I wanted to love this book. Then I wanted to hate this book.
Seth Godin has a very strong reputation and when this title appeared at the library prior to my vacation, I eagerly downloaded it to my reader.
There are some very good nuggets in this book, however, you have to really dig to find them. The writing is very circular getting to key points. He approaches each one from 50 different angles when you had it on page 2. I ended up skipping 1/3 of the book, trying to avoid the endless stories, examples, and perspectives on the same point.
But there are some goodies if you endure:
The Resistance: His description of how we work against ourselves in accomplishment of goals is very well explained, worded with fantastic, provocative language. You can go directly to this chapter. Inside is a fantastic and humourous list of all the things we do which give evidence that The Resistance is operating. For example, “Manufacture anxiety about people stealing your ideas. Don’t ask questions. Ask too many questions.” The list goes on.
He references the “Cult of Done Manifesto.” Worth reading.
He also shares a practical approach to getting things done. I’m a big proponent of getting out stickies and index cards, and he’s in the same camp. Thrash it out, organize the ideas, and ship it. If you don’t ship, what’s the point of the process?
Other than that, the bottom line is that if you want to be indispensable, you need to be a creative individual who overcomes fear and gives great gifts to others, with the knowledge that not every gift we create is going to work out, “and that’s okay.”
Verdict: Bypass. Find a good summary and read it.
