What is the main message of The Coffee Bean?

The main message of The Coffee Bean is that you have the power to transform your environment and mindset.

Who is the author of The Coffee Bean?

The authors of The Coffee Bean are Jon Gordon and Damon West.

Management & Leadership

The Coffee Bean Book Summary - The Coffee Bean Book explained in key points

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The Coffee Bean summary

Name: The Coffee Bean
Rating: 4.4 (164 reviews)
Author: Jon Gordon and Damon West

Jon Gordon Damon West

A Simple Lesson to Create Positive Change

4.4 (164 ratings)

20 mins

Brief summary

The Coffee Bean by Jon Gordon and Damon West is an inspiring fable that teaches us how to transform ourselves and our surroundings by adopting a positive mindset, and using challenges as opportunities to grow.

Topics

Inspiration

Table of Contents

The Coffee Bean
Summary of 7 key ideas

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Key idea 1 of 7

What’s in it for me? Learn the hidden power of the coffee bean.

Every morning, all around the world, millions of people begin their day with the same basic ritual. Despite their many differences, they all share this one habit in common: as soon as they wake up, they sit down for a cup of coffee.

Caffeine jolts the brain back into full consciousness while the evocative fragrance and taste of the beverage help people greet the day. This is the well-known power of coffee – and it’s all thanks to the humble little bean from which the drink is made.

But there’s a much more powerful, less widely known lesson hidden inside the coffee bean. The following story is a fable that conveys that lesson through vivid imagery, memorable metaphors and a story to which everyone can relate.

In these blinks, you’ll learn

how to escape feelings of hopelessness and resignation;
how to avoid becoming bitter and heartless; and
how to stay positive and overcome any form of adversity – all by harnessing the power of the coffee bean!

Life can be tough.

The main character of our story is an adolescent named Abraham – or Abe, as people usually called him. Abe was your archetypical American teenage boy, right down to being a star player on the high school football team. He was in his senior year, with graduation beckoning on the horizon. His dream was to play football in college.

But Abe wasn’t just a jock; he also liked the academic side of school, especially science class, which was taught by his favorite teacher, Mr. Jackson.

From the outside, it seemed like everything was going alright for Abe. But one day, he came into his science class in a pretty foul mood, feeling hatred toward everything around him. Mr. Jackson noticed something was wrong and wanted to find out what was going on, so he asked Abe to stay after class.

In the private, heart-to-heart conversation that followed, Abe opened up to Mr. Jackson and let it all spill out. He was feeling a lot of stress and anxiety in both of the main areas of his life. At home, his parents were fighting, and the word “divorce” had even come up. At school, there were some upcoming exams, an essay assignment and a big Friday night football game looming over him.

The game was a particular point of pressure. Not only could a victory bring his team one step closer to reaching the state championship, but there would also be college scouts watching from the bleachers.

And then, on top of all that, there was the weight of other people’s expectations for a star player on the football team. If he played well, he felt under pressure to continue making people happy. If he didn’t play well, he felt the sting of their disappointment.

Do any of these things sound familiar? You don’t have to be an American high-school football player to relate to this story. Like Abe, you’ve probably encountered your fair share of family troubles and the equivalents of big games in your life, such as important presentations, meetings and interviews. At times, you’ve also probably found yourself feeling under too much pressure from too many sides at once – especially if you feel the weight of expectations that come with trying to be an exceptional parent, manager, coach or whatever role you might play in life.

How can we get through these challenging times and overcome these sources of stress? Well, Mr. Jackson has some surprising advice – not just for Abe but for all of us.

When life gets tough, we can become weak.

After listening to Abe pour out his woes, Mr. Jackson simply nodded and said, “I know how you feel.” Then, he did something you might not expect. He didn’t dispense any words of wisdom or guidance. Instead, he gave Abe a homework assignment – and a rather random-seeming one at that: boil a carrot in a pot of water, observe it for a while, come back tomorrow and report what happened.

