Learn from your environment

The amazing Albert Einstein once said, "The only mistake in life is the lesson not learned." I thought this was a great quote to start this week's blog post on learning from your environment. As I build on each post bringing about a holistic approach to gathering information, finding motivation, drive, and the continued quest to apply knowledge to advance one's success. The guiding principle remains constant, everything you need to live this life you want to live is at your fingertips, you just have to realize it, capture and apply it.

Last week's post I talked about quantifying success. I identified a struggle in my life, consuming information in a capacity that can have positive implications in my everyday life. A medium where I yield a lot of great information from is reading. I consider myself an avid reader and tend to seek information from a variety of sources. Everyone has a story, and likely the feelings you may have right now about achieving the success you want to have, may have already been realized by someone else or have cases where they have failed. Either way, these stories and this information have likely already been dissected and deconstructed into consumable pieces that break down the elements of success and failure, to provide real application and lessons for the rest of us to leverage.

This post is all about introducing and sharing some great books that burst with great stories of success, failures and provide bite size pieces of knowledge that I have found to be instrumental in overcoming obstacles, realizing your potential and building the best version of yourself. I hope that you will add these books to your read list and that they will aid in your journey toward living the life you want to live.

You are a Badass

Author: Jen Sincero

How to stop doubting your greatness and start living an awesome life, the subtitle provides the context of the book. Jen Sincero does a great job of giving you a nice ol' kick in the ass. This book inspired me to start this blog, as it aggressively points out the obstacles we put in front of ourselves and outlines steps to take to overcome. The quote that inspired me to start this blog was, "if you want to live the life you've never lived, you have to do things you've never done". Within the first couple pages, you see the directive of the book. "This is about getting mighty clear about what makes you happy and what makes you feel the most alive, and creating it instead of pretending you can't have it". The book goes on to talk about our conscious and unconscious minds, and how our brains are in constant battle with these two parts of our brains. The key point here, our subconscious minds are truly in control and should be harnessed more. Concepts like our ego's role in setting our limitations are explored and further rationalized. The author calls our ego's, "The big snooze", which I think is a great metaphor. What I think Jen does so well is she is very relatable and motivational; you instantly feel comforted by her words and almost like you will let her down by not taking her words at full value. Another great part about the book is Jen' outline of activities that help you get out of your comfort zone and define what you are and what your calling may be. For instance, Chapter 8, what are you doing here? Outlines the 8 things you should do to get clear on who you are and what your calling is. Here are the 8 activities just for a taste of what she references:

1. Be an alien

2. Take the first step

3. Do your best wherever your at

4. Don't reinvent the wheel

5. Don't get caught up in the thunderbolt hype

6. Listen to your intuition

7. Follow your fantasies

and she ends each list with the same #8

8. Love yourself

Overall, it's a great read to re-engage yourself in what you truly want, understanding the obstacles that will evidently present themselves and how to steer around them. Uncovering your potential and your true passion is not a comfortable thing. Jen recognizes this, and the book somehow makes it seem manageable. One last quote to ignite some personal worth, "Never apologize for who you are. It lets the whole world down."

Start with Why

Author: Simon Sinek

You all have heard me reference Simon Sinek in a couple of my posts. I really like how honest he is, and like Malcolm Gladwell (another one of my favorites), draws some amazing parallels between things you wouldn't realize are connected. Start with Why is Simon Sinek's first book and really the book that brought him into the limelight. The premise of the book is this concept of an alternate perspective to how we view leadership. Simon believes we have it backward, that typically companies define what and how they do business first before they institute why. A concept he has dubbed; "The Golden Circle". Why is the root of what a company should start with, followed by how and what. Why do you do what you do? Simon demonstrates this by outlining companies like Apple and Southwest Airlines whose business architecture starts first with why they do what they do, and ultimately how starting with why has produced an emotional connection to their brands.

Simon references tests that provide some perspective or filters to apply to your business to ensure it's operating correctly. For example, the School Bus Test. Sounds interesting right? The School Bus Test is quite simple, if the founder or leader of an organization were hit by a school bus, would the organization continue to thrive at the same pace without them at the helm? Seems a bit morbid, but it makes you think about the whether the organization is essentially top heavy with their goals and vision or whether communication regarding the organizational goals flows to the bottom. Another test referenced was the Celery test. The Celery Test is yet another test or filter to simplify decisions by using your "why" to filter decisions and information. The example he uses in the book references a company whose "why" is healthy foods, if you then received information relating to products that don't fit your healthy why, you can easily dismiss them, because your why is the nucleus of your organization. Simple, yet you can see the application to your life as well as an organization. If you apply your "why" filter to your passions, interests, and goals, you can focus and tune out the noise.

