he could not see before (possibly due to a lack of maturity, contemplation or experience).  Santiago is able see his home in a new perspective after experiencing and learning new things on his journey.

The ending is very powerful and a key lesson that I try to look at my surroundings and appreciate the details in my normal routine.

Overall, this is a great book and I would highly recommend this book to people of all ages.