Poke The Box (Seth Godin): A Book Review

"When was the last time you did something for the first time?"

With a secondary title like that, you can bet that Poke the Box - Seth Godin's first title under The Domino Project - is going to be all provocative and punchy. And boy, the renowned marketing cum motivational blogger sure doesn't disappoint in that department.

Beating all records as Godin's shortest book ever at less than 90 pages, Poke the Box has a simple message: Go and start something now. Billed as a "manifesto", the slim volume is full of catchy one-liners urging one to initiate, instigate and innovate. Some of its quoteworthy phrases include the following:

"Curiosity drives us to the haunted house because the thrills lie in what we don't expect, not in what's safe."

"Art is hard. Selling is hard. Writing is hard. Making a difference is hard."

"The market is obsessed with novelty. So go make some. We're tired of your old stuff."

"Please stop waiting for a map. We reward those who draw maps, not those who follow them."

"Forward motion is a defensible business asset."

And so on.

What I like about the book is that the riffs (and rants) do not just urge you to go Go GO - they actually offer some sensible words of advice too. For example, one shouldn't just be a serial starter (what Seth termed as a "hypergo" person) but end up quitting each enterprise before they could see fruit. Rather, one should aim to finish and ship what's started.

Other than the key message of poking the box (ie starting and shipping), Seth also offers the following vignettes (paraphrased in my own words):

- One should overcome one's "lizard brain" and the fear or laziness which it brings

- One should never stop trying, attempting new stuff, or being wrong.

- Don't settle for a "cog" job, even if you're not an entrepreneur.

- Curiosity doesn't kill the cat. In any case, the cat (or yourself) has nine lives.

- Don't be afraid of getting out of your cage. The boundary is in your head and not in the system.

- Hiding your spark or burying your ideas from your organisation is tantamount to a sin.

As a quick picker-upper, Poke the Box shines with the usual Gordin glisten. Treat it like a shot of expresso through your jaded, work weary system. However, don't expect to receive anything more than an energetic clarion call to start a new venture/project/idea. Like its title suggests, the book is more of a kick in the butt than a business manual.

How To Stick To Your Resolutions

Peter Bregman (courtesy of Bregman Partners)

As 2012 and the Year of the Dragon dawns upon us, I'm sure some of us would have made new year resolutions. These can be as massive as writing a book or scaling Mount Everest to something more manageable like losing 10 pounds, exercising every week, or having dinner with one's family every fortnight.

Unfortunately, many of us falter along the way. There are just so many distractions, side-tracks and urgent things that need to be done daily, weekly, and monthly that they take us away from these noble goals. In fact, we probably can't remember what resolutions we made in 2011 to begin with!

How does one manage and keep to one's resolutions then?

Peter Bregman, a highly popular columnist on Harvard Business Review, shared some useful tips in a recent HBR ideacast on "How to Keep Your New Years Resolution". The author of "18 Minutes" shared some useful tips on this, and I'll extract the key points below (paraphrased).

The first thing to note is that you shouldn't overdo your lists. Having too many things in your plate will result in you ending up with indigestion or worse - throwing away the half eaten food.  Rather than have a laundry list, focus on only five major accomplishments for the year, and stick to your guns as much as possible to achieve these five items.
 
Create a 6 box "To Do List" for keeping new year resolutions. One of them would be the other 5% which is the lower priority list.  This is like sugar or candy - stuff that is nice to do, but not critical in your roadmap to sucess.

One of the major stumbling blocks to achieving one's goals is the fear of failure.  This can be proportional to the the size of the enterprise, and the larger and more visible the endeavour, the greater the fear.  To overcome this, there are two tricks that Bregman teaches:

1) Visualise what's the worst thing that can possibly happen.  Would it result in possible death?  Loss of one's livelihood?  Or just a minor embarassment amongst friends and family members?  Often, the worst case scenarios are not as bad as we imagine them to be.

2) Alternatively, learn to do smaller projects that can fail less painfully first and gauge the reactions. Maybe those will show that it isn't that bad after all and strengthen one's resolve to overcome the fear of starting on a larger project.

Keep your list somewhere visible so that you can view it, preferably every day.  This will then serve as a constant reminder of what needs to be done each time, and you can tick them off one by one.

Do a little everyday to build up your respective areas. See if you can work on each area wherever possible rather than attempt to dive too deeply close to the end of the year.  Be relentless too in paring away tasks that fall into the other 5% and leave these luxuries for later.