Simon's concept of "Start why Why" really has helped me organize and filter my passions. Great book that takes science and applies it to the business world.

Great advice: Become obsessed with your "why." Let it drive your decisions and passions.

The Icarus Deception

Author: Seth Godin

Truly one of my favorite books and I quote this book often. This book is set up a little different than most books I have read, as the topics tend to be randomly assorted, sometimes without understanding as to why. If you know this going in, you can adjust and use it as more of a guide. You can literally turn to a page in the book and start from that point. The title, The Icarus Deception, is the Greek legend of hubris. The legend tells the story of the craftsman Daedalus and his son Icarus who were imprisoned by King Minos for sabotaging work the king had requested. Daedalus plotted a plan for him and Icarus to escape by fashioning a set of wings made of wax. Before escaping, Daedalus told Icarus not to fly too close to the sun. Icarus disobeyed, flew too close to the sun, his wings melted and he fell to his death. The original lesson of the myth was to not disobey the king or your dad, but the myth has another side. Daedalus also told Icarus not to fly too low, as to not be close to the sea, as the water would ruin the wings. The author, Seth believes that society has altered the myth to disregard the flying too low part, and create this artificial reminder to not fly too high, to not stand up, stand out or make a ruckus. I mentioned that the legend was about hubris, which is defined as an excessive or foolish pride, dangerously overconfident personality trait. I loved this myth and it's message that we are often told not to fly too high, not to exhume confidence or be too prideful, yet the important hidden message, to fly low, or not disrupt is not good for us either. Ultimately we should fly high and find a zone near the top, away from the low, safety zone. This message is important to me, as it reminds me to continue pushing and to not settle for the minimum, to hit the level I am capable of achieving.

Seth goes on throughout the book with this notion of being an artist. That if we are creating art in what we do, we need to contribute to the world and challenge the status quo. A great quote relating to this is, "the world is filled with ordinary people doing extraordinary things…art isn't a result; it's a journey." The book then takes the notion of being an artist and inserts it's application into passion, work ethic and organizations within the industrial economy. The book is rich with quotes, references, and unique examples of self-fulfilling concepts. One such example is the story of "The Kitten and the Monkey", using Japanese words. The story takes the two animals, the monkey and the kitten, and their behavior to demonstrate the concept of the Japanese work Tariki, which means choosing to be helped, and the reciprocal word, Jiriki, which translates to self-selected or self-authorized. When a kitten gets into trouble, his mother rescues it and takes it to safety. Where a baby monkey has no choice but to grab onto the back of its mother to escape. One is rescued (Tariki); the other rescues himself (Jiriki). Seth relates this to the industrial economy in that it wants kittens, not monkeys, therefore not wanting those that save themselves. Interesting concept, as Seth goes on in this section to this subsection named Pick Yourself, which essentially talks about how you can't expect to be picked, you must pick yourself and push forward without someone holding your hand. Such a true statement that gives you that kick in the ass, much like Jen Sincero does in her book. Catching a theme here? A lot of kicks in the butt, which I think we all need.

I could go on and on here because this book is bursting with great ideas and concepts, but I'll give you two parts you should look forward to when and if you pick up the book. The first, Seth talks about resistance as a feeling to seek out, it's a thought-provoking concept that has never steered me wrong. The second being, another story or myth that Seth references under the subcategory of Agility Beats Tactics, he explores this concept of burning the boats and the myth of Hernan Cortez. It is a worthwhile read.

Prepare to have your mind blown. My advice, read it slowly, take in the concepts one by one, and apply them to your life.

