I’ve got to be honest: I did not expect entrepreneur Greg Lindberg’s tell-all book about the nearly two years he spent in prison to be an inspiring story of transformation. I was wrong.
Lindberg had been sent to prison on bribery charges he insisted were a combination of entrapment and political retribution. When his conviction was overturned and he was set free, Lindberg released “633 Days Inside: Lessons on Life and Leadership.”
As the title suggests, the nonfiction work, available on Amazon, documents the nearly two years that Lindberg spent at Federal Prison Camp – Montgomery in Alabama before his conviction was overturned in June and he was released from custody.
But rather than seek to cast blame on those responsible for his wrongful conviction, Lindberg focuses “633 Days Inside” on how he made the most of his imprisonment, transforming his diet, sleep and exercise routines, improving his physical and emotional health and greatly improving his outlook on life.
“My 633-day stay in a federal prison was the single most positive transformational event of my life. … I would not trade my prison experience for anything. Yes, I sorely missed my family and friends. But the experience was a necessary part of my character development and a necessary part of my life plan.”
One need not look further than the book’s dedication to understand this was not a typical look at injustice and suffering.
“To my fellow prisoners at FPC Montgomery, I thank you every day for your generosity, humility, friendship and perseverance. I am lucky to have met you.”
Instead of focusing his attention on the horrific events that led to his wrongful conviction, Lindberg decided to make the most of his time in prison.
He studied the science behind hormesis, which is the adaptive response of human cells to moderate and usually intermittent stress. For Lindberg, this meant long periods of fasting, freezing cold showers, extraordinary physical exertion and rigorous mental challenges.
Each day Lindberg would wake at 5:30 a.m., work out for several hours, work as a janitor including cleaning toilets, then he would check in on his email before a nap and a walk. In Lindberg’s final year in prison, he ate on weekends only. By routinely fasting for 120 hours, exercising regularly and getting adequate sleep, Lindberg saw remarkable changes to the way he felt, the way he looked, his overall health.
Lindberg said his gray hair turned red again, his memory improved, he added muscle and stamina. “Before” and “after” photos published in the book show that Lindberg looked significantly younger and healthier after his release from prison.
That’s not to say it was an easy experience. Lindberg, a CEO and entrepreneur who managed a portfolio of companies worth billions of dollars before his incarceration, was assigned the job of cleaning toilets. But he didn’t view it as a humiliating fall from grace.
“I had hoped to do something that allowed me to use my philosophy or economics degrees, or my experience starting and turning around companies,” Lindberg conceded. “But instead I was a janitor. I showed up every day and did an excellent job.”
He was courteous, on time, hard-working and respectful. After five months of hard work, Lindberg was recognized by prison officials and awarded a promotion. He also was given a second job as a teacher, which gave him inspiration and joy, which he did not expect to find.
Lindberg relied on his background in philosophy to make the most of a difficult situation. He posted this quote from German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche on his prison locker:
“The only thing that proves whether one is worth anything or not: that one endures.”
He cleaned toilets until the last day before his release.
As he was preparing to leave prison, a fellow inmate implored him to not forget them because he was one of the few people who could help.
“I won’t forget them,” Lindberg wrote.
And I will never forget this book.
4.9/5 stars “633 Days Inside: Lessons on Life and Leadership,” by Greg E. Lindberg, available on Amazon.
