Owning the book doesn’t make it read

As better ways of doing things evolve, we have other ways to read books than actually holding printed paper in our hands, as glorious as it is! 

We can listen, read a summary abstract, talk about it in a club, on an app, or have someone read it to us. 

We can skim and scan and not even read the entire thing!

Oh, yes we can. 

Or do we think we have to read each book the ‘proper’ way ... word after word, cover to cover?

Some people give a book an hour (I prefer a day) to explore and get familiar with it. And then dive in further, for longer, if it’s a match. 

I have no guilt about books piling up, unread. It’s ‘Tsundoku’ in Japanese - acquiring reading materials but letting them pile up without reading them. 

Our pile o’books may signal what we hope or intend, but our action makes it so. Having the unread book on my shelf doesn’t give me the learning that’s in it. 

A book a week, a month or a year ... or 100+ books a year; whatever your appetite, satisfy it. 

Me? 
I go for a Spanish Tapas style:

Tasty morsels in small doses. Perhaps several in one sitting. Happy to return to my favorites. Some hard copy. Some digital. Some sound bites. 

Test it out sooner

Have an idea for a business, a hunch for a service or planning for a project?
We can find ourselves overthinking, overworrying and overwondering what our probability for success will be. 
Accelerating through the wonder and worry and getting to success is possible though. 

The way to do that is to test out the idea. And sooner than you think. 

Testing something may mean it’s not completely finished, yet. So, how could you test? 

▶️ Talk to your market about your idea and gather their responses. 
▶️ Create a rough version or prototype. 
▶️ Run a trial or pilot. 

Each of these are tests that give us way more insight than continuing to think, worry and wonder. 

Time is saved, our effort is reduced (in pursuing things that may not have the result we hoped for), and we get to validate with the people who matter. 

Yes it could be scary putting yourself and your ideas out there. But you’ll get invaluable feedback and then be able to tweak your offer. Continuing to wonder or to ask people who aren’t in your market is less effective. 

Are you willing to find out sooner, reduce wasted effort and get to a result sooner? 

Test sooner. 

It may not be pretty but it may just work

When we make up a solution, put together a near enough or good enough fix for something, it may not be pretty. And it may not be perfect.

For some of us who like our precision, accuracy, completeness and alignment, we might also prefer things to be ‘just so’, working well and of the highest quality. But in times when we are finding and needing hacks and short cuts to make things work, it’s worth allowing some leeway.

If we can allow things to be a bit clunky, imperfect, basic and rudimentary, it will relieve the pressure on those who are doing their best.

Human ingenuity is at work and while it’s clever, it might not have the highest fidelity on the first pass. Better will come over time. 

Willing to start

So many ideas, so little time. It’s a feeling we can have that can make us not even bother with the work of putting any of our ideas out there. But they’re not really ideas until they are ‘out there’. Until then they are just thoughts.

So on the theme of 'willing' : ready, keen and eager ... are you willing to - start? Perfectionists among us hold off on pressing ‘go’ or registering the domain, writing the blog or making the call. Yet we’re willing to think and imagine for hours, potentially days. And not act. Waiting, wondering, rehearsing, imagining. All that mental and creative effort that never gets a return on our investment of time.

How about we be willing? Yes, we don’t know the outcome; and yes, we can’t control it. But the products we buy, the services we use and the people we admire have all required someone who was willing to start.

Will you? Won’t you?

Willing to learn

Plenty of people spruik 'fail fast' and 'failure is sexy' messages, trying to make us learn to love, like or just tolerate failure. But I don't think we want to. We resist failure. It's natural.

We don't want to be associated with stuff that didn't work or things that could ruin our current or future career or reputation.

So how about learning? OK, now we have something to work with. Not as scary as failing; still insightful and full of lessons. And possibly, some tough lessons.

Could we be more willing to learn?

Willing; it means prepared, ready, eager. If we are, we'll be more able to adapt, change, respond and try new things ... demonstrating more ease and less resistance.

Organisations in a constant state of change need more people who are willing to learn. When you take on a new role, start a new project, work in a new team or move to a new neighbourhood, there's plenty of learning up for grabs.

Learning doesn't make us bad, weak, unskilled or irrelevant. In fact, our ability and willingness TO learn is an advantage.

Be willing to learn, more than you are - be prepared, ready, eager. Show more ease and less resistance to learning.