In a work context, it may be useful to share these priorities between employees and bosses. This helps to ensure that there is common understanding on what should and should not be done while clarifying intents.  It also reduces the possibilities of last minute work being dumped on an employee - although that sometimes may still be inevitable.

Schedule specific times and deadlines for doing things, otherwise they will not be done.  Want to go for a run after work?  Put that in the calendar!  Working on a book?  Include some "writing time" in your calendar which is uninterrupted or distracted.

Clear your emails/facebook messages/tweets at specific period of times in a day, maybe once in the morning, afternoon and evenings? Learn to control your own time and reach an uderstanding with your boss or staff on what works best - and stick to it!

Finallty, be truly present when speaking or being with people like family members, staff etc. Put away those smartphones!  Where possible (and I'm telling myself this), don't be enslaved by that 2 by 2 inch screen at the expense of those whom you love and care about.

What Dragons May Teach Us

Courtesy of Hong Kong - a Visual Research Blog

As we celebrate the arrival of the Black Water Dragon this Chinese New Year, the fengshui masters and economists have given varying prognoses of what it'll bring for the year.
Taking a different trajectory, I thought it'd be fun to look at the traits of this mythical beast and propose what it could possibly mean for us, with a few lessons by the side.

First, we should know that there are dragons and there are dragons.

In Eastern traditions, the dragon is a noble beast associated with heaven, the emperor, long life, and power. Full of masculine or "yang" energy, the oriental dragon is a chimera - a beast composed of different body parts of animals - and the most magnificent creature in the oriental heavenlies. Symbols of the dragon are commonly used in artworks and designs on ceramics, clothing, wall murals, furniture, architecture, and practically any decorated surfaces.

In Western and Middle Eastern traditions, however, the dragon has a sinister significance. According to the Bible, the dragon is used to describe the Satan or the devil - the age-old nemesis of Christians around the world. Dragons are often depicted as fearsome, loathsome beasts that breathe fire and devour hapless villagers in legends and stories.

Hollywood has of course portrayed the dragon as the ultimate bad "boss" monster which the hero (St George or his derivatives) should slay before rescuing the fair damsel in distress. Of course, there are also cute and cuddly ones featured in animated movies like "How To Train Your Dragon", Hayao Miyazaki's "Spirited Away" and Disney's "Pete's Dragon".

Love them or loathe them, dragons are majestic creatures. They are usually at the top of the pecking order - be it good or bad - and are usually seen as the leaders with authority in some way or other. In the hierarchy of monsters, nothing strikes fear or admiration as much as the dragon.

In the same manner, we can perhaps embody the quality of leadership in whatever we do, whether at the office, home, church or other social setting. Like the dragon, we should not be afraid of being focused on Of course, we shouldn't go around devouring other people, but instead, focus our leadership qualities on positive pursuits.

There is also something mystical and mysterious about dragons. Nobody (well almost nobody) has seen a real life fire breathing dragon, yet they have triggered countless stories, legends, and myths told from generation to generation.

Mystique is certainly something that we can try to weave in our work and our lives. Instead of giving the entire game away and aiming for the lowest common denominator, let us weave in little teases, secrets, clues and trails, enchanting our customers/friends and family members every step of the way.

According to legend, dragons are also highly intelligent and wise creatures. In movies like Dragonheart and books like "The Hobbit" (with an upcoming movie), dragons are depicted as sophisticated, witty, and all-seeing beasts.

While we need not speak in riddles or oracles, we could boost our knowledge of whatever we do or tap wisdom of experienced elders who've eaten more salt than we've eaten rice. Learn to identify where our intellectual gaps and weaknesses are, and seek to strengthen them through books, discussions with the learned, or just simple observation.

Finally, dragons are magical monsters. Other than their well known fire breathing qualities, dragons are often seen as beings possessing tremendous strength, long or immortal lives, and are able to fly all the way to heaven (or hell).

In a similar vein, we could perhaps inject a little magic into whatever we're doing in a positive sense. See if we can bring a smile on our customer's face by going beyond their expectations, do a good deed to help that person needing assistance every morning at the bus stop, or maybe bake a delicious cake for a loved one.

Here's wishing all of you a Happy and Properous Chinese New Year! Or in Mandarin: 恭喜发财，万事如意, 新春愉快!