Book Report: Poke the Box

Seth Godin is one of the authors I will read whatever he puts out. Poke the Box was a quick read that build off his linchpin book about making work art. Some thoughts: • Make your schedule before you start. Don’t allow setbacks or anxiety to push you to say “hey, maybe I should check my email for awhile, or you know, I could use a nap” (19). • Tell your ego that the best way to get something shipped is to let other people take the credit. The real win for you (and your ego) is seeing something get shipped, not in getting the credit when it does (20). • If you had a chance to do a TED talk, what would it be about? What have you discovered, what do you know, what can you teach? You should do one. Even if you don’t do one, you should be prepared to do one (41). • The person who fails the most usually wins. If you never fail, either you’re really lucky or you haven’t shipped anything. But if you succeed often enough to be given the privilege of failing next time, then you’re on the road to a series of failures. Fail, succeed, fail, fail, succeed- you get the idea. Talk to any successful person. He’ll be able to fill you in on his long string of failures (52-53). Overall, a very quick read and such good reminders about how to go about our business of work, no matter what that business is.