I've been meaning to do it for some time now, a couple of years really. But as Barliman said to Frodo, "One thing pushes out another..." and I just never have got around to it. I must say what a fortuitous piece of luck that I haven't done it before now. In fact I still would not have done it if I not for the fact that I found myself standing there and there they were. Just sitting there together waiting for me. I am not a big believer in fate but there are times that it seems that things happen for a reason. I was in the bookstore waiting for youngest child to pick out a book from one of the many Sci-Fi series he follows. I was just standing there and I looked up and there they were. Two books that I have told myself many times over the last couple of years that I needed to read. Now that I have read them, I am very glad that I waited. Not because they are bad books, far to the contrary, it's because I wasn't ready until now for the full impact. Had I read them before now, they would still have been great books but they may not have sparked some of the great personal insights that they did this week. These two books have made me really step back and re-think the direction of my life and my approach to it. Not that I will make any wholesale changes, just some subtle adjustments that could yield significant improvements.
The two books that I speak of are The Dip and The Big Moo. They are not big books, just an easy couple hour read each, but they are profound. The Dip was written in whole by Seth Godin, the marketing guru and, in my opinion, philosopher extraordinaire. The book is about, among other things, quitting; and gives a very different piece of advice about quitting than do others. Seth is an advocate of quitting. He advocates quitting the right things. He says that if you cannot be extraordinary at something, quit doing it. Quit because by pursuing something that you cannot be extraordinary at you only sap your resources and get in the way of your doing the things at which you can be extraordinary. He calls these cul-de-sacs because while they are dead-ends, you can get stuck in them and go round and round in circles. The book also talks about dips. Dips are the long periods of time between when new things (new businesses, new professions, new hobbies, new relationships) stop being fun and become work until the time that you become extraordinary. Those who become extraordinary at something must struggle through the pain associated with becoming the best in the world at it. It is what creates barriers to entry into those businesses and professions because most people don't want to struggle through the dip to the other side and just quit. The trick is to understand whether you are in a dip or a cul-de-sac. Seth gives a few tips in knowing the difference, but you'll have to read the book to get them.
The Big Moo is a collection of short stories/insights/expressions by 33 extraordinary people like Guy Kawasaki, Tom Peters, Malcom Gladwell and Tom Kelly of IDEO. The book was compiled, edited and prefaced by Seth. Each chapter, most only a page or two each, is written by a different person, but you do not know which of the 33 contributors wrote it. The book is about becoming truly remarkable both personally and professionally. It's about remarkabalizing your business. The most remarkable thing about the book - ALL the proceeds go to charity. Here's an excerpt.
You probably don't remember the first test you took. You didn't study and there wasn't a private prep class for it. You were one minute old. No number-two pencils, no fancy equipment. Just five simple observations recorded by a doctor. It's possible this test even saved your life. This test is now commonly known as the Apgar score, an easy and objective method for evaluating a newborn's health just moments after birth. It is simple, noninvasive and has saved innumerable infants' lives around the world. Virginia Apgar was a medical maverick. She was one of the first women ever to graduate with an M.D. from Columbia University, in 1933. In 1939 she became the first woman to head a department at Columbia University's College of Physicians and Surgeons, and in 1949 she became the first woman to be granted a full professorship in anesthesiology at the university. As a result of the post-World War II baby boom and a social shift away from home births, significantly more babies were now being delivered in hospitals. Originally, a baby would be born, quickly cleaned, swaddled, and sent off to the nursery. It was assumed that an infant was in good health unless obvious symptoms of illness were visible. As a result, many respiratory or circulatory problems were not detected. Many infant deaths could have been prevented had there been a method for diagnosing a newborn's health. After years of evaluating newborns soon after their births during her research as a prenatal anesthesiologist, Dr. Apgar wrote, "Birth is the most hazardous time of life." In response, she created a simple yet accurate assessment tool for evaluating a baby's health during the crucial minutes after birth, when diagnosis and intervention could help save its life. This "Newborn Scoring System" is now the international standard for evaluating a baby at birth.
The Newborn Scoring System assigns a maximum score of 2 points each to five criteria: heart rate, respiratory rate, reflex irritability (response to physical stimulation), muscle tone, and color. Assessment of each of these criteria is made twice, at one and five minutes after birth. A score of at least 7 on both assessments indicates a high likelihood of a healthy baby. Lower scores indicate problems that need to be diagnosed and, if necessary, treated immediately. To further simplify this evaluation, the acronym "APGAR" was developed by another physician to make the five criteria easier to learn and remember. The Apgar score, as the test is now commonly referred to, stands for (A) appearance; (P) Pulse; (G) grimace; (A) activity; (R) respiratory. As a colleague of Apgar's observed, "Every baby born in a modern hospital anywhere in the world is now looked at first through the eyes of Virginia Apgar." The Apgar score has made a worldwide impact on saving babies' lives. It costs nothing, is simple to teach, and requires no complex technology. It took a lot of experience and common sense to create something so simple and streamlined. Yet the Apgar score has changed the world of prenatal care. No marketing budget, no technology, no charge. Just profound worldwide impact. Sometimes you find remarkable innovations in the places you least expect.
If you are ready to think a little differently, go buy these books now. If not, wait until your ready because these two books can change you in profound ways. Either way, buy them at some point. They are worth the few bucks that you will spend and you will help other causes as well.
