One antidote is to pursue multiple paths, generating different ways to win. The more you have to fear, the worse it goes. Public speaking brings all three together. It turns out that the three biological factors that drive job performance and innovation are social intelligence, fear response, and perception. You become a winner because you’re good at losing. The reason the resistance persists in slowing you down and prevents you from putting your heart and soul and art into your work is simple: you might fail (See my notes on the The War of Art). It’s the lizard brain that tells you that you’re not qualified, that your degree isn’t advanced enough, that you didn’t go to a good enough school.
THE DIP BY SETH GODIN SUMMARY MANUAL
Every time you find yourself following the manual instead of writing the manual, you’re avoiding the anguish and giving in to the resistance. The only purpose of starting is to finish, and while the projects we do are never really finished, they must ship. The discipline of shipping is essential in the long-term path to becoming indispensable.
THE DIP BY SETH GODIN SUMMARY INSTALL
The second person to install a urinal wasn’t an artist, he was a plumber. Marcel Duchamp was an artist when he pioneered Dadaism and installed a urinal in a museum. A cook follows a recipe, and he’s a good cook if he follows the recipe correctly. And an artist takes it personally.Ī cook is not an artist. Is it Possible to do Hard Work in a Cubicle?Īn artist is someone who uses bravery, insight, creativity, and boldness to challenge the status quo. The only way to prove (as opposed to assert) that you are an indispensable linchpin-someone worth recruiting, moving to the top of the pile, and hiring-is to show, not tell. Who are you trying to please? - If you seek out critics, bureaucrats, gatekeepers, form-fillers, and by-the-book bosses when you’re looking for feedback, should you be surprised that you end up doing the things that please them?įearless doesn’t really mean “without fear.” What it means in practice is, “unafraid of things that one shouldn’t be afraid of.” Most of the time, you do stuff that ordinary people could do.Įxpertise gives you enough insight to reinvent what everyone else assumes is the truth. In other words, most of the time, you’re not being brilliant. The law of linchpin leverage: The more value you create in your job, the fewer clock minutes of labor you actually spend creating that value. The only two things they should teach you in school: 1. We’ve been trained to believe that mediocre obedience is a genetic fact for most of the population, but it’s interesting to note that this trait doesn’t show up until after a few years of schooling. None of these things helps you get what you deserve. We’ve been taught not to care about our job or our customers. We’ve been taught to consume as a shortcut to happiness. We’ve been taught to be a replaceable cog in a giant machine. When work becomes personal, your customers and coworkers are more connected and happier. The more you give, the more the market gives back.
This situation leads to more opportunities and ultimately a payoff for everyone involved. Exceptional insight, productivity, and generosity make markets bigger and more efficient. The linchpin sees the world very differently. If you believe that your job is to do your job (follow the map) and go home, then of course it’s a zero-sum game. If you believe that all programmers are fairly average, then the pie is limited. It seems to me that your outlook is completely due to your worldview. If you want a job where you take intellectual risks all day long, don’t be surprised if your insights get you promoted. You are what you do - The linchpins leverage something internal, not external, to create a position of power and value.
Linchpins are indispensable, the driving force of our future. They don’t bring capital or expensive machinery, nor do they blindly follow instructions and merely contribute labor. Linchpins are the essential building blocks of tomorrow’s high-value organisations. If you make your business possible to replicate, you’re not going to be the one to replicate it.Ĭompetitive pressures (and greed) have encouraged most organisations to turn their workers into machines. This choice doesn’t require you to quit your job, though it challenges you to rethink how you do your job. A genius looks at something that others are stuck on and gets the world unstuck.