That night, Abe carried out the assignment, and the next day, he met with Mr. Jackson after class to share his observations. He’d found that after about ten minutes of being submerged in the boiling water, the carrot got soft.

The difficulties of life can also lead us to become hard-hearted.

So what’s the alternative to being a carrot? Just act tough and grit your teeth as the water boils you alive? Well, that’s not what Mr. Jackson would advise. On the contrary, his next lesson pointed out the fallacy of this approach to life.

Once he got Abe to understand the moral of the carrot assignment and to see how it applied to his own troubles, Mr. Jackson asked a follow-up question: What would happen if you boiled an egg instead of a carrot?

There’s a healthier, more proactive approach to adversity.

By the end of his second conversation with Mr. Jackson, Abe had learned two lessons: he didn’t want to be the carrot, and he didn’t want to be the egg – but what could he be instead?

Well, if you remember the title or introduction to these blinks, you already know the answer, so there’s no use trying to maintain the suspense: the answer is the coffee bean.

Through his actions, Abe demonstrated the metaphorical power of the coffee bean.

After he finished his third conversation with Mr. Jackson, Abe was so inspired by the lesson of the coffee bean that he shared it with all of his football teammates. They were pretty jazzed too and went on to win the big game and reach the state championship.

They ended up winning that game as well – but Abe injured his knee after he fell to the ground while making a play that helped ensure the team’s victory. It was a serious injury, putting him on crutches and requiring surgery. For all he knew, his dream of playing college football might be dashed.

At his office job, Abe’s ability to apply the lesson of the coffee bean was seriously tested.

Abe worked as hard as he could at his sales job, but it seemed to be no use. No matter how much he poured himself into it, his sales numbers kept going down.

But it wasn’t just Abe who was floundering. His coworkers and his company as a whole were in the same trouble. Week after week, they kept failing to reach their sales goals and revenue targets. The market was tough, and there were major macroeconomic and technological changes happening in their industry. As a result, they were being squeezed by external forces beyond their control.

The choice to be a coffee bean is always ours.

As a high school senior, Abe was a mixture of a carrot and an egg who became a coffee bean, metaphorically speaking. But then, at his sales job, he reversed back into his carrot and egg-like ways. Fortunately, he was then able to transform himself into a coffee bean once again, saving his company and becoming head of sales and marketing in the process.

There’s an important lesson to be learned from all of these reversals: the choice between being a carrot, an egg or a coffee bean isn’t something we do once and then are done with it – locked into our choice forever, for better or worse. No – we make the choice over and over again with each new situation we face.

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What is The Coffee Bean about?

The Coffee Bean (2019) is a modern-day fable that tells the story of Abe, an average American boy whose life is forever changed by a powerful lesson he learns from his science teacher, Mr. Jackson. In carrying that lesson into adulthood, Abe is able to overcome his challenges, stay positive and transform the world around him. By following his life story and learning the lesson that inspired it, we too can take control of our destinies.

The Coffee Bean Review

The Coffee Bean (2019) is a book that inspires readers to change their perspective and transform challenges into opportunities for growth. Here's why this book is worth reading:

It offers practical strategies for cultivating a positive mindset, empowering readers to overcome obstacles and achieve their goals.
Through insightful stories and personal experiences, the book demonstrates the power of resilience and the capacity to thrive in any circumstance.
With its uplifting tone and thought-provoking ideas, it keeps readers engaged and motivated, making personal development an enjoyable journey.

Who should read The Coffee Bean?

People wondering what they can do to overcome their challenges
Anyone feeling overwhelmed by adversity
Coffee lovers wondering what’s hidden in their cups of joe

About the Author

Jon Gordon is a motivational speaker and prolific author. He has written 18 books, six of which were best-sellers on the lists of The Wall Street Journal and The Washington Post. Those hits include The Energy Bus, You Win in the Locker Room First and The Power of Positive Leadership.

Damon West is also a motivational speaker and writer. He is the author of the autobiographical book The Change Agent: How a Former College QB Sentenced to Life in Prison Transformed His World.

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