THE WEALTH SPARK

Parker presents a multistep guide to reaching financial and personal objectives.

In his nonfiction debut, the author assures his readers that he’s providing them with more than just a simple guide to prosperity; this book, per Parker, is “a crusade, a journey, an exploration through the wilderness of human potential, relationships, and unwavering tenacity.” At the heart of the guide is the author’s distinction between what he calls the “wealth mindset” and the “scarcity mindset”; the deepest elements of each are instilled in us from childhood experiences and social conditioning. In order to overcome such conditioning, Parker proposes many strategies, including “cultivation techniques” for the abundance-oriented perspective—habits such as practicing gratitude, visualizing desired outcomes, stressing present-in-the-moment mindfulness, and surrounding oneself with supportive people. He details nine habits of successful people, including managing time efficiently, learning from constructive criticism, and maintaining persistence in pursuit of goals. The author draws on a wide variety of examples, from business leaders to motivational authors to famous actors, and the various sections of his book are broken down into bulleted and numbered sections for quick reference. Readers of self-help or business motivation books (the obvious target audience here) will find much of what Parker has to say very familiar, whether he’s suggesting the use of “vision boards” or a Prosperity Gospel–like approach to manifesting wealth. And although his prose is clear and straightforward, some of the author’s examples are tone-deaf, as when he writes, “Elon Musk, the innovative entrepreneur and founder of companies like SpaceX and Tesla, exemplifies the principles of adopting success habits” (in 2023 alone, Musk, an increasingly unpopular figure, lost $25 billion on Twitter). But readers looking for accessible reminders of the basics will find them well presented here.

An energetic but conventional primer on the personal habits that yield success.