The Adventures of Johnny Bunko by Daniel Pink [2008]
Summary:
1) There is no plan
There are two types of decision; instrumental and fundamental. You make a decision for instrumental reasons if you are prepared to put up with the present because you think it will lead somewhere. You make a decision for fundamental reasons when your not sure where it will lead but it seems interesting. The former rarely work out and the latter may not get you where you thought you wanted to go but normally lead somewhere interesting.
2) Think strengths, not weaknesses
Steer around your weaknesses and focus on your strengths. You will be more motivated, more enthusiastic and more successful if you do what you are good at.
See: Now Discover Your Strengths by Marcus Buckingham
3) Its not about you
Focus your energy outward not inward. Unless you are a starving artist it isn't about what you want, you have a client, a customer or someone else who you need to satisfy so apply your strengths to that.
4) Persistence trumps talent
"The people who achieve the most are often the ones who stick with it when others don't"
You need to show up, practice, practice and practice some more, perfect your art whether that art be painting, music or engineering. Talent only gets you so far, sticking with it and persisting make you successful.
5) Make excellent mistakes
If you aren't making mistakes you aren't trying hard enough. Make mistakes for the right reasons, pushing the boundaries, trying something new, trying to make a difference. If it does all blow up then you need to learn from those mistakes so you don't make the same mistake again. Try to: "Make a mistake from which the benefits of what you've learned exceed the costs of the screwup."
6) Leave an imprint
Try to make a difference, leave things better than they were and be proud of what you do.
Quotes:
"Is this mind-numbingly repetitive? or repetitive mind-numbing?"
06 December 2008
Book Notes - The Adventures of Johnny Bunko
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Hey dude,
ReplyDeleteThanks for the tip and review of this book!
What kind of rating would you give the book? Is it an easy read?!
I've seen it pretty cheap on Fishpond and was thinking of getting it but wanted to see if you thought it was worth it!
Cheers man,
Teags
I'll answer the easiest question first: Yes it is a very easy read because it is written in the style of a manga (aka comic book), it doesn't matter that it doesn't have page numbers because you will read it all in one sitting :-)
ReplyDeleteFrom my point of view i would give it 4 or 5 out of 5, but – and it's quite a big but – it is quite focussed on employees of corporations and large american corporations at that. Having worked for two american multinationals i found i could relate to most of it. While the overall message is universal, i'm not sure the examples will resonate quite so much for you. I guess as long as you go into it with the mindset of translating it to your situation it should be good.
One other piece of advice if you do buy it, for point 2 it would be useful if you picked up a copy of Strengths Finder 2.0. The book is a bit average, but it gives you a code to take a Gallup psychometric test to identify your strengths. It is a little wooly, but of the 10 or so people i know who have taken it, everyone agreed with at least 4 of the 5 strengths and they generally seemed pretty accurate.