Ok, I couldn’t help myself. I had to start on page 101. The statement in Seth’s letter that he hoped we’d bookmark page 101 was just too tantalizing.
It turned out to be the chapter entitled “The Resistance”. Essentially looking for the factor that leads to people resisting becoming real artists, game changers, linchpins in their businesses, visionaries… is a small, but very powerful part of your brain laid down a million years ago. (Actually, it was more like 300 million years ago when the reptiles evolved.) Does that give you a clue? Yep, that nasty little reptilian brain.
The lizard brain, which I agree with, prevents us from moving out of our comfort zone, trying new things, seeking to do anything that makes us stand out from the crowd. Some people may be born with a better ability to quiet that lizard brain and strike out to do things that get them noticed. But, for the majority of people, overcoming that little inner voice is just too difficult.
This book, overall, is amazing! Seth really hits the nail on the head about many things related to doing your work with art and passion, all while being able to pull the trigger and “ship it”. Those people that are able to step into a situation (business or otherwise) and create order from chaos in an artful, passionate, and skilled manner are ultimately the most valuable people. And you have to be one of them!
This book really gets you thinking about looking at your work in a different way… a very different way. He calls on us to wake up and do the “emotional work” of being an artist in whatever we do. To stop plodding around the office taking up space and expecting a paycheck.
When it comes time to make cuts, who do you think will be the first to go? Someone who does their job and nothing more, or someone who makes their own road map to excellence above and beyond their job description?
This is why it’s so fun and soul satisfying to be self employed! I get to make my own map every day and stand out with a great service that I feel passionate about (web design and seo). I’m definitely doing “the work”, a term Seth uses to describe an emotional and heartfelt involvement in what you do for a living (did I get that right, Seth?).
Ok, enough of this review. Just go buy the book! It may just change your life.