Sink, Float or Swim

Author: Scott Peltin & Jogi Rippel

How many of you out there think that you are swimming, floating, or sinking in reference to your performance? Never thought of it that way? It caught me by surprise as well. Scott Peltin and Jogi Rippel own a company called Tignum, and set out to provide a manual to outline the activities, lifestyle, and habits that produce high performing employees. This book is very special to me because it has great application to my passion for efficiency and effectiveness and concepts of Industrial /Organizational Psychology, which was an emphasis of my undergraduate psychology degree. If you want to know what you can do to change your lifestyle, to become a high performer, this book will walk you through that process. The title of the book gives you some insight into the organization of the book, following the concept of whether you are swimming in your life or career, floating, or sinking. Swimming defined here as pushing limits, producing at your highest efficiency and effectiveness. Floating, being defined as more static and going through the motions, and sinking, well, literally sinking, not able to maintain, move forward or burning out. The essence of the book is that we all take our personal energy, resilience, brain performance, and capacity for granted. Which I find super interesting, probably because I think it is spot on in this assumption. When I first read this book, I could define myself as sinking or floating. Let's call it dog paddling. Since reading this book, I apply a lot of the ideas and best practices of the book to my daily life. One best practice I strive to achieve every day is drinking enough water. As I am writing this, I just realized, I have only had a cup of coffee (bad), and a couple sips of water. Did you know that our brains are 80% water? Thus, dehydration can lead to brain fog, decrease your attention and concentration by as much as 13% and reduce your short-term memory recall by 7%. I bet you just thought about drinking some water. Furthermore, the book talks about food habits and the effects. Did you know that up to 40% of the way you feel right now is due to your last meal? Our foods have a direct impact on brain function, energy, and production.

The book is a great guide to reference and to check yourself as to where you sit, swimming, floating or sinking.

One takeaway point that I think is such great advice, talks about the food, drinks, and snacks that are often picked for meetings. I wish I could ask you all a question and have you raise your hands, but I think we all can relate to the food often provided at meetings, conferences, organizational kitchens is not optimal for our bodies to operate efficiently. So next time you host a meeting, think about the choices you make for the food, snacks, and drinks, as it will have a direct impact on the effectiveness or the meeting and the information retained.

I'll leave you with a quote from Jack Welch the former CEO of General Electric referenced in this book, as it is a quote I reference and have had printed and posted at my desk "4 Es of Leadership: A high-performing leader has to have positive energy, be able to energize others, have edge (ability to make tough calls) and the talent to execute."

Blink, Tipping Point, Outliers and David & Goliath

Author: Malcolm Gladwell

Now I couldn't reference my favorite books without including Malcolm Gladwell's books. I consider Malcolm a very talented and compelling author; I am a huge fan of his books. Malcolm's entire life is so interesting to me, from his breakfast routine, tea choices, and interests. He is so genuine, opinionated (but in a good way), and intelligent. We all can learn a lot from him and the way he can link data to tell compelling stories and build relationships. As a data geek, I would like to think, he and I would get along well.

Each of Malcolm's books provides a different angle on relating information, events to societal thoughts and perceptions to explain different phenomenons. Trying to articulate Malcolm's books into one sentence is pretty hard, and I am not sure I gave it enough justice, with that first sentence. In the interest of letting Malcolm's work shine and the length of this blog thus far, I am going to provide just a couple snippets of information per book here. If you don't already have these books, I recommend getting them.

Here goes.

Blink

This book is all about how we think about things, and just like the title, the decisions we make from a blink of information. These decisions are truly not that simple, yet a blink of data can sometimes be just as good as a long analysis. Malcolm explores adaptive conscious, or decision making, as our internal super-computer that quickly processes a lot of data so that we can function as human beings. Our brains can work with us and against us, can fill gaps in our stories and explanations instantaneously.

Outliers

Outliers flips the traditional focus of successful people's intelligence and ambition as the main driver and points their success to others factors like their family, birthplace, even their birth date as factors of their success. Malcolm references items like the 10,000-hour rule of mastering something, IQ thresholds and the use of bell curves to understand the point in which IQ becomes irrelevant, the trouble with geniuses and how your physical location can be the driver of your ultimate success.

The Tipping Point

The Tipping Point will change the way you look at the world. Malcolm explores how the littlest things can have a large impact. The book examines how social epidemics have had profound impacts on the greater world. It's essentially a book that shows how a small ripple, in one place turns into a large wave in another. One concept I loved from this book was this notion of the power of 150, where Malcolm demonstrates the effectiveness of a group of people or organizations that get above 150 people. Just like that of a bell curve, 150 being the top of the bell curve, meaning that at the point of 150, a separation should occur to branch the next group, as of 151 people performance becomes disadvantageous, thus a tipping point.

David & Goliath

Malcolm's newest book, yet again, flips the script on disadvantages to see the situations where the disadvantages are actually advantages, hence the David and Goliath reference. Malcolm explores multiple examples of what we would typically see as disadvantages were actually huge advantages. Items like dyslexia, relative deprivation, capitalization learning and desirable difficulties are explored to reveal the interesting parallels and insight into the successes of various people.

I hope that I have intrigued you to add some or all of these books to your booklist, these all will not disappoint.

Until next week.