Young, poor and black, when his hopes of NBA stardom are dashed, he beats the odds, fights his way back, creating EDM beats, driving race cars and becoming one of America's top brain surgeons. Now, Dr. Jason Cormier shares his simple plan for overcoming every challenge to find your own path to success.

It's a gripping, remarkable and inspiring story. Raised by a strict authoritarian single mother, life wasn't easy for Jason and his three siblings, one of whom was to die in a horrific auto accident. By nature an introvert, Jason's childhood focus was entirely on basketball, practicing endlessly, even in the pouring rain, imagining the thunder as the roar of the crowd and the lightning as the flashbulbs popping. After playing basketball on a winning team for his (mainly white) high school, he impresses legendary coach Dale Brown and becomes a walk-on among his heroes on the LSU court.

Returning to LSU after a brief spell playing pro ball in Europe, he sets his sights on a new goal: a career in medicine, when, as a lowly transporter, he becomes fascinated by what happens behind the 'Forbidden Door' of the operating room. Somehow, he must find a way not only to complete his college education but also achieve the seemingly impossible: graduating from medical school and going on to become an internationally acclaimed neurosurgeon. Along the way, he rekindles his love of music, recording scores of original hip-hop tracks and using his DJ skills to create EDM remixes of hit songs. Meanwhile, his passion for car racing leads him first to an association with ARCA and then NASCAR, working with young drivers and even completing an eye-popping session behind the wheel at the daunting Talladega racetrack.

The unique story unfolds in Jason Cormier's own words as well as those of friends, colleagues and family members expressing revelations that are sometimes funny, sometimes heart-rending but always brutally honest.

Dr. Cormier is often asked, "What's the secret to your success?" His answer is simple: "There is no secret." But in the second half of the book, he outlines seven characteristics that he has adopted and developed in every aspect of his life. These characteristics have served him equally on the basketball court, at the racetrack, in the recording studio and in the operating room.

His mission is clear: regardless of the seemingly impossible obstacles that Life puts in your way – poverty, race, gender, location, background or any other roadblock – you can and will achieve your dream, if you commit to adopting the seven characteristics.

The reader will find not only an inspiring story but also a guide to achieving what Dr. Cormier considers the ultimate goal: a happy and fulfilling life.