What to Read: Feb 2013

Last year I posted some of my favorite reads and I’d like to get into the habit of doing that more regularly.

Instead of a star rating, I’ll just suggest you “Read it” or “Skip it.”  Here’s what I read in February…

(Click the images for links to Amazon.)

Time Warrior by Steve Chandler

Read it!

Steve Chandler is sort of taking over my life right now, in a good way.  Just look at the subtitle:  How to Defeat Procrastination, People-Pleasing, Self-Doubt, Over-Commitment, Broken Promises and Chaos.

And he delivers.  I’m a big fan of his no-nonsense approach.  I even used this book in this month’s tribe session to talk about How to Get What You Really Want (in Love).

Here’s a passage for all of you self-employed readers:

[quote] What do I feel like doing right now?  That is the worst question I could ever ask myself during my workday.

On a weekend that’s a fine question.  “What do I feel like doing?  I’ll watch a little baseball, I’ll play the guitar.”  That’s fine, but in my workday, the feeling question is the worst question I can ask myself.  The best questions are:  “What do I want to produce?” and “What structure would guarantee that? [/quote]

And one of my favorites:

[quote] I wouldn’t waste any further time trying to “trust the abundance of the universe.”  I would, instead, test it with action.  Test whether it’s abundant or not by serving people to such a degree that you finally know.  (Spoiler alert:  it is.) [/quote]

Trailing: A Memoir by Kristin Louise Duncombe

Skip it.

Having lived and worked in East Africa, I was looking forward to this memoir.  It was nice to reminisce about the places and language I loved.
However, the author’s complaints about the country, her marriage and her life at large were off-putting.  If the writing itself had been fantastic, it might have lifted the book above the depressing storyline, but unfortunately, it was not.

The Icarus Deception:  How High Will You Fly?  by Seth Godin

Read it!

I appreciate what Godin is saying here because he’s pushing us to make art, not work.  He contrasts the “industrialist age” of the past with today’s “connection economy.”  Here are a few quotes to give you the gist of his message:

[quote] Understanding cutting-edge business concepts like the Long Tail and the Tipping Point and Purple Cow and GTD and the rest is worthless if you don’t commit. Commit to the frightening work of flying blind, of taking a stand, and of making something new, complex, and vital—or nothing much happens. [/quote]

[quote] Scarcity and abundance have been flipped. High-quality work is no longer scarce. Competence is no longer scarce, either. We have too many good choices—there’s an abundance of things to buy and people to hire. What’s scarce is trust, connection, and surprise. These are three elements in the work of a successful artist. [/quote]

[quote] Our cultural instinct is to wait to get picked. To seek out the permission, authority, and safety that come from a publisher or a talk-show host or even a blogger who says, “I pick you.” Once you reject that impulse and realize that no one is going to select you—that Prince Charming has chosen another house in his search for Cinderella—then you can actually get to work. [/quote]

What are you reading?

As always, I’d love to know what you’re reading…  What’s the best book you’ve read this year?  And what did you like about it?  Leave a comment below and let me know.