I love Kevin Hart. So when I found out he created some Audible-exclusive audiobooks, I knew I had to listen👂🏻.
In Monsters and How to Tame Them, Hart discusses seven of the monsters he’s dealt with throughout his life and career 👹. Hart really opens up about his personal struggles and isn’t afraid to be critical and make fun of himself 😆.
I won’t spoil all of the monsters, but I did want to share some of the overarching themes I noticed as I listen to the book 🎧.
Here are some of my takeaways:
- Treat others how you want to be treated. This “Golden Rule” may seem like a cliche, but at its core it remains true. If we expect others to be accountable for their actions, we must hold ourselves accountable as well🤷♀️. If we want others to prioritize our wants and needs, we need to make space for their wants and needs too. Hart gets pretty candid about how selfishness nearly cost him his marriage and family, and it’s a stern reminder of how important empathy and caring for others can be🩷.
- If you work too hard, you often forget why you were working hard in the first place. When working towards a goal, we sometimes get so swept up in it that we lose sight of what we initially wanted to accomplish 🙈. Hart talks about how our worth can become attached to outcomes, and how good becomes not good enough👎🏾. It becomes far too easy to lose the joy in what we’re doing, which can negatively affect our mental health and other aspects of our lives 😓. As Hart says, there’s no point in capturing the flag if there’s no one to celebrate it with🚩.
- Drawing comparisons can mean creating problems. It can be far too easy for us to focus on the approval of others and compare our lives and material possessions to what those around us have ☹️. Hart talks about being out at a club one time and seeing Katt Williams pull up with a nicer car than his 🚗. Kevin immediately began drawing comparisons and making assumptions about Katt without actually knowing anything about his personal life. Rather than creating false narratives and feeling sorry for ourselves, we should instead find appreciation and gratitude for the things we do have 🤗.
- You can’t do it all. This point struck home with me the most. Hart talks about how he thought saying yes to every opportunity was the key to him being successful. Instead, he found himself with no free time, no capacity for new projects, and his productivity was suffering📉. As Hart plainly says “free time becomes time where you could be doing something else”. While there is certainly a time and a place to say “yes”, don’t confuse more work with better work🙅🏻.
In Monsters and How to Tame Them, Kevin Hart uses both his unique style of humor as well as some down to earth examples to make one overarching point: “The mistakes we make are the lessons we need to learn”.
I found this audiobook to be very upbeat and refreshing, and I will definitely be listening to his others as well!